The first two days after Hurricane Wilma were wasted since we thought the power would come back on soon, maybe two, three, four days tops. We soon learned we were going to have to deal with getting used to, no electric, water, telephone, and the availability of gasoline and propane. And the struggle to find water, ice, fuel for the generator, and eventually food. This was not going to be easy. The following is what happens when you have nothing to do, 24 hours a day for 15 days.

Hurricane Wilma October 23rd, 2005

Well lets just say it was not fun. Sandy and I prepared fairly well, supplies and all. Not at all prepared though, for what was to come. As Wilma started heading this way, I listened carefully to the promises made by FEMA in particular that all communication devices were in place, so many hundreds of trucks were in place, and that at most, the people effected by the hurricane would be put out only by three or four days. They lied. It was very 'iffy' as to where it was going to come through the state so again we just sat back and trusted the weather news casters. Near the end of their warnings just minutes before it really started to blow, they made the comment ' that they were surprised it took a little shift' which brought it, as far as we were concerned right over head, almost like it picked a 100 foot wide path to follow which we were in the middle of, with wind up to 120 MPH. They say it only reached 110 but I have lived here long enough to know the difference. It was at least 120 MPH. The paper later reported we had gusts of winds up to 125 miles per hour. Da....I told you so.

Initially Sandy and I just hunkered in, making some minor adjustments before it really started to pound our house by putting up some very heavy plastic over our kitchen sink since the wind was going to beat on this bay window shaped window, thin cheap glass and already with a little crack from Katrina. I thought this would force the rain into the sink rather then blow it all over the house This window would be the first to go.

I would not let Sandy put up any protection over the French doors leading out onto the back patio, since it would be our only escape route if one or both of those 40 foot pines should fall across the front of our house, which surely would have blocked off the front door. I always worry about those two big ole tree's since they are right at the corner of our house, and threatening to fall in a good sized wind either on the top of the house or straight along the front of the house, blocking the front door.

Lifting a two hundred pound generator. Sandy brought in the Titan 8000 generator, the grill and my scooter, to protect them and have them close at hand if something happened to the trees in the back yard. We did block off the doggy hole so the new kittens couldn't get out and set up one of those "Litter Maids" Sandy had purchased prior to the hurricane. They are nice and handy but go through batteries very fast. It was replaced with an old fashioned litter box, when the batteries ran out. (The Titan 8000 is a 200 pound generator and not al all ‘moving it’ friendly’, especially for a Sandy person.

As the hurricane started to dig in and huff and puff, early on, I had a real problem dealing with all the darkness in the house with it being all closed up and the noise, the freight train noise, the cracking sound of what I thought were trees, and the strange whistling it made as it strengthened. We could hear some things crashing into the house but not from our yards but as we discovered, from homes a block away. Of course it ended up that the 'stuff' hitting the house was nothing we could use in a carport sale.

My mind started to play games with me just minutes of listening to the mind bending sounds Sandy put a bar stool on our little front porch which was on the north side of the house with the howling winds coming from the south at that time. I/we sat through the entire hurricane just watching our neighbors tree tear apart and fall into his neighbors yard. I watched as his 6 foot fence came apart section by section and blow up to ten feet into the air and again get tossed into his neighbors yard, nearly hitting his house.

My neighbor who just had a new roof put on his house just about a week before the hurricane, supposedly code approved up to 90 mile per hour winds. It did not fair to well. Although all through the neighborhood, the roofs took a real beating many of them having all their shingles torn off and thrown blocks away, north into the neighborhood. The red roof tiles went flying like large bullets, doing damage to any house that was in their path. I later found that homes started leaking right away although it was only near the end of the hurricane that the rains came.

As our street sign went flying, tumbling and flying and other street signs and other metal objects went flying through the air. Finally ended up embedded in my neighbors fence like arrows. I watched as a back patio awning on a house one street over, just lifted up in the air, and came down with a crash. Although I did not hear the ‘crash’ I am sure the home owner heard it.

Sandy would stand in the front doorway holding the door with both arms and also agreeing with me that it was less scary out side on the porch then in the house. Every now and again a tremendous gust of wind would come by and she would say 'I'm outta here' and rush back into the house. I was enjoying all the special effects and my giant screen close up view of what a hurricane looks like, if you concentrate on what it is doing.

The electric was still on well into the hurricane but we could see transformers blowing up in the distance all over the place, like small explosions, and popping guns the closer they got to our neighborhood.

A couple of times, I was nearly blown off my stool, and I was wedged on my crutches with them holding me up and back against the porch wall. One or two gusts got my attention and I did take a breather and get into the house. I had to be very careful walking into the house since I was soaking wet from head to toe and the tiled floor gets darn slippery, so back I went out onto the porch. Sandy was really, and I mean REALLY pleading with me to come in but I just didn't want to have any part of those 'sounds'.

During what must have been the middle of Wilma, I could see a neighbor about three houses down get on his roof. Something must have crashed into his roof leaving it wide open for more destruction. What ever it was it must have been serious enough for him to venture out in his shorts and scramble onto the roof to fix it or isolate the damage.

