Irma

Well, we had only minor experience with Hurricanes in the past.  While Irma was expected to go to the east cost of Florida we were not really too concerned but once it decided to go across us we became a little more concerned.  Not frightened but concerned - mainly about the 3 largest trees around the yard which shed limbs without a breeze.

Initially we did do any drastic planning - just made sure we had extra food on hand and a plan to fill spare containers with some water.  Up north we didn't have city water so no power = no water, at least on the city water now it seems more likely to maintain some sort of water supply without power.  By time we were pretty sure Irma was going to go across us - stores were pretty much sold out.  Plywood was gone, bottled water gone, fuel was already in short supply, generators were way gone.  At this point we were a little more concerned - somewhat because my parents live in a manufactured home about an hour south of us - closer to the storm.  I also use a CPAP and the idea of being without power for maybe a couple weeks was not pleasant.  Up north we ended up without power one year for a week or so but before my sleep apnea was bothering me - since then we had been very fortunate.  It also turned out that 2 of my neighbors use CPAPs as well.

My parents decided to come up to our place well before we knew the storm was heading closer to us.  I was very very happy they made that call. As Irma was getting closer, we briefly thought about trying to leave the area but the traffic jams shown on the news pretty much made it clear that wasn't a great option at that point.  We even considered going to our local high school which was a shelter but we had some concerns about that along with my CPAP need, etc. We decided to stick it out and batten down the hatches.  We got to Lowes the morning before the storm and were able to about about 60ft of 1"x10" pine boards and combined that with "junk" laying around the house/yard we were able to board up the windows pretty well.  We stripped the pressure treated sides of our utility trailer, took the "ugly" paneling out of the sort-of office (wife prompted this one a bit just to get rid of the paneling I think..), found spare chunks of stuff I moved down from Virginia, etc and cut it to size and screwed it mostly into the frames of our original 1985 vintage single pane windows.  We took a few passes and packed all the stuff outdoors into either the garage or onto the lanai.  Garage was packed..

My wife was a little unhappy when I told her that putting the cars in the garage was probably only temporary for now..  still need a workshop.. until then.

We started thinking about where to stay in the house if things got bad  and finally decided that the half done office was the best bet.  More concrete around it and it is sort of between the garage and master bedroom area.  We move a bunch of stuff from there and started to make what reminded me of 1950's bomb shelters I had read about.

I was still concerned about my CPAP need but then I remembered that we had a small "inverter" - a small electronic device that can hook up to a DC power supply and produce AC.  I went over to the autostore and picked up a couple decent size deep cycle marine batteries. A quick calculation indicated that those should keep my CPAP running for maybe 2 weeks.  I figured we might even be able to charge phones off them if needed.  After this, I was feeling a bit more relaxed.

I did feel really bad for my parents - I know my dad was pretty convinced that their place wouldn't make it.  Sits within a stones throw of both a pond and river and it was looking like the storm would roll right over it.  My mom saved a few small items - pictures and such just in case.  I think some of our faith in Jesus did leave us feeling less stressed over the whole deal.  It was still really hectic though since I had hope that there would be little damage especially since we still are not fully "unpacked" after moving in.  It wouldn't have been the end of the world but I know I was already very tired before all this.

To make a long story shorter, we did lose power but only for about 2 days.  The only real storm damage was a section of fence blowing down.  It was probably 25 years old and way past prime.  My parents didn't have any real damage although some homes in their area did lose their roofs or had other severe damage.  We ended up sleeping in the house instead of the office (but not in the bedrooms near the big trees).

We have some really awesome neighbors and a number of them all came out and helped cleanup the large mess of debris (mostly from our trees..).  I still have to take apart the broken fence but other than that and the pile of brush by the road still - you wouldn't know the storm came through.

When we moved down here, I told our kids "it will be an adventure".  I think we do hope for a bit less excitement for just a little while now. But if that isn't how things turn out then..

Nahum 1:7New International Version (NIV)

7 The Lord is good,
    a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,

I do pray for those that lost lots more - both around us, in Texas, Puerto Rico, etc and then the earthquake in Mexico.  It is a reminder that this life and associated belongings are not permanent.  We should remember that life is precious and can't be restored by us though - the place that we lay our head can be.