Hurricane Ian

I'm going to do some blogging a little out of order. Asa and I got back Friday from our cruise to the Bahamas. It was AMAZING, and went off perfectly. I have a million pictures to share. But, before I can get to that, as soon as we got back- there was a hurricane on the way here. 

We didn't really intend to go to Costco on Saturday for Hurricaine prep. In fact, we were just going to get the stuff for the taco bar, and because it was right next to the Verizon store (and spoiler alert, Asa's phone did not survive the Bahamian waters). Anyway, when before we even pulled up to Costco, traffic let us know something was amiss. Honestly, I'd only heard rumblings about a hurricane and that it *might be coming our way* But, when we finally found a parking spot, and all the carts were gone, and people were coming out with water, I knew this was serious. And, that it was our moment to stock up on hurricane prep items too. You wait too long, and you're shit out of luck.  

So, Asa and I each managed to get our hands on a cart and headed in. He tackeled the line for water, while I got some other things. The line was crazy, one way on, one way out. And don't even try to go into the milk cooler, because nobody wants to let you back in line. 

Which is kind of fair. By the time I made it to the back, there was one pallet of water left, one kind of paper towels, and I grabbed the last thing of toilet paper. 

Bread can usually be tough to get around hurricane times, too. Saturday seemed pretty far out to stock up, but even then your pickings were slim. I had to get low carb flour tortillas. What is the world coming to? 

And then there was the line to check out, snaking halfway back into the store. 

I did think enough to bring the propane tank with us, and we were able to exchange it at Wawa. That was lucky. By today (Tuesday) there was none to be found anywhere. We also filled up the gas tank. Another smart decision, there's none of that around me today either. Not that there are a ton of gas stations up here, but both of them over by Publix were out of all gas. 

The forecasts have varied, sometimes we're right in the path, or at the worst case scenerio, just to the east of the hurricane, which is considered the "dirty" side. The main concern for that is obviously it hitting closer to home, but also the fact that the surge could absolutely ravage Tampa Bay, sending 10 foot water walls up into everything from downtown Tampa to Saint Pete, to completely submurging the Clearwater Beach area. 

All of that has prompted a lot of mandatory evacatuations. First it was Hillsbourgh zone A, then Pinelleas zone A, and then basically everywhere from Sarasota to Pasco A to C- if you live in an evacuation zone, you are supposed to get out. It's made traffic on i-75 and i-4 a complete nightmare from what I've heard. Everythings closing- from resturants to Busch Gardens to the zoo- to even the airport tonight at 5pm. EVeryone from Good Morning America to CNN to the weather channel has parked it in Tampa. 

Meanwhile, we've spent the last day and a half bringing in anything and everything from outside. Our neighbor is on her 40th birthday trip, so we took care of her house too- and when we took out the for sale sign, I joked it's because we were too upset she was leaving. 

The plants from the front porch all came in... 

As did the furniture and plants from the backporch... (on the upsides all the clear porches will make for very easy powerwashing after this whole thing is over). 

Of course, my hammock has to come inside. I'm not risking that being left outside in a storm. 

And basically everything else we own that was outside got brought into the garage. It is jam packed with stuff, but we were able to get everything in. The Fit doesn't get the garage shelter, but we did pull it right up against the house which could protect it a little. 

Yesterday I also filled like every container we had with water, a filled lots of empty milk jugs/pop bottles and froze them so we could have ice for awhile. And in case of a power outage, I did put everything that we like to have cold, but it isn't neccessary in the garage fridge, and all the stuff that has to stay cold to stay good in the firdge in here. We figure that'll limit how much you need to open the fridge in here. 

I did also get a Kroger delivery. Plenty of water straight to my door. Plenty of pet food, peanut butter, drinks, and even canned chicken in case of emergency. 

Since last night was trash night, lots of people were out trimming trees to get that stuff taken away before the hurricane too. Asa was out there just before dark trimming up the palm trees- and the lighting was quite onimous. 

This morning Asa and I made a Publix run. We hit it just right and despite the parking lot being full, we were able to nab a spot, get some water, and even batteries! I got the last few bags of ice, and felt lucky they still had some decent shelf-stable food. 

And shout out to the Publix Bakery keeping everyone stocked for hurricane snacks.

