Friends in Need

Everyone knows about the devastation Hurricane Ike caused in Galveston, Bolivar and Houston. My friend Misti over at http://www.oceanicwilderness.com/ is trying to raise some money for the Galveston Humane Society. Misti is from Texas and went to Texas A&M in Galveston, so her heart is really in this.

She is a very talented and creative woman. She paints, crochets, gardens and takes some beautiful photographs. She has a shop on Etsy where she sells her wares. Check it out ETSY

I have ordered a few things from her and can attest that they are wonderful! The money from any purchases between now and Sunday will go straight to the humane society.



So check it out and think about buying something!



Thank you for your time.

Lighting a Fire Under One's A$$

So it looks mroe and more like Ike is going to head south and miss us. Oh sure, we'll get some weather out of it, but it's looking better than it did yesterday. Of course, hurricanes are not controlled by the National Weather Service and will do whatever they please, so we could still get hit. We'll know more tomorrow.

In the meantime, the threat has lit a fire under my ass, and I'm sure, several others as well. Cleaning up the yard, making dump runs, even cleaning out my garage...the things I love to do on my day off! So if Ike does make a visit, our yard will look nice and manicured, and my garage all cleared out.

We went to the grocery store just to buy some milk. I was expecting the usual "ohmygowe'reallgonnadie" circus at Publix, but nope. Sure it was busy, but it was calm and really nothing unusual. They still had plenty of water and I noticed most people seemed to be doing their regular shopping, not hurricane shopping. Business as usual.

I'm hoping I don't have to do my shutters Monday...keep heading south, Ike!

{ Oh, and my meds came this morning - Yay! }

Double Crap.

I'm not freaking out yet. Plan on doing the shutters on Monday and cleaning the yard up over the weekend. I know people who are leaving (read "evacuating") but we're staying. If we left, how hard would it be to come back? What if the place we go to gets hit worse than home? What if we're stuck out of town for any length of time...what about our jobs? School? Many places would stay closed for a while after the storm, depending on the damages, but they try to get the schools back open asap. It's a hard call...kind of one of those "damned if you do and damned if you don't" things.

No matter what happens, we WILL have some nasty weather late Tuesday/early Wednesday. Thank God I have a couple kayaks and a canoe!

Crap.

Anybody know where there are D batteries on sale?

Views of TS Fay

Fay wasn't doing much of anything, so we decided to take a drive over to Dinner Key and see the water. This is what we saw.

We left and drove through Coconut Grove, where everything seemed to be open for business, then headed south on Old Cutler to Lugo Avenue. Lugo dead ends at the Bay and it was VERY windy there!

Don't ask me what he was saying because I couldn't hear it, either!

Like I said before, Fay Schmay! I still hope I get out of work tomorrow, though! And all the kids are probably ecstatic that they got to miss the first two official days of school.

Meh...Fay, Schmay

I woke this morning to loud thunder and rain hitting my awnings. Got up and turned on the news and they now have us under a Tropical Storm Watch. So what... Fay is likely to strengthen to a Cat 1 sometime, but most likely to run up the west coast of Florida. The Keys are going to get messy, but don't they always?

Time to put up shutters? Hell no. I expect to see some paranoid folks barricading themselves in by the end of the day, but not us. Seriously, a Cat 1 is just not worth the effort. It's like having a real bad storm and that's about it. Maybe some tree branches down, but that'll be about it. Sure, there will be some flooding, but there always is down here when we have a good rain. It doesn't flood at all in my neighborhood, so I'm not worried about that.

So today will be nothing but a regular day off for me. Run a couple errands, cut the grass (when we get a nice sunny spell). Am I going to get bottles of water and canned food and ice? Again, hell no.

I lived through Andrew and it takes a helluva lot more to get me motivated!

My friends up north and along the west coast, maybe you guys should think about the shutters and such. I'll be thinking about each and every one of you when/if this stupid thing even hits land.

Fay Update

For what it's worth...

I think Laura, Ann and JG may get more weather out of it than we do!

Not a hurricane, so not really a big deal. Just rain, rain, rain.

Hey, Hey Here Comes FAY!

Looks like Fay is heading my way!

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Also, if you like Stephen King, scroll down to the very bottom of this page and check out his latest offering. It's a pretty cool graphic novel video. Start with number 1 (obviously) and work your way up. They are all very short...under 2 minutes. I think it's pretty neat! Enjoy!

My Andrew Story

I promised some pictures, so here they are:

The first ones were taken at Black Point Marina in Cutler Ridge. I don't know if what I have written next to the pictures will be visible to you or not, so I am repeating what's there. These are pictures of the docks. We had the whole place locked up tight, and people coming in would have to show proof of ownership of their boat before we would let them in. They would come in optimistic, but most of them left in tears...

Below left is a picture taken at the house I was at during the storm. (An ex-Boyfriend's) Not far from Country Walk.

On the right is a small freighter that ran aground near Snowden's. I think pictures of it made a few "Hurricane" books.

And last is what was left of my car. My first car. A '79 Corolla that made it all the way to Texas and back, more than once! Andrew murdered it. We had to drill holes in the floorboard to drain all the water out. And it wasn't all rain water...there was salt water, too!

At my ex-boyfriend's house, we had a half-assed hurricane party. Stayed up late playing Trivial Pursuit, eating nachos and drinking beer. Fell asleep and around 1am or so, we were all woken up by horrible winds. I remember we all went out to the living room and sat on the couch, watching TV (it hadn't gone out yet). There was a large window right behind the couch that the guys had boarded up. Well, we heard a CRRRRACKKKK and the board ripped off. That was the start of our night from hell.

