The above photo was our first big hurricane experience after moving here in 2016. We were still living in the sardine can rental with three big dogs who had decided they didn't like each other anymore, any of the time. We woke up to no fence and three big dogs we had to walk separately multiple times a day. Talk about fun!
We stocked up on all the wrong kind of food. The power was out for almost four days and bags of ice to purchase became non existent on day one. We had to toss so much lunch meat, ground beef and chicken. What was I thinking? Obviously I wasn't or I would have concentrated on battery operated fans, peanut butter, chips, and baby wipes. We lived and learned quick with Irma. Luckily our landlord had his peeps come over and put the fence back up on day two. It still wasn't fun and was hotter than an F bomb. I would go sit in our car in the driveway just to get cool with the A/C and charge my phone. I would have slept there but gas stations were running out of fuel too.
There was a senior living facility across the street from us who had these huge generators, humming loudly enough to remind me that I was melting while older peeps still had A/C and oxygen. I told Tim on day two I was going to walk across the street and sign myself in.
I was close to not kidding.
We've only had a couple of hurricanes since then which have messed with us in any kind of significant way.
You learn quick about hurricane prep down here, and you learn even quicker who your friends are.
Our neighborhood is an eclectic one. Some living here are the beginning of third generation families. We are also sprinkled with new move ins, transplants from other cities and states, and even countries.
We're a melting pot of society huddled in a small slice of paradise, surrounded on all sides by a lake, a state park, a marsh preserve and a nature preserve. A hard thing to find these days in Orlando.
Most of our community, or at least the most vocal part, are pretty much straight up Trump fans who would never vote Democrat or Independent in a million years. (if they lived that long)
That's their right and more power to them but dang...why do some of them have to be so "in your face" with it?!
Number one I have voted across party lines my entire life since turning eighteen in 1978. Do my ideals lean more left than right? Absolutely, but never do I just vote a straight ticket ballot. And number two, it's nobody's business who I support or vote for. That's the way it was when I was little and that's the way it should be now. Political choices should only be expressed behind the proverbial voting curtain...which was an actual curtain when I was young. Even my own parents refused to tell us three siblings who they voted for, every election, every time. Politics and religion simply weren't up for discussion when I was a kid or even a young adult.
That's the way it should still be, but after the 2020 election, politics turned into a mud slinging, name calling, bullying slander fest with absolute nonsense and hate filled venom. And if I'm being honest, one person is guilty of inciting it the most and seems to revel in it more than anyone, which is extremely disturbing to me.
Talk about a hurricane of epic size and devastation for the entire nation?!! We're better than this and now is the time to come together and work together to leave this country a better place for my children and grandchildren...and their children.
Anyhoo...enough of that. I need to practice what I preach, and by the way, so do all politicians.
So on a much (hopefully) lighter note, we are leaving for vacation early this Saturday morning. And by early I mean pulling out of the driveway at four AM. For the past several few years we spend the second week of October in the Keys. We rent the same place every year. It's in the lower Keys about twenty minutes from Key West. Close enough to the wonderful craziness of all that is Key West but far enough from it to be a private, hidden gem with every amenity you could want. A literal one minute walk to the end of the dock from the house. Not one red light. A couple of really great local restaurants, shops and fresh seafood markets.
So Helene (hurricane that is) kinda of got us nervous but skirted right on by us, wreaking absolute havoc after she left Orlando. The devastation is mind boggling. How many people do you think who live in Asheville, North Carolina even think about or consider hurricane preparedness? Not to mention north Georgia, Tennessee and everywhere else her nasty self visited or sat over.
Maw Naytch don't play... by any rules but her own, and always gets her way.
So we're forging ahead with our plans. Granted there is a tropical depression brewing but at worst is predicted to be nothing like Helene and only has a 40% chance of developing and heading to the Keys.
If it's just a minor wind event (as predicted) so what? It's supposed to rain here in Orlando every day next week, like it has for the past month. It's never been this rainy for so long since our moving here. Mildew and skeeters everywhere...we have a lot of outdoor space and areas where we relax, eat and entertain. Great most all the time but not this past month. Thank goodness climate change is a hoax. (NOT)
I told Tim if it was going to rain here all week anyway, I'd much rather be in the Keys, even if it rains there a little. At least we'll be looking at the ocean from under the covered dock or from one of the two covered porches at the house. In my book a rainy day at the beach is better than no day at the beach. Saltwater heals everything.
We have learned after living here for almost eight (seems crazy, feels like two or three) years that there is nothing you can do about hurricanes. You just learn to live with the possibility and eventuality of them at some point in time. Besides that small window, it's paradise (for me) living here and feels well worth the risk. Hurricanes have a mind and direction of their own and can change it in the matter of a couple of hours...for the better or for the worse.
If need be, with given notice and warning from the proper authorities we can pack up and head out of harms way. If not, we're at the beach and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Praying for sunshine, will accept a little rain but plan on relaxing, laughing, eating, enjoying the view, the company and having an adult beverage or two. We can always snorkel around the dock even if it's raining...we'd be getting wet anyway!
I'm a player. Put me in Coach!
Till next time...COTTON
