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A couple days ago, I heard on the news that Hurricane Hilary was headed for Palm Springs. They made it sound like it was the end of the world.
But the news folks always make things sound like that. It's hard to know if they're just trying to scare the crap out of people or if things will actually be that bad.
They suggested folks get sandbags.
The local firehouses were offering them for free so I figured I'd play it safe and drive over. They gave me ten bags. Empty bags!
I was driving to Home Depot to buy sand when I thought to myself: Slim! You idiot! You live in the desert! There's sand EVERYWHERE!
So I drove over to Frank Sinatra (it's the name of a street out here) and pulled to the curb. I grabbed a shovel from the trunk (I keep one in case I need to get rid of evidence) and started filling sandbags.
True story.
About two minutes later a guy stops his car behind mine, and runs over. A surfer dude who looked like Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
He comes up to me and says, "Dude! Is this a treasure hunt?"
Treasure hunt?
I resisted the urge to clang him on the head with my shovel, and just said, "Yes. That's what it is."
Right then, a gust of wind caught one of my empty sandbags and blew it onto the four-lane street. Spicoli ran across the asphalt in his flip-flops...and almost got hit.
I ain't making this up!
After he fetched the empty sandbag, he drove off as I continued to dig. I thought he was at least gonna wait to see if I hit pay dirt. Dude!
I filled six sandbags and drove back to the Slim Shack. I piled them in front of the doors.
Then it started to rain. And then the wind picked up. Pretty soon, tree branches and palm fronds were flying by.
They have washes out here in Palm Springs, huge empty river beds for rainwater runoff. I took a photo of a wash before the storm began.
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