Weather in the Tries: Looks like our week will be another gorgeous day in Paradise. Sunny most days, highs in the low 80s and upper 70s. Nighttime lows high 40s to low 50s. Air quality should be good most days, and no serious winds. BTW, back in 1962, we had a hurricane come up the northern coast of California, Oregon, Washington. and British Columbia. It wasn’t called a hurricane then (who would expect one in the Pacific NW and in October to boot). On the Pacific side, she was a typhoon named Freda and she slammed us on Columbus Day, 12 October 1962.
As you probably know, I usually write this a day or two ahead, then schedule it Sunday night for Monday morning. I started this on Wednesday and finished it in the days following.
From Charlie to Ian:
In 2004 I moved from the southern Oregon coast (Myrtle Point) to Port Charlotte, Florida. I think I moved in May. In August, Hurricane Charlie danced through town. And it was not a particularly dainty dance, as he was a high Category 4. The anemometers gave up at winds of 155 mph. Two more steady or sustained mph and it would have been a Category 5. Charlie was a skinny dude, about 35 miles wide by man oh man, he danced so fast we hardly knew he was there before he was gone. Okay I exaggerate a smidge more than a tad. Those of us who went through it, knew when Charlie came through. He was loud, he was ill-mannered, and did not clean up after breaking as much as possible. But he was fast. He travelled at 13mph, if my memory holds. He did a lot of damage, but not nearly as much as he coulda done at, say 3mph.
Welcome to Florida, he seemed to say. I remained there for one year fifty-one weeks. Yeah, one week shy of two years found me on the road heading back to the great Pacific Northwest!
Last week, I heard that Tropical Storm Ian was becoming a hurricane, heading up the Caribbean. Then the dreaded words, “It’s heading up the west coast of Florida to Tampa Bay.” No, said I to myself. The waters in Charlotte Harbor are warm and will sing its siren song. Ian will cut across Sanibel and go right up the Harbor, devastating as much as possible. I’m so sorry, I was right. He went up the coast, hit Naples, Sanibel Island, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte. Ian was angry about something. He was about 500 miles across, Charlie would have fit in Ian’s eye with room to spare. And by the time he made landfall, he had slowed from 10mph to 8mph, and was thought to go even slower, to 3mph. I don’t know if he slowed that much once his eye was all on land or not.
I still have friends in Port Charlotte. My Twin let me know she was okay as she and my brother-in-law were north up in Cape May. Today (Wednesday) she let me know she’d talked to a couple of our mutual friends and they’re okay, but that Port Charlotte is a mess. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from a couple of friends who live in Port Charlotte and hunkered down for the ‘cane.
When Charlie came, we didn’t have time to evacuate or head to shelter, we were pretty much forced into hunkering down. And those shelters that were open weren’t allowing pets. Leave my cat? Alone? While she gets carried off to Oz? Uh, no, I don’t think so. I put all her stuff—food, water, box, blanket, in my bathroom (inside room, no windows) and then my housemate and I stood at the back window/sliding doors (in the lee of the wind) and watched our world blow away.
The scariest part was when the porta potty that was outside at the neighbor’s house (being built) was picked up and blew up the street, I was concerned that it might come through my living room window, but it went to the empty lot across the street and was gently set upside down among the palms and trash pines.
The worst that happened to my house was the cage in back was destroyed. (Cages are the screened in areas usually over pools). And a bunch of junk was dumped into my pool, mostly tree limbs. I was very fortunate. We got the junk out of the pool, and out to the road where it was picked up in a couple days. Power was out, but the streets were clear. Verizon brought in a truck and anyone without power could bring their phone down and get it charged free, regardless who their carrier was. We helped each other. FEMA came through within a couple weeks. The National Guard checked on us daily, brought us bottled water and packaged food. (No Meals Ready to Eat), the Red Cross came when the Guard left. We helped each other. We got to know our neighbors, if we didn’t already know them. (One of the really neat things of living in Florida was the garbage was picked up twice a week. And people would put things they didn’t want with a sign that it was free, and if no one took it, the garbage folks did.)