It was on our way home though, we discovered all the gas near us was out. The accord is full. The Fit has about half a tank. In a pinch we could use the cars to charge our phones. The grill to cook all of our food, and I've got enough water to keep us for days. When we got home we checked the update: it has shifted a bit south, which is good for us if that model holds. Still, we decided to bring in the one last thing Asa was worried about: his potted Mulberry Tree. 

I've done everything I can think of. Charged everything. Got battery packs and flashlights on standbys. I've even done all the laundry, including the dogs thunder jackets. I don't think I can be any more prepared. 

But hre's the thing about hurricane prep: it could all be for nothing. You could end up with batteries, and gallon jugs of water, and canned food that will last you months. In fact, even though you're spending a small fortune, that's what you hope for. You hope it was all for nothing. Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best. 

I will note though, I did have to prepare for one less kid. Last Sunday, before Asa and I ever went on our cruise, we took Peyton to the airport to head to the UK once again. We stopped at had dinner at PDQ and then got Peyton all checked in before saying our goodbyes. 

The next morning, coincidently the morning of the Queen's funeral, Peyton arrived safe and sound. Thanks to Jasmine to braving the train through the crowds to pick Peyton up at the airport. What a girlfriend. 

I did message Peyton to brag about our hurricane snacks. I can't say Peyton was impressed. 

While I did tell Calib and Hayden the snacks had to wait until the Hurricane gets here, I did allow the first Hurricane drinks. 

Before Asa had student calls this morning, we did walk the neighborhood, mostly a lot of kids running around playing under the cloudy skies, but there are signs of the impending storm. A golf cart drove past us carrying all the trash cans from the parks, picnic tables have been turned over hoping to keep them from flying away, chairs have been stacked and tied down. 

What most worries me is how high the water is now. We've had a lot of rain, the ground is pretty saturated and the ponds are already high. Some areas could get up to two feet of rain. I'm not sure where all that water would go. Hopefully we don't have to find out. 

Asa's just thought he was hilarious with his playlist this morning. 

Again, the latest predicted turn is good for us. The further south it comes on shore, the better for us (Sorry to all my southern neighbors/friends) That also will impact the middle of the state more (Orlando just announced they're closing their airport, so I can't imagine Universal and Disney are too far behind on announcing closures). Anyway keep your fingers crossed for us. We're hoping to avoid the worst of the winds, hoping our favorite city doesn't see a catastrophic storm surge, and if we could be greedy, we're hoping we don't lose power for a prolonger period of time (It's really a crap shoot, with Irma, we never lost it- but friends the next subdivision over were out for five days).  It's also better the faster it moves. We don't want all that rain, so it can't sit over us for two days. So now, we sit and we wait. I'll keep you all posted! 

 

Covid Free!

When I last left off on the blog, we were all suffering through our bout with covid. By Thursday last week, everyone was feeling much better, so we took some tests to see about going out and about to the grocery store and such. Asa and I tested- and he turned up negative. But somehow I turned up positive. Me! The one who never really had any symptoms. How was I still testing positive? It was a total bummer. So, instead of a trip to Costco, we just ordered another Kroger delivery (Kroger really saved us during this whole covid fiasco). 

Now, I know the CDC rules have changed. After five days of isolating, if your symptoms are resolving, the CDC says you can head back out into the world, masked. After 10 days, you're good to go out into the world, period. Thursday was my 10 days. Technically, according to the CDC I was cleared. I get that. But, I also know people who followed these new rules and infected others. People who specifically told me "I should have waited until I tested negative" to do anything. Now, I know that isn't possible with everyone. Some people have no choice but to go back to school or work, especially after five days with this new rule in place. But, I didn't HAVE to go anywhere. Nor did anyone else in this house. We're set up to do everything from home. 

So heres the thing, the CDC also says if you have access to tests, you should test after 10 days. Basically, this screenshot down below makes zero sense to me. Heres the CDC with you're good to go after 10 days as long as your symptoms are improving. But in the same paragraph, saying if you have access to tests and do test and you come up positive, you should continue to isolate/mask beyond 10 days. Basically, you're good to go, unless you decide to test? Who's going to test then? 

Spoiler alert: me. Me. I'm going to test. Because I don't want to spread covid to like 18 people, or whatever the R rate is with omicron. I want it to stop with us. So, since I was still coming up positive, allbeit, a very faint line (some resources say there is something to that- others say not so much), I decided to continue staying home and wait to test. 

