Matthew Has Arrived

I have stellar news - Matthew's bark was much worse than his bite, at least so far.  Thankfully, he stayed a bit further to the east than anticipated and also, the winds decreased a bit.  The main problem I have now is that I didn't get much sleep since I was up in the middle of the night to lower the pool.  If a bit of sleep is all I lose from this storm I will be a very happy camper.

Conditions at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, October 7, 2016.

At 7:00 a.m., we have light rain continuing and winds of 49 MPH.  The wind is strong but not scary and not anticipated to get much worse throughout the day.  By 8:00 p.m. the bulk of the storm will be gone.  The biggest issue has been the rain.  According to the newscasters who are solely focusing on the storm, we've had about 3 inches of rain since the storm began.

My rain gauge is how far above or under water the leg of my lounge chair is.  According to this highly scientific tool, we've had about 7 inches of rain in the last 12 hours.

I beg to differ.  I have my own personal rain gauge - how far the legs of the chair I threw in the pool stick out of the water.  When it started, the right leg had 3 inches over water.  It was 2 inches under water when I lowered it at 1:15 a.m.  By my reckoning, that's 5 inches by 1:15.  At 7:00 a.m., the leg is 1 inch exposed.  That makes a total of 7 inches of rain during a 12 hour period.  Newscasters are forecasting another 5-8 inches during the day today.  That means I'll be out lowering the pool again.  I simply can't describe the fun of going outside, in ankle deep water, with rain being blasted at me by strong winds.  Ah well, beats shoveling 2 feet of snow.

More good news - I have power and internet!  Netflix, so I can avoid the newscasters who are searching for any downed palm fronds to demonstrate the "violence" of the storm.  That's unlike my friend who lives about five miles from me.  She woke up to no power.  Then again, for no discernible reason, her power goes out every time someone in her neighborhood sneezes.

The "damage" in my front yard.  Ooh, a palm frond.  I am so, so grateful.  I'm hoping that my rental properties fared as well.  In 2004, two of them lost roofs to hurricane Charlie.