Hi Everyone! We are home...power was on (surprise!!) and so was water. The roof is on and we are as happy as we can be. Internet and TV came back this evening.
Today was the start of cleanup. Daylilies look like they have gone through a shredder. I have a neighbor's palm tree on my back roof. Neighbor told me it happened at the start of the storm and we found that we didn't have a water problem. When I can get to the daylilies (probably mid-week) I will cut them back to 3" or so because so many of the leaves are broken. We had 9-10" of rain during the hurricane, and damage to plants is intense. The bougainvillea lost 3/4 of its leaves as did the water oaks. That means that for most of today and tomorrow, I will be picking up leaves, sticks and branches. The bamboo that I tipped over survived nicely, but the elephant ears that were tipped were battered. I had the impression today that they were saying, that's fine, we have lived. Get to us when you can. Maybe I have an overactive imagination or maybe we just communicate. Whatever.
We were in Tampa watching as the Cat. 4 hurricane approached us with 140 mph winds. Tears cascaded without sobbing or anything else. All I could do is pray, cry and try to control my depression. We left our home on Wednesday. So on Thursday while watching TV in the afternoon, I saw the wobble to the east and started cheering. People in the room next door must have thought I was nuts. Anyway, I could read what was happening and depression left to be replaced with optimism. We could not return until Saturday when the bridges to the island opened at 7 am. We left Tampa in a traffic jam that lasted almost to Orlando. YUCK! Anyway got home at 3:15 after taking a detour to get a good meal at a favorite restaurant in Orlando.
We are fine. Very, very tired but had a purchased dinner and a nice couple glasses of wine this evening. Will be out there tomorrow but on Tuesday our temps should be down to the mid 70's during the day. Cold front coming through. Wonderful time to be working in the garden.
Thanks to everyone who offered prayers. They were answered. We had low tide when the storm came through so the damage was a fraction of what it might have been. No flooding. Just salt and dirt on everything. I'll post pics tomorrow. Need to have a good night's sleep and start again in the morning. Thank you. Thank you. Your prayers really worked.