But, hey, our neighbors. They've all been amazing. Everyone's checked in on us, asked what they can do, and T'Ola even stopped by Bucees on her trip to Alabama just to bring us some blueberry yogurt pretzles since we missed out on them on our way home, since we had covid and all. 

Asa, since he was testing negative, went over while she was gone to be there for a repair guy... 

...and then T'Ola thanked us with a whole bunch of Crumble Cookies. This girl. I'm telling you. I want to cry every time I see the "For Sale" sign in her yard. I avert my eyes whenever I check the mail. 

Anyway, in all of this, NFL Football came back!!! This is always an exciting event in our house. And of course, we celebrate with something special for dinner. I wanted street tacos from Costco, but since I couldn't go yet, we got Take Out from Hungry Harrys in celebration. 

Of course, when Sunday rolled around, it was time to bring back the taco bar! If you know us, you know we have tacos for lunch and dinner (and sometimes even breakfast if there is a London game!) every Sunday of the NFL Football season. Last year, we kept a count, and landed somewhere over 500 tacos. I re-set the taco count for this year, and we'll see if we can beat our previous number. 

Our taco bars are no joke. We do nachos, tacos, burritos, tostadas- and all the toppings you can imagine (I did wiff on the black olives this go around though). We put it out before the games start, and it carries us through the whole day. 

Sunday wasn't just awesome because NFL Football came back. I finally tested negative!! It only took me two weeks. Literally everyone else tested negative before me (Peyton waited till Friday to test, since there was a gaming tournament in Orlando on Saturday, but the test was negative on the first try!) 

I will say this about covid, it wasn't too bad for us. We're all vaccinated and boosted. The sore throats really kicked Asa's ass for awhile, and Calib has had a nasty cough. Other than that, it was crazy to have it be so mild (especially for me and Hayden) after trying to avoid it for so long. I do think, however, I have some covid fatige. I am tired a decent amount, but not overwhelmingly so. However, I do find I am sleeping 9 to 10 hours a night like a rock. Way better than I ever have. So, I can't even say that's a bad thing so much. And now, we have at least a bit of a super-immunity. Vaccine. Booster. Natural Immunity. And, in a couple of months, we'll get the new omicron booster (I know it just got approved, but they say to wait 90 days after an infection) Should give us pretty good protection. Besides, I've said it before and I'll say it again: if whatever we did in Ohio gave us covid, literally any vacation was going to give us covid. We certainly would have gotten it on the cruise ship, for sure. 

But, anyway, back to football. The Bucs didn't play until Sunday night (and even then, it was a convincing win, which was exciting), but I kind of like when they don't play with everyone else. That means I get to watch Red Zone literally all day, and then the Bucs at night. After one day of tacos, we're at 33. We'll see how that holds up throughout the season. 

Yesterday Asa and I finally made it out to go grocery shopping. On our way home, we swung by Chicken Salad Chick for our free large quick chicks. Having that Grand Opening reward is so sweet, and we have only done 2 of our 12 months. We keep getting new kinds, too, so we can find our favorites. This month I got the last of the fruity kinds, and Asa got the pimento cheese one. We're having them for lunch, so we'll see how they are. 

In other news, Peyton is getting ready to head back to the UK. I've been getting some things for Jasmine to help out, based on what Peyton said she could use. It's like a little "thanks for taking care of Peyton" care package for her. 

Speaking of which, I'm starting to think we have terrible vacation luck. We don't take one for three years, and then when we finally do, we all get covid. Now, Peyton's plane to London is landing early morning the day of the Queen's funeral. I am sending positive vibes the train is not a nightmare (especially for Jasmine who is traveling from the north through London to get Peyton from the airport very early that morning). I mean, this flight has been booked for months. What are the odds it just happened to land hours before the Queen's funeral? But then, Peyton isn't the only one traveling next week. Asa and I are heading out on a cruise.... to the Bahamas. And despite a very quiet Atlantic up until now, there's a tropical system out there. Hopefully it won't affect us, but we'll see how it goes. Either way, I'm sure we'll at least get to go somewhere, but I'm really hoping my Nassau day and swimming with the pigs at Sandy Toes pans out. If not, I'm sure we'll still have a good time. Anything with Asa is fun. 

In other news, Hamilton tickets go on sale in Tampa today for the December/January showing that was supposed to happen in 2020- but you know, didn't, because, well 2020. I'm hoping to be able to nab some at noon, so we'll see how that goes. 

Next Up: Cross your fingers everyone's trips go smoothly!