Hurricane Irma: the Aftermath

I should probably do an update now that the hurricane has come and went. It's 7:30 in the morning and I was woken up an hour ago by a fluffy little bunny - in our bed for the first time since Friday night. And I am happy that we are back home, especially after being away for over five days!

this was a tree that fell down in our apartment complex - the building was left unscathed

On Saturday night Alex, Olive and I settled in at my mom's house to ride out Hurricane Irma. Alex cooked all weekend and once Sunday evening rolled around, we were prepared for the hurricane. We all ate too much junk waiting for the storm... stress eating & fear can do that to you. The storm started out calm and then our electricity went out around 9pm. My family spent that time listening to downloaded music and talking. Alex, Caitlin, Jeremy and I hung out on the back patio and experienced the very beginnings of hurricane Irma. But then the hurricane hit around midnight and everything was incredibly insane. Strong gusts of wind and lots of rain - it sounded intense, nothing I had ever heard before. At one point, there was so much pressure that my ears felt clogged. I spent most of the night moving from the bedroom to the living room where Olive was safely staying. Olive was such a trooper too - I swear that bunny was the calmest out of all of us.

The storm was bad, but there was hardly any damage at my parents house. Just a few shingles, broken tree limbs and wind-blown trees. On Monday morning Alex & I packed up our stuff and headed back to our place to check on it. As we drove around town, I hardly recognized the city that we grew up in. I had never seen it this way before - tree limbs everywhere, fallen trees, destroyed power lines, missing street lights and broken signs. Once we made our way to our apartment the only thing we found was that a little water that came in through the back door. Luckily, I had placed a rolled up towel there and the water was contained. Unfortunately our electricity was down - and my mom's hadn't turned back on yet. So we figured we'd be living like that for at least a week. Thankfully, later that afternoon we received word that Alex's parent's electricity was back on. Needless to say we all made our way over there - including Olive and my parents.

However on Wednesday evening both my parent's and our electricity came back one. I couldn't believe it. But we are some of the lucky ones - there are still people without electricity - including the museum I work at. But I'm so impressed with how my city's electric company is handling this disaster. They have been working from dawn to dusk to get power back to this city. They're incredible. So yes, Hurricane Irma has been one brutal lady. And it's terrifying to think it could have been MUCH worse. I feel awful for those who have suffered so much damage from this hurricane -both in my town and especially for those in the Keys and other areas that got a lot of destruction.

I'll leave it at that. <3

Trip Delayed - thanks, Hurricane Irma

Well, we would have been getting ready to head to the airport by now. But hurricane Irma has proved itself to be a formidable force. Our departure airport has been listed with a travel alert through Monday. Our flight out to Indiana would have been fine, but our flight back to Florida would have been delayed by who knows how long. So, in the vein of being proper adults, we've decided to take the airline up on a one-time voucher and reschedule our trip. Hopefully the storm won't cause too much damage. However, the cone of the hurricane is quite large so we'll surely get something. Below is the current track of the storm as of September 7, 2017 @ 9:26AM

It's been pretty crazy here in Florida as the storm approaches - bottle water and ice are completely sold out in supermarkets. And I honestly, can't stand the hysteria mentality. I am all for being prepared, but there's a limit to everything - you can really only do so much. Hysteria is just a no-go for us. However on Tuesday night, Alex & I waited in line a three different gas stations and left without gas each time. And we actually needed gas, I was practically on empty. People were filling both their cars and several gas canisters. It was insane and also a little ridiculous. Luckily, we were able to get gas the next morning.

For the next few days we'll be prepping for the storm. This is the first actual hurricane where I haven't lived with my parents. I've found that caring for a home in this type of situation requires a lot of work, preparation and careful planning, I've even made a list of the things we'll have to do to protect certain things without our apartment! I think we'll be riding out the brunt of the storm at my parents, though. They have a newer home, in a subdivision with proper drainage and are on a higher part of town. Plus, I think my mom will be a lot more calm knowing that we are there with her. We're taking Olive with us too - so it'll be like a mini sleepover.

If you live in Florida or anywhere in the path of Hurricane Irma, I hope you stay safe! The storm is supposed to hit us Sunday-Monday. So, I'll be sure to check back in here on Monday (if there's still power - ugh fingers crossed) to give some updates. Stay safe everyone!

Also - you can head over to NOAA for up to date info on the hurricane.