Sitting out on my deck, a good buzz on. Like ,a little overdone.

We spent the day trying to clean up the yard and the deck. We were successful. Until a crew from Texas showed up, walking through the backyard.  They were here to cut away the fallen tree next door, and any other vegetation which mess laying on any lines.  We were so hopeful!  See pictures below. 

We went up to check on Dan’s mother this afternoon. I decided to go out and sit in the car with the AC running, and take a nap while we charged his mothers kindle and a phone. It was wonderful.

Luckily it has not been terribly hot here,  mostly in the mid 80’s,  and fairly dry.

We tried to find ice on the way home without luck.  We still have some, but would like more. There is so much food we’re trying to at least keep cool.

We decided, on the spur of the moment, to go down to the waterfront and see if any of the bars were open. As it turned outthete was. We went to Neptune’s grill, where an over worked bartender was serving up cold drinks.  We met a couple of locals and had a few drinks with them.   It was a great break for hurricane weary folks.  Picture below is from the bar, featuring the weary, but really competent bartender!

When we got home, I was incompetent to make dinner, lol. So Dan made it. As we were sitting down his brother texted to tell us that power was on at his place, and then confirmed it was on at Dan’s.  So we are about to pack up and head up there to sleep in the air conditioning. Whoo Hoo!

Little by little, life returns to normal. Awesome!!!

Love and light. 😊

Tonight it was just Dan and I again. His mother and brother have gone home though they have no power.  I am so glad to have my house back to ourselves.  

I love them, they are family. His mom is so appreciative for the things we have done for her. But both she and the brother are deaf, with ill-functioning hearing aids so there is always shouting so they can hear. And they live to talk. It is difficult. Lol. 

The hurricane was disorienting to say the least. I couldn’t get my bearings today.  Finally managed to organize a nice dinner, something we could send home with his mother. We took her home, settled her in, and then came back. 

Sitting in the living room we were enjoying the peace and quiet. Had a glas of wine and a smoke, had a snack and went to bed. 
It’s weird, to sleep with all the windows open. The only sound is the hum of generators in the area. I am envious. As I write this Dan sleeps soundly. He is exhausted after days of planning, taking care of everyone, making sure the house was safely boarded up. He’s been sleeping only s few hours a night. It nakes me happy he’s sleeping. 

Tomorrow will begin the cleanup. We were told power won’t be restored until  probably the end of the week. We lost our water for 2 hours today which just about did me in. There is a ton of brush to clear out of the yard. There are some lines that are hanging low because branches are laying in them. 

I am tired, and I will try to get back to sleep now. I will need my energy tomorrow. 

 Love and light 

Daylight came this morning and we’re able to survey what Irma left in her wake.  The storm veered east, and saved us a ton of problems. We have no power but we do have water.  My yard is a mess, but there’s really no damage, just a big mess to clean up.  

The dire predictions of an enormous storm surge turned out to be ridiculous. It was only 1-2 ft in Tampa Bay.  There was no flooding at all at my sisters house on the island so that piece of paradise was spared. 

Hopefully, we will get power back on in the next day or two. Feeling very blessed this morning.  We were ready, and expected so much worse.  

Love and light to all. 

Seriously. The low tide is 5′ below normal as the hurricane sucks the water out of the bay. Local news has video of dead schools of fish that couldn’t keep up with the speed of the water being sucked out into the bay. 

I’ve seen a few hurricanes but never seen a storm so powerful it emptied water from the beaches. Crazy. 

Other than that, we are fine. No power but we have water.  Had a nice dinner. It’s getting warm with no AC.  But all is well. 

Love and light. 

I had a blog all written, and the power went out. A tree fell in the empty lot next door and took the lines with it. Because there are not a lot of outages they said they may be able to get it right back on. It sounded like a clap of thunder when it fell. 

So, I’ll be back later. Love and light. 

I guess it’s D-day. Irma is landing with all her minions: storm surge, catastrophic winds, deluges of rain. Being invaded. This morning they say it’s coming ashore in Sarasota, about 45 minutes south of here, as a Cat. 4. It . only have about 40 miles to lose strength before it gets to the Tampa Bay area, so it will be blowing hard, as the center of the storm passes over us. Probably around 125 mph.

Sure glad there’s no climate change. If there was, imagine how much bigger this storm would be! I mean it’s like 4 times as big as Hurricane Andrew, one of the most destructive hurricanes to ever hit FL, and it’s just as strong. So, if there WAS such a thing as climate change, imagine! It might cover the whole eastern seaboard.

Seriously, what fool could deny climate change with 3 major hurricanes in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico simultaneously? Denial is so stupid. The world is still round, despite some people’s belief it is flat.

Since preparation is pretty much done, I’m just going to do laundry and make sure everything is clean, and vacuum the kitchen again. Then I think I’ll do a little baking for fun. We have so much food, but I think some muffins might be good. Anything to brighten the next 36 hours til this is over and we can begin clean-up. I will be so glad to be on the other side of this ordeal.

I will say we both slept well last night. Thank God, because I’m guessing tonight will be fairly sleepless for all of us. Maybe I’ll learn to play backgammon. If we can play by candlelight, lol.

Love and light, everyone.

Tonight I am beat. Dan has to be more tired than me. But we are ready. He boarded up the 7 windows which were not replaced with hurricane windows, and reinforced my front door. I helped where I could, got things ready for his family, put away all the deck furniture, made a pot roast in the slow cooker.

