four years ago…
we woke to the aftermath of Hurricane Charley.
it was the beginning of far too many days without power.
we each ate a half gallon of ice cream for breakfast.
we realized how lucky we were.

we had no idea Frances and Jeanne were on the horizon.

UPDATED: I’m going to copy of my text from live blogging Charley, because I’m reading it now and find it fascinating. And because I can fix some of those broken picture links over here but not over there.
081304 -
9a - JG’s goal is to have us out of here at 1030. News say to be off the roads by 2.

451p - Since I haven’t already said so, Happy Friday the 13th. JG started freaking out and had us all out of the office at 1039a. Jim didn’t get out until 1. I hit the stores (Publix and the pet store so the kids could eat too). Insanity. There was a line of vehicles waiting to get into the (boycott) Wal-mart parking lot (the plaza that has my grocery and pet stores). I took a picture. I also took a picture of the line of cars waiting to get gas at 7-Eleven. I’ve never seen a line of cars there before. I tried to get gas at the BP, but they were sold out. So, I didn’t get gas. I figure we’ll be fine: I still have 70 miles on this tank, and the Jeep has a full tank. So we’ll be fine. When Jim and I got home with the masking tape, we quickly cleaned the back yard (ie properly stored items that could become airborn), and closed the shed just as the first band of severe storm hit. In between the first and second bands, I took pictures of the house - the “before” shots. As it stands right now, Charley just came ashore at Ft. Meyers, and is a category 4 (winds 140+ sustained) hurricane. Very soon, Charley will cross over Orlando. I’m listening to a press conference with the Orange county sheriff and emergency people, and they’re saying “Orlando is the center of the bulls eye”. Very exciting. By the time Charley hits us, he should weaken down to a level 3, which is still very serious. We have our windows taped up, and the cars are parked in creative manners. In times like these, I regret the lack of garage.

Update on my uncle, he had his heart shock procedure around 1040a. They were only going to shock his heart twice, but they ended up shocking him 4 times, and it didn’t work. J’Lynn says she thinks my uncle is scared. So much so that he has vowed to quit smoking. They’re going to keep him hospitalized probably until Monday. And poor Rhena, they live in a mobile home, and all mobile homes have mandatory evacuations across central Florida, and her husband is in the hospital. I feel badly for her. And I’m scared for my uncle.

On the bright side, this hurricane tastes yummy. The second one is much tastier than the first, as tasty beverages often are.

The rain is picking up again so let me post this - just in case. I’ll blog throughout. The storm is now predicted to directly hit us closer to 11p, compared with the 2a they were talking a few hours ago. Fun stuff.

Hurricane Charley: breaking up the monotony of life.

BEFORE:

539p - The worse thing about DirectTV is that when it clouds up, we lose our television. Dammitalltohell. And they were finally talking about more interesting-to-me stuff regarding Charley. Grrrrrr. It’s raining steadily again. I’ll likely go sit on the back porch and enjoy the rain. I love watching the rain. Although the thunder is quite ominous. Time for a third tasty beverage?

601p - The neighbor’s waterfall off their roof:

Welcome Farkers! Since I posted a link in a comment thread, my hit counter has gone nuts.

Once again, the storm has calmed. Still awaiting the wrath of Charley. The television keeps coming and going. We hooked the cable modem into the UPS so that we don’t lose our internet, in case we lose power. There is no life off line! Wow! Charley is booking across the state. That’s probably a good thing: the faster he moves, the less flooding we’ll endure.

This is really quite exciting for me; my first real hurricane. We were all set for Floyd back in 99, and then he turned at the last minute. So this is a new experience for me. Back when Floyd was threatening, my dad ordered me to get onto a plane and get out of the state. Funny how Charley essentially snuck up on us. This morning, Orlando was in the far right of their projected margin or error for Charley’s path. Now we’re the bulls eye. Ma is a bit nervous, I think. Not sure which station she’s watching in her room, but she came out a few minutes ago all concerned that we don’t have a “safe” room to enter in the event of a tornado.

