As Misty's World Turns - September 2004


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Sept. 1, 2004

Well here it is the 1st of September, and a HUGE Hurricane looming towards Florida. Not exactly how I wanted to celebrate my Labor Day weekend. Actually my sister had phoned the other night...before Hurricane Frances popped up....to invite me to a party this weekend at her house. Now it looks like Hurricane Frances will be here instead. This will be my 1st hurricane since moving to Florida 5 yrs ago. I'm hoping it passes by us (like Charley did), but right now there isn't much hope of that. My Mom is terrified of being without power. She said to me last night that she plans on getting drunk. (lol) This might be a good thing since the storm is packing winds of 140 mph plus. We'll be sure to lose the roof, and I'm just hoping the house will stay in tact.

Last night my Mom and I went out in search of supplies. We'd gotten to Wal-Mart after dinner only to find the soup isle and the canned food isles empty. The water isle was the same....bare shelves. Thanfully the water refill machine was working. Although the line was back to the front of the store. As I waited in line to get my 4 gallon jugs refilled I began talking to the couple ahead of me. They were filling anything that held water, and they said I should do the same. So I sent my Mom and my nephew back to Sporting goods to find SOMETHING to fill. They came back a short time later with two 2 gal jugs. I also found another 2 gal jug as well. We've now got 13 gals of water. I'm hoping that will be enough since there is no water to be had now. We did luck out that while we waited to check out. They came in with a pallet of batteries. The batteries had been sold out, so I was able to grab what we needed.

This morning my Mom and I went to Sams in search of stuff we couldn't find last night. We were able to get a few needed items, but most of their shelves were bare also. I've been amazed at how calm most people seem to be. Although the stores are pretty empty, people are still able to laugh and joke. My biggest problem today was finding gas. My tank was almost empty and I had to drive all over before I found a gas station that still had gas. Of course they're charging a mint for gas, I'm just thankful that today was payday, and I got the car full now.

So wish me luck, and keep me in your prayers. Hopefully the roof will hold and we'll get power back soon!

Sept. 2, 2004

Another busy day here preparing for Hurricane Frances. I got up early this morning and picked up my oldest nephew Brian. He and I worked all morning taking things off our porch and storing them in the garage. Then it was time to deal with the things in the yard. You never know how much crap you have until you have to evacuate your outside area! Anything left outside is a potential missile to damage the house, or other people's property. Not to mention anything left outside will be history! By lunch time we'd cleaned out the yard and porch. After lunch we made another run to Wal-Mart searching for water. We got lucky and found a case of 1.2 liter bottles. We also stocked up on a few more essentials we couldn't get the other night.

I've got to tell you, it's an eerie feeling driving by house after house all boarded up. Seeing businesses boarded up with either sheets of metal or plywood panels. Driving through our neighbor hood most houses are boarded up. A few nuts have taped their windows. Aparently they don't listen to the radio, watch TV, or read the paper. For 2 days they've been telling you how dangerous it is to tape your windows. I guess they'll find out one way or another. I saw a few places that had see through plastic panels covering their windows. I'm not sure I'm brave enough for that. I LIKE not being able to see what's going on out there. I get comfort in knowing I don't have to see my neighbors house blown to smithereens. (lol)

Tomorrow I'm going to go out and take some pictures of the neighborhood, just to show those of you what it looks like BEFORE the storm. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I'm just hoping the roof stays in tact. If we can keep the roof, we'll be safe inside. Otherwise it's going to be a crap shoot....things flying all over, with the potential to really injure you, not to mention the possibility of the house collapsing. Fun times ahead!

Sept. 3, 2004

We've just gotten back from another run to the grocery store. I think we're all stocked up now. We'd found a store that had gotten a shipment of soup in, so we ran over before they sold out. We also grabbed some bug spray. They've been saying on the radio that you'll want bug spray.

I took some pictures from my driveway this morning of my neighborhood. This will show you what the houses look like boarded up. Some of the places are using plywood, other houses have steel panels, and our house has accoridan shutters. Even with landfall now being reported to be within the next 24 hours, there are still homes wide open. I don't know if they couldn't find wood, or if they just don't care. Either way it's not safe to be in these structures without something over the windows. I'm sitting by my closed, shuttered window and I can still hear circular saws and drills as I type this.

