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Irma’s Aftermath

We were incredibly lucky that in Irma’s aftermath, we only had minor property damage and loss of landscaping. Moreover, the power stayed on the whole time.  We were shocked that our power stayed on during the storm, since it  tends to go out daily.

We did lose internet and cell service, which stinks. Netflix was a godsend during the storm. Currently, our cell service is intermittent at best, so if you can’t reach us that is why.  I am hopeful that our cell service will improve in the coming hours and days.

We did lose our lime tree, which has been very good to us. Every year it has provided bountiful, tasty fruit and required little to no maintenance. We try to keep our fruit chemical free, so there’s no pesticides on the tree.  Sadly, my mojito tree is no more.

We also lost some banana trees, but those grow back quickly. Our neighbors tree also fell into our backyard, but that’s about it.  Our maple tree survived the storm! I cannot tell you how excited we were to see the tree still standing Monday morning.  This is likely courtesy of Irma’s Winds that had shifted throughout the course of the storm.

We got lucky! The fact the storm weakened before hitting mainland Florida was truly a blessing. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the people of the Florida Keys and the West Coast of Florida who got walloped yesterday. Lastly, a sincere thank you to everyone for the checking in on us, the prayers and the well wishes

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Irma Update

Hurricane Irma is nearing landfall on Florida’s west coast, but the entirety of South Florida is getting pummeled.  The storm hasn’t  blown us away yet and the power is still on! Yay!  The heaviest weather will arrive this evening around 8:00 pm.  However, the winds and rain have been picking up steadily since last night.  The gusts of wind against the metal shutters is quite loud.  In the video below, you can actually see the ground around our maple tree rise and fall with the wind gusts.  Unfortunately, I think we’ll be losing this tree.

Since we still have power, we cooked up some mac and cheese.  Additionally, we baked our take and bake breads as we do anticipate losing power today.  I may try to make some cookies before the winds pick up and take out the power, but it will have to wait until after the tornado warning is over.  As I type this, the lights have begun flickering and the winds have picked up tremendously.  I don’t foresee us having power for much longer. 

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Hurricane Irma Sunday Morning

Happy Hurricane Irma Sunday morning to the Blogosphere, I’m happy to say that we’re still safe and enjoying all the comforts the 21st century offers.   Given the intensity and size of this storm, I would be surprised if we didn’t lose power sometime today.  We’ve experienced too many tornado warnings to count at this point.  Scarily,  many of these tornadoes have been close to our neighborhood.  Fortunately, they’ve been close to our neighborhoods, but not in our neighborhood.

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Nevertheless, the weather has been loud all night.  Given the posts on our community’s Facebook page, I’m not quite sure how we slept through one of the squalls that came through earlier this morning.  Perhaps its the pure exhaustion from anticipating the storm or the nyquil we took to help alleviate the sinus pressure.   Either way we slept through the crazy weather early this morning, but woke up to another loud squall line around 8:00 am.

One peculiar aspect of the hurricane experience, if you will, is the sinus and ear pain that comes with it.  As the pressure changes, the sinus headaches and ear pain can begin.  Last night around 9:30, the Mayor started to have a sinus headache, so he had some ibuprofen and went to bed.  No more than two hours later, Goalielocks was also complaining of a sinus headache.  I was not immune either, so I took some Nyquil before bed to alleviate the pain.   If you’re local to Florida and experiencing similar symptoms; tylenol,  ibuprofen, flonase (or any nasal steroid), or Aleve will help alleviate the pain.

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The Hubby was able to get the dogs outside quickly between squall lines and got a picture of the street.  Fortunately, there’s been no major damage here less palm fronds littering the streets.  We did, unfortunately, lose on of my favorite trees.  My lime tree.  We bought the lime tree because we love mojitos, margaritas and coronas with lime.  After this storm, we will be looking for a new lime tree.  If that is the worst damage we have, we are truly fortunate given the pictures I’m seeing from the Florida Keys, Miami and the Caribbean.  Prayers for all my friends and family in Irma’s path today and tomorrow.  I’ll continue posting as long as I’m able as it is a great outlet for nervous energy.

 

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