Ike shows Kansan how Texas survives a stormTopeka's alphabet a

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Sep 21, 2008

Hurricane Ike is a metaphor.

Ike is a ballerina who spins faster as her arms are pulled in.

Ike is the water that splashes against the sides of a bathtub.

Ike is blowing on your morning coffee.

Ike is waiting for labor pains.

We survived -- rattled, damp and a little disoriented -- no thanks to the literary ambitions of Houston's meteorologists who spent 24 hours explaining this mammoth storm and its aftermath to their holed-up viewers.

As the wind gained speed on Sept. 12, the streets quieted down and the boards went up. Eerily, the nation's fourth-largest city stilled.

Some thoughts from the quiet, dark heat of post-Ike Houston:

- We tried to heed the advice of one lifetime Houstonian and pretend Ike was "just another rainstorm" but succumbed to the grocery store spending spree that gripped the not-so-native residents of southeast Texas. Good thing. Once Ike decided he'd spilled enough Texas blood, the line to enter Kroger wrapped around the store. Need to buy water? Think again. Soda? No way. The store shelves were ransacked.

- Others opted to ask FEMA for essentials. "FEMA, we need beer!" one sign begged.

- Continuous coverage introduced new jargon for this Kansan- turned-Texan: eyewall, storm surge, dirty side, hunker down, contraflow, citywide curfew, modified menu.

- "Hunker down," incidentally, means to nail towels over your windows, to fill your bathtub with water, and to stockpile salsa. Why go a day without Tex-Mex?

- The Texas solution to no power and a freezer full of meat? Fire up the grill.

- Give me a tornado any day. A tornado strikes and leaves. A hurricane drenches and lingers and spreads.

- Hurricanes are an exercise in patience -- waiting for landfall, waiting for the eye, waiting for water ... You can only play Scrabble so many times.

- With five cell phones between three people, who needs power? We received a barrage of text messages from across the country detailing Ike's trajectory.

- Someone needs to tell CNN anchor Anderson Cooper his black shirt didn't match his brown wading pants. And did he really need to do an entire broadcast in waist-deep water?

- Texans' Southern hospitality peaked post-hurricane as neighbors shared chainsaws, provided meals for FEMA volunteers and pleasantly clamored for available groceries.

- Houstonians wore hats on Saturday. No water means no showers, and no showers mean greasy hair. Even Gov. Rick Perry sported a ball cap.

- I guess there really is no place like home for a Kansas girl.Asked which presidential candidate they'd choose to be their child's teacher, respondents in an AP-Yahoo News poll picked Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain, 55 percent to 44 percent.

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