well, i'm back online after quite a time of it. :P
charley blew over florida and then swept up the coast and gave us a good blasting. we've been without power since saturday afternoon. we thought we'd get by with just a flicker or two, but then it went out for good. just got restored a couple hours ago.
we've got the top half of six trees down around us, but thank god none hit the house, carport or vehicles (the 2 that don't run or the 1 that does! lol). it's been like camp for the past few days. luckily we had the back of the pathfinder full of dry wood so we could make fires to cook over.
the house has some damage to it, though we're still trying to get to the root of it. the livingroom floor has a couple of uneven spots in it. there may be some roof damage; rain pours down between the front porch (built on wooden addition thing) and the front door. water pressure won't be fully back up for awhile (but at least now we HAVE water!). the drainfield on the back acre appears to be hinked up a bit. nothing major, all told; just annoyances.
the city is another story. there are whole trees blown down on just about every street i've been on since the storm, blocking one lane in many cases, both lanes in a few places as well. crews from out of state are going around in convoys to get trees out of roads and off structures and utility lines. chainsaws are a-buzzing all around. wish i had one, but i couldn't work the )(*@# thing if i did. :/ for now the limbs and branches are just gonna have to stay put.
i tell you, if you're EVER in the path of a hurricane and are staying put... DO THE WATER THING! lol i am SO glad that we stocked up for months on bottled water. we had enough to cook with, drink, give to the dogs, shave/wash up, etc. as we're on a well water system, when the electricity goes, so does the water pump. but having filled the bathtub with water before the storm, we were able to keep the toilets functioning. i'm a CITY GUY. i never in a million years would have thought of all the stuff that can go wrong after a storm like this. thank god for friendly neighbors and free-flowing advice!
here's hoping everyone in the storm's path made out okay!
