Florida roll calls

[Cynthia Daniel]

Yikes!! As of this morning they have Ivan coming across the Florida Keys and up thru the middle of the state and it's currently a category 5. I think I'm freaking out now. The attached map goes thru Tues AM. Even though it's not shown going thru Tampa, as we saw with Charley things could change in a heartbeat.

[Holly Snyder]

Hi Cynthia,

Don't waste your mental energy on Ivan yet! As you said, things will change and we have a long time before Tuesday. I'm sending good thoughts down to Jamaica and Cuba. Regardless, this will be a summer for Florida's history books.

Cheers and carrot cake,

Holly

[ReNae Stueve]

This is beyond imagination.................... Let's ALL hold good thoughts.!!!!

[Cynthia Daniel]

I hear what you're saying, Holly, but it's gotten worse for my area. Now a category 5 and closer to Tampa. I'm having a hard time thinking about anything except survival preparation. Not much work getting done here.

[Holly Snyder]

Hmm, that's looking marginally better for ReNae, but worse for both of us Cynthia. Interestingly, the weather channel's prediction is still showing a very wide projected area, the center of which is out at sea, west of the Florida penisula, for what that's worth. Chances are it'll decrease from a Cat. 5 as it passes over Jamaica and Cuba. The best way I know to deal with the jitters is to have everything in order, then stay busy with my normal schedule and not think about it too much. Five days is a long time. However, if this prediction holds over the next couple days, I'm sure we'll be making another trip to the lumber store along with the rest of half of Florida. You're probably not too far from us, let us know if we can do anything to help?

Cheers,

Holly

[Cynthia Daniel]

Holly,

Thank you for the offer.

I'm in a condo and am not even sure what we are allowed to do to protect the windows. I've called the condo president and he's yet to return my call. But, even if we are allowed to put up plywood, I have no one to do it and finding someone at this time is probably next to impossible. After that, I have nowhere to store the plywood until I get my garage cleaned out. I've thought a lot about it and there doesn't seem to be any immediate solution. The thing that worries me the most (next to losing my whole roof or my life) is losing the skylights over my office. Some things I'll clear out and take downstairs in plastic, other things I plan to wrap in plastic tarps with bungee cords. Oh what fun! I'd rather design websites.

I am buying an external hard drive tonight to backup everything and am getting a battery-operated tv. During Frances, I was here alone. All I could think was if my electric goes out for an extended time, what would I do. No tv, no radio, no internet and no one here to even have a conversation - all I had was a NOAA weather radio and was that got pretty boring during the 2 1/2 hours of electrical outage.

During Charley, my girlfriend came up and we prepared together as best we could, but she decided Frances wouldn't hit here and stayed home. We were both sorry afterwards. We're cleaning out my garage on Saturday to try and make room for my car. If I lose my home, maybe I'll at least have a chance to save my car.

Another girlfriend's mom lives in St. Croix and has been through 3 major hurricanes. The 1st one, she lost her roof completely and was left clinging to the bathtub to not be blown away.

I wouldn't mind having your phone number just in case and I can give you mine - thru email, of course.

I've been keeping up with trajectory maps on several sites and they all show Tampa as a possibility.

[Linda Nelson]

HI Cynthia
I wish there was something I could say to make the situation better. Please consider leaving, and worry about all the stuff later. Stuff is just stuff.
We all care for your safety.
Good Luck