Tropical Storm Fay is gone and as far as tropical storms go, she wasn't too bad to us.  (She was down right mean to the people south of us as many got flooded out of their homes.  Here's a few pictures from around my world

Our gate

Canal's full!

Only one tree down so far 

Did I mention we have a cypress swamp?

Outside my office

The young ones having fun.  (Yes, they do have shelter but they preferred playing in the rain.)

Going home

 The road is flooded but not too bad.  Just need to watch out for wash outs.

More and more water (I think I counted about eight wash outs total.)

Wanna come visit?

As TS Fay approaches, I feel less inclined to care much about her and find myself more wrapped up in how life has shaped my views.  As far as Tropical Storms go, it's not that I've become complacent, it's just that I know the routine.  My spouse is an Emergency Responder so he may get deployed.  This means that when he left for work this morning, he may be gone for more then his normal shift.  I'm not worried about him as he is quite smart and has a bright engineering mind and can handle most anything.

As for my job, as I'm the Supervisor, I've had to oversee 'plans' for our continued operation.  We, also, can not just 'close up shop' and go home should the storm come our way.  We are, also, considered mandatory staff.  The beautiful part to this, is my employees are all great people who live for weather and what else does a Tropical Storm provide?  They are all thrilled to have a job that pays them to do what they love to do.

That leaves the home front.  Once again, I'm blessed.  I've got great kids.  My oldest is one of the most reliable people I've ever met.  The other two, learning from her example.  Where we live, we are pretty much safe from weather events.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to run from a catagory five (maybe even a four) hurricane, but it does mean that I don't have to fear a tropical storm or a lesser hurricane.

Should a tree fall down and block the road, or destroy a section of fence, we know how to use a chainsaw and mend said fence.  The biggest issue is losing power.  That would mean no water as we have a pump.  But even that is only a minor nussaince as we can hook up a generator and we're back in business. 

Being a resident of Florida for over thirty years now, sure has prepared us for the natural events that occur here.  I've lost count of how many storms I've weathered.  Anyway, this isn't what I started out to write and that doesn't mean that all others are or will be prepared.  Keep South Florida in your prayers (the island nations, too.)

God bless.

Vicki

Proof Seville, Florida, was cold!

Ladies!  You all are funny!!

First, here in Florida, all the news casters called for snow flurries between 2am & 5am. 

At 2330 hrs, the winds started blowing strong, in from the ocean, and the clouds that had been hanging off shore, blew in.     

At 0200 hrs I decided to call it a night.  The plants were tended.  All the pets were tended.  The water left running with a trickle.  There really wasn't much in the sky as towards cloud coverage.  We're about ten to fifteen miles from the ocean as  the crow flies.  If snow fell, it would have been more to the East of us and west of the shoreline.

0530 hrs  Time to awaken and kiss my spouse goodbye as he prepares for work.  No snow?  No.

1000 hrs - 1030ish  Time to rise and start the day.

Turn on computer, news, head for coffee.  Once started, start feeding rounds, (today coat, shoes ~well flip-flops) and head outside to turn off the trickle and check everyone.

Horses:  Last night my daughter called me at work around 2200 hrs (10pm) and asked how much it would cost to fix a whole in the floor. 

Of course my next question to her was, "What happened?"  

She said, "Nothing. Yet."

"OK, what praytell is about to happen?"

"I just wanted to know if we could afford a new floor."

"If we need a new floor, then we might as well start building our new house."  

No not horses, but I have talked about in our next house, having large enough doors and a stone floor so if you ever wanted to bring a horse in you could!  My MIL agrees!  So does my spouse and kids.  We also plan to have a central aviary.  Probably, both together as a hard easy to clean floor would be good in an aviary.

Horses are amazing creatures.  They can grow a winter coat over night.  They like the weather change and can go in the barn if they want to.  I'm sure all of you who have dogs know the joy a crisp morning brings as they frolick and play, barking off echos into the day.  The horses react pretty much the same way.  The goats are playing, too.

As for Elephants well I'm sure my feelings are clear!  Note to self:  Make sure doors are large enough for Elephants and Giraffes.

We actually have complete winter gear including snow pants for everyone.  More because we started trying to go skiing or snowboarding since we've been tending Grandma's house in North Georgia.  It's not too far to travel to Cataloochee and they have specials which make it affordable.  Only my spouse has traveled west to Utah which he says is much bigger, but until the interest is as large as the price tag, we won't be doing that as a family.

No, the two promises I made last year which I need to keep, are tickets to Disney World and to figure out a nice way to visit the Bahamas affordably.

OK!  The answer is IN!  Yes! It snowed in Florida!!  The news just reported that east of us, in Holly Hill and Ormond Beach, they had snow flurries early this morning.  There were a few places west that had a freeze.  The oranges are fine even though the farmers had a long cold night.  They got their frost kiss but didn't freeze making it just perfect.

At the moment, the sun is shining bright but there's still a cold wind blowing.  One more very cold night to come.

Have a great day everyone!

Vicki

Yes! They are calling for SNOW in our forecast tonight! It's already 34 degrees and the temperature is dropping fast! Whatever happened to global warming? Lol, all day long, the TV has been advising to pull all your animals and plants inside. I've been teasing Grandma that I hope she can still get around after we bring the eight horses in. (Well, they DID say ALL the animals.) ;)

The noon news reported that there is currently only 173 fires still burning and out of these only one still poses any danger which isn't much at this time.  Yeah!!  The fire that was burning close to us, is 80% contained and no longer a threat!!   Thank you, Jesus!  Thank you, Firefighters!  They said the firefighters are mopping it up.  (This expression makes me giggle as they  don't really mop it up, lol.)

News being news, and loosing this dire news story, they need to try and keep people stressed.  So they no sooner tell us the fire danger is near gone, so now worry about hurricanes!  ROFL!!!  Don't get me wrong, hurricanes can be scary, but I've lived in Florida now most of my life and have been through lots of hurricanes, my first being David, Andrew to name another, Floyd, Hugo, Charlie, Francis and Ivan, to name a few other notable ones, (please, hurricanes, don't feel slighted if I missed your name) anyway, my point being, that we know how to stay safe and know when to run if necessary.  I predict that the news will go wild shouting all the early warnings they can to keep everyone panicked.  If a major hurricane threatens us, rest assured, that we will be safe, trusting the Lord to see us through this, too.

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers as these fires raged.  The Lord answered.  The fires are going out.  Halleluiah!!!

Hi everyone,

At the last report I've heard, there is over 230 wildfires burning in Florida.  The hugh fire north of us is still burning and probably will be burning for a month or more, but it is finally under control and did receive some rain which helped slow it down.  In the past week, many of the major roadways have been closed at times due to the smoke being too thick to see through and in a few cases, too close to the fire.

At our home, we have finally received some rain.  It was such a blessing!  It wasn't enough to pull us out of the drought, but it offered a drink to the pastures which was desperately needed.

There hasn't been much news on the people who have been evacuated, so I couldn't tell you if they are back home or not.  The firefighters have been working extremely hard to keep them all safe.  

The wildlife has fled the fires.  Last night on my way home, I saw two hugh black bears run up into one of my neighbor's carport!  All my mom's chickens have been stolen, another neighbor has found his cow feeders destroyed by bears, and the law was just changed to allow people to kill alligators on their land.  There's been a great increase in alligator attacks.  I've warned my kids to keep an eye out when they go to feed the horses.  You never know when a hungry preditor may be close and it appears the fires have driven them into our small 300 acre neighborhood.  I think we'll skip any summer camping for awhile.