SWEATING IT OUT

It’s that fun time again in Florida with hurricane season in effect, and now Isaac is brewing in the Caribbean with the possibility of becoming a hurricane hitting Florida. It’s too early to tell, and the variables are many, including not becoming a hurricane but merely a tropical storm and maybe heading out in the gulf. We just have to watch our weather channels the next few days.

The Republicans have to be sweating, as the Convention Center in Tampa is right on the water and four feet above sea level. Mitt would look pretty silly delivering his acceptance feet in a wet suit with snorkel.

I’ve personally not been exposed to much in hurricanes. On Friday, August 13, 2004 Hurricane Charlie did significant damage to Sanibel and neighboring Captiva; in fact, our condo on the beach in Sanibel, was severely damaged and had to be stripped down to concrete walls and rebuilt because the a/c condensers were knocked off the roof, leaving gaping holes, resulting in water and mold invading the whole building. I got a new condo out of it---at a price, because insurance never covers full replacement value. My wife and I were in England when that occurred  and saw on my nephew's PC monitor a local TV helicopter hovering over our condo building and seeing the damage. About the only thing I could do from there was utter a choice four-letter word.

We were back home the same year when Ivan rolled in, and we evacuated across the state to our youngest daughter’s house near Melbourne, Florida---only to have Ivan follow us across the state and hit Melbourne!
By that time it was heavy winds and a ton of rain---no 150 mph winds.

We’ve had a few tropical storms since then with lots of rain and high winds---but no real hurricane. It is simply a fact of life you deal wih living in Florida, just as people in the Midwest and plains states live with the threat of tornados.

I’ll still take the sunshine and good weather here year round and live with that risk! In the meantime, I have gassed up both cars and made sure we have water and batteries.