We've Been Coned!!! And Other Stuff

These are three words that any Floridian--or anyone who lives on the Gulf or Atlantic Coast--hate to hear. This means that you are in the path of a Tropical Storm or Hurricane. Look at the map above. See where it says 8 AM Tue. That's Sanibel!!! UGH. Right now Fay is still a Tropical Storm and we are hoping and praying that it stays that way or even drops off to a Tropical Depression. But it doesn't look good. We have already gotten the 2nd advisory email from the City of Sanibel and Governor Crist has already declared a State of Emergency due to the threat of a storm!

It was 4 years ago last Wednesday that another hurricane, Charley, took this same path and hit Sanibel as a Category 4. We were in Scotland at the time and had no idea what was happening aside of what we saw on the BBC. Sanibel and Captiva are just now getting back to "normal" as far as vegetation goes. The city has spent tons of money planting new trees. Businesses are back on their feet. To make it worse, this has been the best Turtle Nesting Season in a long time. If we get a storm--even a Tropical Storm, it could wipe out most of the nests. So, I called Gordon today. Gordon is the new CROW intern and is living in our place this summer. He was working so I left a message telling him to bring everything inside, put stuff in the Florida Room up on blocks, shut the door between the trailer and Florida Room and get the heck out of there! I'm just hoping we don't have to make a mad rush down to Florida next week. I would much rather take a leisurely drive down stopping at Disney World on the way.

So, my thoughts are with CROW, all of my friends on the island and inland, the 4 legged wildlife who can't escape a flood surge, my neighbors who had a tree through their roof 4 years ago, and my "itty bitty piece of Paradise" in Periwinkle Park.
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Neptunesmuse commented in my garage sale post asking how I had done. Let me say, my back is killing me! I was supposed to have the sale open until 4:00 today but by 3:30 when no one had been there in 2 hours, I started tearing it down. It took me 3 hours to put everything away. Luckily Mr. Snowbird said I could store the "leftovers" on the bench in the garage rather than lugging it all up to the barn attic. But, after 2 months, he now has a place to park his car again. I really did quite well combining both sales this summer. Enough that I feel comfortable stopping at WDW on the way south and then going to St. Augustine with my friend, Diana, sometime this winter. Yay! Nepunesmuse asked if I had any memorable customers. I can say nobody pocketed anything without paying for it. I did have one gal that wanted something and said she only had $3 and would I take that. When I asked what the item was marked at she said, "$20.00!" Well, duh, of course I said NO!! I did drop the price to $10 later but come on folks, $3.00??
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When we moved into our neighborhood over 30 years ago we were the "young uns" on the block. Of course as time went on, we became older and our neighbors became younger. We had great neighbors next door. A very friendly young couple with two little boys. Unfortunately, he was transferred so they had to sell. We should have known what we were in for when the new buyers put up an 8' high fence around their yard. They had two big dogs which they left out much of the time and these dogs barked at anything that moved! And to top it off, they were about the most unfriendly people you would ever want to meet. About a year ago when a For Sale sign went up, we jumped up and down and cheered. It took a year for the house to sell but sell it did. So now we have new neighbors. And boy are they great. It is soooo nice to look out your kitchen window and have your neighbor smile and wave at you. David, a widower, and his two daughters moved here from the Boston area. Welcome to the neighborhood guys! And, when talking some genealogy today we decided that we just might be long lost cousins!
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And last but not least, once a year I looked forward to being awakened by a very distinctive sound--that of hot air balloons flying right over the house. We have a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Findlay every summer and on Saturday and Sunday mornings they launch at about 8:00. This year there were about 30 balloons. Unfortunately, I didn't get outside to see them all but I did catch quite a few. Sure beats an alarm clock.
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And just to warn you--don't fret if I don't blog for a couple of days. We are heading up to Detroit to our friend's house for a couple of days. We are due back Tuesday--the same day that Fay is due to hit Sanibel. Fay, Fay, Stay Away!!!