Tropical storms have their advantages!

Thanks to Tropical Storm Ernesto, our classes after 1130 are canceled tomorrow. Yay! They made the same call 2 years ago when Hurricane Charley blew through town. Except, the weather was already pretty crazy by 9am. And, not a lot of folks were in town, because they'd already evacuated. I doubt Ernesto will do much damage besides dump a bunch of much needed rain on Florida. But, hey, missing half a day of school is SWEET!

Rainy Days

We've been getting a lot of much needed rain lately. So much so that the Palmer clinic's roof caved in during yesterday's torrent. There was 1/4" of water on the 2nd floor (which bascially means that carpet's TRASHED), which then leaked down to to the first floor. I think some students and faculty salvaged some computers and papers, but it affected the electricity (which means NO A/C as well as no lights) in the majority of the building. Oh, did I mention that Palmer is renting this facility from the City of Port Orange? This building also defaults as a Red Cross shelter in case of hurricanes or floods (the clinic is shut down and the City and Red Cross MOVE IN). So, don't know how stalwart of a shelter it will be when it can't even handle a rain storm.

There was another fierce downpour this afternoon. At least we got our tennis in this morning! It rained enough that the roof leaked in the academic buildings. . . this campus is pretty darn new (2004 and 2005 for these buildings). So, it's funny how the weather can make a place fall apart.

On a lighter note, I ran into Drs. Ronnie & Ravi. Dr. Ravi decided to put on one of Dr. Ronnie's straw hats. He looked adorable, then they and Diane posed for a photo for all of you to enjoy.

Camping out during Hurricane Frances

I'm so thrilled to see the sun shining today! My classmate's and profs were all nervous with the prediction of another Cat 4 hurricane onslaught. Most folks I knew left the state Wed night (and beat the traffic). In our neighborhood, since we're 30-40 miles inland, we just made storm preparations and planned to have no power and minimal water.

Fortunately, the worst was being without power for 3 days (we got it this morning at 0830 and I never felt so thrilled to have air conditioning!!!) We did have plenty of food (experts on the grill by now) and our city water was still drinkable. And, what would I do without a phone line! Talk about a life line to the outside world! I was at least able to check weather status on the internet and keep in touch with classmates out of state who were wondering what the heck was happening to their homes.

Burning the midnight oil took on its literal meaning during the hurricanes. We used every flashlight, candle, and oil lamp we owned.

The routine was the same: lots of rain and wind, non-stop for a couple of days. We had mandatory curfews (plus you're just plain stupid if you venture outside in 60 mph winds), so we sat inside all day. I'd stare out a small unobstructed view through the window for a few hours, (I had zero motivation to study). Then at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, I'd get major cabin fever and really just want to be anywhere but stuck inside. Steve bought us a chocolate anniversary cake before the storm hit. That was the best thing in the world to have during a hurricane. We decided to celebrate our anniversary next weekend (or in case of the 3rd hurricane) we'll just postpone dinner in Orlando indefinitely!

I slept very well during the storm. it was during the calm afterward that I had to listen to the whirring of neighborhood generators through the night that really bugged my sleep. Our neighborhood is on the highest point in our city. So, while area lake docks were flooded (our neighbor's dock was 5-6' above lake-level at mid-June; now it's flooded), we didn't have to worry about flooding or run-off. We didn't even have any huge trees around. Meanwhile, nearby houses once again had HUGE oaks, pines, and maples uprooted from the storm.

Hurricane Frances Part II

My friends in Port Orange were practically swimming around town. It’s still flooded there, which is why I have another full week off from school (will this quarter never end?) We return to school next week just in time for FINALS! And we've had 8 days of class canceled this Q. At least I'm
in first quarter and the info they didn't cover now can be made up next quarter. The upper classman who apparently have national boards this weekend (yeah right) are the ones who are biting their nails off! My classmate called the power company and found out she doesn't have power (she's driving in from out of state) and they said they're not gonna fix it anytime soon due to the weather. We have no significant weather today; the delay is probably due to the lake that’s surrounding S. Daytona Beach.

So, it was one anniversary and labor day weekend I'll never forget and will never want to repeat. I'm thankful we're safe and had no house repairs that took beyond 5 minutes (Thank goodness we're in a rental, too!!!)

Studying Kreb's cycle by candlelight. During the hurricanes, school was obviously canceled. At least it provided plenty of time to get caught up in classes.

Hurricane Frances Part III

So, assuming the stores are actually stocked before the next hurricane hits (that was a problem with this last one), besides a few odds and ends, there's a few things we'd definitely have on hand for the next storm (for those of you who want to ever live in hurricane country):
- s'mores . . . that would be a definite morale boost and would go well with cooking all the thawed out foods from the freezer!
- More magazines (I had a couple of issues of Outside and National Geographic)
- Generator (those are REALLY hard to find around here since hurricane Charley, but that would make a huge difference!)
- Cheese and crackers (notice how I keep mentioning carbs? Let's get grain-inflammed and hunker down and enjoy that hurricane!!)
- MORE candles and flashlights (it's really hard to see yellow highlighter by candlelight, even when there's a bunch of 'em lit. I gave up on candlelight studying after the first night)

Now, we just wait for the grocery stores to get their power restore, the lines at the gas stations to shorten. Then, we’ll swap stories with our friends about the “Great 'Cane of '04". This really is the greatest place to live. We're just having one historic hurricane summer.

During Hurricane Jean, Steve surprised me with a chocolate-raspberry anniversary cake from a bakery. It was the sweetest gesture since we didn't have many other celebration options.

Aftermath of Hurricane Charley

A heavy tree limb fell atop the roof above our bedroom during the storm; but no one was injured, and no structural damage occured.

Hurricane Charley Part II

Cedar tree collapsed from the storm to block the road near our house.

Hurricane Charley Part III

The carport caved in on a Lincoln at a house located directly behind us.