Friday the 13th storm and later

Friday night was really a fasten your seatbelt and hold on tight sorta night! Hurricane Charley paid us a visit.

Taft (our little 1 sq. mile community south of Orlando) was Charley's designated bulls eye and the eye of the storm passed directly over us. We had torrents of rain and winds of 105 mph. The sounds were so loud that the radio couldn't be heard even when the volume was on maximum.

Stice I stepped out onto the patio only to be blown back flat against the house. The air was filled with little bits of shredded green stuff that was sticking to EVERYTHING...windows, vehicles, people, fences, other plants...anything it encountered.

Our electricity went out while I was on the phone with Rosie (I think it was around 9:30pm, but I really don't know for sure, and at some point Prentice and mother both called, too.) Fortunately, I had an old phone with a coard that I plugged in, as the cordless doesn't work without power...we never lost phone service!

At one point during the storm I looked out of the kitchen window and could actually see the oak trees from the side of the house bowing down to the ground in the front yard.

Life in central Florida during the Dog Days of August without electricity definitely has its challenges! I try to always stay semi-prepared for this type of emergency with stocks of canned gooss, lanterns & oil, candles, first aid kit, manual can opener and that sort of stuff. On Thurs. before the storm hit I shopped for batteries for the radio, a can of ground coffee, a couple of ready-to-eat off the shelf chicken & pasta meals, bottled water, canned things that could be eaten from the can, a few more cans of cat food and I felt ready. However, on Thursday they were talking about Charley coming ashore in Tampa, in which case Orlando would only get outer bands.

Thursday was a wet day, we were getting some type of storm bands from Bonnie who had gone ashore in the panhandle and had sorta fizzled, but was still putting out pretty good rain & some wind. (We are also in our typical central Florida summer rainy season with daily afternoon thunderstorms. We are wet!).

Work called Thursday and said no work Thurs/Fri and to call in on Mon to see if there's work.

On Friday I gassed up my car, got a carton of cigarettes and a lighter. Then I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I could think of. I cleared everything I could lift plant & furniture wise from the back yard and porch. I put all of the potted plants on the ground either against the edge of the porch (it's just 10" or 12" from the ground) or against the house or down by the chain-link fence. The fence is against & under a row of Sweet Viburnum I started 11 years ago down the south side of the house, on the street. They have made a beautiful 15'-20' tall hedge and privacy screen and did pretty well during the storm. I put some of the furniture in the house along with my two favorite potted plants. By then we heard the path of the storm had shifted and we were now the focus of its eye.

So, I made a pot of chili, boiled a dozen eggs, made a gallon of tea and 1/2 gal of coffee. Filled a few emply water jugs, did the laundry and tried to relax...I took a shower and washed my hair.

And so I was prepared for the storm.

And storm it did!

We lost the big limbs off of the two oaks off the front stoop. These limbs are waist size...some are on the roof, some are down the side of the house, blocking not only access to the back yard, but all view out the livingroom windows and most of the light, and some are still hanging in the trees. Scary!

The only way we can get from the front yard to the back is through the house which is now filled with little green shredded stuff that's been blown or tracked in. I tried to sweep it & it doesn't sweep. I'll vacuum. The green stuff is still stuck on everything outside and the ground is covered with it...turns out this green stuff is torn & shredded leaves. Who woulda thunk it!

Never again will I talk myself out of buying more batteries, never again will I listen when someone says there's no need for charcoal or ice, never again will I make a pot of chili for a hurricane (it grew pretty, tall spikey white stuff in 2 days in this heat.).

So we were without power from Friday night to Monday night...temperature outside is running mid to high 90s to mid to high 70s...100percent humidity and little breeze coming into the house. It was cooler outside than inside because of the wind, but the mosquitoes are horrible and BIG...I wish for OFF!

Just sitting still created major sweat (sorry Mother) - drink water - drink water - drink water -

Sleeping is difficult. It's so hot. Didn't realize how much I depend on the AC & ceiling fans.

Our water remained uncontaminated and never went out...blessings show up in unexpected ways!

Saturday morning we found 2 small bag's of ice. Mike iced down his beer of course & I iced eggs, cheese, lunch meat and what ever else I could

Sunday we spent hours out in the traffic looking for ice...no traffic lights & everyone else in the world out doing the same thing...we found no ice. Took a cold shower and went to bed at 8pm.

Monday 7am Mike called around and found ice at a Publix down toward Osceola County. It took about an hour for me to get there & I was limited to six 7lb bags...that's actually not much. I iced down anything still cold from the freezer, not much, and reiced the things from the fridge. Sunday night I had emptied the stuff from the fridge like mayo, etc. for the garbage pick-up on Mon.

I didn't plan too well, I had only one blood pressure pill left after taking vitamins and pill on Monday and I didn't have any refills left. So, after getting the ice, I drove into Pine Castle to the walk-in clinic to get a new prescription, they were closed and said maybe Tues. It took 45 mins to go about 6 miles, traffic was heavy and no traffic signals...police and National Guard out directing traffic. Called work, no one there, got ans. mch.

We got power back at 9pm Monday. It felt like years instead of days. Thank goodness for AC, ceiling fans and refrigerators! (Funny, but on some level getting the power back felt invasive.)

Tues. back to Pine Castle at noon...some traffic lights on, police or National Guard at others. It took a couple of hours, but got a new prescription. I'm so glad that I know a back route to Target from the clinic. Went there cot the prescription filled. Saw a lot of damage...roofs, fences & trees really were hit hard! Called work, got the owner who was really hit hard at home and had just gotten to the office to assess the damage there. He said no work Tues or Wed, maybe Thurs or Fri or Mon, he'll call. Washed out fridge and reloaded it!!!!!

Here it is Wednesday now and we've had 2 nights with AC...lot more comfortable with electricity back, but I'm still not sleeping. Need to grocery shop - don't know where - maybe the Publix down toward Osceola.

Many streets are still impassable here in the neighborhood and around all of Orlando and central Florida in general. Huge piles of trees and limbs line every road. Nothing has changed here in our yard. I've picked up what I could, but can't take anything out, neither of the back yard gates work and I can't get past the oaks down in the sideyard. Mike cut 1 limb about the size of my wrist on Monday and that's it. I keep asking what his plans are...non I guess.

This sure is long and doesn't even touch on what's really going on down here.

Perhaps I'll write more tomorrow now that we are back on line.