Waiting for Charley

Charley is bearing down on my little burg in Central Florida. The hurricane was predicted to make landfall farther north and track to the north of us, which would still bring tropical storm weather my way, but now we're in the direct path of the hurricane. Charley is now a level 4 storm, expected to hit here later tonight. Right now, I'm just waiting.

The weather hasn't been bad so far, just very gray all afternoon, and mostly calm, with the exception of one small squall line, but I've heard ominous rumblings the past hour. We've been under a tornado watch all afternoon.

Certain things always happen at the worst times. Like, my air conditioning going out this morning. I wanted to have the house as cool as possible before we lose power, which I'm sure we will. A friend came over and found a fixed the problem, a blown fuse. Thank you!! It's now very cool in here. I can stave off misery through the night, anyway. Tomorrow will be another story.

I expect to be powerless for at least a day, based on past history with these storms. And this looks to be the worst of any I've been through -- so far, we've been very lucky with these storms. I'm saying a little prayer of protection for me and all of us here in Florida.

Just to add a little extra to the day, the water went out while I was taking a shower this morning. Yes, God does have a sense of humor.

I grumbled my way out to the well, turned off the power to it, cleaned the connections of the toggle switch (or whatever you call the little thing that flips back and forth, making electrical connection to run the pump), and it came back on. The water fizzled out again as I washed dishes while ago, and I saw the problem this time -- some tiny, black ants, apparently sensing high water coming, are trying to congregate in the little electrical box. Fried ants keep the switch from making good contact. Oh, well.

I went in to the office for a short time, to help cover up the computers and secure the building. Luckily, I stayed late last night to get things done. We we already planning to close up shop early today.

Now I'm just hunkered in, waiting, and cooking some food (chicken and pork and vegetables) out of my freezer, while I can. I predict the animals and I will gain a few pounds out of this. I also stocked up on snacks in a late-night grocery run on my way home from the office last night. Hurricanes are no time to diet, in my opinion.

I'll post as I can.

:=) Unsaintly Pat, in Central Florida