Although our French doors were closed and very secure, the hurricane managed to force leaves through the doors. Water came in from the bottom of the doors since they are flush with the patio, so that consumed a bunch of towels to keep from flooding Sandy's room, which is where she does all her sewing and upholstery.
I made most all our shutters out of decking, so I was not worried about a projectile coming though the back yard windows. The frame work from the porch awning which is about 10 by 20 held together since we put a screw in every section as we assembled it. We learned that from Katrina which took the original awning framework and tossed it up in the air ending up on the roof.

Each time we toured the house the noise would soon drive us out on to the porch. We talked about and decided that the hallway was going to be the safest place for us, since we were hearing on the radio, that some roofs were going skyward, and shingles and storage sheds that were not legally and properly secured were flying all over the place. Later we learned this was mainly in the 'red neck' neighborhoods where they have a tendency to do everything Mickey Mouse. Ours took a little beating and one neighbor reported to us that the 10 x 20 shed lifted off the ground but it is secured properly and that is one thing that we will have to redo, along with the minor repairs to the roof.

On the interior of my computer room  the insulation got wet and is falling down from the ceiling. But the room held together well, although the board just under the roof is 'sand papered' down to the wood, paint is gone. Some roof damage to Sandy’s shed, the roof was hit by something that went flying by, and also the protective edging was torn away on three corners, and the roof itself.

Sandy's pond took a beating mainly with debris from all the flying leaves. A tree just outside her room, a rubber tree about 15 feet tall, blew over and just missed her room. We had the top trimmed about two years ago which made it look like a very short and stout tree. The pole which holds the telephone and cable lines swayed back and forth three and four feet, and that was nervy. It was either going to fall on our house or our neighbors, and we could not call her, to warn her, the phones had gone out by this time.
After the hurricane Sandy had to climb over the fallen rubber tree to get to the pond to make sure the phishes were OK She could not see into the pond which is normally crystal clear. One of the plants had fallen in and all the soil was now thoroughly spread out in the water, floating and making it impossible to see the phishes. This was not a good thing since the electric was down and they were not getting air either. They can live in murky water but need oxygen so we hooked the air to a long extension cord and they got air. I had to ‘invent’ a quickie filter which I did out of a five gallon bucket, a pump for the pond, and layer after layer of Dacron to filter out the chunks floating in the water. I pumped water out of the pond through a particle pump, into the top of the 5 gallon bucket. I put a hole in the top side so the hose would stay in that position. And two holes in the bottom sides to return filtered water back into the pond. It will have to be cleaned frequently but is much easier for Sandy since it is sitting on the edge of the pond, and she can let it drain before she picks it up. It can weigh up to 60 pounds when full of the stuff filtered from the pond. This is another area of maintaining a pond that is very hard on Sandy, we never did get the right filtering system going, it all started with her 90 gallon pond, and it grew from there, never being able to afford the right filter, as the pond and the phishes got bigger and bigger.

But we have made it work and the phishes are all Sandy’s buddies which is why they got immediate care right after Hurricane Wilma. We did not lose one single fish although they would munch on each other if they got real hungry. We found that the little crabby guy has lost one of his claws, perhaps from holding on while the hurricane came blowing over the pond. (Sandy’s pond and Koi are her only real luxury and pass time. She built the entire pond by hand, dug the hole, put in the cinder blocks, mortared, etc. I was the supervisor but she did all the physical work) (I do the wood work and plumbing mechanics, all from my chair, but she is a work horse of a person)

 The entire fence is gone, gone gone, the cracking we heard during the hurricane was the 4 x 4 fence posts snapping in the wind. There is just a 16 foot stretch of fence standing and that is the part Sandy fixed from the damage Katrina had done. The gate looks like something out of a "haunted house' movie, and it is coming down. Half of the decking around the pool is somewhere out there. Because we (Sandy) built the above ground pool, half way into the back yard, it held together well, the pump housing is gone, and the back yard is complete open to the world with just a half dozen or so 4x4's that are still standing. I can't sleep well since we have no security and the dogs are not allowed out into the back yard as our bugler alarms. Or they might run into the street and get popped by a fast moving neighbor.

First couple of days, no electric, no phone, and no water. We did not plan on not having any water to shower and flush the toilets.. All three of my daughters are in the same boat, so we are no help to each other. We only had 10 gallons of gas to prepare for the hurricane and thought that would be enough. The generator holds five gallons and will run twelve hours, so we have had to conserve, we are supplying the electric for our neighbor with 100 foot extension cord going to his home to run the refrigerator, and a light or two. If not for John Welker our neighbor and his parents we would not have the luxury of the generator. He made it available to us about a year ago after one of the other big scares (another hurricane, so far three in a row). His parents who live in north Florida also came up with much of the gas during the early days of Wilma, driving half way down the state (Orlando)to meet Sandy since there would not have been any gas for them to return on, if they came all the way. John and many of his friends located gas for us, to make sure we didn’t run out. A few of my daughters friends also met Sandy and brought more ice, food and a few needed snacks to remove some of the tension.

 The van was filled with five 5 gallon cans of gasoline which had me very worried since Sandy is a smoker, and the van was now a 'bomb getting ready to happen'. She promised she would not smoke all the way back to Fort Lauderdale, and ride with the windows opened. She kept her promise. She brought back gasoline from John’s parents and friends, water from the west coast, and more treats from other friends living farther north.

