Hurricane Ian

Tuesday evening: the rain has started.  

We decided not to go north this time but we didn't want to stay in our mobil home, either.  Instead we went to the church.  It's a large, solid building and Randy has an office downstairs where we can stay. So we took an inflatable bed, bedding, clothes and all of Shorty's stuff over and set up for the night. We also took a lot of items from our freezer, since there is a freezer at the church. 

Wednesday: We are settled in and watching the weather report. Very bad stuff coming Florida's way, but hopefully not as much to the center of the state. 

Without a lot to do and nowhere to go, this is slightly reminiscent of being stuck in Rome with Covid. Blessedly, just like then we are surrounded by the prayers of our friends and family. But there are big differences, too. We have our beloved Shorty with us, and a big screen TV to watch Amazon movies and DVDs. And Diet Coke! But the biggest difference is the food. We brought some leftovers with us, including Randy's amazing chicken & dumpling, and Stavros Pizza. And with a kitchen available Randy just has to cook, so he made wonderful homemade potato chips.

Thursday: Looks like Ian is past us now, with just cloudy skies and drizzling rain. The palm trees here have shed a lot of their dead fronds, which is a good thing although there will be a lot of cleanup ahead.

While driving back to our place, Randy said it reminded him of Christmas time... all the businesses are closed and there is almost no traffic. Fortunately there isn't a lot of damage - there is a lot of tree litter on the roads and a few trees are down, but it is not nearly as bad as the last hurricane.  At home we found the trim has torn off one side. 

Our yard is a lake again, but sometimes this happens without a hurricane.

And Ian tore the cover off of our boat dock, then neatly wrapped it around the frame. Very thoughtful.

Now that we are home again, Randy is cooking up a storm. He made a cranberry apple pie. I tried to talk him into letting me eat it raw but he wouldn't agree.

Then he made beef stew with dumplings. 

What an amazing dinner! It is so good to be home!

This really is my favorite place to live

Mama bear and her two cubs were in our neighborhood today. As we were taking Shorty for his morning walk, a lady who was bicycling told us that the bears were out. And about 6 houses from us we saw the bear family walking along the brush line behind the houses! Chris, the owner of that house, was standing at his back porch with a goofy grin on his face (just like me!). He'd come out with his dog (big golden retriever) who saw Mama bear and her cubs at the brush line behind his house so he barked once. Mama bear simply turned around and headed back along the brush line until she found a nice place to enter. Chris had taken his dog in immediately, then come back out to stand very close to the house and take a couple of pictures. 

No worries, we take precautions and keep alert. These encounters are so amazing!

Mama Bear and cubs!

Today we went out to dinner with Pete and Donna (Pizano's!) and afterwards we drove them back to their place. On the way to our house we stopped behind a golf cart and a car that were stopped in the the road, and they pointed out some bears in a nearby yard, sitting in the there and snacking on nuts. A Mama bear with two cubs!

Mama bear noticed us but since we weren't moving, she wasn't worried.  

The car in front of us was actually the owner of this property, admiring the bears and deciding when it might be safe to go home. She decided to drive up to her garage and go directly inside. Baby bears noticed and quickly scooted up the tree. 

Mama decided it was time to move along. 

She walked between the houses, towards a wooded area near the edge of the park. One cub was right at her heels.

And soon the other cub caught up

I was so HAPPY! I saw the bears! Man, I love these things!!!

And a new road

So they started cleaning the stripped-off dirt road in preparation for replacing it. Makes quite a dust storm.

There are a few awkward spots in the road that need extra work.

Lots of vehicles were involved, although unfortunately a grader wasn't one of them. 

Then everything got pressed down. 

It isn't perfect but it's a lot better than it was.

Muddy roads

The new owners got some contractors to work on the roads in the park. The first thing they did was scrape off the blacktop, which left a hard mud road. But this is summertime in Florida. Lots of rain in summertime in Florida. Now the roads look like this:

So every time we take the truck out, going to church or the bank, it looks like we have been off-roading in the swamp!