The rain has stopped… again… for now…

614p - They’ve reported 5 deaths so far. The one they’ve focussed on was a traffic incident in which a semi truck toppled onto a passenger vehicle, killing a small child. You always hate to hear when an innocent child dies. One of those freak events. Like that poor woman jogger last year who had a tree land on her and kill her. It’s a smack from God, I guess.

HOLY SH*T!!! They just showed video in Ft. Myers of the roof being lifted off the Ft. Myers post office! WOW! That’s was impressive!

And (sing it with me) here comes the rain again.

710p - From the WTF category: Why are the news personalities interviewing tourists at Daytona Beach? I could care less what people over in Daytona think right about now. Ooooh - you’re on the beach - on the other side of the state. Now, interview some stupid schmuck over on the west coast beach and I’ll be more interested. It’s really calm outside - quite disconcerting. And furthermore… WhyTF do these stupid news stations insist on running all those stupid ass banners across the bottom half of the screen when they’re showing the really interesting video? That irritates the hell out of me. I’ll tell you, I don’t envy idiot news people standing out reporting in weather like this. Insanity, I tell you.

733p - It’s getting really windy. I took pictures of trees in the wind, but I’m not sure the pictures quite convey the reality. Winds are only at 24mph right now (at the airport, five miles away from here)… and increasing in velocity. It’s really cold outside (which is to say cold for Florida, which isn’t really cold compared to when I lived up north). Here he comes… are you excited? There have been reports of tornados around town.

743p - LOL! The more the news people tell us to stay inside, the more often I go outside (covered back patio) to see the weather up close! How else am I supposed to adequately report on the weather to you, my faithful readers? The thing that creeps me out is the ceiling tile that covers the attic entry is opening and closing with the draft created from having the patio door open. The wind makes that creepy whistling sound. Happy Friday the 13th, eh? I’m still really excited about this storm (because we all know I’m a dumbass). They keep showing roadways from the DOT cameras, and the cameras are just shaking in the wind. I’m so impressed with this little storm.

Unrelated: I’m so excited! A fellow farker commented in my general direction on the hurricane thread (on which I posted a comment linking to my blog and Jim’s blog). Yay! I’m really part of the fark community! I’m so easily amused.

750p - Behold the first power surge. Now I have to get off the couch to turn the tv back on. Behold the second power surge. Maybe I’ll just wait to turn the tv back on.

806p - Power surge. The trees are bending over. Our neighbors (the ones I like, not the crazy ones who light fireworks after dousing them in gasoline) parked 2 trucks under the large tree in their front yard. That seemed foolish to me when I watched them park them there (as we parked mine between the 2 houses, Ma’s across the front, and Jim’s protecting the sliding glass door), and now that I’m watching that tree bending over, I am even more convinced that parking their trucks underneath was a bad call. It’s really cold (for Florida) outside. I’m contemplating a sweater (because as a Floridian, I relish any opportunity to wear winter clothing). It’s finally dark out. Ma is coping well, but she’s clearly antsy. The only thing I’m antsy about is losing my ability to be online. Fortunately, my iBook has a battery backup (poor Jim not having his iBook yet), but if we lose power, and it lasts a while, the UPS won’t sustain the internet connection long enough to satiate my needs.

WOW! Video in Charlotte County of the wind literally blowing a large pick up truck and a small airplane around! Impressive. I wonder where Charlotte County is?

Wait, let me go park my car underneath a large tree so I can get my Element!

815p - That power surge was longer than the previous 3. We may be nearing the end of my site updates. Sigh. That is indeed a sad thing.

824p - Okay kids, I just had my first moment of fright. I heard something in the backyard smack into something else, and when I got up, the rain was blowing into the house (our covered patio is really quite large, so to have rain coming in is impressive). I’m feeling a little discontent. The wind is raging. At the airport, they say the sustained winds are at 30mph, with gusts higher than that. The airport is just down the road. So that’s what’s going on at my house. I’m a little worried. Wow. I wish you could hear what we’re hearing. Ominous just is not an adequate word to describe it anymore. And to think Charley has weakened considerably. I can’t imagine being in a storm like this over on the coast when it first hits. It’s only category 2 right now. And it’s scary.

