We knew about her long before she made her arrival locally. Her track varied every hour of every day. Hurricanes are famous for that. All you can do is get prepared.
So we packed up what we could and decided to ride it out at Linda and Dave's in Sarasota. Sorta in the path of the storm but higher and drier than if we stayed home. It was a beautiful Saturday morning.
McGee rode with me and slept most of the way. His doggie friends Bella and Shane were waiting at the other end.
Sunday morning started quiet and calm. Everyone got a good night's sleep. Hot coffee and Pop Tarts all around!
By mid afternoon she came ashore. Winds and side ways rain. We still had power and stayed glued to the TV coverage. National news anchors were in the area filming for national coverage. Our weather was the hot topic. We all prayed.
Of course, McGee still needed to go out even during the height of the storm. I would wrap myself in a large beach towel and run across the street to a small grassy spot. He knew to go quickly and then run back inside! Sunday night we lost power.
Monday morning was calmer and cooler out. We all took a walk with the dogs to check out the neighborhood. Nothing but a lot of yard debris. No power anywhere. So no hot coffee!
We decided to head out and look for coffee. The curfew had been lifted. We all wanted to go have a look around. We found a gas station open with a long coffee line! Didn't matter. THEY HAD HOT COFFEE!
The only news we could get was from our phones and then had to figure out how to keep them charged! Such a stressful day. But the weather was breezy and cool! Like as in October!
That night several local restaurants were opening so Allan and I decided to treat Linda and Dave for being such wonderful hosts! Wine and handmade pizza! Yum!
We were able to leave Tuesday after they opened the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We went out to breakfast , then back to Linda and Dave's to pack up again. Once again it was a beautiful sunny day and hard to believe that a major hurricane had blown by.
At our house we found plenty of branches and blown leaves. No flooding. We even had power. No internet or cable. As of this writing, we still do not have cable. But we are grateful we still have our house, family, friends, and community. We all survived Hurricane Irma. Praise the Lord!