We are both emotionally drained by this ordeal. Last night we were up half the night with the change in forecast, and now we are ready. Yeah, ready for bed.

It’s terribly taxing to live under this kind of threat every day. You hope for the best. You have to acquiesce that you may get the worst. And there is basically nothing else going on in your life until it’s over. Everyone you talk to wants to know if you’re staying (“Why are you staying? Get out of there now!”) or evacuating (“Where are you going?”). And then you have to tell the story over and over again. You go numb, or get anxious with the retelling of how you made the decision to stay.

But there’s no reason to leave. My house is as safe as anywhere, and I’m not worried about staying here. At least, no more worried than if I was any other place in FL, and much less comfortable if I was in a shelter or someone else’s home. I have surrendered to the outcome, whatever it will be.

It’s interesting to have the “in-laws”, or I guess they are out-laws here. They all love to talk, and it’s often noisy. A challenge for someone who lived alone for 10 years. Well, my son was there, but he had his own space and only spent minutes a day talking incessantly to me. But it’s fun, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take care of them in this crazy circumstance.

Love and light everyone.

Overnight, Irma has turned west, and this morning it looks like we are almost in the bull’s eye. It will reach us tomorrow afternoon as a strong Cat 3 storm, complete with a foot of rain and storm surge. We are all a little nervous this morning. As Dan said, it’s not just about the water any more. Cat 3 winds are 111 mph to 129 mph. My little house is so old, I hope she’s up to the task. I am grateful to have a new roof.

When we saw that forecast the realization hit that we will be here for a few days anyway, with his mother and brother. Four people is a lot in this little house, but there is no alternative, except a shelter which would be worse. There are many mandatory evacuations now, in low lying areas because there is now going to be a significant storm surge. I am very worried about my sister’s place, my little piece of paradise. I am not worried about mine being flooded, but just about holding together. I replaced 7 windows when I moved in, with hurricane proof windows. Dan’s going to get some wood he has at his place so we can reinforce a couple of the old windows in the back of the house. We will go back to his house later today to gather his family.

They say it will pass quickly, in 12 hours. That’s probably the only good news, if having a hurricane for 12 hours can in any way considered to be good. Up in New England, there were lots of big old trees around, it is heavily forested. So at least I don’t have that kind of worry. We’re bringing in all my plants and deck decorations this morning, putting all the furniture in my shed. I hope the shed is still standing tomorrow night.

Time to get busy. The change in forecast has created a new list of things to do. I’ll be posting as I can, til I lose power. Hopefully won’t lose cell service. As they say, shit is getting real.

Love and light.

I spent the day cleaning the bathroom and the floors, and talking to a bunch of my friends up north who were checking on me. Dan got supplies put together at his house and then came over here and made a big pot of chili for Sunday when everyone is here. When dinner time came around tonight, we decided to go out and get a sandwich.

We were just sitting down, and we saw two of our friends about to walk into the restaurant. It was the guy who MC’s open mic night and his wife. His wife is one of my new best friends in this town. They sat down with us, and we had such a nice dinner with them. They are such funny, down to earth people. I love living in a community small enough so things like that happen.

Tomorrow I’m making a pot roast for dinner. Dan’s mother and brother will be here, and I thought it was a good easy thing to make, and everyone likes it. It will be windy by then, not stormy but the first winds from Irma will be reaching us then.

We have a tentative plan in place to keep my front door from rattling. I think it would be unnerving to hear it rattling all night when the storm is at it’s strongest. Especially for Dan’s 90 year old mother!

They have upped our expected rainfall. It was 4’to 6”, but now is 6′ to 12”. Even with that amount, we will be ok. They are predicting some slight storm-surge here now too, as the storm is apparently tracking west, but not a huge amount. Even though the storm is coming closer to us, it is apparently going to weaken as it approaches, and will be somewhere between a tropical storm and a Cat 2 hurricane. Nothing to disregard, but not nearly as bad as it could be.

Soon it will all be over and I’ll have to write about something else, lol. Love and light.

These updates are probably getting boring, but they help me to rethink our preparations and make sure all bases have been covered.  So, I hope people can bear with me.

This morning we have good news (the storm will be a Cat 2 here and the rain only 4” to 6”) and bad news (the track is now further west, and closer to us), but I’m not taking any of it too seriously until tomorrow. We am prepared, already, for the worst.

It’s supposed to hit here late Sunday, and be gone by midday Monday. I hate that it’s gonna hit at night, when we can’t see what is happening. But still, I am sure we’ll be ok. Just thinking about my 90 year old front door, that it’s not air-tight. Maybe I should deal with that today and tomorrow.

Since the storm is now tracking a bit west, they are predicting storm surge on both sides of the state. So I’m glad we went to my sisters and got the stuff that we could up off the floor. Her place is like paradise to me, like a little cottage spa. I hate anything to happen to it.

At least we have been sleeping pretty well, so during the day we have the energy to get done what needs to get done. I am, again, so grateful and happy that Dan is in my life, and I am not going through this alone. I have to say that all of my friends here are checking on each other, making sure we all have a place to go, and have what we need. I keep hearing rumors of a party when it’s over, lol. Might be fun!

Time to get the day underway. Lots to do. Love and light, all.