This picture was taken Saturday afternoon looking across the street.

This picture was taken early Saturday evening, looking down the street.

This picture was taken Sunday. This is the entrance to our subdivision.

This picture was taken Sunday. The other side of the entrance.

This is a picture of our neighbor's house taken Monday morning.

This picture was taken at our house Monday morning. It's what used to be our swing.

This picture was taken at our house Monday morning. Piles of leaves off the trees.

This is a picture of our neighbor's tree, taken Monday morning.

This used to be our bougainvilla bush.

What's left of the tree across the canal behind us.

What used to be our beautiful tibochena tree.

Our swing, trashed.

This picture, taken Tuesday, shows the debris piling up already. By the end of the week all streets and roads were piled high with hurricane debris.

More debris on Tuesday.

This is the nut who lives across the street, trimming his tree during the hurricane Saturday afternoon.

Another picture of the guy across the street, trimming his tree during the hurricane Saturday afternoon.

He's making progress.

The guy who lives across the street, coming down out of his tree.

Sept. 4, 2004

The waiting has been the worst part so far. Waiting for this thing to finally get here. I just finished watching the news. It's now been down graded to a Cat 2 Hurricane. Unfortunatley the damn thing is going so slow flooding is going to be a REAL problem. They're saying it's going to hit land...just north of me...around 4am this morning. And then it's going to rain with hurricane winds for 12 hours!! Lord I'm scared!! We have a canal in our backyard. I'd just as soon NOT get an upclose and personal look at snakes and alligators at this point.

The winds are begining to pick up here as the feeder bands begin to come into my area. I'm sure the electricity will be gone by this time tomorrow. Possibly by mid afternoon if this storm continues to travel at 6-10 mph. So this may be the last chance I get to write. For those of you who know my cell phone number, call when you need to check on me. I'll be in touch as soon as it's possible.

* The following 4 days was written while I was enduring Hurricane Frances *

12:30pm

The power dipped on and off through the early morning hours yesterday. We'd just finished breakfast at 9 am when the power went off for good. With no more TV broadcasts to watch we turned on my walkman. We took turns listening on the headphones. At 10 am the first effects of the hurricane squall line began. Driving rains with hurricane force winds. Some of my early pictures were taken around 10 to 11 am when the winds started to get into the 90 mph range. We have a flashlight tied to the lamp over the kitchen table, and a flashlight set up in the living room. The storm is coming from the north, hitting the back of the house. All you can hear is the rain pelting against the storm shutters and the howl of the wind, with occasional gusts thrusting against the house.

7:30 pm

After 18 hours of continuous hurricane winds and rain, boredom set in around 3 pm this afternoon. Since the hurricane is hitting the back of the house we were able to open the front door to get some air, and to alleviate some of the cabin fever of being cooped up in a house covered in storm shutters. All of a sudden we heard voices. My Mom said, "do you hear something?" I answered that I did. We looked out the front door and there across the street was our neighbor. He'd climbed up an extension ladder and was cutting limbs off his tree with a chain saw...in the middle of a hurricane!! My Mom and I got a real chuckle out of this guy, so did the other neighbors. The sounds of his chain saw drew people out of their homes to see what was going on. The winds are picking up now as the eye approaches us. The radio has announced that as of 2:30 pm this afternoon there were 300 thousand people in Palm Beach County without power.

Sept. 5, 2004

Last night was the worst night I'd ever experienced in my life! At 11 pm we each went to bed. The minute I laid my head down the roof sounded as though it was coming off. We have large oak trees on either side of our house, right outside our bedroom windows. I was too scared to sleep in my room, so I went into the the living room and sat on the couch. By 11:30 pm the winds were raging at 105+ mph and the house almost vibrated. All I could hear was the roof banging and the porch moaning and groaning. It only got worse for the next five hours. I tried listening to the radio, but the DJ's were as scared as I was, and I didn't find this very comforting. What I did learn was that the eye was passing over us. By 5 am the winds were down to 75 mph and we were able to beath a sigh of relief. Sometime during the night (after the winds had changed) I noticed water coming in the front door. I grabbed some bath towels and shoved them under the door. For the next 5 hours I had to keep wringing the towels out and putting them back under the door. It sounded like someone throwing buckets of water against the door.

