jayne, where is the VIPIR link? Thanks!

Sorry, I posted on the other hurricane post so I will repeat myself about what is happening in Jax.. if you are curious
We drove to Winter Park today, traffic South was light on I-95. Coming back around 4:00 traffic was ok on 95 North but heavy on 95 South ..?
Schools in Jax are closed Friday.
We have already gotten the word on who is being evacuated, not me but my daughter. So we will have dogs and children and a Persian cat with a bad attitude here to celebrate our first real hurricane.
I am now in a state of denial.
The Yankee is buying more water, we could float this house , we have so much water. Just no boards on the windows..sigh.

GoTravel,

I don't think there's a specific VIPIR site; you have to access it through local network affiliates that have the model. The NBC affiliate in the Tampa Bay area is what we watch. The website is TBO.com, but as joan posted earlier, she hasn't been able to access it. My guess is that it's getting too many hits to handle all of them.

Check out the site that peterboy mentions; it's got some good information.

Scarlett, I have a visual of the Persian with a bad attitude. [-(
When Charley came through, between family and friends, 23 cats and 7 dogs took refuge at our house. It was literally a zoo. DH threatened to wait the storm out up in one of or palm trees.

Jayne I'm picturing 23 cats and 7 dogs. We rode out Charley with friends who have 6 dogs (five huge ones and one medium sized) as well as 6 cats, but the cats all hovered in a bedroom. These dogs all go wild whenever the doorbell rings. Well as the storm approached the power flickered on and off about 20 times or more. Everytime their power did that, or came back on, the doorbell would ring. You never saw or heard such commotion as the constant running and barking to the door every time the power flickered!

yes, 2 Greyhounds, one Persian cat and a very happy standard Poodle.

Someone start bringing me the drinks!

Scarlett:

I'm on it, honey - name your poison -- beer, wine, mixed drinks......Shoot - milk, water, soda....

Whatever you people in the South want, you're more than welcome to it!!

What is scary about this storm is that it will pound the state for a long time. If Central Florida gets hits again so soon we are screwed (pardon my language). My neighborhood still has debris everywhere so we are afraid of that more than anything. There is no good place to go either because of the unpredicatability of the storm. We are thinking we will go to St Pete to my parents because then we dont have to worry about the debris. If it hits there, then at least it will have been on land for awhile and the storm surge probably wont be a factor. Uhhhhh! Turn east baby..turn east!

I'm still LOL Patrick. One of my sister's dogs tinkles whenever he gets upset, excited, happy, sad etc. My son's lab was in heat, so thank gawd all the male dogs were "its".

Just read at the NHC that they will be beginning 3 hour recons today.

just came to post the same thing. 8 a.m update soon.

I had my very "enthusiastic" boston terrier (you call her hyper, I call her "exuberant"), my lethargic 17 pound cat and a friend's African Grey Parrot (highly verbal) all in a 14ft. square safe room in my home (no windows). We put them all in crates for their protection and they were quiet as could be throughout the entire storm. Several days in this condition would have been another matter entirely. Kitty had no interest in the parrot, go figure. LMF

Hey Scarlett and anyone else that has pets...you might want to call your vet and see if you can get some tranquilizers for your animals to keep them calm. I give my big galoot tranquilizers every time he goes to the vet.They don't make him real dopey just calms him down.

I too am waiting for the more frequent updates.
Here in Orlando there is debris EVERYWHERE from Charley. Everyone's lawn has it piled up by the street and it is just going to go everywhere. Even if the track shifts we are still going to get it bad. It is really scary.

Are you seeing where they are prepared to make the Beeline Expressway one direction for a 15 mile stretch?

Have young cousin-lets north of Ft. Lauderdale -- she was smart enough to book flights for this evening to get her and 3 young boys out, but husband and dog are staying behind. This is making me and her mother (my 1st cousin and good friend) very nervous. Fall back is to retreat to Sarasota, but not sure that'll be all that safe either. Glad there is warning but sometimes all that means is that you know ahead of time that something awful's going to happen that you can do nothing about.

Animals are funny. Both of my cats hang out under my bed on my side of the bed during these storms. No other time do they do this.

I think they can sense the drop in a barametric pressure or something.

I posted this elsewhere also. The big thing to watch is the stationary front that is sitting above Georgia. That is what's keeping this storm from heading north or south. The only hope that I see is a front that is coming down from the Northwest from Canada. If it gets here SOON (can it be soon enough) then it might help to push the other front down, or push the hurricane south or north.

But I'm not too optimistic. Actually, I've been tinkling on myself. And hanging out under my bed with the cat. Meow.

LOL! You are too funny!

What is making me crazy now are the three posts I've read from people who are planning trips to Florida in the FUTURE and are worried about hurricanes.

HELLO!?!? You are worried about a vacation that may or may not happen and I don't know whether or not I'll have a house next week?

When I was ten I moved to FL from the southwest. A tornado hit my elementary school that year, blasting out a bunch of windows which cut a lot of kids.

That was in 1962. I have not been in the eye of any storm since, either a hurricane or a tornado. So I always laugh at people freaking out, while at the same time cringing.

I just saw some home video from Punta Gorda. It was scarey. All the trees down, the 15 foot steel street lamps bent in half, this miles from the landfall spot.

GoTravel, just get under the bed. It's actually kind of cozy down here. If only it didn't smell like urine. Heeheeehee.

We Catholics have a patron saint for everything. I found this list of patron saints of storms/safety from storms. Here's the link:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pst00689.htm

I hope it's not St. Frances!