September 01, 2004 - 9:18 p.m.
Hurricane Update and a Funny Story
Since I wrote about the horrors of evacuation a few hours ago, things have changed a bit. And in a few hours, I'm sure they'll change again. Rob and I have developed a few jokes related to this hurricane. If you've ever looked at hurricane prediction maps, you see that they shade in a widening swath of possible affected locations. Our local meteorologist calls this the "Cone of Uncertainty". Say it with a deathly voice, and it sends me into giggles.
I can't remember the other jokes. They probably weren't that good.
We now have reservations in Augusta for Friday through Sunday nights. We'll probably cancel them. Or we'll spend our Labor Day weekend in Augusta. They're projecting the hurricane to affect southwest Georgia instead of us, but one false move, and we're toast! It's going to be an interesting few days, to say the least.
In other news, Rob had a run-in with a raccoon today. He called from the living room that a wild animal was walking down the middle of the street. When I came to the window, I saw it was a raccoon with its head stuck in a tin can. I was really torn about what we should do. Should we help it? It couldn't see anything and kept going in circles through our yard and the neighbor's yard. Should we let Darwin's theories take over? I certainly didn't want Rob getting hurt over it and resulting in a painful and costly series of rabies shots.
Rob jumped into action, grabbing a raincoat and a baseball bat. He was kind enough to mention that he was only going to use the baseball bat to knock the can off the raccoon's head, not to bludgeon it to death. He went out and had no luck with the bat. Then he decided he would pull the can off. He was able to pick the raccoon up by the can, and the can didn't budge. He then called for a blanket to hold down the critter to prevent scratches. It was easy to catch because it still had the damned can on its head and couldn't see anything! It quickly became apparent that the can wasn't going to come off with pulling. He sent me inside to find some wire cutters. That wasn't strong enough to cut through the lip of the can. Then I went in to find the bolt cutters. Those too were a slow go. I finally retrieved some pliers, and with a lot more effort and lots of squealing on the part of the raccoon, the can and raccoon were separated. The raccoon ran off into the bushes and the can now sits on our porch to serve as a visual aid for Rob's storytelling.
Rob really is my hero. I thought he'd give up once he was able to lift the raccoon by the can. I abhor seeing wildlife affected by human stupidity - some moron not securing their trash well enough - and it would have been really hard to know that the creature was slowly starving to death out there without doing something about it. I, however, didn't know what to do, and Rob did. That's one reason why I love him.
So that's been my day, planning for a hurricane evacuation and helping rescue a raccoon. What about you?
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