We ran out of money a day or so before Wilma since we opted to pay for the repair to the roof rather then make a mortgage payment since we knew Wilma was definitely coming and more threatening. We have one of those tile roofs made out of concrete and at this time not available for another year after Wilma has focused more on roofs then anything else. Our roof is one of the only ones in the entire neighborhood that has survived. Nearly every single neighbor has some roof damage. Many completely gone.
Our electric may be down until November 22nd since our electric pole is a teeterer and the last on the list to be repaired, along with the phone lines, and cable lines, so we will be in an uncomfortable and smelly state for several more days.

Sandy is able to go a neighbors house that has gas water heater and get a nice shower, I stay and watch the house and the sheds, and take a four wash clothe sponge type of bath. But that won't last much longer since we can't wash any clothes. I am just a few hardships away from hooking up the entire house to the generator through the dryers electrical. I know enough to pull the fuses to the house so we don't electrocute an FPL person, but the gas is running out. Our neighbors have been paying for the gas but they are running out of cash too, our banks are still not set to open, and no ATM machines.
I will try to get some help from FEMA but I already feel like we talk and look to American to qualify. The schemers and scammers are all over the place, and I am on night detail to try and hamper any looters, although several of our neighbors have reported gas being siphoned from their cars, and gas cans full of fuel for the generators being stolen. And we have seen many strange people walking through the neighborhood.

The news is not reporting just what is going on out there, and the severity of the storm, it is just another 'news topic' to them and they are dragging it out as long as they can, reporting things that happened days ago, and slowly getting the real story out there.
Of course one of the first things that got hooked up to the generator was a computer, then the refrigerator, the freezer and then the neighbors. I have just a couple more hours before we run out of another 5 gallons, and then another 12 hours before we crank it up again.

Six days with out electric and phone....
As we get into the 6th day of the aftermath I gotta say it is not fun. It does get you into a state of mind where you start to realize that we have it made in the shade when it comes to comfort and when you have to do without the simple things for a few days it does humble you.

I understand that Pompano Beach has been hit the hardest, and from what I can see Fort Lauderdale has been the second hardest although it feels and looks like we got it just as bad. Our electric, supposedly will take the longest in getting connected which means we will have to tolerate the discomfort for a lot longer then our surrounding neighbors in other cities. All the news coverage has been on Miami which means the Cubans are going to be the first to come up with the latest funding scams from FEMA. I can only listen to the radio for a few hours every night and all the interviews are with the black folk that seem to be a breed of whiners and beggars. I know that is a generalization but since they don't ever make an effort to get their people in check I have to assume, they are all in it together. Each of the ones that come forth to represent the black people all say the same thing, they are getting the 'short' end of the stick. Bull crap on that, they like the short end of the stick.

The radio will be one thing we must invest in, a good one that will get more then Spanish Speaking  stations and anti- Bush Crazies. All these fancy radios and receivers I have do not get good radio frequencies and I should have looked into that when I got them. And the TV nothing but snow because I don't have an antennae connection or good ole' 'rabbit ears'. Which I am going to find one way or another. Cell phone reception is still weak unless Sandy stands on the hood of the car, raises her right arm, and balances on one leg. Literally and truthfully that has worked.

Sandy purchased some real fancy and fantastically great spot lights but they all require recharging and without electricity that becomes difficult. We can't waste the plugins that the generator has, so we charge a flashlight every other night. We have also found we do not have enough extension cords, nor are the ones we have very good, that’s what you get when you think 'cheap'. Without a good radio giving out the news, you lose contact with the outside world, which is not so bad, except that when you do get the 'news', you find you are 'in the dark'. Sandy’s sister in law and her brother Lee, sent a Care Package from northern Florida since we can’t get some ‘stuff’ yet. Plenty of batteries which came in just when the radio died out. Some choice snacks for Mike, chocolate pudding for Sandy which I hid way back in the refrigerator, hoping she would forget about them. She also got some cans of White Chicken which is her favorite. Also two gigantic Hershey bars, which I definitely know I will be able to hide from her, although she knows she got them, she just may never see them again. Deviled Ham, I haven’t seen that in years.. Now we know the meaning of a real ‘Care Package”.

On the seventh day we had to venture to the Salvation Army for some hot hand outs and more water, not that we don't have a bunch of canned goods, we do, but the can opener is difficult for both Sandy and I to use and the propane gas is just about out and there is no place close by to get a refill. If we use up the gas in the Van to get propane, we don't have enough gas to get to our daughters houses just in case they need help. I understand the gas lines should be diminished by late today or tomorrow.

By the way, ugh! but we can't be choosers when you are standing in line at the Salvation Army, it is not a buffet. Some slop that they said was Chili, and some Fruit Cocktail and 4 gallons of water. Grocery stores are opening back up so we should be able to get some 'ready to eat' food products, still no electric, phone or water pressure in our area. There is water but it comes out at a trickle and definitely not drinkable. The new color is not appealing, and since it glows at night it is easy to find a glass of water if you laid it around somewhere.

