What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Hurricane Ian Update

The "calm" after the storm...

Although you can't see it in this picture, those trees are still moving back and forth in gusts of wind as they pass through, but thankfully for all practical purposes, Hurricane Ian is pretty much over and done here in our area.  We are very very thankful for all the prayers and well wishes that helped to see us through a long rainy, windy night.  We never lost power until this morning around  9:00, when a tree blew down on the power lines down the road a little way from our neighborhood. Power was knocked out for a very large section of our community, including our son's house.  He's still "batching" it while his sweet wife is visiting her family in Minnesota...so when we found out that our local Nanna's Country Cafe' still had power and they were open for business, we decided to meet there for "brunch"...(Benton and I had breakfast, hubby had lunch).  


Afterwards we drove past our church and discovered that a large tree had fallen on our ancient log cabin structure on the property.  That building is now used primarily for storage of lawn equipment and other maintenance items, but it once was a Boy Scout Hut, and then our Thrift Shop was started there many years ago.  The building is over 100 years old, and is built from palm tree logs, which are very very sturdy.  It is a landmark in our community.


But this also very old oak tree was rotten to the core apparently, and it could no longer withstand the winds of a very strong hurricane, and so it fell and landed on the roof of the log building:




Apparently the roof is caved in. We've been discussing in our church board meetings that something needed to be done with this old building because it is getting beyond repair, etc., and I guess God decided to take matters into His own hands.  It will be sad to see the old building go, but we've been realizing that we actually need the space for parking because our little church is growing...so we shall see how it goes. We are very thankful it was this building and not our church buildings....


The other item of interest today has been the temperature!  60 degrees is pretty nice for a change, even if it did take a hurricane to bring it down to that level...


We later took another ride (ostensibly to charge my cell phone since we still had no power), and discovered the power trucks down the road from us, repairing the lines that had been broken.


What a wonderful sight to see!!!


These fellas were busy cutting up the downed tree and directing traffic, etc...


We are very thankful for the linemen, who put their own lives on the line literally to take care of these dangerous missions so that we can have electricity restored once again. There have been many linemen traveling here from all over the country to help out with the massive cleanup that will be required throughout the whole state. Over 3 million people have been without power...and many will have to wait several days or even weeks before it can be fully restored because of all the damage from this storm.
Our thoughts and prayers are with so many who didn't fare as well as we did. Many are flooded out of their homes or have other serious damages that may never be fully repaired. This was a brutal storm. I haven't heard the total death toll, but even one person is too many.

And finally, around 4:00 this afternoon, our power came back on! Hallelujah!

This is the worst damage that we sustained in our yard...our son's "carport" over his Camaro didn't quite survive the wind...and that special cover on the car itself had to be weighted back down several times. The winds were quite vicious, and we are only on the outer fringes of the storm.  You can only imagine how terrible it was for those in the main eye of the hurricane.  Yes, we are very very thankful.


And so with that I will close down for now. Tomorrow is a new day. We plan to open Dixie Cottage back up for those who just might want to do some shopping. Thankfully the store never lost power and there didn't appear to be any damages there either. We are so very very blessed.
I am trying to add a couple of other pictures, but I keep getting a message the blogger.com server can't be found. So now I don't know if this will publish or not. I will go ahead and try to publish as is, and that will explain why it may seem "unfinished."  Is anyone else having such issues?
God bless you all, and thank you again for your prayers over the past few days.
You are the best!!




 

33 comments:

  1. I am out here in California and very concerned about you and other friends in the storm. These photos of yours give me some understanding of Ian's violence. All the men bravely working to restore power are heroes. Glad to know you are OK.

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    1. Thank you, Terra. We appreciate your prayers and concern all the way from California. We pray for you all when there are fires and other disasters too. It's hard for us each to imagine the other's issues, but we know God is big enough to take care of all of us. We are very very thankful for His protection, and praying for so many who have suffered greatly and many have lost their lives. It was a very brutal storm.

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  2. Praise God that you came through nearly unscathed. The big smiles were nice to see first thing. The cleanup will keep lots of folks at your church busy. You'll probably be raking and picking up sticks yourselves. Glad that Dixie Cottage is just fine.

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    1. Thank you, Vee. Yes, there will need to be a big cleanup at the church property, but so thankful it wasn't our church building, or that the tree didn't come down when cars were parked there! We are very very thankful for all of God's protection during this storm, and now we pray for those in the southern part of the state who are suffering so much right now. Their clean up will take much longer, and many have lost their lives. It is a very sad situation.

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  3. It published, Pamela, and I sure enjoyed your update on y'all's condition after this horrible storm. We will continue to pray for all the residents in Florida that suffered the damages from Hurricane Ian. Happy to know that your power has already been restored, and I hope that all those volunteers from other states can get that job done quicker than ever!
    Blessings, my friend, and I join with you on being thankful.

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    1. Thank you, Martha, for your prayers and kind thoughts. You are a blessing to me, and I truly thank God for you. Yes, we continue to pray for those to our south who were not so fortunate. It was a very brutal storm and many are suffering. It will take a long time to recover.

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  4. So thankful your power is back on and that your only damage was to Scott's carport and cover. I have photos posted for my blog tomorrow. I was blessed to get through Ian and am just glad we were a little north of the "eye". On to a new day!! xo

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    1. So very thankful for how you were spared any real damage, etc. as well. I consider that a true miracle, because it sure looked like it was headed right for your area. Praise God. I will be checking out your photos.

