Idalia
Idalia was a low pressure area hanging out by the Yucatan for a while, then in quick succession became a depression, then a tropical storm as it moved into the Gulf. It kind of hung out in the gap for a while, then began moving north towards us. It quickly blew up to a Cat 1, then Cat 2 before bed last night.
Andy, seeing which way the wind was blowing (haha), decided to leave Tuesday afternoon to get out ahead of the storm. He’d been a huge help, getting Dad ready to weather the storm alone by getting him a UPS to power his chair, iPad and cell phone if the power went out (IF?). Also got him some powerful little lights. I dropped by yesterday for lunch just to check in and reminded him that the Life Alert wouldn’t work if he lost power and internet and to be very careful. He promised to be good.
I spent most of Tuesday working in anticipation of the University shutting down. They did – at noon. I kept working. They said they’d be closed Wednesday and Thursday. Then extended it to Friday. Monday is a holiday, so back to work next Tuesday. That meant I had A LOT to get done in those hours on Tuesday.
I did get to see Mom at supper time. I took her some egg salad and strawberries just in case. Her dinner was chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and mixed veggies, which she wasn’t fond of. She ate a few bites of the steak, one of the mashed potatoes and ate all the veggies, so I guess it’s good I brought a backup. She was worried about the storm, but I told her she was in the safest place she could be. The rehab is in a bit of a hollow, so the wind won’t be too bad, the rain will drain off quickly, and they had a big generator to keep the AC as well as other things going in the event of an outage. She asked if I could stay and sleep in the other bed (still empty after Peggy died), but I said no. Pretty sure that it’s against policy, but also, I have animals to see to and other responsibilities at home. The administrator of the facility stopped by to say hi and reassure Mom that things would be okay. They remain fully staffed for the duration. I got Mom ready for bed and headed home.
Evening was uneventful, but watched a lot of weather-related TV. Matt had made it back to the states from Korea, but was stuck in Dallas. The airport closed in the early evening. As the night wore on, Idalia was gaining strength and was now expected to be a Cat 4 at landfall. And she was still heading directly towards us. I finally went to bed with the AC humming and knowing it might be the last restful sleep I’d get for a while.
Rambunctious cats woke me up at 5am. I got up, fed them at 6, made a pot of coffee and turned on the TV. There she was, hugging our coastline – now a Category 4 storm (they only go up to 5), still moving northward, but having made a very slight turn to the east – which spared us the full brunt of landfall. The eye would pass close enough that we’d still have hurricane conditions, but not nearly as bad as they could have been. I made breakfast and just as I slid the eggs onto my plate, the power went.
There’s been heavy rain off and on, and some very powerful gusts of wind. There is debris in my yard, and something big landed on my roof – hard enough to shake the house. The gusts are still hitting pretty hard and there’s going to be a mess to clean up afterwards. I’m glad I removed 9 questionable trees from my yard over the last couple of years. Most of my mess is coming from neighbor’s trees, but it’s still a lot less.
Idalia should clear our area by 1-2pm today. I’ll go out and see what kind of mess I’ve got and start cleaning up. And I’ll go see Mom. Downed trees and powerlines might thwart any other plans, but I’m literally 200 yards from Mom and can get there easily. Lord only knows when power will be restored. Soon, I hope, but not holding my breath. It regularly took two weeks after a hurricane at my old house. We’ll see how fast it happens here!
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