The ”Hurricane” That Never Was

WOW – the excitement! Schools closed down, kids reported a Hurricane on it’s way; Hotels were sandbagging their property for the expected surge; masking tape sales were reported at an all-time high (to protect from flying glass – what else!); visible whitecaps were on Banderas Bay, etc. The expected landfall – 11:00 PM in the evening.

We were sitting on our pool deck supervising 6 Niño’s who were swimming as our guests, when all of a sudden this news descended on us almost like the light rain that was falling all around us. Dolores went to check the internet and could not find any threatening news of a pending hurricane; but, wondered if we should take precautions. Even with my pooh-poohing, all the pool deck furniture was immediately stacked and stored protectively as the Niño’s finished their swim.

The fear-factor and excitement seemed to create visual white-caps in the Bay and I went upstairs to the condo to check on storm warnings, etc. Nada! My “WeatherBug programs’ wind-gauge was indicating 6 mph wind from the WNW and a 30% chance of rain, mañana. Hmmmm! During all this research I could hear Dolores moving about the condo, some scuffling sounds, some minor mumbling under the breath; however, I stayed focused and finally discovered a tropical storm 160 miles south of us that had reached landfall south of Manzanillo and created some damage. Going to the living room to pass this along to Dolores I found what all the sounds had been about – everything (all but one item) that had been outside was now happily residing inside the condominium. The one exception was the 8 foot tall, 500# Multi-lens art object. And guess what, with the help of our security guard, Dolores giving direction and with my to-be sore back it was moved to its inside location with me protesting all the way. Our Administrator dropped by for a discussion on an upcoming paint project and said positively the storm was already at the far reaches of the bay and would be here at the already dreaded hour of 11:00 PM. When I said “but”… Dolores issued a stern warning (category 2 on the stern warning scale) and suggested I sit down and stop trying to put down everything with the info that the wind was only 5 mph…

Now what to do – wait for the boom to be lowered at the expected hour – 11:00 PM. All the locals were waiting outside for the event. At 11 PM sharp – the rain had stopped and the wing gauge indicated a positive 4 mph WNW. Hmmmm, Hmmmm. What next – more time? At 12:30 AM I turned off the computer (3mph WNW) and went to bed. What do you think I said to my wide awake spouse? You guessed it, Good Night , dear! I’m learning.

Arising early at 9:00 AM I busily moved half the indoors back outdoor and made coffee. Dolores arose at 10:00 AM saying she had stayed awake till 5;00 AM guarding our safety from the wind that never was. At least the kids got another day off from school and the stores had a positive day selling all their stocks of masking tape… and my neighbor and I got to wrestle the 500# monster back to its outside living quarters. WOW again!