Ugly, ugly Ike

My deepest prayers are with those who are being affected by mean ole' Ike right now. I can't imagine the fear, the worry, the stress that he is causing.

He is having a tremendous rippling effect. As I was driving home, I noticed two gas stations seemed rather busy. Then I noticed that the price of gas has spiked up in the past twenty-four hours. I decided that M and I would run to our regular gas station to top off the tank. I knew the station was busy before I could even turn into the massive parking lot where the station is located. Cars were lined up, literally bumper to bumper, to get into the shopping center. When I was close enough to see the gas station, we were the 7th car in line for the first pump. Each pump had that many or more cars lined up. I noticed 4 relatively well-dressed men wandering around, stopping periodically at cars. I thought that was strange, but didn't pay a lot of attention. Until I realized they were the managers of the grocery store, helping out at the gas station. They were completely there for crowd control. I've never in my life seen anything like that before.

Most people were well behaved. Most. There is always one or two that will act out in a crowd, showing their true colors. Imagine pump 1, pump 2, and pump 3. (Oh, M and I had moved to pump 3 by this time...a good 20 minutes into our waiting). Pump one and three are facing the busy road, pump two drivers are facing the parking lot. Got the visual image? Well, some fancy-pants decided she was going to use pump 2, so she drove in, FACING THE ROAD--backwards from all the other people who were waiting in line FOR THE SAME PUMP. Because, obviously, she was above waiting in line like the rest of civilization. I'm not sure if the managers noticed right away--they didn't head over immediately. When the sweet (I'm assuming) lady who was pumping her gas was finished, she was...guess what--BLOCKED IN. Not enough room to head forward and definitely not enough room to go back. (I was wondering what all the people in line behind her were thinking.) So, the managers--smart men that they were--headed over in a pair to handle this volatile situation. Oh, I forgot to mention that the lady was creeping closer to the pump, further blocking in the lady who was done pumping. Because I am my father's daughter, I memorized every moment of this exchange. I'm not sure what the managers said to the creeping lady when they approached her, but it set her off good. She punched it in reverse (I was worried about the car in front of me), and cut in between two cars at pump 1 and raced off.

Whew...

All other interactions seemed tame. It was hard to manuver my big ole' van, but people were kind and one young man reversed enough that I could squeeze between two cars. I'm pretty sure the cop was sweating it as I came barrelling pretty close to him. But I was able to stop and reverse before there was a catastrophe.

If only Ike could do the same thing.

Christina, I hope you and your family aren't in the direct path of Ike. Please let us know.

ETA: Kyla and her family have evacuated. KayTar is sick, BubTar is bored, Josh is calm, Kyla is worried and should be studying. They have a limited amount of KayTar's meds, which are specially made at a local pharmacy. Please say a prayer that their home is safe, that they can return quickly to the comfort to which they are accustomed, and that KayTar gets over her illness quickly.