We see some lights coming on around us but we were told by a passing FPL truck driver that our section or block is to badly damaged and they will be back. We just discovered our line to the pole is pulled loose, so the folks with broken or downed lines are the last to get back their electricity. The phone lines too, are pulled or stretched from the pole. It was swaying back and forth during the hurricane, and we did expect it to fall. The Support line to that pole on the top of the roof that holds the electrical line is snapped. Our neighbors had theirs ripped completely off the side of their house taking the electrical box with it.

Its 11:15 PM Sunday night and here I go again on 'looter' detail. There always has to be someone on a block with a Cadillac generator, one that looters can sell for a thousand dollars or more, and we're the ones to own one of those. I have always believed in overkill.

We are servicing two houses with it ,so it definitely has come in handy. Sandy changed the oil in it this morning and it does sound a little better, it was spitting a little last night which was a sign we needed to look into what might be causing that. Without a generator we would have both jumped off a bridge. Sandy is starting to get a little edgy and bites my head off every now and again. She has to do everything, and I mean everything. Today she had to revert back to the old fashioned way of washing clothes, or rather hanging them out to dry on the fence, the bushes that are still left standing, and any where that looks like it can support wet clothes and towels. When I met Sandy she had to wash clothes in her tub with one of those old wash boards.

The radio is good for nothing so I hooked up one of the DVD players and am watching Quigley Down Under for the hundredth time. To let me rest up a little from the tension of worrying about 'looters' the kids brought over a couple of neat aluminum bats which I planted next to the front door and the back. I am not one to use them but if a stranger saw me with a bat in hand, he definitely would run, I have that built in 'meaner then a son-of-a-gun' look. And a really good bark to go along with it. I also rigged up a burglar alarm with the help of Sandy of course. I took some fishing line and tied it to one of the fence posts left standing closet to the house, and put a couple of eye bolts on the other posts about 18 inches off the ground, on the perimeter, threading the fish line, and stringing a bunch of tin cans at the end by the gate that is no longer there. So if anyone starts to come on the property the cans should alert me, and the dogs, who will wag their tails and hopefully scare off any would be intruders.

I managed to get a ticket number or what ever you call it with FEMA. We're not going to make it without some help from them but we're ready to pack it in anyway, getting very tired of fighting off the after affects of hurricanes. Sandy managed to check with the Bell Service we have for taking messages, and every single day since the hurricane, the bill collectors have already started in on us, of course we were already behind getting prepared for Wilma and the damage from Katrina. I would say, that this has been the very worst experience that Sandy and I have had to go through as far as living in South Florida and enduring the weather. My kids went driving around to report in to me, and let me know that the Mobile Home we once lived in was completely destroyed. We moved out of it a good 20 years ago, do to the weather. They are not safe, ever, and noisy as heck in a Florida rain storm. The mobile Home park by I-95, which is not really to far from us, was also destroyed, and the metal sheets I saw flying through the air were from that trailer park.

My biggest concern is for my wife Sandy, she is doing all the work around here. Cleaning up after the hurricane, lugging off big portions of the fence to the pile by the road. Rick has been a big help. The other kids are in the same boat as we are and they are trying as hard as they can to start to fix their homes back in some kind of save condition for the kids. No one has electric as yet.

I did hear on the radio earlier today one of those darn right stoopid radio people complaining that the victims of Katrina, Rita and now Wilma are just whimpers, waiting for handouts from the government, that we didn't prepare well, and that we are all lazy freeloading people. Expecting the Government, FEMA and other organizations to bail us out. All I can say is tell that guy and others to go to Hell. We prepared for this hurricane and all the others by having a good week worth of food, enough water for at least three weeks except for the bathes, which we did not ever expect to be with out running water. Had to share with several neighbors.
 

And the Titan 8000 generator, with five 5 gallon cans of gas on hand. Everything was fully charged including my scooter, and all the flashlights, plenty of ice to keep the refrigerator freezer and the upright freezer cold, and a reasonable amount of meat and vegetables. After sharing the water with neighbors, that ran out early, and the kids too, we started to run out of supplies after about 5 days. We are by far better off then most of our neighbors and they too did a reasonable job of preparing for the hurricane but no one expected to have their roofs ripped apart, no water, no phones, no cell service and still no electric. Banks have been closed all through the week after the hurricane and a small list of them are opening up Monday. Doesn't matter to us, we don't have any cash left anyway, like loads of other people. We spent it all preparing for Katrina, Rita and Wilma, and gas, at $30.00 a day we went through Sandy's mad money jar of coins, fast. The lines for gas have been up to 6 hours long, so tell those people that seem to think we are freeloaders, to live in our shoes for the weeks after Wilma and other hurricanes or bad weather catastrophes. No one ever expects to take a hit like this to their way of living, to their bank accounts, and to their nerves.

During the storm, as Sandy struggled out to her shed fighting winds at least 90 miles per hour, to close the swinging door, she started back to the house fighting the wind and looked over towards the pond to see our Rubber Tree had fallen, she couldn't stop but had a tearful scream telling me the tree was down and I could sense she was very worried about the Koi Ponds, and her little 'big' buddies. As soon as she could, when the winds died down she climbed over the downed tree to see if the ponds were still holding water but she could not see the fish with all the dirt and leaves that muddied up the water. She threw in some food and they started to swim to the surface which brought a smile to her with a little tear.

