There's a Buddha in my shower....

We're waiting for Tropical Storm Edouard to find its way to Galveston Island. We're hoping, of course, that Edouard finds another path, hopefully over water, not land. The Powers That Be suggested that residents of the west end of Galveston should make their way to the east side of the Island. Well, that makes no sense to me.

With only one bridge going over to that Island, if the storm proves to be a hurricane instead of a tropical storm, no matter which end of the Island you're on isn't going to be the right end. I've been on Galveston Island during storms, and the only thing to do as soon as a storm starts is to get into your car and drive out of there and get back on the mainland.

Our next-door neighbors have already left... they're on their way to a cousin's home in Conroe, two hours north of here. Now that we no longer have our lake house, we don't have a secondary destination in times of evacuations. Finding a pet-friendly hotel which will take both of us plus one dog and three cats would not be so easy.

I was on the phone with my cousin L this afternoon. She asked me what important things we would take in case we had to make an emergency evacuation. I told L the same thing I told my husband two years ago when we had to evacuate for Hurricane Rita--- "If it isn't breathing, then it doesn't have to go into the car with us." Our friend J filled up his car with every piece in his collection of vintage porcelains when he left before Hurricane Rita. The last thing I would worry about before a storm comes would be a lifeless chunk of decorative porcelain.... our dog and our cats would always be on the must-take list.

With the threat of high winds on the way tonight, I put the lawn furniture into the garage so it wouldn't blow into the screens of the back porch. My husband suggested we bring in the large Buddha statue that's always on our front porch. It isn't that the Buddha is priceless--- I found him years ago for just a dollar at a yard sale-- but we do like him, and he has a wonderfully happy face. He makes our friends smile when they come up to our front door, and he has always been "dressed" appropriately for all of our parties.

When my husband carried him into the foyer this afternoon, I realized that the poor Buddha was covered in dust-- a result of the lawn guys who aim those noisy blowers at everything in sight except the sidewalks. I tried to dust off the Buddha statue with a rag but that was taking much too long. I decided to put Buddha into the shower and let the warm water send all that dust right down the drain.

So right now as I type, there's a three-foot-tall green Buddha standing in the shower... and Mickey Kitty is standing in the middle of the dressing room, afraid to get too close to the shower, but too curious to take his eyes away from the dripping Buddha.