People around here have been talking a lot about hurricanes in the past few days. It's anniversary season, of Floyd's appearance last year and of Fran's four years ago.

Fran was the one that affected my part of the state---which is in the eastern Piedmont. I was lucky, and I know it. I was only without power for two-and-a-half days, and never without telephone service. So a friend and I kept in touch through most of the time that a downed tree in the road kept her cooped up and a lack of power anywhere nearby left me not feeling a real need to go run errands!

All the damage from Floyd was at least 50 miles east of me. Two things about the aftermath of that storm made me angry. Both involved people shooting off their mouths. In the first, a news anchor recently moved to North Carolina was commenting on a story about a Forsyth County (Winston-Salem) recreational vehicle dealer who had sold I-don't-remember-how-many top-of-the-line units to the government for use as temporary housing. He had sold them for what just about anyone knew was under cost. And after he and his crew spent the first half of a day driving a couple of hours to the area and delivering the units, they were so moved with the plight of those flooded out of their homes that they stayed around to do volunteer work the rest of the day. But the newscaster said, "This is the first story about a business profitting from the storm." Excuse me--PROFIT? I am still annoyed enough at him for that one that I tend to switch channels when I see him in the anchor position.

The second case had to do with efforts to house and care for the large number of pets rescued in the hours following the flooding. The N.C. State University School of Veterinary Medicine donated space and whatever medical care was needed for the animals whose owners were living in various school and community buildings, and promised to make every effort to reunite the pets and owners. Some volunteers from the Raleigh area were on hand one Sunday afternoon a few weeks later to help with the reuniting. And a woman who was volunteering was interviewed for a news story. During the interview, she said these owners, "...should have made provision," for their pets. Yeah, right, lady. People who had no idea their homes were in the flood plain of whatever body of water was now in the living room should have taken their pets to kennels, perhaps up in the mountains.

It is interesting to see the news stories this week, about the amount of repair and restoration that has been done. Of course, none of us hear weather reports of impending hurricanes with the same nonchalance we might have had before our lives were touched. And those of us who came through whichever one are grateful for our blessings.

Any storm stories you'd like to share? And please feel free to continue answering the other questions you'll find in the forum. The cooking stories have been fun to read!