Just to stay in touch....

I was unable to get on line yesterday for some reason, so I didn't post. I finally did get on line today and really have nothing I feel compeled to post about. I'm dreadfully tired. I think everyone down here is also. We all used up every bit of energy we had with preparing, worrying and all of that good stuff. Mike unboarded the front windows this afternoon. That really makes a big difference...it's not so cavelike in here now.

Thank God and Progress Energy!!!

Our power went out around 8'oclock this morning and we had bad wind and rain all day. I called Progress Energy around 10:30 or 11:00 this morning to report that we had no power, but it was blinking off and on (mostly off). Then, about 4:00 this afternoon I called to report that there was NO POWER at all, not even off and on. The reports we were getting on the little battery powered TV and the no longer functioning battery powered radio said we would be very lucky to have power in the next three weeks!! We got our electricity back tonight around 9:45!!!!! Thank God and Progress Energy!!!!!

"The time has come, the waldrus said..."

Here is it 6:30 in the evening on Saturday...boy, those storms sure know how to time their hits for the weekends...is anyone else finding that rather odd? It seems we have a real doozy coming this time ( and we thought the others were bad!). I've cleaned the house, vacuumed, dusted (not the walls, I did that for Frances), made a pot of turkey gumbo and remembered to get coffee filters! I moved my car to parallel the house and scratched the stew of of her on the bumper of the dead truck, I think I've done all I can, except for getting the table and 2 chairs off of the porch. How does one prepare for this sort of thing? I thought I knew what I was doing with Charley, then I was sure with Frances and even Ivan...now I know that there is really no way to actually batten down the hatches. This storm, Jeanne, is stronger that any of the others, and it has finally dawned on me that there is really nothing we can do. This storm has killed a whole lot of people already and destroyed untold property. The TV folks on every chanel are saying she's really, really bad. I'm rather unnerved this time. Say a prayer.

We'll do it until we get it right!!

Well, this is beginning to feel like a broken record (remember those things?)! The folks of Central Florida are very close to being professionals at hurricane preparations. We've filled our cars with gas and bought the last loaf of bread in the stores and most of us have been freezing bottles of water for weeks. Most of our larders of canned goods are untouched and we have batteries. Tomorrow we'll do laundry and fill bathtubs with water. We'll take down whatever we put back out in the gardens and vacuum. We'll run dishwashers and play on computers. We'll do what we can to fill our selves with normalcy for one more day before Jeanne arrives.

What else is new?

Thursday Mike's going in for a colonoscopy(sp?). I think this will be his fourth in about 6 years. Starting today he's on a low fiber, low fat diet...very restrictive, things like no soup sorta throw me. No red meats, no red dyes, no whole grains, no dairy...that sort of thing.

The one thing that he can have (and is looking forward to) is turkey. I really missed the boat on this one, should have gotten the turkey last week, instead of yesterday. The smallest I could find is 13 pounds and frozen solid. Against all rules, I left it out until this morning and I could actually move the skin on the beast. So now it's in my canning kettle in a brine in the refrigerator in the garage. I should be able to cook it tomorrow.

The weather this past weekend was GLORIOUS!! Mid 80's, low humidity, clear skys and breezy! I had to put on a sweater to sit in the front yard late in the afternoon yesterday! It felt like FALL!!!! At least fall as we know it here in Central Florida. Today is cloudy, cool and rather rainy. They say this rain is from Ivan...I guess he came back around to say Hi since he missed us the first go round! There are actually 4 tropical thingys out there right now...I refuse to think about it! I'm done with tropical thingys!

Ramblings

The first hurricane I remember was in 1949, I was 4 years old. I don't think they named them back then, or if they did, I don't know the name. It was in the fall, because my baby sister was crawling and pulling up on things, and she was born in February of 1949.

My daddy was in law school at the University of Florida in Gainesville and we lived in post war housing for married students. Most of the buildings were surplus Quonset huts or clap board throw together things.

I remember how dark it got during the day and how hard it rained. Then Daddy came home and we got in the car and went to this really big building. I think it was the main auditorium on the campus. I don't remember how long we stayed, but I know it was at least one night, maybe more. I really liked it and had a lot of fun, there were games and movies and cartoons and a lot of fun people. I remember that Mother made Daddy go back to where we lived and get a green lamp. She kept that lamp in her lap the whole time.

