Our thoughts and prayers go out again to Fodor's posters in Florida who are getting hit for the fourth time in a month! Hang tough and don't take any chances!

From an AP Story. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Hurricane Jeanne got stronger, bigger and faster as it battered the Bahamas and bore down on Florida Saturday, forcing hundreds of thousands more residents to hurriedly shutter their homes ahead of its anticipated devastating punch.

About 3 million people, from near the state's southern tip to the Georgia border, were urged to evacuate as Jeanne strengthened to 115 mph from 105 mph earlier in the day. It was expected to come ashore late Saturday or early Sunday somewhere on the state's central Atlantic coast and take a last-minute turn to the north that could devastate east and central Florida.

It must be very difficult for these people , as it has been so continual.
I am just happy my folk are still up north, but when they return in November, what will be left?!

stay safe!!!

Dear Floridian Fodorites,

I am watching Jeanne on CNN as I type this, and hoping for the best. We are all thinking of you and wishing you well. Please stay in a safe place and don't take any unnessary chances.

So sorry, I wish I could blow everything out to sea.

Mimi, are you channeling Jeanne's thoughts?

(I do know what you meant and thanks for the wish!)

I'm preparing for this fourth hurricane in the last six weeks by adding the keys to my Avenue de la Motte Picquet apartment (which just arrived in the mail today) to the ziplocked bundle containing plane tickets and passports.

Am placing the ziplock bag deep inside a suitcase at the very back of a closet. I may even weigh it all down with a couple cast iron skillets and a stack of my heaviest books.

Let the roof blow off, I'll hang onto that suitcase.

'Cause come next Saturday, I'm outta here!!!

OHHhhhh! I thought you left already!! Was waiting to hear that special bicycle tale and asked here about it.
I'll keep a lookout for you til Saturday!
kuiss, kiss, mimi

Ah, yes, the bicycle will indeed by traveling with us!

The bad news is I messed up my back working at a hurricane shelter a couple of weeks ago, lifting elderly people up off the floor after the folding cots they were sleeping on kept collapsing beneath them!

The good news is that another traveler has joined our party: my nearly 12 year old grandson. Yes, he was with me in Paris last Christmas, but his 18 year old cousin couldn't bear not to bring him with us.

So, the lugging about of suitcases and bicycle box will be shared among three, not two of us

Whoops, not used to this dang new laptop!

Anyway, it's going to a great trip for lots of reasons!

Kisses back at 'ya, Mimi!

SO-ooo happy to hear from you and your good deeds . Please keep well, and try those old fashioned plaster packs you paste on. They really help. I've had a terrible bout of cocc7x pain after my bike mishap and a friend from china send me some that have jalapeno)sp) and cinnamon and leaves me red...lol

Thanks for the thought. We live near Sarasota and have been spared for the most part. However, it is really getting old. This is also our first full year in Florida. Moving form the midwest I thought tornados were bad. Trust me, hurricanes are much worse. Even if they are a hundred miles away you still get awful weather and pressure change is quite uncomfortable.

Again, thanks.

Hang in there, sward030! (Though I've been told the pressure changes can trigger migraines. Is that a problem for you?)

Hurricanes are a lot of work and worry and no fun, but I've been here 30 years (several years on an island in the Keys) so I assure you hurricanes can be survived. This many in a row is highly unusual. I wish you could have had a better first year, don't give up.

At least our infrastructure here is much sturdier than that in places like Haiti, which is hell on earth right now for those poor people!

Mimi, thanks for reminding me! My Japanese friend in Yokohama sent me some of those heat plasters last Christmas! She said that in winter the schoolgirls put them in their undergarments. I've got some left somewhere, will go look.

How are you good folks holding up down there? Anybody still have power? Who would have thought two storms would enter the state at the same point!

So far I have electricity. Don't think I will lose it this time around. Flooding on my street has not happened yet, could if the rain continues all day. The winds right now seem pretty heavy. There aren't many trees left around my house to blow down now. Our local coast line homes are not doing as well. Lots of beach being lost, along with swimming pools and building foundations. Our beach is a beach famous for driving upon. Since the last round of storms that has not been possible and now it seems like it will now be even longer.

We depend on this beach driving for our tourism. (Don't want to get into a debate on this issue...oooohhh.)

Have missed another few days of work and if this keeps up there will be a tiny speck of paid vacation available for next year.

Putting my situation is perspective however, I feel terrible for those who have lost FAR more than I.

The news stations here are waiting for more light to view the damage at a place called Bare Foot Bay which is further down the coast, South of me. They suffered quite a bit in last hurricane and I hope they will be able to cope.

I've been following the storm from Florence. Good Luck.

We're OK here in Gainesville, but then Jeanne is 50 miles south of Orlando and we're two hours farther north, so it's still "wait and see".

It isn't the wind that's the worry, it's the rain and more flooding. The lake that my front yard had become just recently dried up. Trees are destabilized by standing water and will be even easier to topple over this time around. In Florida, tree roots aren't far below the surface. I took a walk last evening and "talked" to the trees I love, telling them, "Be strong tomorrow!".

From all the trees that fell in the last storm, there are logs and branches piled in front yards, still awaiting pickup, that could become flying debris should winds increase, or a tornado spawn.

But right now, there's french toast made with challah bread, vanilla, cinammon, and a dash of orange juice, cooking and life's still good.

Thoughts and best wishes to all. Stay safe.

Has BTilke checked in yet? She was to fly into Orlando airport today, traveling to be with her Mom who just lost her husband. The airport's been closed since yesterday, just wondered if she found an alternate route home. Am concerned if she is out there on the road. Have thought about her safety all day, knowing that in her place, my determination to get home (home!) would affect my judgement.

Here, we are getting hit hard by wind gusts and so much rain that my place is now an island surrounded by a rising lake. The doors are fortified with sandbags, but there must be a leak in the foundation beneath the living room because the carpeting is going squish-squish when we walk across it.

Have got furniture piled on top of other furniture, flattened cardboard boxes bridging the living room pond, curtains tucked up above the sogginess.

Amazingly, no loss of power! Yet...

My beloved trees are whipping about, bending this way, then that way, trying to hold fast, as per my instructions last evening. Good trees!

What true horrors of nature you are enduring. Thank God for computers, to keep in touch with you, posters; we don't know your real names, nor phones to keep in touch. Keep posting when possible and know we care.

For the 4th time, we here in Miami have been spared. We get all shuttered up, stand in line at the grocery store, line up at the gas station, and complain, - but how lucky we have been thus far! As an "Andrew survivor", my heart goes out to all those poor people further up the coast, and on the west coast, and northwest Florida. And seeing all those poor people in Haiti makes me cry. I'm making another donation to the Red Cross tomorrow. If anyone wants to do that, their number is 1-800-HELPNOW. They need everything they can get.

Hey all, I just wrote on another thread how the wind seemed so much louder and stronger this time here in Boca Raton. Frances battered us for 30 hours, and that is how it did so much damage. This one was stronger, but passed thru faster. We sustained less damage and were only without power for 24 hours. I am really concerned about those to the north of us...they must be exhausted and devastated. Hopefully, this will be our last hurricane for a long while.