Hurricane Matthew will be getting me.

[feng_shui_house]

I'm in Hialeah which is just outside the expected area of strongest storm but still it's likely to be 58 to 73 mph & since Hialeah has be criminally lax in replacing old utility poles I really doubt I'll have power (let alone internet) for a long time. (Last time there was a storm like this, I had no internet for more than a month.)

I've done what I can to prepare & am just taking a break before I go back out and try to finish bagging and cutting the tree limbs I cut from a huge tree in the front yard to minimize the chances of it falling on my house. Oh, good, there's a break in the rain. Shall go out again.

Anyway, I just mention this so if anything exciting happens with you guys personally or on the fandom front, maybe you'll make a note somewhere to tell me once I'm back.

Wish me luck!

Comments

[capri0mni]

Good luck! Stay safe!

[feng_shui_house]

Thanks! I'm almost through bagging up the branches- I've been putting the longest branches alongside a row of dense bushes, with bags next to them. Maybe it will provide shelter for the neighborhood stray cats.

[capri0mni]

Good Idea (and clever, too)!

*good in the moral, as well as effective, sense.

[feng_shui_house]

Whew. Finished bagging- I piled the last bunches of bags on the front porch in front of plastic shelving for an additional emergency cat shelter.

Oh, man, I need a shower... have to catch my breath first & try to think what else I can possibly do to prepare...

[capri0mni]

*Fingers crossed*

[reapermum]

Good luck. Thanks for the update, I'd been wondering how you were coping.

[feng_shui_house]

Thanks! I've been working until I couldn't see (because my protective googles would get that sweaty) then coming in to read SGA fic to distract myself.

After the storm passes (the FIRST TIME- it looks like it's going to circle around and hit us again next Tuesday) I'm going to try to contact Z (blakefancier on DW/LJ) by phone if (as is exceedingly likely) I'm off line. I'm not sure even cell phones will be working, so I might be reduced to sending a postcard!

The old house is in pretty good shape & I shouldn't be getting the worst of the storm, so I'll probably be fine even if I can't contact anyone.

[reapermum]

Oh, no! Not twice!

I remember you getting a lot of work done to the house over the years to make yourself safe. And I also remember you saying that was more than the piwer company was dojng.

[feng_shui_house]

This is the first hurricane I've heard of that wants to do Loop de Loop!

Yep, the utility lines behind my house are a mish-mash- at least one set of lines is attched to the pole that should have been replaced 25 years ago, and which they *started* to shift lines back in... 2010? and cut the pole shorter with each shift, and right next to it is the newer pole with most of the utility lines.

Last month a utility guy showed up and moved another set of wires, and was honest when he told me not to expect the next shift to happen any time soon.

I don't know what will happen with my next door neighbor. He's been fighting his insurance company (the state official insurance company since most private companies refuse to insure homes in So. Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992) for almost two years to get them to fix his roof which is so bad the ceilings have fallen in half the rooms & he's had a plastic tarp over it so long, he's replaced it twice.

So I told him, if you and your wife want to come over during the hurricane, I have a sofabed. We'll see...

[vera_j]

Of course I wish you good luck. I keep my fingers crossed for you!
You are so thougthful, thinking of poor stray cats.
I hope you will have at least power of not internet.
May Mother Nature is kind to you - you always work for Her!
*HUGS*

[feng_shui_house]

*hugs* I'm SO glad that I took a couple hours off from working on the tree yesterday to go to Amelia Earhart Park. It was a beautiful day and I got a lot of photos (stored on the computer & a portable drive).

If I forget, whenever I get back, try to remind me to post some-- I got SO close to a red-shouldered hawk I had some lovely photos (I was told by a park-goer that people hand-feed the hawk fish... I would NOT do that.) and also I got some nice photos of a Limpkin. Had to look it up- it's a once common wading bird that particularly eats snails and mussels. Lovely bird, brown with creamy white streak markings on most of its feathers.

[vera_j]

Pictures! Oh yes, I will remind you, be sure, your photos have always been a real treat!
Now - I am going on keeping my fingers crossed!
HUGS HUGS HUGS!

[ultrapsychobrat]

Stay safe.

[feng_shui_house]

Thanks!

[miwahni]

That's so worrying - this storm is a biggie. Stay safe!

[feng_shui_house]

I lucked out and it shifted far enough offshore to miss me- had a few gusty bursts of wind early in the day and some rain, but altogether less than the average thunderstorm.

I'm going to be putting some stuff back (on top of other paranoid things I brought in all the small solar powered yard lights & recharged their batteries, thinking to use them as house lights at night, and put them out during the day to charge (in case there was an extended power failure) so my dining room table is covered in plastic bags and yard lights. ;^)