947a - Can you believe someone who has not blogged since 091704 had the audacity to request that I blog some more today? Geez. Some people.

We (Jim, Rachel and me) drove to RBMA and discovered no power and no employees. Then, we went by my office and there was no power. So, we drove around a bit to see if there was anything worth taking pictures of. I guess we're just desensitized, or it was difficult to discern if there was any new damage. We did take a picture of an upsidedown airplane at Orlando Executive Airport. Most of their planes were gone. We also took a picture of one of their damaged buildings. But we really didn't take many pictures today. We had breakfast at Chik fil A out at Waterford, and then came back home.

Ma wanted to go to the doctor (you know she's in pain if she's willing to go to a doctor) for her sore leg. I'm not sure what she did, but her calf has been bother her the last few days. During the storm, she had great difficulty walking at times. So, she went to the doctor (diagnosis: there's nothing wrong. Here's a prescription and your bill) and we stayed home with Rebecca. While Jim was up on the roof playing with the tarp, Rachel was on the Slip n Slide out in the swamp, and Rebecca and I sat on the patio. PICTURES Then, after Ma returned home, we three went to Target (where Rachel used her birthday gift card and bought a skateboard) and Millenia Mall until P called and said to bring Rachel home. Jim and I got Steak N Shake for dinner (mmmmmSNS) and came home to discover the tarp had loosed itself. We quickly ate and climbed back onto the roof before sundown to re-secure the tarp. Here's hoping it stays put this time. I'm quite pleased to say our tarp is a pretty green while everyone else in the neighborhood has ugly blue tarps.

Well kids, I still have to try to post pictures in one of the links I've already posted. And since we've both received calls from work to let us know power was back on, we have to work tomorrow. Although I think school is still out. No fair! I want more days off!

We definately need a vacation after the past 6 weeks of constant stress.

802a - And we're still here. And so is Jeanne. I slept a couple hours and got up now that it's light out so I could take pictures and survey the damage so far. We had 2 power surges around 630a, but, oddly, we still have both power and internet. Our yard is so much more flooded this time. Likely a result of previous flooding and daily rain. I'm afraid the rain may actually rise above the concrete slab this time, since we still have so many hours of this storm left to go, and given how much it's raining. We keep hearing disconcerting noises coming from the roof. And, yes, it's raining our shingles in the front yard, again.

On the bright side, there's a hoppy frog outside our window, in the canoe, that has been singing to me since about 6a.

Tony and Linda report their oak is thinning itself out, but no other known damages at this time. Also, they had a power surge around 730a, but continue to have power.

921a - Our roof looks terrible; much worse than it did after Charley and Frances combined. And we still have hours and hours of this pounding wind and rain ahead of us. I'm dismayed. Meanwhile, apparently our bedroom window could use some caulk or something as we're taking water into the room that way. Despite the news people urging people to stay inside, we walked around the house. We put our ponchos on and still got soaked. And it's a sharp, stinging rain. Once again, it's aiming at the back of the house, so all our shingles are landing in the front yard and street. This storm, our roof looks worse than all our neighbors. However, after previous storms, our roof looked the best. The water goes almost all the way around the house - pretty soon I'll be able to get out there and swim laps! And it's so much deeper than it was after Frances. I'm worried about all the water. Who put the "Welcome Mosquito Eggs" sign in our yard? There's still a curfew until 5p.

Meanwhile, some people have said that the newest drinking game is to take a shot every time someone on television says "hunker down". Well, if we were playing that game, in the press conference we just watched, we would have done 3 shots in 3 minutes. Now that "hunker down" has been brought to my attention, I'm amazed at what a popular phrase it is.

Let me post this and see if I can get some pictures Photoshopped before we lose power or internet.

942a - It's so loud outside. The wind is roaring and howling and whistling. And the rain is smacking against the back of the house. The nearly bald trees are groaning and swaying. It's just so noisy.

Jim is shining a light into the attic and he thinks he's sees moisture on the underside of the roof. Time to break out the big roll of plastic to protect the computer equipment and piano. God I hope that's not really moisture up there. In times like these, we need a ladder.

1152a - We're so screwed. The roof is leaking in so many places, we just don't have enough buckets or plastic wrap. Most of the leaks are along the back of the house, but, for some reason, there's a massive leak above Margarita's room, and her ceiling has a large wet spot. Jim's going to turn the power off to her room. The laundry room also has a growing wet spot, but the pitch of the roof makes that leak impossible to access. So we'll just have to endure it. We're so screwed.

We're never going to sell this house.

Our super-safe, makeshift "ladder" (actually much safer than the broken ladder outside)

434p - Well, Jeanne is mostly gone. Mostly. We're still getting random major gusts of wind. And it's still drizzling. Thank god the rain calmed down. Our poor sieve/roof. We never lost power or internet. Of course, historically, we shouldn't lose our internet until after the entire area has its power restored. Typically on a nice, sunny day.

The red arrows point to the leaks in our attic or over the patio. I may have missed one or two leaks. The good news is that all the new shingles that were put on after Frances are still there. And we don't appear to be leaking in those areas.

I talked to JG, and she lost power at 1p. She said work will be closed tomorrow. That's good. That will enable me to stay home and worry about the roof but not be able to do anything to ameliorate the situation. I don't think we'll be listing our house on Tuesday.