I'd woken up around 9:30 this morning, got dressed and went outside to survey the damage, and take pictures. Our gorgeous purple Tibouchina tree was on the ground, as was our Bouganvilla bush. The two Oak trees are standing but at a tilt, and bare of leaves. It looks like snow outside....but it's green it's the leaves off many trees. We have drift after drift of this green "snow". In the front yard it measures about 4-5 inches deep. Our swing is a mangled mess and is in shreds. By 6 pm I'd been able to get the shutters open and get the gas grill fired up to make a dinner of scrambled eggs, toast and instant coffee. They say on the radio that we will be without power for 7-10 days. We haven't had power now in 3 days. We're lucky that the water is working, we can at least use the toilets. We're still without a telephone, but most of the cell phone towers are still standing so cellphone service isn't too bad. They tell us we need to boil the water, but we're just washing stuff up in the drinking water instead. We've got tons of fresh drinking water, but I'm very low on propane for the grill. I need to save what gas I've got for cooking.

Sept. 6, 2004

I sit here on my back porch writing by oil lamp and listening to the hum of distant generators running. My first impulse is to find these people and sabotage their machines! (lol) This is our 4th day without power and my feeling is that if we can't have power no one should! My brother Mark called this morning to tell me he had power back. My Mom and I gutted the freezer and the fridge, throwing out all the spoiled food and trying to save some of the food that wasn't ruined yet. We took as much of the good stuff we could to Mark's house to store in his freezer. My Mom said she's learned a valuable lesson, never have a full freezer during Hurricane season. We had to throw out hundreds of dollars of food today. We helped my brother clean up around his house, and had dinner with them. Then we came back home so we'd be home before the curfew. Palm Beach County has a curfew from dusk till dawn right now. Anyone out on the roads past curfew is taken to jail. Mom and I were saying that jail didn't sound so bad right now. I'm sure they've got AC and lights, not to mention hot food we don't have to cook! (lol)

Most homes are intact, although everyone has roof damage to one extent or another. Very few trees remain standing. Driving out this morning for the first time was really weird. Devistation everywhere you look. It's like being in a war zone. My Mom said she felt like just bawling. It's never going to look the same again, and it's depressing to see all the destruction. My biggest fear wasn't the trees but our house. From all the groaning, and banging sounds of the house, I was sure the roof and porch would be gone. I was pleasantly surprised to see that both were undamaged.

Every phone call I've received from friends and family has been the same. "You know there's another hurricane coming towards you don't you?", they tell me. Yes, we know. As much as Floridians hate to admit this fact, we know that Ivan is marching along in this direction. Neither my Mom or I want to be here for another hurricane, especially one that is a Cat 4 right now. So our next thought is how can we get out of Florida in time to miss Ivan. I feel the quickest way is to get a direct flight anywhere! My Mom wants to drive out of here. I'd rather drive too since our money is in short supply. However there is no gas north of us, (there's no gas here either) and I don't want to be stranded along the highway with a hurricane bearing down on us. The gas supplies north of us ran out long before the supplies here did. I'm hoping I can find more information tomorrow about the gas situation. The last thing I heard they thought Ivan would be here for the weekend. Oh Joy.

Sept. 7, 2004

Day 5 without power. No lights, no air-conditioning, no phones, lots of heat and humidity. In fact it's so humid right now the paper I'm writing on is wet and limp. Still I consider myself VERY fortunate! My family is safe, their homes relatively undamaged, and we have water. Faced with a functioning toilet or electricity, I'll take the working toilet anytime! We had a teaser about 10 pm last night. The power came on for about a minute, then went off again. Long enough to give you false hope. No one has taken off their storm shutters or plywood panels yet. With the threat of Ivan on the horizon no one is taking any chances. I keep hoping that two hurricanes in 3 weeks will be all Florida has to endure this year, but I fear that Ivan will come visit us, taking with it all that Charley and Frances left behind.

