Woke up to the power off, but it came back on.
>>>>>>>>>>Run! Turn the coffee pot on!!

Tag...this time you're both it!! Share and share alike, like Mom always told you--good sisters.

Glad you got your power back so quickly Poochie. I don't have much hope of keeping ours, but so far so good and maybe we'll be as lucky.

LMF...hope things are better in your area now and that you are doing OK. It's going to be kitty and me holding down the fort in our casita too--my choice. DH has to be in the hotel and I don't want to leave the house...with 7 skylights, one of which is already whistling in the higher gusts. Just noticed we forgot to take in the grill. Too late now...

Hibiscushouse...I got the coffee first thing too. Second thing was a shower and the hairdryer. I'm ready to face the day, whatever it brings.

Isn't that the truth Hibiscus? That's exactly what we do during a blizzard - have the coffee ready to go so we can flick the switch if the power comes on for a few minutes.

I'm having trouble relating location to the worst hit areas. My brother is in Margate outside Fort Lauderdale. Would he be south of the main hit?
And my best friend is in Orlando - are they still on the path for another hit?

I talked to them both yesterday morning, and they were still unsure. I don't want to call this early in case they are managing some shut-eye. Any info from those of you down there with power would be appreciated. Thanks, and good luck with round four. My heart goes out to all of you.

Dreamer2, Orlando is getting hurricane force winds now. Too early to know about damage. Your brother was south of the eye, which came in at the southern end of Hutchison Island. I know that area has some significant damage, but your brother was on the better side and I haven't heard--right now they are just talking about the track as it heads toward us. My guess is though...that he won't be catching any shut eye this morning so you can probably call without fear of waking him. Hope he weathered the storm OK.

I made coffee on our gas grill the entire time I was without power. It was a pretty hysterical operation as I no longer have my Chemex lowtech coffee maker. Just boiled water in a kettle on the grill, removed the filter basket from the Braun unit and held it over the pot and poured the water through it. I made a makeshift Bain Marie to keep the pot warm.

I had people lined up for coffee in the days after the storm. I had bought ground coffee in advance of the storm. Being LMF, I usually grind my beans each a.m.

Of course, with the winds this morning, this system would not work but in the aftermath of a storm when the weather has died out but you have no power, this is a great way to get your caffeine.

I called it the "caffeine addiction station" LMF

Oh LMF, its great to see your sense of humor is intact LOL How very ingenious of you and of course you'd grind your own beans!
But seriously, I've been thinking of you, and everyone in Florida and praying you're coming through it okay. We have close friends in Longwood who we recently visited to assist in their clean up. They were fairly fortunate that time, although their beach house an hour away took a direct hit.
Know that you have many Fodorite Friends pulling and praying for you.
Hang in there and be safe.

Dreamer2- Margate is a few miles north of me. The worst is over for us and your brother. About 70,000 homes without power in Broward County.
Sending positive thoughts and prayers for all of you now in Jeanne's path.

OO...we are right on the water. Hope there isn't too much of a storm surge. That is one of my greatest fears. We do have a generator if the power is lost for any length of time.

We finally got through to the people who are looking after our home. They said they would give us a call if there are any problems. I guess I will be glued to the computer today, watching Jeanne's progress.

Wow, I can't believe I still have power. It's really blowing here. My son is at a sleepover in Brandon and DH is working. So I'm solo on house patrol. If my cable modem stays intact then I can use my laptop by plugging into a converter in my car. A transformer on the next street over is exploading but it only dimmed my lights.

So that's it from South Tampa. I still have a tree that's way too close to my home, as I discovered with Francis. But the first tree surgeon said, not to worry, it won't do MUCH damage if it falls on the house. So nice to know there is a bright side to that scenario. Everybody stay safe.

I'm astounded we still have power too, TG. I'm baking cookies while we've still got it. Of all weeks, I picked this one to forget to order my junk food quota. That's a mandatory storm provision! We saw flashes from an exploding transformer around 5 this morning, but the hotel kept it's power--it wasn't ours.

It looks as if your son is having a wild ride about now and we are next.

The big podocarpus by our front door is leaning ominously...but if it comes down, it'll fall away from the house. It looks as if the root ball is pulling up.

Highbay they are talking about 3-6 foot storm surge in Hernando County, 2-4 here, possibly higher as it continues to track directly toward us.

