The Day After

We had a somewhat restless night Wednesday night, awakened several times by our computer backup power supplies kicking in and out when the power would flicker on and off and occasionally by the sound of heavy wind and rain. But by the time we woke up yesterday morning, the world looked much different. There was a strong breeze blowing, but the rain had stopped, and the storm had moved well away from our area.

There was no damage here at our house, but our boat dock is completely submerged in water, as well as much of the parking lot down there.

But in other places not that far away from us, the storm did terrible damage. Twenty miles north of us in Wilbur-By-The-Sea, a small suburb of Daytona Beach, a number of beachfront homes and condos were collapsing into the heavy surf because the seawalls had been damaged by Hurricane Ian last month and there was no time to repair them before Nicole hit. Here are several pictures I took from the TV screen from News Channel 6 in Orlando. It’s sad to see so many beautiful homes and so many people’s dreams reduced to rubble.

Further north, in Flagler Beach, the historic pier was heavily damaged by Ian, and Nicole added even more damage. Part of US Highway 1 completely collapsed as the dunes and the underlying ground washed away.

Compared to all that, we sure got by easy. Except for flickering on and off a few times during the night, there were no power outages for us here. As soon it was safe, hard-working local and linemen from out of state were busy repairing things and getting power back to those who did lose it.

In one of those ironic history does repeat itself moments, last night Candace Campos from News Channel 6 showed how in 2004, Hurricanes Janine and Charley hit Florida 43 days apart. This map shows where they made landfall and how they progressed across the state.

Now, in 2022, Hurricanes Ian and Nicole also hit us exactly 43 days apart. And look at the map of the paths those two took! They all made landfall in almost exactly the same spot and followed almost exactly the same routes across the state. That’s kind of eerie, isn’t it?

We spent the day at home, me making corrections to chapters in Big Lake Drunk that I wrote before the storm hit. I still have a couple more chapters to work on before I can print them out for Terry to edit and proofread. I also did some after-hurricane clean up in the yard, picking up a few branches and palm fronds that had been blowing around and moving our big roll about garbage can and two recycle bins from the garage and putting them back on the carport where they belong. Terry spent much of the day getting a weaving project set up and is looking forward to getting going on it.

Before I close, I want to thank all of our veterans for their service and the sacrifices they have made for our country. Remember, a veteran is someone who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – We all want to live on top of the mountain, but all of the happiness and growth happens while we are climbing.