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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Hurricane Irma summation Part One

Well, Irma was here and gone. Gone for most of us, some are still cleaning up or bailing out their homes and businesses from the high water left behind. This morning I spoke with a neighbor from the 1st floor, a tenant, who has endured quite a lot since moving in here, most recently, water intrusion from the river during the storm. She told me of the floor being pulled up from her living room and tossed onto her veranda. She told about not being able to access her dishwasher, washer or dryer (I offered the use of mine) due to her patio furniture being in the way. She told about the drips from her ceiling which landed on her TV speakers and entertainment center. And then said, "All in all, not too bad, compared to what others are going through...." Yes, that's pretty much the way we feel here at The Palace. A broad statement, to be sure, but it really could be worse!

Lori and Kerry were scheduled originally to depart from FL on Tuesday, the 12th. With the storm pending and being unable to get their tickets changed or postponed, they came anyway. Once here and looking like the hurricane was going to cause us a problem, they changed their departure flight, at no charge, to Saturday, the 9th. That should work! NOPE!!!  On Friday Lori got an email saying that flight was cancelled and they were rebooked for later in the day. NOPE! Cancelled again. No chance to get out, they were stuck. This is what I so wanted to avoid but here we were. Lori was scared out of her wits, fearing she would die. I knew we would not, our building is so strong and we are up high, but I do/did fear my windows breaking and damage ensuing. I'm all about my stuff!

I had tarps, I had food and drink supplies, buying more to have on hand since my sisters were going to be here, too. Hurricane foods consist generally of non-perishables that will sustain a person for the duration of the expected power outage. Speaking of that, my friends, the Chappell's, don't lose power as freely as we do, and had agreed to take in my houseguests for that reason. Judy checked in with me several times to find out if they were coming or not, eventually deciding to stay with Justin and me. Lori said she'd promise to not whine about the heat. I made a promise to not whine about being cold due to the A/C being set cooler for their comfort. It was a struggle, but with my heated blanket and Packer cover, I was good!

Anyway, back to the prep---I had ordered tarps from Amazon, regular blue tarps you see all over, one for each window on the river side. I knew the sliders would be okay, being newer and stronger. I bought a bladder to put in the bathtub which would hold 100 gallons of drinkable water. Typically we don't lose our water, but I felt comfortable having it. We did not fill it, however. 

Because Lori was so scared and had told people on the phone more than once, "No, they don't board their windows..." I asked Mitch from The Club to bring some plywood for the two windows. He came Saturday, his nephew helping him, but he refused to destroy my lovely woodwork with putting up the wood. He left his tools in case we needed to quickly put up boards but just couldn't justify doing it. He said much that calmed Lori and having the boards at the ready helped, too. Nothing on The Club was boarded up, he told us and it's older than The Palace. God bless him!

After watching both our football teams win their games, Justin and Kerry put up the tarps. Kerry was a willing and able worker, loves to be busy. Justin used the screw gun Mitch left to put up the tarps and then leaned the plywood sheets in front of the windows. Justin made room for me in his bedroom, clearing off his little loveseat and even putting a comforter over the top of it for more cush. Last time we had such a storm I stayed across the hall but that's where Lori was. Kerry had an airbed set up in the living room where the TV was (she is like me). At one point after we lost power we moved her bed into Justin's room so it was more quiet. 

Something woke her up and she moved out to the living room again. It was in there she heard the drip drip drip behind the loveseat. Nuts!  We had the other catch basins in place but didn't go back there. I got Justin up and together we moved the loveseat out and put down a plastic layer plus basins. Kerry had added some more on the other side as they were filling up quickly. Like I said, she was a little fireman running around and taking care of business!

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