Please note: As of this entry, my posts are being backdated as to give “real time writing” for what happened during Hurricane Ian.
The posts will be mixed with personal thoughts, news interjections and random items. I tried my best to give times, but there are points I did not write it down, so you’ll have to understand that there may be some time spans.
As I typed this out, if I’m talking about news for some bullet points in a row, I am trying to keep them together. In instances where I am rambling, as I usually do, don’t mind the nonsensical freeform. That too, I tried to lump together.
Pictures to come at some point (over 1,000 snaps).
October 2 2022
1:05am – I just got up to use the
bathroom. It was one of those instances where your brain makes you visualize
something and everything else reacts. So up I go. Was able to flush because the
water is coming back. We still are on a boil water notice but at least I’m
triple washing my hands – first with soap in the sink, then off to the kitchen
for a “clean” bowl (only using bottled or stove top water), then with some hand
sanitizer.
Last night before bed I had to
put lotion and socks on my feet. I hate to have to do that, but my heels are
cracking. With the grossness outside, we have to stay as clean as possible. No
cuts or bruises because bacteria is everywhere.
I put a brand new battery in my
GE alarm clock radio last night. The same radio you see in those lists where
“you might be old if you still have one of these”. What’s the point of the
battery backup if there is only enough juice to use the radio? I’d love to see
the time if I wake up during the night. it’s a batter judge of how long it’s
been. The darkness makes time go so slow if you wake up and don’t know how
close you are to morning. But, the daylight is just as stretched right now. We
sit outside and socialize and I glance at Joanne’s smart watch just to see the
time because she keeps moving her wrist slightly. The watch counts the days off
like you’re sitting there counting drywall bumps under wall papered paint and
keep losing your count. We all have to keep reminding ourselves of the days.
Even news reports seem delirious because everything melts into each other. Ed
knew yesterday was Saturday because Penn State had a home game and they won.
But in order to even listen to it, he pulled his car (nice new Caddy) out of
the garage (tripped the opener) and left the car on. it’s one of those cars
that the battery goes on sleep mode if you are not actively pressing the gas
pedal. so he had to keep pressing something to turn it back on. I kept thinking
it was a waste of gas since the whole car was still running and he’s been going
out to get more gas for the grill and generator. Why waste what’s in your car
for a game?
There must be light restored
somewhere in the city because I looked out back before. The sky wasn’t pitch
black in the distance. Maybe we will have full power soon.
The constant hum of the
generators are the new hum of animals day in and day out.
I don’t know why people are out
on the main road at 1 in the morning. Traffic is going and it’s just not EMS
with their flashers on (which is a lot). Choppers are still flying. When I
looked out right before writing this, I saw the red and white blinkers in the sky,
going from maybe Cape Coral to who knows where. The helicopter was close enough
to see it fly but far away to see it just keep going. I should probably try to
go back to sleep. Conserve battery in my lantern.
7:43am – I spent about three
hours after I finished writing last night and I checked my emails. On a lark, I
turned my phone on. I think because everyone was asleep, I got enough cellular
service to use the internet and software apps. No one throttling the bandwidth
on the towers. I got on Skype and got a message from Rach in England. I had to
explain what was happening – with a 5 hour time difference, she had stuff to
do. I was also able to message Tay. We had a solid hour or so of back and forth
messaging. His sleep cycle fluctuates so there are times he’s up all night and
times he sleeps all night. It has to be the coffee he drinks. I was glad to
tell him what was going on, though. Thanks to Cat for emailing him so he had
some knowledge. I really appreciate her for that. she’s family – we went to
high school together. Been friends for decades now. We look out for each other
but I feel better knowing I got in contact with everyone. I got to delete “99+”
emails (most junk). I attempted my work email and got nowhere. I don’t know the
status of the place since there was no information. With my phone battery now
down to 20%, I have to be careful with what I do until I can get hooked up
somewhere to charge it.
Now that it’s light, I should put
my vitamins together.
1:15pm – Well, trying to charge
my phone at someone’s house who has power, it got to 82%. Brought it back and
have hooked it up to the strip everyone is using that is connected to the
generator. It got up to 86% done when it stopped because it’s 85 degrees out
and being on a bush with the sun bearing down on it, a message on the screen
said the “iPhone will finish charging when it reaches a normal temperature”. I
immediately unplugged it and shut it off. I hope I can turn it back on later
when it cools off. I better be able to, as I don’t think any storm pictures
have uploaded to icloud. More reason you have got to be so careful with these
things. I would try to take the case off, but I had such a hard time getting it
on to begin with. It’s one of those clear one piece Otterbox cases.
We had lunch with a neighbor and
heard a story about how people are becoming nasty to each other. I’m not
repeating any of it, but it’s community / neighbor related. People are getting
snippy and tattling on each other.
News is saying it could be
another week before we get power. Most places have it, but majority don’t. It’s
real iffy.
Other military choppers are
showing up. Ed said I missed a new copter come by.
I was able to make some calls
before I shut off my phone. As I sit in the house, I can feel the phone cooling
down. Maybe I should try to turn on my laptop and plug my phone into it to
transfer the photos.
