posted
Its 1:24 am and I am watching fearfully for those going thru Jeanne. Please sign in ASAP.
Its seems Jeanne is hitting my mom's condo on Hutchinson Island, Ft. Pierce again. She just left us in Mich. after a 3 week visit and went to visit her sister in Washington DC. At 81 years old, I am glad she wasn't there for Ivan or Jeanne.
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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You exhibit a slight twitch when introduced to anyone with the first names of Charley, Frances, Ivan, or Jeanne.
If an air boat is parked in your drive instead of a car.
Your freezer never has more than $20 worth of food in it any given time.
You're looking at paint swatches for the plywood on your windows to accent the house color.
You think of your hall closet/safe room as "cozy".
Your pool is more accurately described as "framed in" than "screened in".
Your freezer in the garage now only has homemade ice in it.
You no longer worry about relatives visiting during the summer months.
You too haven't heard back from the insurance adjuster.
You've ordered gas via FedEx.
You now understand what that little "2% hurricane deductible" phrase really means.
You're putting a collage together on your driveway of roof shingles from your neighborhood.
Your Street has more than 3 " NO WAKE" signs posted.
You now own 5 large ice chests.
You recognize the other people in line at the free ice, gas and plywood locations.
You stop what you're doing and clap and wave when you see a convoy of power company trucks come down your street.
Your depressed when they don't stop.
You have the personal cell phone numbers of the managers for: plywood, roofing supplies and generators at Home Depot on your speed dialer.
You've spent more than $20 on "Tall white kitchen bags" to make your own sand bags.
You were once proud of your 16" electric chain saw.
You're now considering upgrading from that 16" to a 20" gas chainsaw.
You know what "Bar chain oil" is.
You're thinking of getting your wife the hard hat with the ear protector & face shield for Christmas.
You now think the $6000 whole house generator seems reasonable.
You look forward to discussions about the merits of "cubed, block and dry ice".
Your therapist refers to your condition as "generator envy".
You fight the urge to put on your winter coat and wool cap and parade around in front of your picture window when you finally get power and your neighbor across the street with the noisy generator doesn't.
And finally .... you might be a Floridian if you ask your sister up north to start saving the Sunday Real Estate Classifieds.
Si at Frank's
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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A bit of a scare here on the west coast of Florida, around 1am this morning, after Jeanne made an east coast landfall, she started to whobble and make a westerly turn. The storm's path would have come right towards us, with nothing to do but stay put!
At 9am, reports had Jeanne 70 miles due north of us. Currently, our winds are sustained at 35mph and gusting. So far, we've been spared the heavy rains, mainly misting.
No visable damages to my neighborhood, with the exception of a few loose roof tarps. Though, I haven't ventured further than my own yard. At first light, I was delighted to see the temporary repairs to my home have held up exceptionally well. What a relief!
I didn't lose electric, though some I have spoken to this morning say their power went out around midnight and hasn't been restored.
Still hunkered down...
Cher.
-------------------- Co-Host: SANDCASTLE Panel Jam 'a Dixie Letterhead Reunion' Fort Myers, Florida
Cheryl Lucas a/k/a "Shag" on mIRC Vital Signs & Graphics, Etc. Cape Coral, Florida 239-574-4713 VSignsNgraphics@aol.com Posts: 987 | From: Cape Coral, FL USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm at Cheryl's for a couple hours. Lemme tell ya, she makes one helluva cup of coffee!
I'm not sure yet. I'm staying in a motel in Ft.Myers...very windy today, gusts up to 45 or 50 miles per hour. Yesterday, I began putting all my belongings that weren't destroyed in Charley (and some that were destroyed and I'm having trouble throwing away) in a storage pod that's in my driveway. I know that Punta Gorda is flooding today, but haven't found out yet how Port Charlotte is faring. Since the pod is laying directly on the pavement, only a few inches of flooding will be bad news.
If you look on a map, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda are neighboring towns, divided only by Charlotte Harbor and a bridge. I live (used to live) 3 lights north of the bridge.
Even though we've had Frances, Ivan and now Jeanne, one thing that alot of folks around the country might not comprehend is that Charley's (and Ivan's) devistation did not end with the end of television coverage, but very much is still here and will be for a long time to come. To put in perspective, they say that Homestead is just now getting back to normal, from Andrew in 1992. They're saying that it could be five years before all the tarps are off roofs.