Sept. 8, 2004

The power came back on around 3 am this morning. We're still under a boil water order, but we have air-conditioning, what a luxury!!! The lights I've learned to live without, but the cool, dry air of AC...never!! We still don't have a telephone, but at least we were able to do up our mountain of laundry this morning. I even got to watch the Weather Channel. Although there are still a million people in Florida without power, I'm sure it won't be long before everyone else has it too. The first thing we're going to do today is try to find a place with food. No one expected Hurricane Frances to sit over us for 4 days, so naturally everyone's food supply is long gone. Yesterday a Checker's opened, but the line of cars to get in the parking lot was a mile long. Maybe today it won't be as long? But no matter how long the lines today, we need to eat!

Just back from foraging for food. We found a Denny's open, but the line to get in was out to the parking lot. While we drove around we saw a young guy holding a sign that the seafood place on the corner was open. We'd always wanted to eat there, so today we had our chance. Although they didn't have a lot of the stuff on their menu, what they did have was delicious. We also found some much needed milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables and fruit at Wal-Mart. We still don't have a phone, so I don't know when this will get posted to my website. At least I've gotten past the point of writing on paper, and now can type it onto my computer.

Sept. 9, 2004

This is the LAST hurricane I stay for!!!!!!! What a pain in the ass this ordeal has been. People's tempers and stress levels have been through the roof. Everyone here is out for bear, so in other words everyone is like..."Don't SCREW with ME!" (lol) I was reading in the paper today that the power company still hasn't restored power to the sewage company, and that sewage is begining to back up all over the county. There is also a number of hospitals and especially dialyses places without power. You'd think the power company would focus on those places first, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this.

To be quite honest, I can't blame anyone for their feelings. Days and days and days of 100 mph winds, rain, no power, searing temps, horrible humidity, and no hope in sight. That's what it was like. And that was WITH a toilet that worked! It was even worse for the people who didn't have water or power. One woman called the radio station one night to say there was thigh high flooding around her house, the sewer had backed up so sewage was all over, and to top it off she had no running water, electric or phone. She'd driven an hour away to the next county to call in on her cell phone.

Our yard man showed up today, and cleaned up for us. There was no way I could get out in the yard and haul tree limbs. Thankfully the place looks better already. He still needs to pull the purple tree up, he didn't have anything with him to stake it up. I guess all the stress of this week, or the low barometer or something has made me feel like shit this week. Mom is in agony too with her arthritis. We've got my nephew Brian with us today. He has problems with his one leg and one arm swelling. He'll get a red line of infection and if you can't stop it, you have to get him the the ER. They took him to the Dr yesterday, the Doctor gave him massive amounts of antibiotics, and so far it seems to be better. But the poor kid has to stay still, with his leg elevated. So I've got him set up in my recliner watching DVD's right now.

We're all hoping and praying Ivan goes anywhere but here! This place won't take another hit from a hurricane. We're going to need a new roof as it is, and we'll have to replace most of our trees and shrubs too. My Mom has been SOOOoooo depressed and discouraged this week. I can't wait till life as we know it, gets back to normal. No one around here has taken their shutters down for fear of Ivan, so we're still caged up like rats. Speaking of pests, Mom called me in the kitchen this morning saying..."something BIG just ran behind the food processor." I said it's not a rat or mouse is it? She said it wasn't. I looked and it was a HUGE roach. I've never seen one so big in my whole life. We never see roaches here, but this thing was a good 6 inches long. I grabbed the foaming carpet cleaner and zapped him. I've found that foaming stuff stops them in their tracks so you can squash them. I learned that trick living in South Carolina where the state mascot is a roach. (lol)

I really appreciate all the phone calls and emails from my friends and family this week. It's so nice to know there are people out there who care what happens to you. :)

Sept. 10, 2004

Frustration, depression, and exaustion have set in for me. Frustration & exaustion trying to find food, batteries, candles etc. to stock up on again. With Ivan now looming in the picture, everyone in Florida is trying to get restocked with hurricane supplies.....NOW! Depression because no matter where you turn, the isles are jammed packed with people and the shelves are empty. People are calling the radio stations begging to know where they can find milk, batteries, candles, ice and generators. Anything to help them survive the next hurricane. We have some batteries, (not enough as I've learned from experience). We have no ice and very little food supplies left, but we do have lots of water.

