I don't see Florida represented

[bdjeepers]

I live in Ocala, and we went through Frances. The 5 days after were worse than the storm, though. No power, no water, and no sewer system. I got through on the phone to a man who was donating bottled water through a radio station, though, and he got us help. The radio station broadcast performed wonders. I live in a retirement community of about 1,000 homes, and the really elderly were truly suffering. No power for wheelchair batteries or those on oxygen, no ice for medications that require refrigeration; and the ones that normally help their invalid neighbors had evacuated. On the 5th night volunteers brought huge grills and cooked everyone a hot meal, the fire department brought ice, and a pharmacy donated lots of things for diabetics, etc. The residents from all over the city brought ice chests full of cold foods. We had one 92 year old house-bound couple with no teeth who couldn't chew anything else, and they cried when volunteers took them the cold foods like pudding and Jello. They were literally starving. A huge crew from North Carolina came to get the power restored that night. Our power company had just sold to another, and they didn't know that we should have been designated a priority one community. We are now, which means the difference between our oldest residents surviving or not. Two of my sons were here and used my big Jeep to pull trees out of streets so that emergency vehicles could get through. We all pulled together and no one was lost, but some were in pretty rough shape. Am I prepared for another one? Sure! I'm going to my son's house in Texas! We do have lots of 2 liter bottles of water frozen, though - they are less messy and last for three days or more, and I have a footlocker and a linen closet full of supplies. My disaster nursing courses were of immense help, even after all these years. Our house had no damage at all, but some had trees on their roofs, and others just minor damage. The biggest problem was having no electricity to run the pumps for our water supply and having no way to pump out sewage.

[Pahina722]

I'm with you, Barbara! After spending 10 days without power after Ivan, I'm not ever willingly sitting out the aftermath of a hurricane again. The only reasons we didn't leave with Dennis are that we couldn't figure out how to transport two dogs, two cats, and the three of us in our small cars and that the forecasts were that Dennis wasn't going to be nearly as bad. It wasn't; we only missed three days of work instead of the three weeks we missed with Ivan. My parents, however, after having three pine trees go through the middle of their family room with Ivan, have headed for the Midwest any time a hurricane has headed our way since then.

Paige

[yvonnew]

I never look forward to another season. Eaven though we get lucky and usually do not get much damage here, but there is always that possibility. The only ones that we had some serious damage is Wilma last year, of course be we got the eye, and Andrew many years ago, I think it was in 92. Charlie we were with out power bor 10 days, it was awful.....

[amysum1]

I'm also a newbie living in South Florida. We are in Lake Worth which is just north of Boca Raton. Here's to a noneventful hurricane season!

[2scoops]

Hi ladies I'm new to all of this. I am in FL as well! Right by WDW.

[Karen M in FL]

I'm in Central Florida south of Orlando and East of Tampa in Polk County. We had Charlie, Frances and Jean. We were fine at our house except for one tree which fell into the street and lots of fencing. My son the next town over however lost everything. Not looking forward to ever having to go through that again.

I grew up in Pinellas County on the West Coast. And can trace my Florida roots to the late 1600's on my dad's side. Minoricans that came to work the British owned indigo plantations. My mother though loved to remind us that she was born in Chicago.

I have only been doing digi stuff a few months and completed one photo book as a gift for my oldest with some of my favorite shots that he has taken on his travels the last few years along with neat quotes and sayings. I can't wait to explore and play even more in the new year.

[HollyS]

Yaay, another Floridian! Enjoying our "cold" weather? I'm driving up today to the Tampa area today for the day....I'll wave! Glad you found us and am looking forward to seeing some layouts of yours! Sit back and have some fun here...............

[tcscrapper]

Hey, gals!

I'm in Melbourne... East coast right near Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach! For those who don't know where that is, I'm directly east of Orlando ALL the way on the beach!!

I'm glad hurricane season is over, but DEFINITELY not looking forward to the cold snap we are going to get tonight!! WHEW! I think I'll actually have to turn on my heat for once!!!

Love to get to know more gals from FL.....

[casey4]

WOW - a scrapper who lives near me! I live 60 miles south of you - Fort Pierce. My it is going to get cold here - and a chance of snow furries. What a layout that will be!

[tcscrapper]

Originally Posted by casey4

WOW - a scrapper who lives near me! I live 60 miles south of you - Fort Pierce. My it is going to get cold here - and a chance of snow furries. What a layout that will be!

Yep! The news is calling for snow flurries at Cocoa Beach in the morning! That's right down the street!!

My daughter wants it to SNOW so she can have a snowball fight... I hate to tell her that it won't accumulate!!

I'm used to the FL weather, but I was born and raised in PA... I couldn't take that weather now!