A cone of uncertain, random, post-hurricane thoughts

Hurricane Irma has been on the minds of many a Mobilian over the past week or so. After absolutely decimating the Caribbean islands, she ultimately decided to visit the Sunshine State and make it not so “sunshiney.”

Thankfully, Irma left us alone for the most part, only giving us a little bit of wind and strangely chugging our bay down her pie hole, or I guess I should say her “eye hole” (or whatever it is she did with it).

Though it could have been much, much worse, there will still be lots of cleanup and rebuilding to do for our friends in Florida. And God help those poor island nations, where the devastation is vast and catastrophic.

Irma continues to be downgraded as she steadily loses her steam and meanders to the west. Since she started petering out, my thoughts have been sort of the same way — becoming increasingly disorganized over time. So, to get my head as clear as the now bright, blue skies, I am going to clean it out on this page to make room for more orderly thoughts. Check back next week for a column that may have more coherence. Don’t hold me to it though, I said MAY.

What a truly kind and wonderful city we have.

After Harvey, countless area organizations and individuals collected money and supplies to deliver to Texas. During Irma, we placed the welcome mat down at the city limits and greeted evacuees and their pets with open arms.

There was such an overwhelming outpouring of kindness to these people from our residents. With restaurants like Heroes and T.P. Crockmiers, as well as many other churches and civic groups, donating meals to the folks sheltering at The Grounds, to families who organized activities in Cathedral Square, our citizens stepped up to the plate. Many restaurants and businesses offered free or discounted items to these people, among many other small acts of kindness. It was so wonderful to see and it makes me proud to call this city home.

Are we ready for the big one?

This week marks the 38th anniversary of Frederic, one of, if not the most, devastating hurricanes to hit our area. After Harvey, my husband and I looked to the back of our own neighborhood, where Three Mile Creek runs. We wondered just how far it would rise into our ‘hood in Harvey-like conditions?

With so much water flowing through the city, how would Mobile fare as a whole in a 100- or 1,000-year-flood event? With regular ol’ rainstorms sometimes flooding our streets, it’s not a pretty thought.

And with powerful winds like Irma, when she was at her strongest, how would our structures hold up in a storm like that? Sure, modern edifices have been built to higher standards and codes, but we still have a lot of historical buildings and houses in close proximity to Mobile Bay. What if the “big one” came right up her mouth? Yikes!

I hope we don’t have to find out these answers firsthand anytime soon, but with folks suffering to our east and west at the hands of these two very different storms, it sure has me thinking about these very different and very frightening scenarios — and if there are any lessons to be learned on things we can do now to prevent such devastating outcomes.

Speaking of disasters, have you seen this Senate race?

Almost as frightening as a natural disaster, just a reminder the Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions is between a guy who has been removed from office TWICE and the dude who is currently holding the seat, but who sold his soul to a horny old devil to get it. With all of our attention focused on the hurricanes, I had rather blissfully forgotten about this for a tiny bit.

Icky, icky, icky. These are not good choices, people.

As such, it has led to some speculating that Democrat Doug Jones may actually have a shot at winning the general, no matter which one of the two evils wins out.

Jones, a former U.S. attorney with a very impressive resume, including convicting two former Klansmen in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, looks like a far better choice than Removable Roy or Sleazy Luther. Well, except Jones is clearly crazy, as he is a Democrat running for office … in Alabama. Did you hear me? That’s right, I said Democrat … in Alabama … running for office. He must be nuts!

Sadly, in this polarized climate and in this state, in particular, if I were a betting gal, I would still put my money on one of the other two clowns. As disgraceful and embarrassing as they both are, people still put party over person.

Thank God football is back

Even though that dismal race is almost as depressing as national politics and natural disasters, we do thankfully have football to take our minds off of it. It is so nice to have all that political nastiness on our social media feeds replaced with friends playfully calling each other “Bammers” and “Barners” and criticizing Clemson for rushing the field or Oklahoma for planting flags.

It has been absolutely refreshing to watch Auburn fans jumping off the Gus Bus and Saban acting like an ass to the media. And yes, even the Saints stinking it up on Monday Night Football is a sight for very sore eyes. It seems like all is right with the world again — at least for a few hours at a time on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. And you know what? I’ll take it.