I think it was the same year that we went to Ocala to my grandparent's house to ride out another storm. My great-grandmother was there and she and I spent hours and hours together under the dining room table. This too, was great fun!!!

Growing up in Florida since the mid 40's, I've seem many tropical storms and hurricanes, but those two have truly been my favorites!

Enough already!!

I was just watching the satellite looping of hurricane Jeanne and I saw two or three other systems that seem to be out there also, and it appears to me (in my intensified state of storm awareness) that two of them look like they'd like to hook up. I think that'd be unprecedented and the scariest thing I can imagine! Most of the weather reports on various stations seem to agree that the east coast of Florida is one of the likeliest landing spots for Jeanne...I think it will be somewhere between St. Augustine, FL and Savanna, GA.

I don't think anyone down here is really paying a whole lot of attention to this one, probably our bad! Of course, we're all still boarded up and sand bagged in and still have great stocks of food, water and batteries! So tis life in Central Florida!

There's been work all week! That's a good thing!

Canned goods and prayers

My friend, Linda from down the street, and I were talking this morning about what we're going to be eating for the next few weeks. I'd be willing to bet that there are countless households in Central Florida thinking about the same thing! For 4+ weeks we have foregone our normal grocery shopping and have been buying Hurricane supplies...we have canned goods of the oddest sort coming out of our ears...Spam, vienna sausages, pate', stew, chicken, soups, etc. Now the disaster folks need to tell us just how to use this stuff. Most of us can't donate our supplies to a food bank, if we did there'd be nothing left to eat. We learned with Charley that fresh meats, dairy and produce are not Hurricane supplies! This will be interesting!

It appears that the giant group plea that has gone out from Central Florida to the gods of wind and water has been heard! Ivan should only brush us with tropical storm winds!!!!! and rain.

Cannon balling cat

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I've had the garden tub in the large bathroom filled with water for a week or so. At 7:00 this morning I heard a huge splash and scrabbling...then dead silence. Mercy had tried to walk on water...and she was no where to be found! She finally turned up hidden in the living room and a pitiful sight she was! The only part of her that was dry was her head! Sooooo, I chased her through the house with a towel for an hour or so and she finally dried off. Towels work so well, 'though I never actually touched her with it!

The newscasters are no longer saying "if you lose your power", it's "when you lose your power".

We worked last night, but don't anticipate more work until next Thursday, perhaps.

The jerky's going to be good.

I got gas on the way to work last night, but had to stop at several stations to find it. The governor is saying there'll be no gas shortage, but there certainly is! Stores are stripped...I'd like to get more batteries and something from the liquor store...we'll see.

As before with Charley and Frances, this "wait and see" phase is awfully difficult to deal with...while chasing Mercy this morning I had a good cry...killed two birds with one stone, so to speak!

The numbness makes it sorta hard to post...everything I think of to write sounds so trite and self centered and stupid and dumb and insignificant and little and redundant and..........ad nauseum.

A Dreary Day in Eden

I just came in from watching a big old oak tree be taken down. Fear is destroying as many of our trees as both Charley and Frances did it seems. Helen had a 35-50 year old live oak that has sheltered her house from the time they moved into it 20 years ago. This beautiful oak has kept the sun from baking her home during the summers here and has given years of service as a refuge for squirrels and birds. This beauty will be missed!

Our skies have been rather odd for the past couple of days...actually for the past few weeks (was it only 4 weeks ago that Charley hit?). One moment we are heavily overcast and the next we have patches of blue up there...

Thank goodness!!!!! We had work last night and we have work tonight. These storms are hell to pay on hourly employees!

I started a new batch of jerky this morning...however, Mike sliced the roast for me while I was at work last night and it's much thicker than I cut it...it looks like tiny roasts in the dehydrator. That last batch of jerky was awfully good and lasted about a week...wish I'd recorded what I marinated it in.

Grocery shopped yesterday. The store was packed, but silent. Eerie!

Will try to top off the gas tank in my car today.

