It’s snowing back home in Massachusetts but – what else? – sunny, warm and dry here, She’s-A-Little-Half-Pint is raising a ruckus in the cage behind me, and the mountain of laundry is slowly diminishing. A perfect time for some Saturday ramblings…

It’s Mardi Gras weekend in New Orleans, and, while I’m kinda glad I’m not there because of the crowds, I do miss New Orleans and hope to get back there sometime this year. Today I’ll content myself with some red beans and rice with Andouille sausage, listen to some zydeco music, and watch The Big Easy, even though the surroundings outside lend themselves more to Cuervo Gold margaritas and kicking back to Texas Tornados.

100 days until the 2006 hurricane season starts and this is what FEMA is worried about? This particular part of the story puzzles me:

Pawlowski told a congressional committee that FEMA has “significant concerns” for the potential of a catastrophic earthquake equal in magnitude to those that struck parts of the Mississippi River Valley in 1811-1812, and again in 1895. The estimated magnitude of those earthquakes is 7.5 or 8. The probability of a magnitude 6 or larger earthquake is 25 percent to 50 percent over the next 50 years.

OK, so let me get this straight: we’re in the midst of a increased hurricane cycle that the NHC believes could last as long as 20 years, and FEMA is concerned about something that has only a 1/4 to 1/2 percent chance of occuring over the next 50 years? I’m no math major, but methinks there’s some misplaced priorities there.

A Goodboys Nation hello to Laura at the Wide Awake Cafe. Great cat pics and a potpourri of posts. Check it out!

OK, I’ve decided (inform the media, right? ): I’m against the HSA/Dubai port security deal, not because I truly believe it poses a threat to our nation’s security, but because it is such a political loser for the White House and the Republicans in this election year. I’ll bet Howard Dean and the Democrats are absolutely dancing on air having been handed on a platter an issue that, until now, they couldn’t even dent the White House with. Karl Rove is supposed to be such a political genius – I had to believe he knew nothing about this and is now into full-scale damage control.

And, finally, given our somewhat less-than-ambitious weekend plans, Tracey reminds me of this great site for you martini afficianados out there.