Cookies are done...come on over!

I'm having trouble getting this to post. Hopefully it won't show up 4 times now! My internet connection has slooooowed waaaaaaaay doooowwwwwnnnn.

My heart goes out to all of you across the center of the state. Again, we are escaping it in Naples. Although at 1 AM I heard a transformer blow out and the power went out for almost 9 hours. Just came back on. That's with "little gusts" here. I can't imagine what's happening everywhere else. I just heard that inland Polk county has actually had the eye of three full fledged hurricanes pass directly through it this year -- unheard of -- and those are people who may live inland to avoid hurricanes!!

I haven't heard yet how extensive the damage is on the east coast.

At my mother's retirement home in Naples they've been "hosting" about 100 extra people from a sister home in Vero Beach that evacuated to this one for Francis, then their building sustained some pretty major damage so they are still here, living on rollaways in the activity rooms and living out of plastic bags for closets. This morning one of the nurses with them told me their building took really major damage again last night!

OO...
3 to 6 ft will put water in our yard, but not in our house,thank goodness. We live in a stilt home, with breakaway garage walls. I do have too much stuff stored in the garage...like extra freezer & refridgerator.
We were also able to get in touch with a neighbor. He said that they still haven't called a mandatory evacuation.
Hope you remain with power and stay safe.

Thanks Poochie and OO. I just got off the phone with my sis-in-law and they are in good shape, as you both projected. Now they are hosting coffee and showers (and A/C) for many friends and family.

I won't call my girlfriend in Orlando just yet. They got through Charley with minimal damage, but so many of their friends have really suffered. It must be so scary for all of you.

LMF, I have the funniest visual of you working your brew! I picture you like the Greek ladies at our church festival stirring up their traditional "mud." Of course, that's not to imply that you are serving mud!

I just heard the magic word. Wobble. The eye may be deceiving us but the meteorologist says he thinks he sees a wobble. North.

Wobble-wobble-bo-bobble, bananafanafofobble...

Curious - how are the animals at Lion Country Safari protected? Do they ride out hurricanes ok?

All I can say is please God do away with all this bad weather. Let the sun shine on them again.

I've not heard any horror stories about animals in parks or outdoors, other than many many dogs and cats deserted by their owners, and sea turtle nests washed out to sea (these storms are hitting at the end of nesting season so some baby turtles are still hatching). I heard first-hand a story about a man's horse who refused to go into the barn and dug his hoofs into the ground, facing the storm as the eye and subsequent winds passed by.

So I'd guess that unless the lions are tuned into the hysteria on the weather channel (can't you imagine it?) that they're too facing the storm bravely.

Jeanne's winds are diminishing. She may be down-graded to tropical storm, the media says.

cigal, we just might get a glimpse of the sun when the eye passes 8-)

The seabirds...egrets, herons, roseates, pelicans, gulls etc hunker down in the mangroves...head to the wind. Toward the end of Frances I was out looking at our docks and found a snake in the same position...still as can be, lying on a pile of seaweed, head up pointing into the wind. Marsh rabbits were another matter. They were freaked out by it all. They are so used to hotel guests they rarely move much when anyone walks by, but as I walked back to the hotel during the end of Frances, they took off like the proverbial "bats outta hell" as I approached. It was flooding and they ran right into the water in utter terror! Sad. The footage of unclaimed pets is SO sad! From..Charley, then Frances.

Highbay..glad your house sits up above it. When do you get back? Your high tide, I just heard is 1:30-2 so after that your flooding potential should lessen.

The wind is really howling still but in bursts and it's getting lighter, as if the sun isn't too far off. I can't believe we haven't lost power!

MIMI!!!! You did it! I see those bold words. Good job. (And thank you too for the thought.)

Good day my dears!! I hope all of my Florida pals are fine. I have been watching the news from here (Portland OR) and hoping for the best.. sadly some were not spared again. I am so sorry for the losses they are going through and the trauma of these storms. We were up late last night, following the news, but I have to say that those idiots who stand out in the wind and rain and talk about how fun it is should be forced to spend a year living in a house in those "fun" storms and see how much fun they really do have... My daughter has pup at her house, he thinks he is in heaven, sitting on the sofa watching tv, sleeping on her bed, he even has a cat to play with..he will be sorry to see us return!! Until next week! Take care,