You should see the faces of the people who live here. Everyone looks sleepy, angry and a little afraid and resigned...what can we do? Not a thing but buy more water, more canned goods and (using some restraint) more junk food. No brownies this time, I gained 4 pounds with the last 2 storms.

Talked with Mother this morning. She's actually worried about this one and wanted to pick my brain about supplies (can you believe it?). She doesn't even know if they have a battery powered radio. I told her that was important. I hope she'll remember batteries.

Ivan is coming.

We are tired down here

I was reading in the newspaper this morning about the increase of domestic violence in the Metro area since the two hurricanes came through. There were several articles about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It seems we are all suffering from PTSD...thus the increase of domestic violence...duh!!!

This PTSD is showing up in all sorts of ways...anger, rudeness, violence just to name a few ways. In some of us it has arrived as the feeling of being bone tired. I find myself nodding off at the computer, while watching TV, while reading, just about anytime, doing just about anything...but, I can't sleep through the night.

And, Ivan is on his way...the latest projected path has him crossing Central Florida at 2am Monday...yawn. It seems that yet another storm is developing behind Ivan...ho hum...What's new?

Dueling Litter Boxes

Okay, something has come up that I'm really wondering about. Why is it that one litter box is enough for two indoor cats, but two litter boxes are unable to keep up with three cats in the house? On several occasions both of the boxes have been in use at the same time, which is rather interesting to see...they do need emptying several times a day. Oh sweet mysteries of life!!

We are still getting the outer, outer bands of Frances interspersed with bright moments of sun! Wildly odd. Ivan's coming.

Watching a moat grow

The very worse of hurricane Frances is over for Central Florida, however, we are still getting the outer bands from the back of the storm. We're having high winds and strong squalls and rain that may never end. The ditches are flooding both into the streets and yards, most of the intersections in the neighborhood are under water. There is a great deal of tornadic activity in the area.

Now the eye of the storm is in the Gulf of Mexico and has slowed her forward movement and is intensifying. She is expected to make landfall around 2pm today somewhere between Apalachicola and Tallahassee (sounds bad for St. George Island).

The powers that be are telling us not to use up all of the supplies we've laid in for this storm if we can help it and not to unboard our homes. Ivan is following on the heels of Frances and we will probably know by Friday just what his impact on Florida will be.

We lost power last night at 9:30. It came back on this morning at 5:30...Thank God!!!!! Throughout Florida an estimated 5,000,000 people are still without power and probably will be for a while.

Outside it looks like a storm has been through area. Fancy that! I waded over to Jackie's house this morning and got her paper. They delivered both yesterday's and today's bundled as one. Jackie isn't home and the paper would have been soaked if I hadn't gotten it.

We're all being told to stay home and off of the roads today. So I will.

A huge sigh of relief

The worse of Frances is over for us, thank goodness. Of course we are still getting mighty gusts and gales of wind and it's still raining. The widespread flooding has missed us here in Taft and over 4 million Floridians are without power. We are not among them!!!!! We have power!!!! and, I feel a strange guilt about it.

Mike and I just walked to several of our friends trailers to see how they have faired. Everything looked good, a small limb on the roof of one, but it looks like any damage will be simply cosmetic. They are all still under a mandatory evacuation order. While we were walking back a policeman stopped us (we are all under a 6pm-6am curfew and it was later than 6pm) and just talked, we told him what we were doing and why and all was ok.

All of the ditches are filled and we do have massive amounts of rain coming...and then there's Ivan...don't really know if we are all going to be able to handle another big storm anytime soon, however, we may not have a choice.

It sure is good to still be connected!

We're still here

I just came in from out back. The winds are very strong and the rain is blowing side ways! It's much too stormy for me to do anything other than pull the sliding glass door shut and stand with my back pressed against it when I do go out. The full force of whatever we're to get is expected around 8:00am today and will be with us for 9-12 hours. We are so fortunate that the storm went south of its projected path, what we'll be getting will be about 20 mph slower than what we got with Charley, of course, for a much longer period of time.

We still have power.

The brownies got me through the night!