2:52pm – I was able to transfer
the photos from my phone as well as backed up my SD card from my Canon. I had
enough batter charge on my laptop to do a current back up to an external drive
too.
I75 is totally open again, the
news said. The rivers they were worried about overflowing have gone down.
Pine Island may have access by
October 8. DeSantis has signed a paper to have FDOT start immediately expediting
all they can, to get roads and river ways fixed so they can continue to get any
residents off the island. FDOT can allocate machinery and what not to fix all
the roads as they go.
Our little group is starting to
get political. It’s all Republicans except me and my mom. So they want to know
why the president is coming and what the need is. My mother squashed the talk
by saying “no politics. We’ve been this far without bringing in any of that
talk. It ends now” because one of them would keep bashing everything. Another
person agreed with my mother by saying “she’s right. We are all family right
now. We need to keep the peace”. I honestly think it doesn’t matter what side
the president is on – Democrat, Republican, Liberal… doesn’t matter who you are.
The longer you can stay away, the better because it will continue to allow the
military to complete their search and rescue as well as the city to start the
rebuilding. President being here makes it harder because you have security
detail and everything stops for a looky loo. It’s nice for him to get here, but
it does more damage in the short term to get everything down for long term.
Sure, it will prove why we are getting federal aid allocated, but it is still
troubling to get everything done.
The news says there is a state of
emergency declared for an additional seven days.
The Sanibel bridge is broken /
failed in 5 different places. They are finishing up engineering studies but
there is no time line to say when it will be done.
Everything will take hundreds of
millions of dollars to rebuilt everything but the county doesn’t have a well of
money. FEMA will reimburse 100% if monies for the next 30 days, but we are on
our own after that. The city is going to see about a possible extension.
Complex news: there is a sewerage
back up on our block so there needs to be limited flushing. City has been
notified.
Oy. Oh joy. We are already
getting more problems.
8:16pm – one of the rivers they
were watching has risen to not all rivers are going down.
There is a sewerage problem on my
street. One end by the cul de sac (which is part of an exit for me) and one end
close to my house, are getting backed up and on the street. There is some
broken pipe and the cul de sac end seems to look like it’s starting to soften
in the road (said Ed). Which this means there is the potential for a sink hole
if it keeps up. If both ends break, my neighbors and I are trapped. Then what? As
we are still without power because something on our grid is broken, we are
stuck like chuck.
I have my phone on and actually
got a voicemail from HR at work. Six hours later, it came through. She wanted
to check in with me as there is a group chat going on in the mobile app they
use at work. I don’t have the app installed on my (personal) phone. As I can’t
even get connected to ANY app on my phone right now, trying 8x8 is worthless.
So HR got a personal message from someone on my department that they have been
trying to reach me and with no avail. Could HR try? So she had to scramble to
find my number and ended up leaving a message to say she was checking in. I got
a strong enough signal to have a 12 minute phone call with her. The long of the
short of the conversation is that she dipped out of state with her kids,
leaving her husband here to work (he’s essential to cleanup – he’s a lineman
for the county). I asked how the building withstood the storm and she said
surprisingly no damage. There is no problems with the entire structure… at all.
The boss says that it is not required, but if we want to come in, there is
power and internet plus AC. Bring the family if we want. But we don’t have to
work if we don’t want to.
How in the hell am I going to get
there? The roads are still closed around here and there is no active lights in
that busy intersection near the place. I know someone who works near me and he
lives in my block. He said that the area is a shit show trying to get through
there. If I went to work right now, I would be spending more time trying to
google images of what the news was reporting, rather than working. I wouldn’t
be focusing on my job. And then I’d start getting anxious about things. I can
feel my anxiety starting even now. It’s not a good feeling. I would bring my
mother so she could sit in air, check her phone on wifi, play her games, but
that’s not fair for her. I know it’s a nice gesture and she’d get to meet the
people I work with, plus their families, but there are other underlying
problems in that building that I don’t want to get into on this. Let’s just say
that when I was told there were no problems, I know it’s not the whole truth
because even before we all left, I was vocal about something to a couple people
I work with, and they said they’ve become immune to it. It’s a health thing…
all I’m saying.
Overall, it’s like HR said to me,
she and I are still too new to take PTO. So we have to do what is best. She
fled the state while I am staying put. Screw it. I’m not risking the drive
right now.
I’ve got some thoughts from
earlier that I meant to write down: you don’t realize how spoiled you are with
fresh (filtered) water (between the tap and the fridge) until you get
dehydrated and go looking for water. You want to use the fridge filtration, but
the power is off and it’s possibly going to have bad water in it when you get
everything restored. You go to the sink and stop yourself because you’re under
a boil water notice. So what do you do? Grab a bottle of water. I’d love to
open a bottle of juice, but there’s no way I could finish it in one sitting
because the bottle is huge and it needs refrigeration. We have 3 cases of
water, but today the news said have a bucket of water ready if things go
further south with the plumbing problem. So we are going to have to be wise
about what we are doing as we are using Dixie cups of bottled water for teeth
brushing, big soup pots poured into little dishes for hand washing or dish
washing. We have to watch what we are doing.
I should brush my teeth, speaking of, and go to bed. I’m so tired…
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Thanks for sharing!