We have worked the last few days trying to catch up on laundry, and to have enough clothing to get through Ivan. I tried to see what food and hurricane supplies I could at Wal-Mart this morning. They had milk and eggs, but no fresh vegetables or fruit. They had aa & aaa batteries but no D batteries. No flashlights, no lanterns. The guy laughed at me when I asked if they had any lanterns. I came home with roughly half of the items on my list. I guess half will have to do. Most of the other grocery stores don't even have power yet, so they don't have much to sell.

I tried to get out of here yesterday. I looked at flights to Philadelphia, Detroit, Charlotte, etc. At 8 am I could have gone to either location. By mid afternoon when I looked again there was nothing....anywhere! So I guess that takes care of what we're going to do about Ivan. We're stuck here. Mom wanted to drive out of here until I told her a story I'd heard. Last week a friend of a friend tried to get out before Frances. It took them 18 hours to go what would normally take 6 hours. No way in hell am I going to take the chance of being stranded along the interstate with a hurricane coming. But there's no way this roof will hold for another hurricane. So I guess we'll see if my sister will take us in.

Sept. 11, 2004

Three years ago today our country was rocked to it's very foundation. Already more than 1 thousand men and women have died in a war that is not only unending it's also unnecessary. This war has nothing to do with September 11, 2001, but it has everything to do with setember 11, 2004. Hundreds of our young men and women are being killed and maimed daily in Iraq and this administration continues to lie to the American public. Bill Clinton was roasted over the coals for lying about having sex in the oval office. George Bush lies about weapons of mass destruction, gets more than 1 thousand American millitary men and women killed, and he walks away scott free. Tell me what is wrong with this picture?! What we should be doing is fighting a REAL war on terrorism and fighting the people actually INVOLVED with 9/11/01. We need to get our men and women out of Iraq and put them where it really matters. In countries who DO have a connection with 9/11/01.

I woke up today feeling very apathetic towards Ivan. For all I care right now he can come blow me off the map and I just don't care. Is this a good thing? Maybe I'm just worried out, and have no more room for worry and fear. I had to laugh as I read the newspaper this morning. They're giving you a check list of supplies to stock up on for Ivan. Batteries, candles, food, ice, the usual. These items are nonexistant and have been for over a week now. I'm reading this thinking to myself...."where in hell are you going to find this shit??" (LOL) That's when it hit me that I really don't care anymore.

One thing I've learned through this ordeal is who my real friends are. Just like when I was in the hospital the first time for heart surgery. I had people I'd considered friends who never contacted me when I gave them my news. Hell, they still haven't contacted me almost a year later! It's the same with Frances, and even Ivan. People still haven't called or writen to me. But then on the flipside I've heard from people I don't even know. Last night I got the nicest letter from a woman in Arizona. She reads my journal, and when things are really tough for me she'll write to let me know she cares. Last night she wrote and offered her home to me to escape Ivan. I was really touched that a stranger would do this for me. So thanks again for the prayers and caring. It means a lot to me!

Sept. 15, 2004

My very best friend Debbie lives in Louisianna. She was worried sick about us when Hurricane Frances hit, now it's my turn to worry about her with Hurricane Ivan. Her home will never stand up to a hurricane, and I'm hoping she'll listen to me and go someplace safe. I'm beginning to wonder if we've pissed off THE MAN. With all these hurricanes coming and destroying everything in their paths it kinda makes you wonder.

As I was pouring the coffee this morning my Mom said "Oh Great!" I asked her what was wrong, that's when she shoves the paper over for me to see the headlines. Another storm is on its way toward us. This one is Jeanne. When are these damn things going to stop!? It figures, I just finished putting everything back out in the yard, and on the porch yesterday. Now I'll probably have to turn around and put it all back in the garage again.

