Ernesto = BFD

Oh, NO! It's Ernesto! Somebody saaaaave meeeee!

While I do believe that caution and storm preparedness are important, I can only roll my eyes at all the Miami gas stations that were closed this afternoon because they were sold out. Sold out. Sold the @#$% out.

While I feel for those who survived Andrew, I also believe that Miami needs to get over itself. The slightest murmuring of unusual weather sends people flocking to the pumps in droves, filling the tanks of gratuitously large vehicles which will only be totalled once an airborne tree branch scratches the $10,000 chrome bumper. Now, call me crazy, but all us Monroe County types from the Keys up to Flamingo were still listening to the fishing report this morning. The tourists all got sent packing days ago, so the guides are out together hauling in some redfish and snook before taking the boat up the ramp one last time. My local radio station this morning summed it up best: "Tropical Storm Ernesto! Who cares?" Meanwhile in Miami, grocery stores are stripped bare, gas pumps are shut down, and the leaves are fluttering slightly in the breeze. It even sprinkled a little earlier. Cars are wrecked all over the roads. All Publix locations closed at 6:00 pm. I guess it's just a hardier, or crazier (or both) stock of people in the Keys. Miami is very soft and prone to intense overreaction - about everything.

We had to leave Flamingo by 1:00 pm, so rather than spend the next 2 nights before our flight to OK on the floor of the Pine Island HQ building (rah) we are comfortably ensconced in a Miami Fairfield Inn from whence I am typing away to you now. The comfy bed and wireless internet connection are far preferable to a foam slab and a sleeping bag for one who has recently rejoined the ranks of the living. My IV puncture wound may be healing, but I am not up to "roughing it" just yet. I almost have my appetite back, and I am hoping that it will make a full return in time for some tasty barbecue in a few days. Of course, the other problem is that most everything tastes bad. Well, tastes funny, anyway. I don't know how that's flu-related, but whatever. I can't think of any other plausible explanation. A lot of stuff has a sour undertone to it, and other things, well, I can't describe it. Maybe I'll shed some extra tush. One can only hope.

Well, folks, I have many more places to surf before I go to bed. Yes, you heard me! It doesn't matter that it's 1:00 am. My recent illness has also left me an insomniac. I think I slept so much while I was really falling-down sick that I'm going to be awake for a good week straight. Seriously. We're talking lying awake tossing and turning until 5:00 am. It's not pretty. Okay, I'm going now. Stayed tuned, boatophiles!