Re: I'm back! (did anybody miss me?) (Hurricane story - VERY LONG)
- From: Kreisleriana <kreisleriana2@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:03:44 -0400
On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:50:37 -0400, Karen AKA Kajikit
<kajikit@xxxxxxxxx> yodeled:
>Well, I've survived my first genuine Florida hurricane... we weren't
>nearly as prepared for it as I'd have liked to be, but we weren't that
>uncomfortable. John was sure that we'd be just fine since it was
>'only' a tropical storm... so we didn't make any special preperations,
>and then of course it turned into a hurricane and headed straight for
>us, but it still wasn't very bad. I'd say it was more of an
>inconvenience than a natural disaster...
>We had one major scare - we headed out to the grocery store at 3pm on
>Thursday to see if we could grab some last-minute drinks and supplies,
>only to find that the grocery store was closed alread. We jumped back
>in the car and the car wouldn't start! So there we were sitting in the
>carpark at the mall with everyone disappearing around us, the wind
>picking up, and a hurricane on the way... I was thinking 'okay, worst
>case scenario leave the car and call for a taxi' but John got onto the
>roadside service people and they managed to find a tow truck to help
>us out. While we were waiting I went down to the other end of the mall
>because Target looked like it was still open (and it was) and I
>grabbed some muesli bars and water in case we were stuck in the
>carpark for hours... The tow truck driver said 'it's just the battery'
>and jumpstarted us so we could drive home - but we got less than two
>blocks before the engine died right in the middle of Federal Highway!
>Luckily there was a turnlane right in front of us, and John managed to
>get the car to roll into it before the engine completely died so we
>weren't in the middle of the road. He called the roadside people again
>and said 'hey, can you get that tow truck back here asap?!' and we
>were only sitting there about fifteen minutes before he got back to
>us. John climbed up into the cab to give directions and I sat in the
>car while it was towed home. A tow truck ride is slow and bumpy and
>smelly, but it was only about a mile home so it didn't take long.
>We got home at 4.30pm and I quickly wrote up our little adventure for
>my diary... and then I thought 'I'd better get our dinner cooked early
>just in case we lose power later on...' The only problem was that
>'later on' turned out to be in fifteen minutes! The chicken cacciatore
>was only half-cooked and I hadn't even put the pasta into it yet...
>luckily it was boiling when the power went off and I'd just added the
>stock, so I wrapped the pot in a towel and let it cook in its own
>juices for a couple of hours and it was fine - it was a warm chicken
>soup! And it turned out to be our last home-cooked meal for three
>days.
>I could keep carrying on about this for pages, but to cut a long story
>short our apartment building wasn't damaged, we just lost a few palm
>trees, but our area was without power until Sunday. Originally FPL
>said we'd get it back some time on Saturday, but they underestimated
>the amount of tree and line damage and they said it would take much
>longer to fix... so we were lucky because our power came back on at
>11am Sunday morning and everyone in the building cheered! Our only
>real loss was the contents of our fridge and freezer - I kept the
>freezer door firmly closed, but apparantly it's not very well
>insulated, because when I opened it at 10am Sunday to check it it was
>a mess inside. It wasn't stinky yet, but if it had had another 24
>hours it would have been a real mess... We'd just finished cleaning it
>out and disinfecting it when the power came back on, so that was good
>timing!
>We were also lucky because it really wasn't very hot while the power
>was off. It was very overcast and humid and rainy, but that kept the
>temperature down and we had a lovely breeze in the living room with
>all the windows open. The only time the heat really bothered us was
>when we tried to sleep - our bedroom is hot at the best of times and
>it felt like an oven! We camped out in the living room and moved
>around as little as possible, and we were fine.
>I was rather worried about the cats because they didn't want to eat or
>drink and they seemed very stressed by the heat, but they adapted to
>it too - on Thursday the hurricane noises scared them and they kept
>staring at the windows and bristling... then on Friday they lay around
>like little limp rags because they were so hot. I tried to get them to
>drink cold water from the fridge but they weren't interested, so I wet
>a handtowel and rubbed them down with it in the afternoon. They
>weren't too thrilled about getting damp but it seemed to make them
>feel a bit better... the rest of the time the power was off they
>turned nocturnal - they lay around sleeping all day, and Scouty hid in
>the wardrobe behind John's shirts or lay under the bed, and they came
>back to life at night. I knew they were adapting when I heard them
>cannonballing around the apartment at 3am! Scouty also shed about half
>her coat to make herself cooler - on Saturday morning I noticed that
>she was feeling very coarse so I combed her and I think I combed half
>a cat off her, while she lay there and purred blissfully and rolled
>over to let me get at her other side. Silly has a thinnner coat, so
>she wasn't interested in the comb - all she wanted to do was to eat
>it!
So glad you're OK. My dad lost power for 14 hours.
Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com
.
- References:
- I'm back! (did anybody miss me?) (Hurricane story - VERY LONG)
- From: Karen AKA Kajikit
- I'm back! (did anybody miss me?) (Hurricane story - VERY LONG)
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