Today, to keep from going absolutely out of my mind, Sandy took me for a brief ride, mainly to see if my Pharmacist, Las Olas Chemist, was open yet, he is on Las Olas, which was torn apart by Wilma and secured by the National Guard right away, those are mostly zillion dolla businesses on that street. Well he wasn't open yet, hopefully Monday since I ran out of medication the day Wilma pounced on us. As we started to leave the drive way, I noticed a neighbor, two ladies both on their roof repairing it, all through the neighborhood trees everywhere, down, lines down, poles down, semi trucks flipped on their sides. And shingles every where. Most of my neighbors are in the same boat as we are, high deductibles, and the threat that if we claim any damage, we will be canceled. We have had lots of damage to the home through the years but always taking it out of pocket or saving up for weeks and months to afford the repair. Insurance companies down here including the biggies like State Farm are all crooks, taking your money because you have to have insurance to own a car or house, and never coming across with out the fear of being terminated.

I just finished off the last two hard boiled eggs that Sandy prepared prior to the hurricane. In the pitch black of night you can hear me coming down the hallway on my squeaky crutches, and there is a powerful smell that escapes by body with every other step, noisy too. And it has nothing to do with my 'Four Wash Clothe Bathing' method.

Which reminds me, just days before the Hurricane, Sandy had to get me a new pair of crutches, I wear them out every couple of years. Well these had some really powerful rubber tips on them and act like suction cups as I travel around the house. All tile floors makes for a nice surface to suck up to if you are a rubber tip on a crutch. Finding the bathroom for me in the bark is not so bad since Sandy got me a flashlight I can carry around my neck. Once I get there, most all the memory comes back as to what this little room is all about and what you do in it. I must take off the flashlight because it does hang down in front of me, and made a splash once, its water proof so that’s OK. From the moment I turn around, my memory takes over again and I just act naturally.

Now this is kewl, our daily food rations from the Salvation Army, and not bad at all. They put together a good combination of canned goods and 'stuff' to make up for the three daily meals. Apple juice, boxed cereal, raisons or nuts, Pringles, a couple of those, Chef-Boy-R-Dee canned something or other, milk the kind you can drink warm from Nestles, not bad at all. More like a snack box for me, but I can see where it will keep someone reasonably healthy and loosing weight if they have to depend on it. I wonder how much FEMA is paying for this little box of goodies. Not that I would complain.

One of our phone lines just  went back on, the folks with the telephone company hooked the line back up to the pole but said they will have to come back to secure the pole or replace it. At last we are back in touch with the outside world.. Now all I have to do is get tough and fight off the bill collectors, as they like to call non stop throughout the day. Sandy has handled a few of the calls setting some of those idiots straight. It is really as if the rest of the world does not know that Fort Lauderdale in particular, as FP and L states, has overwhelmed them with more destruction then they have ever seen before. 200 sub stations down and over 15,000 poles down, now that sounds  like a big problem to me.

Nine days later, and night after night of guard duty have me a little worried as to what we will be able to do to get back that once secure feeling we had with a six foot fence all around the property. Keeping in the pets, giving us the privacy that we once enjoyed. We lost part of the fence when Katrina came through but had a few spare sections stored on the side of the house, Rick and my other son-in-law, quickly fixed that part, and then comes Wilma who took the whole darn fence except the two pieces we just put up. Sandy is very nervous about someone breaking into the Ted's Sheds, or in the back yard, and just taking what they can get their hands on. Our neighborhood has always been very safe and secure with only an occasional break in to a house or two. But now, without a fence, you can no longer feel safe and secure

October 25th
Sandy is out trying to do what she can to straighten up the property so it doesn't look like a shanty in the hills of Kentucky. She has always done her very best to keep up the lawn, painting the house and trim, painting the fence just a month or two ago, a pretty hunter green. A fence that is no longer there.

October 26-27th
She went across the street today to help two ladies who where on their roof trying to replace it, since it was gone, no tiles, at all blown clean away right down to the tar paper and even that was in bad condition. Sandy offered to help get up on the roof and help with the shingling but realized that ladders did not agree with her, so she just went around picking up the lose shingles. The majority of roofs in our area are all damaged. We are most fortunate that just one or  two days before the hurricane, we managed to put together enough money to repair one of the more serious damages caused by Katrina. Our roof looks like it weathered the storm, in good shape.

All the neighbors pretty much got together to help each other cut down tree's, remove fence parts, and other flying objects that ended up in our yards. John, the neighbor behind us who suffered the most damage to his house with part of his roof collapsing, has been a big big help. He has gone on 'gas' runs, and even managed to find gas somewhere around Orlando and his parents brought it half way to Yulee, Florida and Sandy and my daughter Shelly drove up to get it. 60 per cent chances of showers tonight but what the heck we just went through a category three hurricane.

