[at-l] Frances report from Central Florida

[Bluetrail at aol.com (Bluetrail@aol.com)]

Well, my way of coping with anxiety is to keep busy.  The laundry is all 
done.  The whole house is dusted and vaccumed.  All the food was cooked and 
refrozen to be heated as it thaws after the storm.  

Jon Phipps was at my house at 7:00 yesterday, mowing the grass (easier to 
clean up debris on short grass).  I went to Home Depot to get heavy duty garbage 
bags, then both of us went to a community event--filling the garbage bags (and 
the sandbags the city brought in) with dirt/sand from huge mountains of the 
stuff at a city-owned center.  The place looked like a human anthill--everyone 
with their shovels, filling bags.  My son shoveled too, until it was time for 
him to go to work at the local grocery.

My lot drains pretty well in the front, but the backyard tends to drain 
toward the screened porch; I've seen water creep all the way to the back wall of 
the porch.  So, Jon, my son, and I hauled bags to the back and sandbagged the 
two sliders and the bathroom door (pool-planned house).   This was incredibly 
hot, hard work; Jon declared it worse than Konorock Krew.  Jon & Greg moved the 
canoe into the garage, as well as the garbage (no pickup due to the storm).  I 
paid bills and took them to the P.O.  I made a cake, I made brownies, I made 
dip and prepped all kinds of veggies for the dip--blanched oriental pea pods, 
steamed green beans, sweet red pepper strips, etc.  

I called my friend Kim who's riding it out with her 80+ yeard old dad and bed
-ridden Mom in their home on a barrier island north of Daytona Beach.  Told 
her the first car to get in there would be me with papers declaring her Dad non 
compis mentis (or however you spell it).  Her parents refused to budge.

Those stations that have gas have been pretty easily identifiable--they're 
the ones with a law officer's car there, lights blinking.  This is to keep 
people from getting into fights over line cutting, going over the $20 limit some 
stations set, etc.  

This morning I just saw an FTA member, Tony Florhe, being interviewed on the 
beach--one of those staying on Melbourne Beach, despite mandatory evacuation 
orders.  

Current forecasts for my county call for sustained 60 mph winds.  Thkese 
things have a way of changing.  We'll stay in the house if it doesn't get much 
worse than that.  Winds of 90 mph for 6-8 hours and we'll go to a local shelter.  
My house is surrounded by huge, old live oaks that become very untrustworthy 
with that constant pressure.  We are expecting up to 12 inches of rain in 
Seminole county.  

Will report in after the storm.

Joan
bluetrail@aol.com