The drizzle of rain has begun....it's just a matter of time before the rain gets intense.....that ain't gonna help the leak we got when Rita blew through....right above my speakers in the den.....great, something else for me to obsess over...lol.....they say the storm is going to hit West Palm again but I'm still not feeling well about this one.....I guess we'll see!

Time to sleep for a while.....I am in my metal cave and all seems well....we'll see what tomorrow brings....you can now hear the winds through the shutters.... tomorrow is Courtney's 16th B'day and her trip to Orlando this weekend with her Nana is another post all together.....damn if she doesn't remember it I surely will....lol

Lost power about 4 AM......Maggie woke me up about 8 and that's when I realized that I had left my laptop and camera in the truck....damnit......It has been one of the worst wind events I have been through.......winds still gusting and the truck is shaking back and forth as I type......about 9 am I looked out the back window and watched the neighbor's screen in pool area just crumble......huge tree out front is now just twigs

Oy.

 

So you went outside to the truck to get your laptop?  N-i-c-e.....  LOL

 

Fascinating thread - let's respond on the other thread tho so we can just keep reading the blog and not interrupt the train of thought :)

Went to the house in North Miami........tree's still there but now I don't have a verical fence around the yard....it's horizontal.....most all of the posts that were concreted into the ground broke in two.....the roads are really hard to navigate....trees down....signs down.....power poles broken in 2 and are hanging from the wires.....radio said the looting has begun in North Miami....probably be a curfew (sp?) tonight.......mom's gotten her power back.....not us.....probably be a week again....none of the stores around have power......that means no ice.......the smell of rotting food should start soon....

whoaaa how are things today.....??  how scary!

I don't think I've ever seen so many stars.....the lights from the city are gone with only a hint of glow on the distant horizon......my tree in front was huge until wilma shook all the branches from it.......it had blocked the cars in the driveway.......so I took my trusty bow saw and set out to make a 10 foot high mound of debris......the cerfew was set 7 PM - 7 AM......can't hunt down ice.....what I wouldn't do for a beverage that is cooler than room temperature.......refrig temp is slowly rising I hope we have something left to eat in the morning.....resturants aren't an option.....they are dark too........The speed which we took our city back from wilma is astounding.....neighbors you never met asking if they can help cutting branches.....crews in the steets clearing paths for cars........police everywhere directing traffic and listening for romours of looting.....announcements to be made where you can get in mile long lines for a bag of ice and some water.....power company said it's piece....."we're sorry but don't think in days...think in weeks".....they say it will probably be more than a month before the 3 million plus without will have power again.....traffic.....OMG.....everyone in FL has a car.....we have 2600 traffic signals in Dade county......the annoucement just came over my cheap radio....18 are working.....damage to this house is only some missing roof tiles and an existing leak from Katrina......will any of my customers have power tomorrow......will my insurance company ever send me money......my gas is down to 1/4 tank.....couldn't find a station earlier that didn't have an hour wait and the cerfew was upon us....at least when it's time to go to bed it won't be like Rita......no power, 94 degrees and no wind....no this one will be nice....outside temps are lowering......gonna drop down to 52 inland......damn I don't think it's ever been 52 in October........can't leave the windows open anyway....at least not if you want to sleep.....the roaring of gas powered generators is everywhere.......why did my next door neighbor have to be one of the lucky ones......I guess it's time to close the book on today and get ready for what tomorrow brings....

Brent - I really enjoyed your blog and the pictures.  I wouldn't be able to resist going outside if I had a safe place to run right back to, either.  I hope Courtney had a great 16th in spite of everything else.  I saw on CNN last night that people were lining up for hours just to get a bag of ice and three bottles of water.  You must be so frustrated but I think it's wonderful that you can still maintain a sense of humour.  I hope things get back to "normal" much sooner than later hun.

 

I have concluded that a hurricane sucks the wisdom out of at least 50% of the people who endure it......I will explain later.....blog today is short and was non-existent the past 2 days due to no gas in the truck, in fact my needle is way below "E".....been running it just long enough to charge cell phones and laptop.......I will not wait in line for 5 hours just for gas.....especially since that's where all the really stupid and high strung people seem to be hanging out.....I don't need that kinda stress....gotta run.....it seems our grass cutter doesn't want to miss HIS scheduled day...lol

Gas got bad today....I finally realised I would have to get in line......the station around from me had a short line because no one knew about it yet.......my truck, still too low on fuel to risk a line stayed at home and I took my daughter's car with about an 1/8 of a tank....With Maggie right behind me in her car we braved the line but then I saw 2 SUV's that had been circling get waved up in front of 50 cars......so I go up to ask why and am told he is a corporate and is more important than I am and I held my breath....asked him to shake my hand because I didn't have a better defense to his arguement to why they were better than me.......laptop is gonna to die in about 2 minutes.... 

Sarcasm is always good if you don't want to lose your temper  lol  Can't wait to hear if Courtney made it up to Orlando.