TUNA, BEANS AND SANDY

It's standard procedure now for anyone facing a "weather situation" nowadays to launch a massive assault on grocery and major box stores a couple of days in advance. There is a lemming-like frenzy that takes place, folks leaping into their cars and running into grocery and big box stores, wallets in hand, to purchase items that they fervently believe will tide them over should "the big one" hit their neck of the woods.

So now that Hurricane Sandy is mucking about in the Atlantic hell bent on reaching the U.S. with abandon, it's happening again on various levels. I hate to admit it, but this afternoon I spent several hours rooting around the food aisles picking up items that I might need to nourish myself without having to use a stove that just might not be working.

I threw countless cans of tuna and beans into the cart, added a few other nonperishable items and off I went home, thinking about how I had not purchased this much canned tuna since a friend of mine egged me on to stock the pantry during what I now call the Great Bird Flu Freakout. As we all know nothing came of that and I ate tuna for a couple of months after that.

Today's spree reminded me of another insane shopping spree in the wake of Hurricane Irene last year, and how one chick was tooling around the grocery store, her cart bulging with raw hamburger meat. I nicknamed the lady and others of her ilk in my Irrational Irene Idiots blog/rant, and yes, folks, I saw a few people with carts loaded with similar stuff this go round.

Are we that soft that a couple of days of tuna sandwiches and cold beans are going to kill us? I heard one guy on the radio yapping that he was desperately seeking a generator to make sure he could watch TV. Ever heard of a book, dude?

Amen, and pass the beans, please.