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    1. Thank you, Sandi! So are we!! God is so very kind and we are thankful. Praying still for so many who have not fared as well in this storm.

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  6. So glad you guys are safe and your property too. Have a great weekend my friend.

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    1. Thank you, Cathy. We are very very grateful to God.

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  7. So thankful that you are all safe and doing well!

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    1. Thank you. We are very grateful to God for His watchcare and mercy. Praying still for so many who have suffered greatly in this storm.

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  8. I’ve thought about all of my Florida blogger friends today and so happy you checked in. I just can’t imagine such a storm. The 2 things that I fear is floods and wind.

    I’m always grateful for the selfless volunteers that leave their families during these national disasters.
    As a Californian, hurricanes have both fascinated me but I wouldn’t want to be in one. Hey I have a question - probably dumb but I’ll ask anyway. I read where Florida has alligators everywhere. Do you have any in your pond? I’m thinking no, or you would have mentioned it plus your birds wouldn’t be there.The article I read said they are in ponds and streams. I’d freak out!

    Anyway glad you and yours rode it out and are fine. Thank you Jesus!

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    1. Thank you, Debby for your kind thoughts. Now regarding your question about alligators, yes, there are alligators in most lakes and rivers in Florida. Fortunately, we have never seen one here in our Still Waters Pond. Someone thought they saw one, but if it was one, it never has come around to our side of the pond or made any noise or caused any issues. I don't believe it was really an alligator. (but just in case it is one, I have ceased to row my kayak around in the pond). However, alligators and birds coexist in the waters just fine. They really don't seem to bother each other. The alligators eat a lot of fish and turtles, however. Alligators are most aggressive around their mating season, so it's best to stay totally clear of any areas where they may be nesting. If we discovered that we did have an alligator here we would contact the Fish & Game people to come remove it since this is such a small pond. They would relocate it to a larger lake. I grew up in Florida and swam in the lakes and springs, and we never used to see alligators at all. But over the years they were protected for a while and they multiplied exponentially. Now there are too many and so they can be "hunted" again with permits. I don't swim in the lakes anymore either. LOL.

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    2. Thanks for the reply. I’m glad your pond is alligator free.

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  9. So glad to see such a good update. I’m glad y’all were spared the worst of it. Continued prayers for everyone in its path.

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    1. Thank you, Mandy, and thank you for visiting my blog. I'm not sure we've met before, but I am happy to have you here. I just visited your blog, and look forward to getting better acquainted.

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  10. Praising the Lord you all are okay and didn't suffer any big damage. How sad about the roof of that little cabin. I hope the church will repair it. Thanking the Lord for all the power crews out there doing the job of getting the power back on...including the ones who are willing to come in from other states.

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    1. Thank you, Stacy. We are very thankful this is over for us, but praying still for so many in the south who are still suffering greatly. It was a massive storm. Re: the cabin...the building has been deteriorating and really needs to come down, but no one really wanted to do it. Now we will have to address it. We are just thankful the tree came down when it did, and not on a Sunday morning when cars where parked in that area. Everything works together for good...

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  11. Glad that you are doing well with very minimal damage. Also, getting your power back so soon. Isn't God amazing? He took that decision right out of the church's hands and felled the tree for you. Just think if it had fallen on cars instead?
    Very thankful to read that you are okay and so is Dixie Cottage.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. Oh, Betsy, you are so right! I never thought about the possibility that that tree could have fallen on parked cars on a Sunday morning, as that is our parking lot area where it fell. Yes, God is very amazing and kind. We were truly blessed and protected during this storm. Praying for so many in the southern part of the state who have suffered greatly or even lost life. Hurricanes are nothing to play with. Thank you for your kind thoughts.

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  12. I am glad you are okay. I was thinking of you!

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    1. Thank you so much. It was an adventure that I am glad is over!!

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  13. Glad to hear you came through alright over all. I've heard hundreds are dead in the ft Myers area. Have a good cool weekend.

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    1. Yes, I have heard the death tolls will be quite high in south Florida. We are praying for all ...especially the search and rescuers who must find these people. It is a gruesome task. We are so very thankful that it was not too bad where we are.

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  14. I love how you and John always seem to make the best of a poor situation! How differently things might have turned out. I'm a little sad to hear of that log cabin's demise, but ya. Far better than the church itself. Thank you for keeping us in the loop.

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  15. So glad you are all safe. Also glad Dixie Cottage was not harmed. Thank you for posting the pictures. This really does give us an idea of how strong Ian was. Peace and blessings.

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  16. I'm happy to hear that you were safe. As I watch the pictures on the weather channel it breaks my heart seeing all the damage. My prayers go out to everyone.

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  17. I'm so glad to hear that you all are safe. It could have been so much worse for you. That oak tree certainly knows demolition! I'm glad you were able to find a good spot with electricity and some food. There is a funny thing going around that you can tell the severity of a storm by seeing if the local Waffle House is open. I saw a pic of one all closed and boarded up in Southwest Florida, so I guess it's really true.

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  18. We were worried and concerned about y'all..here in Ocala/ Dunnellon we had minimal damage; we got the rains and winds...and a few trees down in the back, but all in all, nothing compared to others. I loved Nanas, smiles.

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  19. Thanks for the update, Pam, and good to read that aside from the power outage and the carport collapse that you all are OK. My niece and her family in Boynton Beach were also spared any damage. I watched the news reports and Ft Meyers really did get the storm’s impact which was sad to see.

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