The newspaper said last week that it was safe to remove your shutters and resume life as normal. I guess I should have followed the neighbors instead. Of all the people around us, only 1 guy has taken his shutters off the house. Everyone else is still living like rats, shut up in their dark homes. Mom insists she's not going to remain here for another hurricane. But by the time they figure where it's going it will be too late to make a run for it. I'm past caring these days. If it hits us fine, if it doesn't fine. I really don't care. My Mom has been planning a big party for my 44th birthday. I'll bet $50 that Jeanne comes in time to ruin my party! We'll defintely remember September of 2004! lol

Sept. 18, 2004

Thankfully my friend Debbie and her Uncle made out well with Hurricane Ivan. Unfortunately many other people didn't make out as well. Lots of destruction....again. Poor Florida. It's on it's knees. The economy is in dire straits, businesses and companies are losing money hand over fist....some are leaving the state. And the poor homeowner is left wondering how he's going to repair his home. In order to afford homeowners insurance many people have huge deductibles. Once the deductible is met there is little for the insurance companies to pay out.

Most of the people I've spoken to in the stores, and at public functions, etc. say the same thing. They've spent so much money on hurricane supplies that they have little or no money left. Most companies have been out of work the last two weeks, repairing offices, etc. The only people who seem to be working full time right now are the linemen for Florida Power & Electric. Those poor guys are putting in 16 hour days. They work 13 days in a row and get one day off. Then they start all over again. In the last week I've seen linemen here from Texas, Indiana, Louisianna, Ohio and I even saw one the other day from New Brunswick Canada!

I got a call from my older brother Jim in Pa. this morning. I'd noticed on the weather channel last night that they were getting the remnants of Ivan. Lots of thunder storms and tornados. He said he'd never put in such a rough night in his life. I just laughed and said, "you should have been here for Hurricane Frances! What you went through last night was nothing compared to what we endured." He said "no way would I be able to handle that!"

My poor Mother's first name is Frances. Everywhere we go where she writes a check she gets "that look" from people. (lol) We went to Wal-Mart this morning to get some groceries. She decided she'd get her new glasses prescription filled while we were there. The guy was filling in the name when he looked up at my Mom. We both laughed and said, "yes having the name Frances isn't a good thing right now." I said, "the only way it could be worse is to have the last name Ivan!" (lol)

Sept. 19, 2004

Mom and I spent the morning crafting. It's been ages since either of us have made anything. Now that Mom's cataracts have been removed she can see very well. It's nice to see her able to enjoy some of her old hobbies again.

I'm teaching myself how to make mosaic tiled candle holders. I bought a kit the other day at Michael's Craft store. The first step is breaking up the tiles into tiny pieces. Smashing them all to bits with a hammer is great therapy! (lol)

Afther the pieces have been broken up you glue them on your object. I used small glass votive holders. The glue is a silicone type glue. Once all the pieces have been glued on it dries for 12 hours.

Now that the tiles are dry comes the messy part....grouting them! Let me caution you, the black grout does NOT come out of clothing. (I learned that one the hard way..lol) The grout is mixed with a little water until it's the consistency of putty. With gloves, you smush the grout in between the cracks. Let the grout dry for 10 mins, then using a moist sponge you wipe off the excess grout until the tiles are clean. This is a VERY long process!

Sept. 23, 2004

My brother Mark works for an insurance company. He was scheduled to travel to Pensacola for storm duty tomorrow morning. He called me this afternoon and said, "I have good news and bad news." I asked him what was wrong. He said he'd been told he didn't have to go to Pensacola tomorrow. The reason being that he was going to be needed HERE to deal with Hurricane Jeanne. Just when you thought it was safe to remain in Florida. I swear to god I'm not looking forward to another one of these things! We'd just finished putting everything back on the porch and in the yard. Now I've got to take it all off again and repack the garage.