Sandy has been doing all the work and I mean all the work, boiling water for the dishes, conserving on the propane with every other day 'hot meals' washing the clothes in the washer and wringing them out and hanging then out on what’s left of the fence. Sweeping the house out by broom since all the windows are open and dust comes through from the road. She drove down to the drug store to get my medications which is usually just a 10 minute drive but with all the lights down and traffic directing itself through the four way corners, it took over an hour to get there and back.

She lugged out another five gallon can of gas as she has been doing everyday, and filled the generator, that’s 18 five gallon cans of gas, and 'of course' at premium prices. She put up a make shift roof over the generator to protect it from rain, since we are expecting another rain storm, any kind of rain now amounts to a 'storm'. The winds have taken on a new sound as they rush through the tree's that are thinned out now. Not at all like the wind's of a Hurricane but scary enough. It's 10:46 and dark as all get out on our property and our block but across the street a neighbor has their electric on and a porch light which illuminates the side of the house where the fence once was. I still check the back yard with a spot light and I do feel better that there is some light out there, but the lack of security wears on ones nerves. Every sound makes me nervous and concerned that I will have to confront a looter and have to scare him to death with my big bark. We may be the one sued if he should die on our property without a shot being fired.

I have waddled to the back patio in the middle of the night and just stood there with my spot light in hand, as a 'ray gun'. I have encountered a couple of people walking by and to scare them away shinned my spot light at them, only to have them shine a flashlight back at me, and wave. Must be 'friendly' fire from their ray guns. I have to stay awake until Sandy can have the early morning 'security' detail.

Lost the Internet connection again. That is the only way to see what is going on out there in the world. I did notice as of yesterday, Halloween that around the world it is if nothing has happened here in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida. That makes no sense to me what so ever, unless it is a conspiracy by Jeb Bush to reduce the size of the state. Down on A1A, the buildings are much like they were when Cleo came through, sandblasted bare. About 5 feet of sand in many places, and the beach is up to the sidewalk. The ninth day with out electric is starting to wear on me, and with the phone coming and going that just adds to the tension.
And of course no business, that is going to be a real killer since that becomes one of those things you never catch up on, bill wise. On top of that it has been raining all day so no work on the phone lines or the electric. Two inches of rain so far, and to our neighbor that had his roof cave in, that is not something he needs right now. Gas is starting to run low as far as our inventory and with no way to cash a check, no money, no gas.

FEMA promised those roof covers (Blue Tarps) would be set and ready in place before the hurricane hit. None to be found, and like so many others rain does find its way into a home. With two of those roof tarps John our neighbor could probably save his home, at least from any fungus but FEMA has no idea where they are located, they can't even find where they put them. I have given FEMA every possible excuse as to why they have not functioned well in these crises but I can tell you first hand that it is because they hire some pretty inexperienced people to answer their phones. And they just do not do as they say they are going to do. I can tell you that they have lied there way through another natural disaster, and blown a lot of money, giving it to those that did not need it like $110,000,000 to people in New Orleans that weren’t even on the books as home owners, or entitled to any assistance, and another $34,000,000 in Miami, who weren’t even affected by Katrina. Some dumb people running that group. 10 days later and still no electric, and the phones went out again...

November 2nd, 2005 12:41 AM
As Sandy looks out back at where the fence used to be you can see the worry and concern and the absolute lost feeling from having to give up our little private world. She is so frustrated from not having a hot shower she threatened to lather up and let the rain, which is hotter then the tap water, rinse her off. But she thought twice about that realizing that a few neighbors may complain. It has been raining all day and it is now very hot and muggy. John came over and helped me load up another five gallons of gas to run through the night. Things are supposed to be getting better out there as far as getting supplies. Sandy got a small order for a custom sewing job and cranked up a sewing machine or two and started on it to help bring in the funds. She is very very tired from all the work load and the worry. What little I can do is just that, way to little.

I am getting to be an expert with generator sounds. When it is running just right, full tank of gas, and oil it purr’s. It has some kind of feature where it can detect that the oil is getting low and makes an entirely different sound, a warning. But adding oil is not that easy. Sandy has had to give it an oil change already and that was rough on her and my daughter. It weighs over 200 pounds, and they did have to tilt it slightly to remove all the old oil. And you know how difficult it is to ‘tilt’ some thing just slightly when what you are tipping weighs in at 200 pounds. Adding gas is not that easy either, they sure didn’t think these things through very well, especially now that more and more home owners are going to have to invest in generators.

It is very frustrating and sometimes difficult to handle knowing Sandy is my sole support, and she takes on all the duties without a complaint, well maybe she does jump on me now and again but I surely can understand it, it is rough on anyone, just taking care of themselves and a house to boot and someone that is not much more help then a bump on a log. She tied a knot on the garbage getting ready to take it outside when the sun comes up, I made a little mess making myself something to eat and can’t even undo the knot in the garbage bag, she is going to be mad at me in the morning but I think I will sleep through it.

November 5th the prospects don’t look good that we will have electric over the weekend. Our neighbor Bonnie, decided to just go as far north as she could until the electric comes back, and left the key with Sandy. She has a gas heater so Sandy can at least get a hot shower, which is ‘cooling’ her down. We are still sleeping in shifts since the security we once felt is gone. A neighbor down the block who has suffered some of the same damage was robbed. She was in bed when burglars came in and she pretended to sleep through it, while they took what they wanted even her car. I doubt if she sleeps well now. I feel pretty much the same way, except I am not going to pretend I am sleeping through any robbery.. Every noise gets my attention.

