Halloween is not just for the kids.

One of the goals in locating in Florida was to have a close connection with our daughter's young family. BSB married a 3 generation Floridan and they live only 7 minutes from our home. It has been more rewarding than I could ever tell you. Being close to some of your family is a truly wonderful and glorious experience that enriches our lives more than we could have ever expected.

Halloween was only a night for kids when I was growing up but here in Florida everyone gets into the act. Hubby D and I embraced the holiday with yest! At our Country Club we had a halloween party for adults and a separate party for the kids. It was a hoot!

In preparation for the big night BSB had a pumpkin carving party at her house.

After the big night of carving, Hubby D did not even make it to the bed before he fell asleep.

On Halloween night BSB, her husband and LW came over to "golf cart" trick or treat. First we stoped off at good friends TG and NG for a "Trick or Drink" and then we hit our neighborhood where waves of kids with parents following behind in golf carts were going door to door for chocolates, sweet tarts, twix, candy corn, skittles and other goodies.

Last year LW was an astronaut.

This year BSB outdid herself and LW was a very authentic fighter pilot. WOW!

Our next door neighbors had a spook house inside their garage. LW must have gone inside 10 times showing everyone all the moving parts. He was enthralled by it.

In the end, like every child, he surveyed his haul. (His dad and Hubby D assisted in "sorting" out the best.)

It was a super fun holiday and made even more fun having LW lead the way. Life is good.

Cheers,

Brenda

LE made this for us on Grandparents Day.

Fall comes to Florida

Welcome to October. Fall is arriving here in Florida and they say you know it is fall when the colors on the license plates begin to change. For our neighborhood in Suntree that is so true. Many friends are starting to return to our wonderful fall weather.

Although we had a close brush with a hurricane earlier this summer, we have been very lucky and have had no bad storms this year. Hopefully we will remain hurricane free through November.  But, it has been a full summer and the beginning of fall is also very busy.



Grandson LW’s classroom held a special book day for grandparents to celebrate Grandparents Day.  I took a book about construction equipment that made noise. He loved it. It was a terrific event.

Earlier in the summer, LW spent a week with me while his school was closed. We were very busy and I was exhausted every night. But it was ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC.

This is a space ship (tent) and LW has on his astronaut uniform.

He was a really big help blowing the leaves and grass off the driveway.

And, of course we washed the golf cart.

Papa gave him swimming lessons

And, they went hunting for tree frogs.

At the end of the week, I needed to go to Vero Beach to do some work at our beach condo. LW went along with me and we spent part of the day digging in the sand, chasing crabs and playing in the waves.

Today, October 9, I am back at the condo with my oldest daughter, ASJ. We arrived yesterday to spend the week together celebrating her birthday here on the beach. On our way from our home in Viera to Vero Beach we decided to drive along highway AIA taking our time on the scenic route.

At the Barrier Island Sanctuary we walked out to the dunes. This habitat center would be a great day trip with LW.

Finally we arrived at the condo just in time for a big rain storm to pass over us. However, it soon cleared and we had a beautiful sunset.

This morning I caught this view of the sunrise from our balcony.  It is going to be a great week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ASJ!

It was a full summer and is starting out to be a busy fall.  And I thought retirement was gong to be easy . . .  LOL

Cheers,
Brenda

The news is all good.

Good morning from not so sunny Florida.

All is good here.  Although Hurricane Dorian will go down in history as very distructive, it did not do very much damage at the Hyde house.  We have one poor palm that was knocked over but not even a drop of water made its way inside the house.  Yea us!

During the evening last night I was a bit worried, but I think I just let the news people get to me. My oldest daughter who lives in Jacksonville, ASJ told me she was not even watching the news for this storm.

Unfortunately the storm is headed her way but she assures me she is buttoned up and secure.

During the evening the winds were coming from the north.

Early in the evening, it wobbled and turned east. I could hear all our family and friends singing, Turn! Turn! Turn!

Friends of ours were returning from Virginia and sent us this picture of heave evacuation traffic as they entered Florida.

For dinner, Hubby D fired up the grill. We opened a bottle of bubbly wine and had our own little hurricane party.

This morning when I got up, the wind had shifted and now it is coming from the west. We still hear howling as it comes in through our screens on our lanai, but the wind is not severe.

Our condo in Vero Beach looked like it might have significant damage. The hurricane came very close to that area before it turned east. The Weather Channel was broadcasting from in front of our condo buildings for a long time. 

Our condo is located in the tall building seen over his right shoulder.

It appears the worst is just some damage to the board walk and erosion of the sand.

I want to thank all of our friends and family that sang along with the Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn!  It definitely worked and we dodged the worst of the storm. Hopefully this will be the end of the 2019 hurricane season.

Cheers,
Brenda

Hurricane Dorian is at our door step

STORM WAS A CATEGORY ONE.

On Wednesday they designated Tropical Storm Dorian as a hurricane. And, unfortunately it looked like it was heading for the coast of Florida. The first projections had it coming ashore directly at Melbourne Florida, where we live, as a category 3 hurricane. I started to get nervous.

I put together our hurricane kit (water, food, batteries) and starting shopping for gas cans. No luck. I kicked myself for not making sure we had gas cans for the generator fuel. Finally I went online and ordered them from Amazon. They should arrive on Tuesday but right now the storm is projected to arrive on Sunday so they may be too late. I am going to have to improvise….