836p - And the power is out. And apparently staying out. Wait, it’s back on. Make up your mind. It keeps trying to come back on, and I am off line. But I will continue to blog anyway. It’s much scarier in the dark.

1124p - What a strange ride. Jim and I stood on the front stoop for the entire storm, so, from 836 until about 1015 we stood outside and got cold and wet. It was great. We got lucky, upon current first inspection, we sustained some roof damage, but nothing compared with what various houses in the neighborhood sustained. Yes, we took a walk around the neighborhood to assess damage. During the storm, we watched various object as they were thrust down the street. I pity the people in the house perpendicular to our street; they must have taken a beating. We watched the huge tree on the corner (2 houses down) break and land on their truck. It missed the Jeep (we root for vehicles similar to ours). We heard the power station blow shortly after my 836 blog (which I didn’t get to post yet). The lightening was green and blue - absolutely beautiful. And there was a whistling for a solid hour as the wind whipped about the area. We caught a garbage can. And we went into the back yard (the wind was pounding the back, so we were somewhat sheltered in the front) at the right time and salvaged the aluminum facing that had been ripped off one section of the overhang. So we’ll be able to fix that without buying new materials. Our roof really doesn’t look too bad (in the dark). After the storm, neighbors poured into the streets, it was like a big block party. We spoke to more neighbors tonight than we have in all the time we have lived here (probably including Jim’s entire childhood). After investigating the tree on the corner, we went up the street and were greatly impressed by a house across the street, maybe 3 houses up. They have a tree in their front yard that blew completely over, with the roots and grass ripped up. I took pictures. We were very impressed… until we saw an even larger tree on another street in a similar situation. Those people got lucky because the tree didn’t fall completely over - it would have gone straight through the middle of their house. That’s the house with the convertible cream colored Bug. Very exciting stuff. Neighbors are currently driving around the neighborhood. I’d like to break out the Jeep and take a tour, but I don’t know how smart it is to do that. We want to get up at first light and get some good pictures before clean up commences.

It was really scary at times. Mostly because without power, it was very, very dark. And we’d hear things hitting and not have any idea what was hitting what. And the scariest thing was when things would hit our feet and legs (because we were dumbasses who opted to stand outside the entire time, much to Ma’s displeasure) and we’d shine the Maglite down to see what hit us. And the rain was so forceful. I took a drop to the eye, it was like having a nail driven through my contact. Not the most pleasant feeling in the world. It was cold, too. Jim wore a sweatshirt and I got my jacket out. Then the storm wasn’t so bad because we were warmer. At one point, three dogs ran by, and, even though I loathe dogs, my heart ached for them and I tried to coax them into the house. Thankfully, they didn’t come in. But I was so worried about them.

Several neighbors lost large sections of fencing. Ours is damaged, but, technically, that section is owned by our neighbor. The two sections we own are fine. My car looks like it has been through a hurricane. It’s covered in bits of leaves and dirt. My car was exposed to more of the wind’s force than Jim’s Jeep and Ma’s Civic. So it’s much dirtier. But it didn’t look like any of the cars sustained any damage, and for that, we’re relieved. I feel badly for the neighbors on the corner who had their tree fall onto their vehicles.

Someone lost one of their spinning vent thingies (technical term) from their roof. It was in our neighbor’s yard. That neighbor - the one who cleverly parked their vehicles underneath their tree - also had tree branches fall onto their vehicles. I’m really just so pleased with the way we parked so that our vehicles were quite safe.

Since we’re lacking in power, we’re headed to bed. We’re exhausted. Hopefully we’ll have power in the morning and I’ll be able to post my blog and some pictures. We’re going to put the camera battery to charge so that if the power comes back on, we’re back in business. I hope others fared as well as we did.

wRitErsbLock