Hurricane Shmurricane

Erika's visit was, yawn, not so eventful. She gave me little to write about. Her path took her over the Dominican Republic and Haiti. She was always a disorganized storm (whatever that means) and the mountains of the island were her downfall. Erika never got to hurricane status and just drifted to the west of Florida as a bunch of thunderstorms.

The evacuation of Broad Key was scheduled for Saturday. Evan (supervisor) came out to help finish preparations and to provide assistance with the boat move to a trailer. Before he got here the University of Miami public safety folks decided Erika was not going to be a major threat and cancelled the evacuation. Evan came out anyway and we did a final buttoning up of the island.  After all, we were still expecting heavy rain and some wind.

Saturday night through Sunday were to be "heavy weather".  I waited and waited. The island did get about 2" of rain and at one point it rained at about 4.5 in/hr.  But I experienced barely a breeze.  Nothing...

These things are so unpredictable.

However...

Hear ye, hear ye!
Coming from the stormy east coast of Africa
The hurricane incubator that gave us Danny and Erika
Comes Fred!

My bet is that Fred doesn't really get going at all.  We shall see.

cz, 1200 Aug. 31, 2015

Maybe my first hurricane or tropical storm or ...

Danny

Last week I thought I was going to deal with my first hurricane. Well Danny fizzled days before getting near southern Florida. While relieved, I admit to being a bit disappointed.  Hmmm, I should not have said that.   Here comes Erika.  She is currently flying across the southern North Atlantic at about 20 mph. I may get my taste after all.

Erika

Since the above start of this post Erika has made progress.  She is currently approaching the Dominican Republic but remains a "tropical storm".  Her status has been downgraded and she may not make hurricane status at all. But that does not mean she is not going to cause issues.  Her predicted path at this time is centered right over Broad Key. So I have to prepare the island for whatever she might toss around.

I have been moving things to a more protected location. Or tied things to something solid. The Big House furniture that might be subjected to wind or rain issues has been moved inside. The boathouse contents are tied down.  A few more things remain to be prepared.  I should also make another trip to the mainland for a last purchase of diesel fuel.  So I am close to being ready to hunker down and

Evacuate?    I have to evacuate?    But!    But!

I am now operating under orders to evacuate!   No!   I am ready.  I want to experience whatever is coming.   Call me Skink (Carl Hiaasen, Stormy Weather). But at the time of this writing I have been to told I will be getting off the island.    Grrrr!   Am I really going to spend my hurricane opportunity in a motel room?  No!

cz 11:20 Aug. 28, 2015

Did I mention it is hot?

It has been a long quiet spell again.  The summer has been hot and fairly humid. I have lost interest in just about everything. We  have all said "The heat really takes it out of you". Well I can tell you from first hand experience, the heat really takes it out of you.

I have been sweating more than my whole previous life put together. Often I have to be careful to avoid sweat dropping onto or into something I have been doing. I have to step back and shake my head to rid my face of water drops that are hanging from my eye brows, eye lashes. nose and more. My sunglasses (a permanent and necessary facial adornment) are often rendered obscured by water pooling on the inside of the lenses. I don't want to sound gross or crude but on more than one occasion, toilet paper has been rendered useless by sweat running down my back.  

The sun is no longer my friend. It has beaten me.  I now cower in it's presence. Many times I have noticed a real physical change as the sun goes behind or returns from behind a cloud. There is an ebb and flow of my energy and interest in what I am doing that is inversely proportional to the amount of sun on my body. An example is I tend to do my dishes in the morning. If I get up before the sun comes into view, or there are clouds on the eastern horizon, I approach the task with some energy and life. When the sun and it's oppressive heat hit my face I lose all interest. Instantly. It is not something I just don't like but can deal with. It often just overwhelms me and I have to retreat.

I have hung shade cloth over part of my back deck.  That was done in an effort to get some use out of the deck; I really don't like to be inside. While it has made a difference I seldom can sit under it if there is no breeze. I have lightly burned my bare feet walking. Now I understand why Inja runs from shade spot to shade spot. 

I have experienced afternoon temperatures in my kitchen as high as 105F. On a typical morning I  step from my bedroom into the living area where the temperature is as high as 88F . . . at 06:30! I know, I know. Enough with the heat stuff. But please one more.  I keep my little window air-conditioner set at 80F. During the latter part of the day (13:00 to 20:00) it runs continuously and typical room temperatures are mid-80s.  I have found the ceiling temperature at 118F.  You can feel the radiation.

And then there is the thunder and lightening. While not a problem for me, Inja (my dog) is not happy. That old joke about "When momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"? That applies here. Inja becomes a shaking, panting, drooling pile of unconsolable dog who KNOWS I am her savior if only she could climb inside me. The problem is several fold. First there are these "popcorn" storms that pop up from nowhere.  They just appear and give you a sprinkle and 20 minutes of thunder and lightening. Then you have the issue of flat land and water. Light and sound travel for many miles. So the storm that is keeping Inja unconsolable might be 60 miles away. And this is why this blog post is being written at 04:00. 

Now the next weather related part of my adventure...hurricanes

cz 04:30 Aug. 26, 2015