Sweet moment of bliss

I just ate a brownie!!! I no longer make them from scratch...they do more to a packaged brownie mix than I evidently can. This was one of the sixty-nine cent mixes from Save-A-Lot. Instead of water I used a Starbucks double espresso with cream and added mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans!!!!!!! I couldn't even hear the storm while I was eating this luscious brownie...perhaps I should eat the entire pan!

The storm is still coming in...and will be coming in for hours and hours...then when it truly gets here (8am tomorrow) it will be here for 10-14 hours. Wow!

Our lights have been flickering for the past 1/2 hour or so...so I'll make this short.

Stormy, stormy day

It has really begun to get rather bad. Gusting winds up to 60mph and heavy rain...and the powers that be tell us we ain't seen nothing yet! Egad!!!!

I'm in and out...gotta go out now and move my car again...there's just too many things around the neighborhood that seem poised to come down...don't want 'em on my car...it's full of gas!

Tick, tick, tick

It's not yet 2:30 pm and the winds are awesome! The rain is coming in spits and starts...nothing steady yet. The winds, however, really seem to mean business...they've ripped a good chunk of the porch roof's coverings off and topped a nice Popler just across the way. I went out front a while ago, sat on the trunk of my car and smoked a cigarette. There was not another person in sight or within hearing range, no vehicle noise, nuttin! Very eery!!

TV says that Osceola county to the south of us is already having power outages...bless their hearts, they only got power back in some areas there this week.

I called my aunt and uncle on Merritte Island a little while ago. They are 75'ish and 79 years old and have refused to evacuate. They are quite unconcerned.

I need to go make brownies.

Count down

The powers that be are saying that the eye of Frances is 45 miles across and that's how far it is to Kennedy Space Center from Orlando (as the Sandhill Crane flies). Puts this beast in a new light! She is weakening right now, but is pretty much stalled over the warmer waters and is expected to strengthen before she hits the coast. About 12 hours from now we'll have a pretty good idea about how things are going to go...right now, it's all speculation.

Mike has covered the bay window with plywood and is going to use the wood from the large bathroom window to cover the bedroom window. We talked about it and if the bathroom window goes the rain and stuff will go into the bathtub and onto a tile floor, I prefer that to the bedroom window going and soaking my grandmothers bedroom furniture and other antiques that are in there.

I know that I'm forgetting to do something...wish I knew what. I've made a million lists, but in my scattered condition I seem to have misplaced them.

I need to freeze more water, but there's no more room in either freezer. I need to make brownies. Yesterday I dusted the walls and cleaned the bathrooms and seemed to rotate in place a lot. Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.

It's time to bring the porch furniture in and time to set up a second litter box.

The main ice plant in central Florida is the Winter Park Ice Company. They are out of ice. There is no ice in stores. I must freeze more water. I must make brownies.

Jittery Cats

Both of the kittens and George are really jittery today. I know they can feel the storm coming. Shirley is really clingy and more on the edge than she usually is. Goodness and Mercy are having trouble napping and concequently are getting into lots of trouble, and George can't decide if he wants to be in the house or outside. (Nor can I!)

I so want to rip into all of the junk food I bought yesterday! We've really gotten into the Jerky I made...it's superb! and almost gone. I hope I make brownies tonight.

Everyone is tense and slightly fearful.

A sorta afterthought beforehand

This thought of being in the cross hairs has been with me for several days. It's not so much the idea of feeling like a target as much as the thought that we, as a whole, are missing something, something that is probable apparent. What?

We went down the street to see our neighbors, and dear friends, who have lived in their trailer for 25/30 years. She said to me tonight, "Just because I hate it so much, doesn't mean that I want it destroyed...this has been our home since the boys can remember...everything I love is here. (We have been assured by the powers that be that all mobile homes will be destroyed by Frances...we have nothing else to go on)... two days from now we'll know first hand.

This anticipation is KILLER!!!!!!

Their oldest son stays in an EconoLodge not far from here. That's where they outlasted Charley. Right before we went down there tonight they got a call from this son. It seems the owner/manager of the motel asked him what he planned to do for the storm...he said he was staying there, the fellow said oh, no, when anyone moves out we don't rent it...I think if the place is empty he can go home and tend to what is going on there! So Linda is kinda worried about staying there. We extended our dirty little concret block house as refuge for Charley...they went to EconoLodge...once more I extended the shelter of our dirty little, animal ridden house...we'll see.

