We survived Wilma!

Edited to add this disclaimer: Brad did not authorize nor condone the posting of the following picture. However, since the purpose of this blog is to share with our friends and family our adventures in Florida, I felt it necessary in keeping with our purpose to share the following piece of Floridian culture.

Before we tell you about the storm, here's a little something not appropriate for the whole family. Apparently some people down here, namely men, are proud of their anatomy and like to brag about it. I've seen two pickup trucks with, um, anatomical replicas attached to the hitch. I'll just stop there. Remember, we live in the South, and Lehigh is 10 miles west of the coast, so consider downtown Lehigh a good ole' boys' town. Hence the adornments, I guess. They're usually found with a confederate flag on the window.

On Wednesday we were told that Hurricane Wilma was the most severe hurricane ever recorded. It pounded the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico (Cancun, Playa Del Carmen where we honeymooned) for TWO DAYS, causing unimaginable devastation. On Saturday Wilma left Mexico and headed for Florida. Due to Katrina, people began heeding the warnings and plywood began selling like hotcakes at Lowe's and Home Depot. About half the stores on US41, the main drag through Fort Myers, were boarded up like this Barnes and Noble store. The grocery stores were selling gallons and gallons of water and canned food. And at school my kids were showing signs of worry. Even native Floridian teachers were getting scared. After all, Charley passed through last year only a few miles north of Fort Myers in Punta Gorda.

On Thursday we were told we would not have school on Friday in order to prepare for the storm. That night Brad and I stocked up on plywood and bolts and we began boarding up our windows. On Friday we ran around to Lowe's and Walmart, stocking up on supplies and returning some things we had bought earlier in our settling-in (curtain rods, etc.). Then we continued boarding up.


As we continued boarding on Saturday this lovely barn owl sat on the driveway next door and watched us. For nearly two hours. At one point he flew from the next door driveway to ours and hopped around and squawked, and then flew back to the next door driveway. Saturday was my 29th birthday so we call this friend my birthday owl.

Here is what our house looks like all boarded up. It killed us to drill holes into her stucco. We sustained a few cracks from the bolting, but at least she kept us safe.


Saturday night we all went out to dinner and then back to Ralph and Chris's house with everyone for cake and ice cream. Although I miss my family and friends at home, it was a lovely time!

Sunday we didn't have church so we went shelling at Fort Myers beach and found a ton of great shells. They're sitting in bleach water for now getting the stink off of them. We must have a few dozen sand dollars, tons of little conch shells, and a bunch of large connected clam-looking shells. It was great!

We came home and napped, and then decided to board up the back of the house. We stopped at 11:30 p.m. with most of the windows boarded up. We went to bed about midnight, nervous.

And then Wilma hit. This morning Brad woke up about 4:30 a.m. and watched the Weather Channel. Wilma was beginning to get strong with lots of blowing rain and sustained winds of about 35 miles per hour with gusts into the 50 mph range. By the time I woke up at 7 a.m. it was pretty scary. The winds were whipping through the lanais and making howling noises. We stayed up for about an hour and called family. The storm was hitting the front of the house, from the north, so we went onto the lanai on the south side of the house to assess the neighborhood. The house next door to ours (the orange sherbet house) had its lanai door flapping in the wind, and its well water filtering tanks (they look like 5 foot tall scuba tanks) had fallen over and broken some fittings. They're still hanging by their power cords.

After two hours or so we went back to sleep to try to avoid the storm.



By the time we woke up at noon it was still windy but sunny! We checked in with the family and Ralph and Chris in Bonita Springs lost power and sustained some damage to the screen on their lanai, as well as a leak in the roof. Beth and Rico lost power but sustained no damage. Jeff and Shelley near Fort Lauderdale sustained some damage to their mobile home, but were one of the luckiest in their neighborhood. Most of their neighborhood was ruined and most likely will have to be bulldozed. Jeff had taken the kids to his office and camped out there, and Shelley had to work in the emergency room at the hospital. Their dog Lucy was in a kennel as they were over here for most of last week, and they still can't find where she is. The kids are upset that they can't get cold water as there is no power. We're hoping they come over to this coast for a while after Shelley's shift is up on Tuesday.

Since we're the only ones with power, Ralph and Chris and Beth and Rico came over for lunch and dinner and we've had a great time together this afternoon. I've gotten to break in my birthday present from Ralph and Chris, an indoor griddle/grill, as we grilled burgers for lunch. For dinner I'm going to make fajitas. I love cooking for a crowd, so this has been a blessing to me!

So, thanks all for praying for us and for our safety. Praise God we're all ok!