Thanks gnu, and Chantey Lass. I'm filling dad's bathtub for flushing water then I go back to my crib to finish my preparations there. I'm afraid the power will be out for a while and cooking, showers, and everything else that needs electricity will be out of the question.

The coast around Spring Creek is already underwater. We won't be flooded but the power will likely go out and trees may again damage my roof. We haven't had a bad hurricane in Florida for eleven years when Wilma hit near my parent's old home. They were in their early eighties then, and that's when I started lobbying for them to move up here with me! Mom's been gone since 2012 but dad is about to turn 93. He needs full time assistance and that is what I have been doing.

If things turn bad here after or during the storm, I can take dad over to the main buildings of the Westminster retirement community for care and I will take the dog home to my house.

My son is working tonight and his girlfriend is a wildlife rehabilitator near the coast. They are expecting to bring in nesting baby pelicans which are getting washed out so she will be busy! My son works retail and he is very busy provisioning everyone! It's a lot of scrambling, to be sure! We have gotten used to no storms after eleven years but I have been through countless storms beginning with Kate shortly after I moved here when Nathan was just a toddler. It was really bad but somehow I didn't realize it that night I went next door and took shelter with my neighbors along with Nathan. Power in the city was out for days. Trees damaged countless houses and it took us a long time to recover.

When Ivan hit the coast some years later, in 2004 I had to rescue my son from UWF since they were devastated in Pensacola and school was closed for several weeks. Live oaks have shallow roots and fall over when they get soggy and so do the tall yellow pines. They get blown over and they are really destructive to property. I had a live oak smash my roof during tropical storm Francis. and that was interesting, climbing on the roof in the storm to tarp up the hole! Of course my neighbor guys did the climbing! I had a new roof put on in 2013 and the hurricane deductible is about 7500$ dollars so it could be costly!

Then there was Andrew of 92. It didn't impact me directly but changes in the state certainly did!

Right now the feeder bands are dumping rain and I have to leave dad to fill my truck tires, get ice if there is any left, and fill the tubs at the other house. I have a camera system for both my dad and my house so I can keep an eye of dad while he sleeps if I have to leave the house for any reason. I can call security to help him if I can't get back home tonight but I should be able to. I'm only 3.4 miles from him.

Hurricanes, exploding spaceships, zika virus, more and more coastal flooding, and two more years of Rick Scott...when can I leave, please? Wish me luck old mudcat pals, what's left of us...anyway...