We ran around a wall and were all trying no to freak out. Glass was flying...rain..wind...crashing noises all around us. We decided to go into the hallway. There were 2 bedroom doors and 1 bathroom door in the hallway. We each grabbed hold of a doorknob to hold the doors shut because the winds were literally pulling them open. we had to try to hold them shut for protection from the flying glass. Things got worse and the three of us ended up inside a linen closet. My friend, Bobby, was such a baby! He was sitting on the floor holding on to my leg and wimpering like a 2 year old. Pathetic, really. I guess one doesn't know how one will act during a time of crisis.

When the winds died down (it was the eye passing over) we went out and did a quick survey of the inside of the house. It was a total, complete, unbelievable, chaotic mess. All the windows were smashed. Water everywhere. We didn't have much time, so we grabbed the dining room table, went into one of the bedrooms, and barricaded ourselves inside a small closet.

The winds started again. We just sat there huddled in the darkness...waiting for it to end. The walls were shaking and we even saw the roof rise up a bit! We could all smell salt water. That was the weirdest thing to me since we were at least a good 10 miles from shore.

Finally, it was over. It was like a bomb had been dropped. In the early dawn, we walked up and down the streets of the neighborhood like zombies. Shock. We were in shock. Roof tiles had caused alot of damage. Wooden fences, knocked down and ripped apart. Houses with whole walls missing. The water was high and with not being able to see what you were driving over, well...driving was impossible. I wa stuck there for 3 days. I managed to get a call to my mom and dad (who had Sam during the storm) and they were ok. Our house was pretty much ok compared to some. I can't really remember how long we were without power, but I know it was at least 2 weeks. Probably longer.

I reported to work as soon as I could. Drove my car with no windshield. Kept my ID handy and was always in uniform since we were under curfew or Marshall Law. Work for the next few months was interesting. I was a park ranger, and we had to work 12 hours a shift, 7 days a week. The Army would come by and bring us food, or we'd go to Water and Sewer next door and they'd feed us. Back then Black Point was more out in the Boonies than it is now!

Here's another picture. I was being a smart-ass and put the sign there.

My friend, William, another park ranger, checking out a stingray that has washed up in the parking lot. There were also a few schools of mullett washed up, too.

I'd heard stories of dolphins and manatees being washed way up on land, but I really don't know how true those were.

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! It was an adventure, but not one I'd ever want to have again.

Happy Anniversary, South Florida!

August 24, 1992...a day that will live in infamy. Hurricane Andrew blew through town that day, 15 years ago. I need to scan some of my Andrew pics. Those were pre-digital camera days. After I scan some, I'll post them.

You'd think that after that mess, people would stop wanting to live here. You'd think they wouldn't build more houses or apartments in the places that flooded or were totally wiped out. You'd think, but Noooooo! Stupid, so stupid.

Anyway, I'll tell you my Andrew story later. I'm at work right now and the boss would probably get pissed if she knew what I was doing! So, in the mean time, I'll post what I got in my email this morning from my sister. Been around the block a few times, but still fun to read:

You're a Floridian IF ........
..Socks are only for bowling.
...You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in five minutes.
..A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from where you're going, but everything to do with shade.
...Your winter coat is made of denim.
...You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites.
...You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 70.
...Anything under 70 degrees is chilly.
...You pass on the right and honk at the elderly, but pull over for funerals.
...You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.
...You could swim before you could read.
...You have to drive north to get to The South.
...You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.
...Every other house in your neighborhood had blue roofs in 2004-2005..
...You've gotten out of school early on Halloween to trick or treat before it got dark.
...You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.
...You dread lovebug season.
...You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't 'Hurricanes' any more, ...but 'Charley', 'Frances' , 'Ivan' and 'Jeanne'.
...You know what a snowbirds are and you hate them.
...You know why flamingos are pink.
...You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.
...You were twelve before you ever saw snow, or you still haven't.
..."Down South" means Key West.
..."Panhandling" means going to Pensacola.
...You think no-one over 80 should be allowed to drive.
...Flip-flops are everyday wear.
...Shoes are for business meetings and church.
...No - wait, flip flops are good for church too, unless it's Easter or Christmas.
...Sweet tea is served at any meal.
...An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.
...You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip or cruise to Florida
...You measure distance in driving time, instead of miles.
...You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.
...You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.
...All local festivals are named after a fruit.
...A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.
...You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.
...You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer, not summer but really hot, and February.
...It's not soda, cola, or pop. it's coke, regardless of brand or flavor, "What kinda coke you want?"
...Anything under 95 is just warm.
...You've hosted a hurricane party.
...You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the> best rides. ( Space Mountain during the Electric Light Parade!).
...You understand the futility of exterminating palmetto bugs (big cockroaches).
...You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee , Ichnatucknee and Withlacoochee.
...You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself. ...Bumper stickers on the pickup in front of you include: various fish, NRA, Nascar, Go Gators, and a confederate flag.
...You were 5 before you realized they made houses without pools.
...You were 25 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.
...You're annoyed when people say " Florida isn't really part of the SOUTH."
...You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.
...You know what the "stingray shuffle" is, and why it's important!
...You recognize Miami-Dade as " North Cuba ".