I just finished my 15-part series on White Sox catcher Sherm Lollar (See Post #2509). It was a good distraction from shoulder and leg pain, as well as the incoming hurricane named Milton. The baseball playoffs continue with the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani in danger of early elimination by the Padres and the Mets are on a roll. Royals, and Tigers, and Guardians, Oh My! IU football remains undefeated and bowl eligible at 6-0 with a week off. My other distraction has been watching The Old Man on Hulu and sorting my son’s baseball cards. 

I took the level of the pool down about 4 inches this morning in anticipation of heavy rain and then shut off the breakers. We’ve stocked up on food/water and filled the tubs/containers. Everything on the lanai has been taken to the garage or bungeed together as a precaution. Fountains and hoses have been disconnected. It’s currently raining with tornado warnings to add to the stress. We’re still a day away from Milton’s estimated landfall that should happen near Tampa, far enough away from us. The Weather Channel is currently reporting from Jacksonville for some reason, but the farther away from us the better. 

We bought 11-bags of mulch yesterday to use as sandbags, if necessary, but with Hurricane Ian last year, the water only came up halfway down the street. It would need to rise another 5-feet or more to affect us. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen! We won’t be victims of the impending Gulf surge but flooding of the nearby Myakka River could pose a problem. We’ve elevated most everything possible in the house, just in case, up on tables or higher shelves. Throw rugs have been removed, as the lights start to flicker. We’ve even prepared a stock of frozen water containers to us in the refrigerator if the power goes out.

The neighbors all have generators and are more than anxious to test and show off their investments. They claim that it was worth it if they don’t have to use it but have a secret desire for glamping. For me, it would be just another thing to go wrong! Our resort community, Islandwalk, has a pretty good newly installed electrical back-up system. All our phones are charged with back-up. It’s cool enough that we won’t need air conditioning. My old Meteorologist in Lafayette, Indiana is reporting now for Channel 10 in Tampa. His team is on the background and love this sh*t! They, too, are fortunately not in our neighborhood! There will be some heavy drinking going on, but not at our house. Sleeping will be enough of a problem without the extra sugars. 

The good thing about hurricanes is that you have several days to fret and plan, unlike other natural disasters. It’s the fretting part that’s painful, like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Before the day is over, we’ll pack a few bags if we’re forced to move. I see nothing but red on these TV weather maps, but we’re as ready as we can be.  

Many of our neighbors have not returned from their Snowbird perches up north or have delayed coming because of the storm. Others have followed the warnings and left. My son lives near-by in less likely to flood Zone E but has a houseful of nephews and nieces staying with him. We will not benefit from emergency services since we’re in Zone C with mandatory evacuation. As mentioned, the other half of our street has had water problems in the past, but we’re uphill, but still subject to the same orders to leave. They’ve also added more drainage pumps because of that previous problem and are more vigilant about keeping the street drains open. We’ve all learned lessons since the last storms!

Where would we go? It took almost eight hours, more than twice as long as normal, for friends to get to the other coast because of the traffic congestion. Finding a place to stay, with all the hotels reserved for emergency services, is nearly impossible. Staying home, allows others to escape if necessary. I can only hope we’ve made the right decision! All of my pessimistic nature is showing its colors!

Another emergency message has interrupted the TV broadcast. There are those that are also annoyed that the wall-to-wall weather programming has preempted The Young and The Restless. We’ll likely be restless confined to our concrete bomb shelter with high-impact hurricane glass. If the power goes off, we’ll “resort” to books – maybe “resort” is the wrong word!

I will do another post when things settle down and the power is restored. However, I’m not sure how long that will take? A lot of people have been in touch, expressing their concerns, so maybe this will get more readership than normal. My biggest issue at this point is next week’s prostrate surgery. The pre-testing was cancelled for tomorrow, so I hope there won’t be a delay. I’ve got to go – to the bathroom, again! Go away, Milton, and don’t come again another day!