---- Thursday
It is really weird here right now. The atmosphere is sort of like right before a big snowstorm in Virginia. The shelves in the grocery store are empty. No bread, no milk, no eggs, and definitely no water. There are lines at the gas stations and people all look completely freaked out.

But the storm is several days away. In fact, they have revised all the projections for it to arrive on Tuesday or later. I started making sure all my orchids are protected and planning how we will move the other outside furniture to inside the house. I felt somewhat under control.

But then I saw a live picture on the weather channel of Vero Beach where we own a condo and our condo building was in the background. This really brought it home. 



STORM WAS A CATEGORY 1.

---- Friday
It is not looking good. Daughter BSB texted that if we take a direct hit and the winds hit 140 mph, our windows will be gone. I am starting to believe that we might have a problem.

Ever since the last big hurricane I have tried to get bids for putting hurricane windows in our foyer and family room where we have some very tall windows. We almost selected one company, but we were not satisfied with their solution to the way they would install them. Looking back, maybe we should have just done it and worked out the details as we progressed with the installation. I am very upset with myself.

Today I made one more trip to the grocery store and Wal-Mart for more survival materials. I picked up a few sand bags and one more waterproof crate for our important papers.

STORM WAS A CATEGORY 2.

---- Saturday
The storm has now been projected to move right up the middle of Florida. Winds have reached 175 mph and the storm was designated a category 4. Our area has never seen a storm that strong since 1935. We canceled our golf game and spent the day getting the house boarded up.

In these projections, we would have had a direct hit.

Middle daughter MSB emailed that she was sending good thoughts our way about our windows. Hubby D said she should hum the tune to the song by the Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn!

We are starting to hear from friends and family. Everyone wants to know if we will evacuate. Hubby D says he is riding it out.

And, I would like to point out that most areas do not evacuate for wind. They evacuate for the surge and flooding. Fortunately we don’t have to worry about that. We are far enough away from the shore that surge will not be an issue for us. I wish I could say the same for many of our friends.

We invited our grandkids over to help put up the boards on some of our windows. Unfortunately putting boards up high on the main windows is not an option.

LW is airing up the tires on our dolly.

After our work was done, we had a break for some fun in the pool.

Then their parents, BHB and RB came over and we grilled hamburgers and chicken. Great food and lots of fun but we were still nervous.



STORM WAS A CATEGORY 5.

---- Sunday
When we woke up this morning we had a big surprise, the projected course of the hurricane was off shore. This changed everything.  Although the winds might be very strong and still the strongest ever felt by our area, they were not going to be as strong as projected so there was a chance we could survive.

Our gas cans that were ordered on Amazon arrived early by reliable UPS and Hubby D headed to the gas station to fill them up. Our regular station was out of gas but he found some right down the street. Now we had fuel for the generator and both cars fully gassed up.

Gas, check. Sand bags, check. Generator, check. 

If this window blows out in the garage, we are in trouble. 

We spent the day trimming palm trees, cleaning off our pool deck and moving very large potted plants to protected areas stopping only to watch the latest projections on the weather channel.  I went around the house and took photos of everything – just in case.

I even documented the golf cart and clubs. After all, we can't get by without them!

Our rugs we purchased in the Middle East are very valuable to us and on Monday we will be rolling them up and moving them to higher ground. In case you are wondering, the round rug in this picture is the new rug from Egypt that just arrived on Wednesday. YEA!

I made one more run to the grocery store. The clerk at the grocery store made a very insightful comment. She said the storm has been drawn out for so long by the news stations that people are starting to return to the grocery store for more food because they have eaten everything they bought the first time they thought they would be stranded by the hurricane. LOL

At the end of the day we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out at a local Italian restaurant. The place was packed. I am sure we weren’t the only ones concerned we might not be out again any time soon.

Hurricane Dorian was now known as one of the most powerful storms ever seen in the Atlantic. And, starting tomorrow it should be at our doorstep or at least a few miles from our doorstep – hopefully many miles away.

STORM WAS A CATEGORY 5.

---- Monday
I was up early this morning as the wind had started and I just could not sleep. However I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the news online. The projected course has moved even further off shore. My fingers are crossed.

Here is what the Orlando Sentinel had to say about Dorian.
"The storm has grown in size over the past day, putting a wider area at risk. Hurricane winds extend 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds reach 140 miles from the center.

“It just takes a little wiggle, a little movement, a little jog, and then all of a sudden you’re a little closer to the coast,” National Hurricane Center Director Ken Graham said in a Facebook Live broadcast.

He explained that atmospheric conditions could change the direction of what has been an unpredictable storm. Dorian now ranks as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfalls on record, tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, authorities said.

The only recorded storm that was more powerful was Hurricane Allen in 1980, with 190 mph winds. But that storm did not make landfall at that strength."

An image taken by Lieutenant Garret Black after his weather plane broke through to the centre of the storm captured a phenomenon known as the “stadium effect.” It was posted on twitter. AMAZING 

However, as I started writing this blog, waves of rain and wind are starting to pass through. My office has patio doors out on to a small courtyard and I can hear the water and then the palms hitting the side of the house.  Here it comes!

I think if we all start humming together, we can push it further off shore. . . .
Turn! Turn! Turn!

Wish us luck.
Cheers,
Brenda