On the way out to dinner tonight the lanes up and down the roads leading to gas stations were packed. The few stations that still had gas had lines miles long. I know this for a fact because I sat in one of those lines to fill my car up. I had half a tank of gas, but I know from my experience with the last hurricane that I'm going to need a full tank to see me through this. Most of the gas stations will be out of gas all together by Saturday. Since Hurricane Jeanne is scheduled to hit here late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, no gas will be brought into this area until the storm is over. If the damage is as bad as last time it'll be a good week to two weeks until we see gas again. If the damage is worse than last time, forget seeing gas for at least a month.

So here we are again. Fun and games in south Florida. We're almost out of water, so I guess I'll get to fight the lines tomorrow at Wal-Mart. I probably should go tonight, since there won't be much left by tomorrow, but I'm just too tired tonight. I'll just have to take my chances. My Mom keeps saying she gets these "feelings" about things. She's pretty good at getting a "feeling" about something and have it come true. She says tonight that she has a feeling the hurricane won't get us here. I'd like to believe her, but all indications seem to prove her wrong right now. Every model I've seen so far has it coming right at us. No wonder I'm having chest pains tonight. Just what I need with all the work I've got ahead of me for tomorrow.

Sept. 25, 2004

Well, let me try this again. I'd just finished writing my entry for today when we lost the power for a second. Naturally when the power went off, I lost everything I'd just written. I'm hoping the power holds long enough for me to finish. The power is still kind of dipping from high to low.

We'd invited my nephew Brian to spend the night with us last night. Mark hadn't gotten his shutters up yet and I figured by taking Brian he could finish faster. Brian was a big help to me this morning getting stuff off the porch and out of the yard. I'm getting better at stocking the garage. This time I was able to get part of the outdoor swing in the garage too. I couldn't get in to fit last time. Once the yard and porch were finished I grabbed a quick shower. When we lose the power showers will be a lot colder! After I got out of the shower I noticed we had a message on the machine.

Mom had ordered new glasses from Wal-Mart and they'd called to say her glasses were in. I had to stop at Wal-Mart anyways to pick up a birthday cake I'd ordered earlier in the week. Needless to say we won't be having my birthday party today. When we got to the store it was 10:50 am. A guy was telling me as I set up the wheelcahir that the store was closing in 10 mins. I got in as fast as I could. Once in the door I sent Brain off with Mom to get her glasses. I went off in search for a few last minute items and my cake. As it turned out they didn't have what I was looking for, but they did have my cake ready. Inside the store was a madhouse. Shelves were empty...other items were strewn all over the floors. People were running around trying to grab whatver they could find, and get out before the place closed. There was definitely panic in the air. I was glad to get my stuff and get the hell out of there.

On the way home Brian tells us he's decided to remain with Mom and I through the hurricane instead of going back home. It was fine with us, but I wanted to make sure he understood what this decision meant. I reminded him that when we lose power there'd be no more TV. I also reminded him that when it gets really bad he can't go home. He said he understood and still wanted to stay with us. I said ok, let's go ask your folks. We had to go back for more clothing and more medicine for him anyways. My brother was ok with his coming, but his Mom was a little nervous. Brian convinced her though that he really knew what he wanted.

So here we sit, waiting for the storm to come, and hoping it leaves the house standing when it goes. I'm scared to death, but now that Brian is here I have to appear to be calm. I guess this is it for now. I hope to be back soon, but the power company tells us to expect to be without power for 2-3 weeks this time. Those of you who have my number call, and please keep us in your prayers!

Sept. 26, 2004

* Written offline during Hurricane Jeanne

The last 24 hours have been intense. We kept our power longer than we did with Hurricane Frances, however by 8:15 pm last night we were in the dark again. Mom read by lantern light, as Brian played with his building toys. I sat in my recliner listening to the radio.

By 5:00 pm last night the winds were whipping around 45 mph. At 8 pm they were up to 80 mph with gusts up to 100 mph. Around 10 pm the radio announced that all listeners should move to their "safe rooms". (A safe room being a closet or other interior room away from windows.) The three of us trooped into our "safe room", also known as my Mom's walk-in closet. I brought the cooler and some snacks, not knowing how long we'd be there. At 11:30 both Mom and Brian were exausted. Mom said she thought it was unnecessary for us to be in the closet and said she was going to bed. Brian said he was too.