Well, drat, I've forgotten what my original thought for this posting was...oh well, I do believe my brain is stressed, I know I am!

The calm before the storm

Today has truely been an eye opener! It has been a day of frustrations. There was a majorly long line at the bank this morning (did get paid last night)...there was not a cooler to be found at Target...I couldn't find a loaf of bread...traffic was absolutely unbelievable. I gased up the car the other day (I'm not even quite sure what day this is) thank goodness! The lines at the gas stations were unreal!

I shopped like I was having a sorta weird party! Chips, crackers, Goldfish, mixed nuts, salsa, cheese dip, refried bean dip, Famous Amos chocolate chip & pecan cookies, Hersey's and Three Muskateers minatures, Starbuck's double shot espresso & cream, vienna sausages in bar-b-q sauce, sardines, canned roast beef in gravy all went into my basket this morning. Plus a little more water (I want more). I've been freezing containers of water for a couple of days...need to do more. Got some tarps, kitty litter, dry cat food, batteries the other day, a book and lots of other stuff that I no longer remember.

With Charley I tried to feed us traditionally and it drove me crazy! I may end up liking this diet (of party food) so much that I may never cook again!!!! It's good to have dreams! I do have the dehydrator filled with jerky, it should be ready later tonight or tomorrow and tomorrow I'll make a jug of black coffee and one of unsweetened tea...I should make those brownies that never got made for Charley and I think I'll devil some eggs.

It's amazing the level of fear that has blanketed this area. We're all calling Charley our "dress rehersal"...though the only things I really learned was it's too hot and humid to sleep in Central Florida when you don't have power and the yearning for junk food rises in intensity in direct correlation to an individuals level of fear...I really would like a MacDonald's Happy Meal right now!

We are beginning to feel the outer bands of the storm now and they say that by this time tomorrow it really will have intensified! Just gusty winds now, with blue skies. All of the animals are jittery.

Frances

She's coming!!!

Now, here's the deal...We have another hurricane coming and she's much stronger than Charley was. Her sweet little old name is Frances. Doesn't sound too menacing now, does it? Even allowing for a large margin of error in the predicted storm path, they are saying the storm WILL come to land in Florida and that no matter what part of Florida she lands in, Orlando will feel the effects and suffer more damage. Of course, the prevailing predicted path brings her to land around Brevard County (due east of us) and directly over Orlando.

They just announced on TV that a mandatory evacuation will probably be issued within the next 24-48 hours. They didn't say if that will be for everyone or just people in mobile homes (which they are saying WILL be destroyed). I entertained the idea of going to Tallahassee, to Mother's house or my sister's, but they just showed an extended path and Frances will be headed straight to Tallahassee from here. I'm pretty sure we'll just try to ride her out, pray for us.

I met an interesting older (impossible, you say?) lady yesterday at Wendy's. I got to work at 7:30AM yesterday morning to start training to lead some of the focus groups. I left at noon, came home, changed clothes, did 3 loads of laundry and left at 2:45 to go vote and go back to work to do recruiting. I only lasted about an hour and a half on the phones before I came back home. Anyway, back to the interesting lady. I stopped at Wendy's when I was headed back to work, to get a coke and sit sorta alone and quietly. This nicely dressed and appointed lady stopped at my table and said something about the weather (a thunder storm was blowing in). I was rather distracted and just nodded and murmured something back. She sat at a table across from me with her back to me...and caught my attention. She had a drink in front of her, but her hands were shaking so badly that she had trouble getting the straw to her mouth. Then she took her keys out and was fingering them and tumbling them around, it reminded me of someone saying their rosary. I stopped at her table when I was leaving and asked if she was ok, and if she would like to call someone to come get her. She burst into tears and said there was no one to call, her husband died 3 months ago. She went through hurricane Charley alone and said no one even called or came by to check on her afterwards. She has one daughter who lives in Canada with her husband. They are both retired and don't want "Mom" around. So we exchanged numbers (and names). I'll have to check with her this afternoon and see what she's going to do for this storm. I don't even know what we'll do.