27 September 2024
I was out of bed by 6:30 and finished with my first cup of coffee and Cheerios by 7:30. I wanted to get the garbage and yard waste bins out for pickup and I anticipated they would be early because, like me, a lot of people didn’t put them out last night due to wind.
I had just hauled out the yard waste bin when the truck came by, not for yard waste but garbage. I motioned to him to give me a minute and I raced back to get the garbage bin. He was very patient with me. Shortly after that, the yard waste truck came by and got the yard waste bin.
I had enough time prior to pick up to gather some debris in both the back and front yards. I was surprised at how out of shape I was bending down to pick up stuff. I was very much out of breath and had to stop and rest after I finally got the yard waste bin out for pickup.
I wanted to get to the pool. It was a mess.
I used the net instead of the vacuum to pick the stuff out and it took a while and took a lot out of me. I had to rest again after this effort. I called it a morning after this and crawled back into bed. A 1 1/2 hour nap ensued. Again, no energy, no stamina, and no desire to do any of this stuff. All I want to do is sleep.
In addition to doing my Saturday chores, I need to clean the pool filter. I ran the pump to clean the bottom of the pool from any stuff I didn’t pick up and thought to do the filter chore tomorrow.
John Knox Village sent me their newsletter so maybe the gods are trying to tell me something.
My friend in the Big Bend area of Florida apparently attracts hurricanes. In the last 18 months, she’s now had three. Helene seems to have honed in directly on her. I figure the eye wall passed right over her house. I tried texting and calling this morning but no answer. This afternoon she got out a text telling me she was OK but her property around the house was a disaster with trees down all over the place.
One of the places really hit was Cedar Key. I’ve been there twice and it reminds me of Key West back in the days before the box stores took over. Most of downtown was under chest high water and several homes were washed away. Cedar Key was hit pretty hard by Idalia in 2023 and I wonder how many times it can come back from such destruction.
Tallahassee seems to have been spared major damage. Earlier, it looked like Helene was intent on taking out all the politicians in the capital and capitol. Other than some flooding and downed trees, it seems to be intact.
No one really knows the extent of damage as of yet. The death toll seems to be rising. Most of those are from water and falling trees.
Hurricane season doesn’t end until November 30th so we have a long way to go.
Stay tuned!