November 7th and still no power. The generator took a dump and Shelly, who now has electric, brought over her generator, until we can get ours repaired. On Saturday, I called the people that made the generator, and described the problem and asked for a local firm that services their brand. They very openly told me that I should not get the generator serviced at this time, since she was aware that there was some steep price gouging going on and they could do nothing about it, so I am ordering a part from them Monday which she feels will take care of the problem. Sandy has made so many trips to get oil that she is now buying the oil in 2 gallon containers. We have gone through 118 gallons of gas, so far... And Sandy is doing all the filling of the gas tanks on the generator, the oil changes, and making sure it does not run low on oil. Her arm is hurting her very badly and refuses to see a doctor this next week, she had a stroke last year around this time, and with all the stress from getting parts of the fence to the road, the tree limbs, and just cleaning up the yard as well as her pond are proving to be a big strain on her, plus she still does all the house work and the clothes, which she took to a laundry mat for the first time since we got married.

The first thing I ever bought for Sandy just two weeks after we were married was a washer and dryer. Not that that was her ‘job’ but I just couldn’t stand to see her hanging out at a laundry mat for several hours every Saturday. That is just not anything that is written up in the marriage vows.

If Sandy ever meets up with this gal, Wilma, I am sure Sandy will use her good arm and knock her head off. Sandy is not very happy at this time. No electric, no phone and no business, she is not happy at all.

November 7th too, 4:34 PM, finally, we have electric, nearly fifteen days later. Just in time too. Sandy has had just about enough and the weather has been getting steadily hotter day by day. First thing she did was crank up the air conditioner, or crank it down to 55 degrees. I know that will only last the night then it is back up to 78 degrees.

My daughter Lisa lost the most, her big screen TV, the computer, the stove, VCR, DVD player and much of her roof, damaging much of the interior.

Shelly lost her four ton air conditioning unit, and a couple of other things with some damage to her house.Lori had a lot of exterior damage to her house.

We lost the fence, some roof damage, a couple of broken windows, and acquired a yard full of trash from all over the neighborhood. We may may have lost the Titan 8000 generator but hopefully the part we were advised to purchase, will do the trick. Personally with the loss of business at this time of year, we are seriously going to have to consider what to do with our lives we just may not have enough energy to start over, I know Sandy is very distraught over the fence, and nearly loosing her pond, and seeing the damage to the property that she just finished painting. I worry about her health since se will do what ever she can to put up a new fence. And all by herself.

John the neighbor that lost his roof and all his fence too is considering to let us have his old fence if they decide to replace his rather then too fix it. We need approximately 163 feet in fencing which he already has and in fair condition. The problem is  going to be in moving sections up to 60 feet long.. And digging the post holes, something like 38 2 feet deep post holes, and 120 pounds of cement for each post hole. Sandy poured the cement for most of the ones we have, along with help from Rick, and Jeff, Johnny too.

John has been a super neighbor, helping us find gas and water, sharing his chicken with us. And above all helping Sandy load up the generator with gas at all the strange hours. He managed to find some one to fix  his fence and we are hoping they will allow us to have the ‘parts’ since buying a fence is not something we can do right now. Sandy is at the doctors now and I hope it is nothing serious. She never tells me what’s wrong, and the kids are more loyal to mom, and they keep their traps shut too. More so because they don’t want to deal with mom if she gets made at them. I fear her too.

November 8th, 10:22 PM. I just woke up an hour or two ago, having enjoyed a thorough, long over due, cooled off sleep, with a little help from my little pals. I spotted a bright light coming in the room a couple of times, but still very much into a deep sleep I did not move. Sandy was checking on me with her new high powered little flashlight, that she will now keep with her at all times. She doesn’t like the idea of sleeping with a dead man, and she was tired too. As she came to bed she asked me to let out the dogs, Crazy Max, and the three legged lady, Missy. I did, and that was a mistake. Without a fence they just thought we enlarged the back yard and started to wonder. It was to late at night to call out and some neighbors are still without power so I didn’t want to cause a neighborhood riot.

I had to accept the fact that I might have to deal with Sandy in the morning and went back in the house trying to kick myself, but I know if I could do that, I really wouldn’t need these crutches. But kicking myself was also out of the question since I would have to wait until morning for Sandy to help me up. I sat at the table for a few minutes, wondering what to do, Max is deaf, and nearly blind, and Missy is overweight and a three legged dog. And black as the night, so know one would really see her if she wandered across a street. I went to the back door to check one more time, and there was Max, he knows where he gets his cookies. I then went to the front door and their was Missy, they both got doubles on their cookies. The fence is going to be a real issue.