I'm not looking forward to spending the next few months in a FEMA travel trailor (I'm almost 7 feet tall), but it could be worse. Hopefully I'll find a job soon...$245 a week unemployment doesn't go far.
(sorry if I sound depressed, but I think it's probably natural to get that way under these conditions)
posted
Don, My experience with Andrew was that I would read/hear through the grapevine about all the loose animals.
I was very much into the Paso Fino breed at the time and Florida was probably the most highly populated state with these horses. I would hear that the horses of course got loose and people were finding them with deep gashed and even legs cut off from flying metal.
Right now, I have a sister-in-law in Tampa. another one by Weirsdale (ocala area), and my mother-in-law has a trailer in Weirsdale. She only lives in that during the northern winter months but still she has a lots of belongings in the trailer. My mother's condo is on North Hutchinson Island, Ft. Peirce and a brother at Wellingotn, West Palm Beach.
[ September 26, 2004, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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as don says after the news is no longer concentrated on the aftermath....the devistaion still exists. you seen the pictures of my house and yard. hennie called FEMA the day after the storm, gave them all the info, she didnt call the home insurance co because we have no major damge to the house but the rest of the 2 acres are total trash. sat we get a letter from FEMA declining us. says we can appeal and we will. i cant even start to clean up this mess. last summer i had some tree work done and cleared a 30' x 60' patch of woods here and the bill was $1700.00, now you can imagine what its gona be for almost 5 times that area. on the up side we are alive and unhurt, the house is now a cat 4 APPROVED SHELTER!!!! hehehe i got work, ive been doing a lot of magnetics and banner for "operation blue roof",hennies work place they do indutrial painting, roofing, evironmental cleanup...AND THEY ARE SWAMPED WITH CALLS right now. the one thing i dont see being address in any of these catastrophies is the phycological impact these thing have had on the people.....myself i still wake up in the morning saying.."wow, what a nightmare that was." when i look out the windows.....then i know it was real, still i dont want to belive it, if i let it i would do nothing but sit and cry.............
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Si, there is a lot of truth in those jokes.
Psychologists say what we are experiencing is similar to battle fatigue. I know I feel like I've been in a damn war... the aftermath HAS been worse because it just drags on day after day and makes every little thing seems like so much work. One day it's waiting in line for 6 hours at FEMA, another it's working from dawn to dark salvaging what's left of the boat.. and so on... all the while looking for a place to live and trying to seem enthusiastic about the new job while worrying about stuff like which bag is the checkbook in and where is the closest laundry... Living in a motel from necessity is like being on vacation without any of the fun. I finally found an apt here in Ft Myers last week and got all my things moved in over the weekend before the rains hit-- it seems like that all I have done lately is move my stuff around. I guess I should be glad that I still have it at all... just feels like some kind of weird dream that I happen to be living in-- here I am in a new town, with a new job and new car, in a new apartment, and boatless... all in the blink of an eye...
I went back up to Punta Gorda a few days ago and depressing doesnt even describe it. All the debris has been moved to huge piles along the roads, and who knows how long it will take to remove it. Every house but two on my old street has been bulldozed, and those two (including mine) will be gone this week. I drove through the neighborhood and it looks like there are maybe a dozen homes out of the hundreds that were there that can be salvaged. It is just surreal.
This has been one damn strange trip, and the movie aint over.
-------------------- Jay Nichols ALPHABET SOUP
~the large print giveth and the small print taketh away~ Posts: 176 | From: SW Florida | Registered: Mar 2002
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Okay, just spill it here, cause that's why we're here for ya! Crying and laughing are both natural and you have them both. You will get through it, it just takes a lot of time, but, the Big Guy does heal, and these challenges do bring people together too. btw, maybe the apartment manager where Pat and Bobbie live may have some info on them?
[ September 26, 2004, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: Deb Fowler ]
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Pat and Bobbie live in a trailer. I just tried calling again and still no answer. I don't even know if Bobbie has gotten out of the hospital yet.
[ September 26, 2004, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
The snakes and I are fine. Lost some more roof shingles, a piece of my sign. Power was out for only five hours this time. Changed a flat tire in the middle of the hurricane. My chicken wings were over cooked but the rum didnt go bad.
Ready for hurricane #5
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
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