Just a quick update from Florida.

Hurricane Irma was a unique experience. I don’t think Hubby D or I would like to do it again.  The build up lasted over a week and the storm was nerve-racking.

This was the calm before the storm.

Many times during the day Sunday we could not see the golf course.

The storm winds and rain did not start arriving in our area until Saturday, Sept. 9 with the most severe storm starting Sunday night. However, the grocery store was out of water, bread and other essentials the previous Tuesday morning. The gas stations ran out of gas long before the storm hit.

One of my own preparations was to find our battery powered weather radio I purchased some time ago. It will also charge your electronic devices so I was looking forward to seeing if it really worked.  We gave one to BHB and she said it took a lot of cranking to create enough of a charge.

The roads were packed all week with people leaving the Miami area. I suppose it was a good thing that the build up was so long and so many were able to leave, but the week long stress was more than I would have liked. When I was growing up in Oklahoma we usually had only a few minutes to prepare before a tornado hit.  



Even before the heavier rains hit, our gutters were overwhelmed with rain water.

This video was taken early in the storm before the winds increased. Unfortunately if you are reading this in an email, you will have to go to my blog to view my videos.  https://brendahyde.blogspot.com

Sustained winds were 85 mph overnight Sunday when they were at their peak. The strong gusts lasted well into Monday.

The strong winds started on Sunday evening.

There was a time during the night Sunday (early Monday) when it sounded like the windows were being power washed by the strong rains.

This video was taken about 1AM, Monday when the rain was pelting our windows.

The lake behind our house came well out of its banks making the green for the 5th hole of the golf course a complete island.  



Our new palms lost several fronds.

We were lucky and the damage to our home from the storm was minimal. We were only out of power and water for about 12 hours although our water is still under a “boil alert." We have a small hole in our roof over the garage that will need to be fixed and we lost one of our majestic tall palms.



Luckily the palm is leaning towards an open grassy area.  I will have to have it cut down before it falls all the way.

But these problems are small.

We spent Monday morning cutting up tree limbs and gathering palm fronds. 


BHB stopped by to check on us. They lost some shingles and fencing. There are also trees down in her yard.

A really big SPECIAL thank you to all our friends for their concerns. The many, many phone calls, emails and texts were greatly appreciated. We had offers to evacuate to Tampa and Charlotte. Tampa would not have been a good thing and we actually offered them our home for their evacuation. And, unfortunately I think Charlotte is experiencing the remnants of Irma right now.

I have to admit it would have been fun to visit friends, but we are very happy we stayed so we could start the clean up process quickly.

All in all, we came out great. However we are going to get estimates on hurricane shutters. It was just too terribly stressful.

Cheers,
Brenda

The first small loss in the hurricane

We are preparing for Hurricane Irma and just experienced our first casualty.

This little guy was on our pool deck as we were packing up all the furniture. When I walked up to him to take his picture, he jumped into the pool. I tried to catch him but he kept swimming for the bottom.

Poor froggie.

This is just the down side to living in a tropical paradise.  Hurricanes.

Hopefully Hurricane Irma will keep going west until it leaves Florida for the Gulf of Mexico.  But I think that is wishful thinking.  It really does look like we might get a big storm here.

This is a historical look at the month of September from 1851 to 2016.

Guess we can't avoid hurricanes.

Daughter BHB and her family are staying here in Viera and I think Hubby D and I might as well.  Things have been getting better over the last 24 hours and the storm seems to be weakening and moving to the west.

We had invitations from friends around the area in Florida and outside Florida to evacuate and come stay with them.  We were tempted to accept one invitation to Charlotte, North Carolina and take our golf clubs.  However, it will probably rain hard up there as well.  But . . .  it would have been fun.

BHB's husband, RB just returned from 2 weeks in Texas.  His team took a whole bunch of boats and rescued several hundred people.  We are very proud of him.  He has worked many disasters and has already been put on standby to go to the Keys for this hurricane.

There are a few more "irreplaceable" items still to go in water proof boxes. Most of the rest is stacked in a safe area or stowed away.  

The last precious items to be boxed up.  Really don't want to loose anything, but these can't be replaced so I will put them in a water tight container.

One good characteristic of a typical hurricane is you generally have plenty of notice and you can prepare your house for the worst to happen. Harvey was the exception because of the heavy rains.

All the patio furniture is in the foyer.

The sand bags were all taken so I used top soil to brace our front door.  

We placed our Persian rugs we brought back from the Middle East in our spare bathroom.  It is an interior room without windows. I remember from my youth in Oklahoma that an interior room is supposed to be the best room in the house during a tornado. Since we might be on the East side of the storm, there is a good chance there will be tornados.

For now, we are waiting on the next update.  Keep your fingers crossed that the loss of froggie is the worst we will experience. LOL

Cheers,
Brenda


P.S. Just one "upbeat" comment.... Wednesday I watched little LW's soccer practice with his class of two-year-olds.  PRECIOUS!!!! (He was definitely the best kicker.)

Hurricanes and Floods

The craziness here in Florida as Hurricane Irma approaches reminds me of snow in Virginia.  All the East Coast weatherman had to do was mention there was a slight chance of flurries and the grocery store would be completely cleaned out.

This morning I snagged some of the last cases of water at our local grocery store AT 6:45AM.

When I arrived at the store there were already around 50 or 60 people in line. When the store finally opened, I let a couple of elderly people go in front of me which could have been a problem.  However when I finally arrived at the water, the clerk was able to load 4 cases into my basket.  Then the water was all gone (until the next shipment arrives)!

Just 2 days ago we were at the beach with LW.

At least with a hurricane, you have lots of warning that one is approaching.

It has been a busy week for disasters.  The lady (IB) who owns the company that cleans my house told me she was going to Texas to do some insurance work and she was going to pull a trailer of donated items.

IB and I are loading goodies from my golf cart into her van.

I immediately organized my Ladies Golf Group to gather up some donations for the families in Texas.  It reminded me so much of when I had FAMILIES Magazine and we organized a Teddy bear drive (Hugs from DC) for the tornado victims in Moore, Oklahoma.

The ladies pulled together a good load of REALLY wonderful items that overfilled my golf cart and made a nice addition to IB's trailer.  It felt really good.  Maybe it is time for me to look around for a "cause" here in Florida.

Maybe I will just wait a week and Mother Nature will create one for me.  I HOPE NOT!

Hopefully I will be blogging about how we missed most of the storm.  Time will tell.

But Hubby D and I have plenty of water, canned food, candles and a couple of bottles of some great wine that we would not want destroyed in the storm.

Cheers,
Brenda