OK guys, I think this is a good idea so we can all stay in one place for check-ins and updates!

Stay safe everyone! I'm busy moving 'missles' out of my yard and off my porch!

Great idea Patty!
I decided to get started on moving the collection inside, so I won't have to do it in the rain tomorrow morning. I started with the fun stuff



then moved on to all the small pots...not so much fun..


and then it started pouring! So I took a break. The great thing about having to pick up 2 pots at a time and carry them somewhere is you get to see exciting developments..like this
Rchg. Erika Lynn Storm 'Red Star' first time to bloom for me!





and then..Mike from MacDaddy's Generator Repair drove up with my just serviced machine.


and my elderly neighbor Edie, has just suggested that Lady ( my sweet Lab) and I spend the storm at her house..so I'm feeling better already

Cloudy here with off and on light showers. I have the TV on but the three women are all talking at once, the three kids are all screaming at once and the three dogs are all barking at once. I can't hear the TV at all so I'm focusing in on the wine rack.

Jim

Lindsey, nice to have a neighbor like that and I love that huuuuuge truck with your generator!
Jim, that is almost funny! !

Hiding things in the bamboo is a good idea. Maybe you should tie the top together for added insurance. We once sat out a Cat 5 hurricane in Hong Kong. The next day, it looked like a bomb had gone off with all the downed trees and litter in the streets but the bamboo scaffolding on the building was just fine.

Jim, if you need to evacuate ..my house will be empty and you can keep my bakers rack of small plants from falling over...and watch the wind driven rain come through the antique caulking of my vintage windows .
Ursula, Edie and my Mom moved here within months of each other and became best friends. Edie is 88 and sharp as a tack...I'm sure my Mom is smiling down on us both.
Mike , the driver that delivered my generator, was a little unhappy about bringing only one piece ..he let me know that he only gets 7 MPG with that big rig. I was diplomatic and did not remind him that I thought $110. round trip (40miles total) was a rip off. He said they could have sold my generator 10 times...every other unit that was in for repairs could not be delivered before the storm as they were waiting on parts..including his own.

Lindsey, thanks for the offer but I would never invade your home with three dogs and a kid to go with each one. I may need to evacuate myself just to keep my sanity. It's raining hard here with lots of thunder but I don't think it is related to Irma. Just our normal rainy season thunder boomer. I hear it is shifting westward. Bad news for Bill and the rest of us.

Jim

for all of you! Doesn't look to be all hype this time. If Irma doesn't get you, Jose is right behind.

This storm has shifted dramatically in the past 24 hours, after being in the cross hairs for a week we are not even in the cone tonight. But, such an unstable storm may shift again. We still had to evacuate because of the flooding potential and SC traditionally calls for evacuations very early to prevent traffic jams. However although we always get evacuees from FL and GA we have never had to deal with the influx that we have this time. I feel so sorry for people traveling so far and being stuck in the middle of Nowhere, SC. Everyone is tired and scared.

Our hotel is full of dogs and cats tonight and I have seen some real cuties.

Lindsey, I am glad you have a lovely neighbor to be with.
Jim I can't even imagine you stress level with that gang. They are so fortunate to have you and Patty.
Patty, hang in there, I am betting your son and your ex will be around to keep you company.
Elaine, be careful, please.
Big Bill, stay safe, nothing wrong with evacuating to shelters in these conditions.
All Florida and GA friends, you are in our prayers.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We have cartoons on our TV but every time I go to the bedroom to see the storm report, it gets worse. Just to make things more interesting, they evacuated the hospital where my MIL was and moved her in the middle of the night by bus to St, Joseph in Tampa. Patty is going over there this morning to take some clothes and supplies. I have become a short order cook and a walker of the dogs. Wow, these huskies really shed. I have big gray dust bunnies rolling on the floor. I am beginning to worry about my palms and other landscape plants but I can just do so much. Hang in there gang!

Jim

So far, so good. Sunny & breezey here.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers.

Still moving missles out of the yard and the ex is boarding up.

There will be a giant plant & orchid sale at my house when this is over...and I'm dead serious...this is ridiculous! I can't do anything other than move hundreds of plants! And at this point I can't fit any more in the house. I can't even take care of anything else!

Will post pics when I can.

It wasn't too long ago that my ENTIRE collection fit on that 4 tier rolling bakers rack that I posted the picture of yesterday. I am completely stumped how out of control this 'hobby/addiction' has become.


the kitchen with the in bud , in spike plants



The guest bath



my bedroom
and the plants I have been keeping separate watching for virus are all in the garage.
I've pushed all the benches together , tied them together and attached the whole mess to a tree.
and I just have a few more of the hanging plants out there that I will bring in this afternoon.
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement, thoughts and prayers. Bill, Patty, Elaine and Jim good luck..check in when you can!

Not that it helps you any, but, Lindsey, all your plants look wonderful and really healthy!
By next week they will all be sitting happily on their benches outside!

Thanks Ursula, yes, these Catts like my patio conditions.. I still have issues from black rot and of course, the thrips.. but the fertilizer and magic potion #9 that I use gives me great growth, leaves and roots. Oftentimes double growths on each Pbulb

Looks like Lindsey is having orchid salad for dinner tonight? That's a mighty pretty kitchen with all those plants on the counter, I think.

We're nearly done with our preparations. Just a few more things to tuck away into the shop, and one more shutter to put up then we won't be able to get in and out of the house quite so easily. Not sure if that makes me happy or worried.

Oh my! I thought I had a space problem until now. I only have two plants indoors. Glad I don't have to move the rest except to better light as the seasons change.

I second Ursula, those plants are amazing. You have certainly found the right formula Lindsey.

Patty, I am glad to hear you are boarding up.

Elaine, I can imagine it is disconcerting to be in the dark. But better safe........

Elaine, I saw an interesting shutter solution the other day on one of my neighbors houses.
It was some fancy hurricane cloth that let light through. because it was cloth could be easily rolled up for storage. The cloth had grommets and screws were imbedded into the building then acorn nuts secured the whole thing snugly to the house.












They have had them for some years..but never felt the need to use them until now.
It'll be interesting to see how well they work

I have seen that, it is $$$$$ to have it custom made and the fixtures installed, but is said to stop a flying cement block. Makes sense if you can reach your windows to install it.

Luckily, all our windows are accessible from ground level. We did use the little 3-step ladder to put in the top fastenings on one big window. We had our shutters made custom the year we bought the house. They are 1/2in. polycarbonate or some such honeycomb plastic material. So they are light but rigid, and they do let in some light, thankfully. The thought at that time was they would be light enough for me to put up all by myself, since Marsh is away a lot. Hah! Now that we've actually done the job, well let's just say I don't think I'd have been able to do it. We have the fastenings embedded in the wall, too, for some of the shutters, and the others push into the window embrasures and stay in with spring steel clips. I think we're gonna find out how good everyone's shutters are - tomorrow.

Getting a little bit windy out there now, but gee! is it ever nice and quiet in the house with the shutters up.


My desk area has windows without any embrasures, so the shutters are fastened with bolts into the wall. I just hate not being able to see out to the garden, but as it gets all "cleaned up" by the hurricane tomorrow, I'll probably be glad not to watch the carnage.


Half the orchids in the small garage beside my car, the other half 'decorating' our little Flying Scot sailboat in the shop. The epicactus in the foreground is sitting on the deck of the boat.