Since the winds were now coming from the front of the house I told Brian to sleep on the couch in the living room. I felt he'd be safer in the back of the house. I made him up a bed on the couch and in no time at all he was snoring away. My Mom had also fallen asleep. So there I sat....alone....listening to the radio, watching the walls vibrate and hoping the house would remain in tact. At 2:00 am the winds had gotten to hurricane strength....approx. 115 mph. The noise was deafening. All you could hear was the howling of the wind, things hitting the roof and the house, and torrents of rain hitting the house from all directions. The winds from Hurricane Jeanne were much stronger than 3 weeks ago with Hurricane Frances. It sounded like at any minute the roof would fly off and the house would collapse. I was terrified. It rained so hard that it sounded like someone was throwing buckets of water against the front door. (our front door is way back from the front of the house, and is normally very protected from rain) Since the door opens in instead of out, I was terrified that one good blow would blow the door open on me. I worked most of the night trying to keep the flood of water from getting past the door. Still it got into the front bedroom, and into the dining room.

Around 5:00 am this morning the winds finally reduced to 75 mph, and by 8:00 am they were down to 45 mph. I opened the shutters on the back door and peeked out for my first view. We'd lost the screens on our back porch. The entire porch was covered with tree limbs, leaves, and other debris. Our tree had in the back yard had been uprooted and was laying on it's side. The other trees looked ok, although they all now lean to the left. There are more shingles on the ground. We'd already lost quite a few from Hurricane Frances, now we have even more strewn around the yard.

We spent most of the afternoon at my brother's house since he'd never lost his power. After dinner someone had called the TV station saying they lived in our neighborhood and they had their power back. My Mom said she wanted to go home, so we packed up our stuff and headed out. Most traffic lights are out, as well as all the street lights. Driving home seemed very strange. When we pulled into our nighborhood it was pitch black. I'm not sure where that women lived who'd called the station, but WE DIDN'T have power.

I got my Mom safely into the house, then I got the car put away. I started opening windows and doors hoping to get some cooler air in the house. Once the house was all opened we went out onto the porch. Mom suggested bringing out a flashlight and playing some cards. But I was already getting eaten alive by mosquitos, and I didn't want to attract any more than necessary. All of a sudden the house lit up! We look at each other and Mom asked, "do you think this is for good?" I said, "I don't know, let's give it a few minutes." Sure enough 5 minutes later the power was still on. It's been a half hour now and the house is finially starting to cool down.

Sept. 27, 2004

* Written offline during Hurricane Jeanne

Noon

We were very lucky in our area. We sustained minimal damage. Mainly because Hurricane Frances had knocked down all the trees when she came through. What few trees had remained standing had been trimmed of leaves. The Treasure Coast wasn't as lucky. People from Jupiter to Vero Beach are left without roofs, most without homes. This is the second time in 3 weeks that area has been hit by a major Hurricane. Frances had done terrible damage to that area when she came through. Hurricane Jeanne seemed to destroy what had remained standing from Frances.

Here in my area we have power, but we are still without phones. I'm able to get the computer running to write my entries, I just can't get a phone connection to post them on my website. Nor can I read my mail yet. Thankfully I've got some good cards games on my PC that helps me to pass the time.

9:15 pm

The phones are working again. Mom and I had gone out searching for a place to get some dinner tonight. We found a Wendy's open so we got a burger and ate in the car. After dinner we went to Wal-Mart to stock up on some food and water. Although it was busy, it wasn't quite like the madhouse it had been just a few days before.

Driving here on a normal day is interesting, but with no traffic lights it's down right dangerous! Most streets consist of 6 to 8 lanes of traffic, all going 45-55 mph. The speed is supposed to be 45 but most cars travel at least 55 mph. Now envision all these cars in all these lanes with no traffic signals. Normally you're to treat an intersection without a signal as a 4 way stop....not in south Florida! (lol) It's more like "every man for himself!" Quite an experience to be sure. That's the main reason we headed right back home once we finished shopping at Wal-Mart tonight.

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