Packed away in Shed 54 is a piece of Styrofoam insulation from a mobile home over a mile away. I don’t know which home, but the nearest park was over a mile away.
Insurance was reasonably priced, and I believe most people had it (if they had a mortgage, they had insurance!) when I was there. Now so many companies are bankrupt, or just no longer underwriting home insurance for hurricanes and flooding. People can’t afford it when they get it, and if one has a mortgage, the mortgage holder will get it, at a premium price. Not sure how to fix that. One of the things I think should be looked at is the barrier islands on all coasts. When they are left alone, they usually have lots of vegetation, and they act as a buffer to the mainland. As the vegetation is cut down, and homes and roads are built, they no longer serve as a buffer, just very pricey real estate.
Ian was considerably larger, slower, meaner, nastier. I’m willing to bet the streets are in worse shape, and it’s harder to check on people than in 2004. I hope neighbors are helping neighbors. People are being told to stay out of the water because you don’t know what’s in it—sewage, alligators,… And I wish my friends would check in on Facebook. In the meantime, I continue to hope they are not among seriously wounded—or the dead.
Sunday morning update: my friends checked in. She couldn’t get Facebook on her phone, but they now have power. Their house is ok, and they are ok. She’s the last little chick to check in. Mama Hen (aka Auntie Lenora) will rest easier now.
Photos of the Week:
https://www.boston.com/weather/weather/2022/09/29/hurricane-ian-photos-videos-florida/ these are still shots, the below are videos.
https://www.foxweather.com/watch/play-5ef963f42001269
Maps show the impacts of Hurricane Ian this is a free article, and well worth the look through. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/09/24/ian-storm-tracker-map/?itid=hp-top-table-main-t-2
Books: Books I’ve read and reviewed are at: http://lenoragood.blogspot.com
Belated Mornings poems by John Macker. This is a chapbook of 38 pages filled with humor, pathos, and, well, mornings.
Movies: Movies/series I’ve watched and reviewed are at: https://rainydaysmovieoftheweek.blogspot.com
I found Love and Honor, the third of the Samurai trilogy (Twilight Samurai, Hidden Blade) online at a streaming site, LookMovie, watched it free and with no commercial breaks. Well worth the search. Then went back in to see if I could find my own copy at something less than the $95.00 at Amazon. I did. I found a used copy for under $30.00, and it should be here later this week. I will soon have all three of the movies (reviews posted above) to enjoy when I want.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying The Extraordinary Attorney Woo. A Netflix series from South Korea. This is the third k drama series on Netflix I’ve seen where the protagonist has Autism and lives in the real world and is treated like a real person. And all have been very enjoyable. The other two are: It’s OK Not to be OK, and Move to Heaven. All are full of humor, and also I think, goodness. They are not soaps in our use of the word. Speaking of, have you ever wondered where the term “Soap Opera” came from? The early radio melo-dramas were broadcast during the day for the little housewife in her domain and sponsored primarily by various soap products.
And there you have it. I was too busy last week watching Ian to check out earworms. I did find a couple of quotes that are pretty good, and I am listening to The HU.
Quotes by or about Jim Cantore:
“Remember to set out cookies and milk for Jim Cantore on Hurricane Eve, or he’ll leave you with no electricity for a week.”
“People asked when is a good time to worry? The answer is when Jim Cantore shows up.”
Those of you who aren’t from Hurricane Country probably don’t understand why Jim Cantore is such a god of bad weather. He works for The Weather Channel (for over 30 years) and always goes where the worst of the ‘cane will his. I ‘googled’ Where is Jim Cantore? the day before Ian was scheduled to hit Florida. The answer came up in a couple of seconds—Punta Gorda!
Have a great week wherever you are, do what you enjoy, learn a new song, and dance with Crow. And remember, People are to love, things are to use.