We made it thru!

I will never again in my life take electricity and all it brings for granted again!

We made it thru but not without the stress that going thru a hurricane brings...But first and formost I need to get a special thanks out to Lisa, Stacy and Steph...your calls kept me going even when I had totally and completly had it with all this...I am forever in your debt!

To recap the events...Frances hadn't even roared thru here when we lost power at 10am on Saturday...the storm wasn't due to hit until about 12 or 1am...Okay that was fine...we had all the supplies and everything...the winds started really going about late afternoon...Michael and I were both nervous as we have a huge tree right smack next to the condo...It came down all right...in peices...luckily not hitting any cars or condos as it did so...After one squall had gone thru late afternoon...we headed out around our block in search of a Mama duck and her babies...they had just been born a few days ago and if Mike and I could find them we were prepared to scoop them up, Mama and all, and take them back with us...Neither one of us could handle the thought of these cute little babies out in this hurricane...We were heartbroken we couldn't find them and hoped they would weather it well...We weathered the night okay...although hot and muggy, but Man oh Man could we hear the winds hitting our hurricane shutters!

The power of these winds was totally awe inspiring...I don't think I slept much that night...kept going and checking on the kids who for the most part seemed oblivious of the howling outside...that was good!

The next morning when the winds died down...we went out to survey the damage...Debis everywhere...trees on cars...light poles knocked down...the sight was incredible...I also had awoken to a migraine that steadily worsened until I finally broke down and took some of my migraine pills...Mike had to go into work as he works in Engineering at the hospital that we both work for...Needless to say he wasn't going to be home Sunday night and worked straight thru until monday at 4pm...

The kids for the most part weathered it well up until Monday...I can understand, they were hot, tired, muggy, cranky...I think I broke up more fights between the three of them than I cared too...They had pretty much had it and I think I did too...I even was asked why didn't Florida Power and Light care about us? Didn't they want to get the power going? It was hard to explain to the kids that a half a million people also didn't have power...They also were tired of watching news all day on the black an white TV we had...We managed to make trips out at times as stores slowly opened...Most on limited supplies until more came in...

My dog Asha was another one that was pretty much a mess and a source of aggravation to me...she's a shih tzu and normally I keep her hair shaved down and she was scheduled to go to the groomers that saturday...Well with the storm approching that wasn't possible...so she too was hot and muggy and cranky...Manisa (my Daughter in Law who stayed with us throughout) kept giving her cold baths to help her and it did....but the thing that really aggravated me is as Steph in her Blog so wonderfully put it...She is a prissy Dog...She hates going outside to do her business if the ground is wet...I kept putting her in the grass and she kept trying to come back out...refusing to go! AAARRRGHHHH! This was not the time for her to be picky about getting her paws wet! (Oh the HORROR!) Needless to say that I have rescheduled her groomers appointment for this weekend...That's a tenative appointment...I will get to that momentarily...

All in all people down here have been interesting....most have been wonderful...helping others and what not...others....well the best I can say is they need a good swift kick in the you know what's....The kids are off of schools until next week...and we finally got power back 7pm on Tuesday...So the kids are enjoying airconditioning and cable TV...Now it's time to clean up while we can......

What I mean is.....The latest report on Ivan puts it coming right up the middle of Florida Monday night....It's a horrendous Category 5 with winds going above 160...That is why Asha's appointment is tenative as I am sure that if this comes again to us...they will be closed...

For those that want to check this out....go to these websites.....

http://www.thewpbfchannel.com/index.html

Or http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_astorm9+shtml/090853.shtml?

The last is the site for the National Hurricane Center...

Wish us luck that we don't have to go thru this again!!!!

But I am again stocking up with stuff!

Take care!