Duane said they lost power for a while, and internet, and cable, but he has his power and internet back already. Since Brighthouse is his cable, I suspect he'll get his cable back the same day we lose our internet. I think that's their business plan: rotate service to their customers so that no two customers have service at the same time.

I just can't believe this. Oh, and our house (only our house - none of our neighbors have this problem) is an island. I always wanted a moat. Stupid hurricane season.

On the bright side, as soon as it stops being so windy, we get to go up on the roof and try out our other new $60 tarp! Now, if only we had an El Camino up on blocks in the front yard. That would complete the look.

They just extended the mandatory curfew in Orange County to 6a tomorrow. Wow.

206p - I'm exhausted. We were at Waterford (Target, PetSmart, Home Depot) before 9a. When we got to Target, there were no lines. By the time we were done shopping, the lines were insane. Somehow we spent $100. I don't know what the heck we bought. We were able to get food for the geckos, frogs, and bunny. So that way, if (when) we lose power, for however long it may be out in our area, we don't have to worry about feeding the kids. I'm sure the kids were thrilled at being fed so soon after their last feeding. They usually eat every 10 days or so, and they've been fed twice in 5 days. I'd rather they eat now than worry that I'm starving them. After Charley and Frances, crickets and meal worms were impossible to find. And I felt just terrible that my kids were going without food.

My Uncle and Rhena have, once again, found a hotel room. Rather a shame: they just got back into town this morning from their vacation up north. The sure planned that poorly. I'm just so relieved that they're evacuating their mobile home.

I can't believe we're getting hit with another hurricane. I've been rather weepy this morning (although I haven't actually cried, I just keep misting up) because of my disbelief and the related stress. I'll have to get the despair out of my system before Margarita gets home from work so that I can be strong for her (since she's more prone to panic). When we went back out to get propane, we drove through the neighborhood via a route we only take when we're returning from the propane place, and there were 2 or 3 houses that had the brightly colored stickers adorning their windows indicating their homes were condemmed. That's just so sad. What do you do when your home is declared unsafe for habitation? Those poor people.

On the bright side, we're getting to use one of our super expensive, overnighted from Tennessee, tarps! We wrapped the Jeep like a present since it took on water during Frances. That will create noise, but at least the Jeep should be safer that way.

1015p - Don't you just love the waiting game? We should really begin feeling Jeanne within the next hour. Meanwhile, here are four absolutely beautiful (disconcerting) pictures from the 7 o'clock hour. Wherefore do these storms choose to come on shore after dark when I can't take pictures? Meanies.

To my fellow Floridians: stay safe and good luck.

1056p - We went to the Orlando Home Show this evening. It took way longer than it should have to drive there, so we only ended up with two hours to walk around the expo. Damn shame, really, because the show was good, and we had to race through it to see everything. Because of the heavy (hurricane-related) traffic, we talked about not going tonight and trying to go tomorrow. But with Jeanne out there, we really have to (again) prepare for the storm. (I'm so sick of having to be on guard for hurricanes.) It was a bit depressing, however, since we don't have our house yet. It sucks looking at stuff to ameliorate or accessorize something you don't have. I wish we could go again tomorrow, but it's just not feasible. So, next time the home show is in town, we'll have to plan better - and maybe have money to spend. There were so many toys I need.

Meanwhile, back in hurricane central, gas stations were already sold out of gasoline when we tried to get gas after the home show. We did manage to find gas, and not too far from home, but it was a bit tense when we realized we had no gas and all our usual stations were sold out.

I'm just so tired of having to prepare for a storm. Last weekend was the first (and apparently last) weekend we've had since the beginning of August that we were not preparing for, enduring, or recovering from a massive storm. Everyone I know is stressed out and tired. And for those of you who think that having time off from work to sit home during a storm is relaxing, it isn't. Especially with Frances. She took her sweet time, and the winds and rain were so loud (especially with the neighbor's tarp cracking in the wind) that sleep was not very possible. And when we did sleep, it was an hour here or there, and not at all restful. I think Jeanne is faster than Frances, but not nearly the 2 hours that Charley took to blow through Orlando. And it's so stressful living this way. Things were finally getting back to normal. And now Jeanne has decided to try farking up our lives. Before Charley I joked about how having a hurricane would break up the monotony of life. Well... it would be so nice to have a period of time without hurricanes to break up this new monotony of life. Living life hurricane to hurricane is not fun. Imagine those poor people that keep getting evacuated. I'm so thankful that we are not one of them. There is just no way we could afford to evacuate once, let alone two, three, or four times (since some of them evacuated in case Ivan decided to turn at the last minute). And the stress of driving in evacuation traffic, only to go stay in a hotel or shelter. I feel badly for those poor people.

On the bright side, the jeweler found my ring and we picked it up last night. It's so pretty. I'm quite pleased. And they did such a thorough cleaning of my rock.

Have you seen the most recent track for Jeanne? That's our house under the eye at 8am Sunday. Gee, we must have been planning to list the house on Tuesday. (I'm using a map from 8pm, so it's not as dismal looking as the map they're showing on the 11pm news, where the eye is either directly over us, or to the left so that we can experience the right side of the eye, which is the more violent side).

By the way, I apparently forgot to sign off my AIM at work this evening, so if you start im-ing me, please be aware I may not be online at home, and until someone goes into the office tomorrow and unplugs all the computers (hurricane preparation), I'll continue to be signed on at work. I hate that AIM changed and now lets you be signed on at two locations.