Travels of Jackie and Randy: 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.