After the power went on, we start to feel even more overwhelmed that we ‘lived through’ the inconveniences. 15 days without electricity was a sure test as too how people get along, nearly alone, 24 hours a day, day after day.  It’s one thing to be able to carry ‘one’s’ portion of the load, but with Sandy and I, she has it all on her shoulders. She has finally agreed to go to the Doctor and made the call herself, so I know it is serious. While I was asleep this morning, she again went over board, and pulled up my carpet in my 10 x 10 den/office and dog house, and lugged it out to the street. She never tells me she  loves me, but she says it in a thousand other ways, and I wish she would just take it easy and try the old fashioned way of just saying I love you rather then take on all these heavy duty chores. I love her and tell her all the time, but I think she would rather it was me lugging out the carpet, or chunks of the fence.

I am still very tired from the ordeal of dealing with a mean ole’ WILMA so will get a little help from my friends, and prepare to go to sleep, I am tired, very very tired.

November 9th

It’s early Wednesday morning, and Sandy has gone to the doctor. Shelly is with her and won’t take any crap from here.

16% price increase in FPL bills, I wonder what else will go up?
Now its up to 18%

Sandy went to the doctor today and has a torn rotor cuff, which she has had since Katrina and just kept aggravating it with all the work she did preparing for Wilma and then lugging all the fence and debris out to the road. You can’t tell Sandy to slow down or not to do this or that. In three years she has managed to break her ribs twice, in pairs, and have a stroke. She goes back to the doctor tomorrow to see how serious it is and whether or not she will need an operation.

November 10th,
John our neighbor pretty much confirmed that we can have his old fence, now I just have to find a way to keep Sandy from messin’ with it, until I can figure out how we are going to get the boys over here to help move the sections.
2:15 AM, Sandy just woke up which means I can get together with my little pals and get some sleep. This is the most exercise I have gotten in a long time, getting up out of my chair and checking on every little noise that I hear in the back yard.

We have many to thank for helping us through this ordeal, neighbors and friends, our daughters and son-in-laws, and especially Sandy’s sister Shari Moon and brother Lee Emmons, and our favorite sister-in-law, Sybil. My mind just went on me and can’t think how to spell her name. Sybil sounds right but I am on ‘security detail’ and getting very tired. Sandy had to take some medication for the pain in her shoulder and I hope she gets a good nights sleep. I will sit here in my chair, nodding off now and again, with an ear to my window, listening for any strange sounds. Anyway thanks to the care packages, the phone calls, we managed to keep far enough apart to stay alive.

to be continued...

The following are articles from the Sun-Sentinel, if they want to sue me for adding to the web site, tell them to go ahead.....

From the Local News...

Businesses in South Florida were largely shut down in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, which left most of them without power.

Wilma entered the state near Naples as a strong Category 3 storm and kept its punch as a Category 2, with sustained winds of about 100 miles per hour, as it crossed the Everglades and hit Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Wind gusts of more than 120 miles per hour were reported in some areas.

Limited relief supplies
“Pretty sad,” said Douglas Riley, shaking his head after waiting 7½ hours for two bags of ice. “It’s very disappointing for the amount of stuff we got. But I’m grateful.”
Trucks carrying bags of ice and cases of water were late to a number of distribution areas.
“We know the assets are there. Now it’s just a matter of getting the product to the people,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.
FEMA spokeswoman Frances Marine urged patience. “We can’t wave a magic wand and clear roads and fix damage that was done by nature in a day,” she said.
Better weather and Key lime pie
Distribution went more smoothly elsewhere. At Key West High School, the food even included Key lime pie.

And many storm-savvy Floridians coped with good humor, their mood lifted in part by spectacular weather in the wake of Wilma: cloudless skies and unseasonably low temperatures that dropped into the 50s about dawn Tuesday and were in the mid-70s during the day.
“This weather is a blessing,” said Agnes Howard, who found her home without air conditioning following a hurricane for the second time in two months.

“The heat in the aftermath of the last storm was insufferable,” said her husband, John Terrill, referring to August’s Katrina. “Nobody slept for days. At least we got a good night’s sleep last night.”

Blackouts for a third of Florida
Wilma knocked out power for hundreds of miles, cutting off electricity to a staggering one out of three Florida residents. Florida Power & Light, the state’ biggest utility, said Wilma affected more of its 4.3 million customers than any other natural disaster in the company’s history.
In heavily populated areas such as Miami-Dade County, as many as 98 percent of its customers lost power.
At the Who’s on 1st Deli in Fort Lauderdale, Maria Salvo and her daughters melted ice for coffee and made egg, cheese and sausage sandwiches on gas burners.

“We’re selling whatever we have,” she said as people waited in line with insulated cups.
Nearby, the steeple of the First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale was stripped bare, and the sanctuary lost much of its roof. Maintenance worker Don Anderson walked around the grounds with a chain saw, cutting up some of the 100 or so damaged trees.

Anderson said it was a blessing that the cold front that steered Wilma also brought cool weather.

“It’ll keep the tensions down,” he said. “The hotter it is, the worse they feel. But we’ll survive long enough to come together. In fact, this is sometimes what we need. The people of America pull together in times of disaster.”

The hurricane kills at least six in the state, knocks out power to 6 million and causes up to $9 billion in damage

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Hurricane Wilma knifed through Florida with winds up to 125 mph Monday, shattering windows in skyscrapers, peeling away roofs and knocking out power to 6 million people.

to be continued

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