Irma Update - Trees Down

As promised, Irma rolled through our city around midnight on 9/10 & continued howling throughout the day on 9/11. Unlike Matthew from last year, Irma's winds were stronger & the tidal surge was worse. Jacksonville & surrounding areas were badly damaged. Several downtown riverfront buildings are still closed. I think all counties in the state of FL were affected one way or another. Here are links to 2 slideshows of the damage nearby:

Nearby Beach Damage

Jacksonville Damage

Irma didn't stop w/FL she went up the gulf coast into GA as a Tropical Storm. The county where our country house is located was directly in her path.

The good news is that we were spared any damages to our home(s) & structures at both locations. We didn't have any electrical line damage in the city or the country so only without power for 3 days in the city & only about 24 house in the country (thanks for neighbors that kept us informed). We were lucky. We are in a small neighborhood in the city & a very rural area in the country & prone to be last to get power at either house.

We had generators running here in Jax (until the big one died on Wed. morning. Greg went to his shop & brought another one home). We had running water, some lights in the house, ceiling fans & could keep freezer & fridges running. If power had not been restored after 24 hours in the country I was prepared to high tail it up there w/a generator in tow. Did NOT want to lose all that beef in our big chest freezer up there.

Like last time, we had lots of limbs down & a ton of debris to pick up at Jax house.

We went to the country over the weekend to inspect things there. Like I said, house & buildings were fine but we are now without shade on the pond.

This post was originally supposed to be an update on the country tree progress. One of those that I was so proud of was one of the FL acorn oaks. It was literally a twig when I planted it never expecting it to actually live. (I planted about 10 of them & only 2 survived.) Here are pics showing 2 years worth of growth for one of them.

2017

2015

And, this is what it looked like when we arrived on Saturday:

The other surviving FL acorn oak had the top taken off but wasn't leaning. Also had 2 of the pine transplants blown over:

Got them all staked & hoping they will make it, especially the oak. We also had to cut away some blown down small trees in the branch blocking the driveway & of course pick up a few limbs there as well.

All in all we were very fortunate, again. Hopefully all those storms brewing in the Atlantic will keep their distance for the remainder of the season & for many years to come.

Hurricane Matthew

This one is huge & is expected to skirt right by us Friday afternoon & evening. To add insult to injury we have had a Nor'easter sitting over us for the past 2 days. It is windy & raining as I type this but has nothing to do with the hurricane. It is just making the ground saturated which loosens up the soil and makes trees fall & limbs break easier than normal.

All of the coastal areas around here are being evacuated & even some inland areas near rivers & streams. We are just outside of the evacuation area & so will be staying put here in the city.

I do need to go by a few more plastic tarps, just in case, but we are well set for food & water, just need to move a few things into the garage.

It's a good thing too because all the store shelves are pretty much empty & the gas stations are running out of fuel. Grocery stores are supposed to get re-stocked today but I'm sure will be wiped out as soon as things are put on the shelves. This pic of the bread aisle was taken by a friend at 2am this morning.

And just about the only thing left for pre-prepared meat products.

Our generator is ready to be cranked up if need be & will run fridges & freezer as well as a few plugs inside the house so we can have lamps & fans running. Our biggest worry are the trees but can't do anything about those so we will hunker down until it is over.

Hope anyone in the path stays safe & dry.

Storm Damage & the Pineapple

Storm just flew past us here in the city. Quite a few high gusts of wind but very little rain. We were expecting it to be much worse & very thankful that it wasn't. I waited until the wind died down to leave for the country.

We had heard from relatives that it was pretty bad in that area. The eye passed very close. They had wind gusts of 65 - 70 mph & most got at least 4" of rain in about 4 hours.

It had calmed down by the time I got up there (around 3:00p). I opened our driveway gate & started down the long drive up to the house. When I got to the branch area I noticed that a couple of small bushes were blocking the drive but then I notice that I couldn't see past the downed bushes through the branch up to the house. Turned around & went in my Dad's gate & across the pond damn.

A couple of hours later Greg arrived & he had the good sense to have brought a chain saw with him. He cut past the bushes & came across a few downed trees. There was 1 large pine that hit a couple of small oaks when it fell. He got enough cut to be able to go around, albeit in 4 wheel drive because the ground was very soft. Here's a pic after the 1st cut:

We got up the next morning & cut the rest of it up. Put most of the branches on the 'pile' but was able to salvage a small load for firewood.

A few of my small trees were bent over but I was able to stand them back up. The bird house down by the pond was bent & couldn't be straightened in place. We will have to dig it up & hopefully get it straightened the next time we are up there.

Cutting & hauling wood wasn't what we had in mind for the weekend. But we were fortunate there wasn't more damage.

In other news, my pineapple finally ripened! It was very small & I let it ripen completely on the plant. I got about 1 1/2 c. of pineapple & boy was it sweet!

I stayed in the country for a couple of extra days to have repair people come fix a couple of things & I got to meet the new baby. She is a cutie pie!

We are back in the city & have a few projects to work on before heading back to the country in a couple of weeks. Until next time ....

Ridin the Storm Out

Well, it's not technically here yet but is expected to increase to a Category 1 hurricane - Hermine. It's will come ashore then pass over the country house some time late tonight/early tomorrow morning & be just west of the city house a bit earlier. With the city house being on the East side, we are expecting heavy rain, high winds & a possible risk of flare up tornadoes. The kind that hop, skip & jump. Most schools in the area (far & wide, as this is a big storm) are closed on Friday.

I can't remember a time when there wasn't a storm on the horizon on or around Labor Day. It's the peak of the season. We are planning on leaving for the country tomorrow, for the weekend. Not sure what time we will be able to leave, all depends on the bands & when they will leave the area.

While waiting on the storms arrival I decided to finish the siblings quilts that I started a couple of weeks ago. Here's big sister's:

And you may remember the top that I made at the last quilt retreat:

I decided that the blocks didn't stand out enough & took it apart to create this for big brother:

I was please with both of them but especially the blue & yellow one. I'm still not great at binding (I get in a hurry) but I'm getting better.

Oh well, gotta go finish packing my car while it's not raining. Please keep those that are in the storms path safe.