Hey gang...made it through Charley with minimal damage to our home. We were to the west of Charley's eye, although we did experience some very high wind gusts. We lost a part of our fence surrounding the pool pump and some palm fronds. The neighbor directly across the street lost two trees. There are a lot of screen enclosures around here gone, or ripped apart. Tree limbs everywhere but all in all people in my area were extremely lucky. Not so for the people we know to the east of us. As you've heard most of stories from other Polk county residents, I won't repost it again except to say that it was not pleasant for them. I don't have an anonomometer (sp?) but I can tell you that we had significant winds as we were just on the outer fringes of Charley's western side. I want to post more of a human side to the story and what I've learned from this hurricane.
When the storm began changing it's course and began heading towards Ft. Myers, there was great relief here in our house until we looked at the map. That's when we realized that Charley's eye could pass directly over us. Our relief was short-lived. However, except for BayNews9, who understood what this meant to Polk County and the other inland counties near us, most of the other stations (especially ABC 28) made it sound as if Tampa Bay was completely out of the woods. I got really upset with Dennis Phillips as he kept saying, "Folks, let me just say this again, IF this track verifies, and I believe it will, Tampa Bay had just ducked a huge bullet." Later on, he was still preening his feathers and that's when I picked up the phone. I called the weather desk and told them that I lived in Polk county and could Dennis Phillips stop saying how great he was and start informing the folks in Polk/Highlands/Hardee etc counties what THEY could expect since the storm was making a beeline for us? The veins in my head were practically popping out. It wasn't until about 2-2:45 that he broke into a news conference from one of the Tampa Bay counties to inform the inland counties of the dangers. BayNews9, Tampa Bay's CBS 10, Fox 13 and News Channel 8 had been doing an okay job, but BayNews9 did the best job overall. We were able to make it through the storm with up to date forecasts after that because I think Dennis Phillips got a smack upside the head from his boss.

Then, of course, there were the people the next day who said they weren't expecting Charley to hit them and were mad at the NHC and other stations. I will defend the NHC and the stations here because they continually said that the cone was very important because it could hit on the left side or the right side of the "official" track and that could make a big difference. Well, it did. Those counties that got the hit were in the CONE and they WERE under evacuation orders. If they did not heed them, I'm sorry for them but as Jeb Bush said, they had what they called "Hurricane Amnesia". A lot of close calls here that never came to fruition left people feeling blase about the whole thing. People who stayed in mobile homes after being told of the dangers put their own families at risk. A lot of the elderly didn't leave because shelters don't take pets. That's probably the main reason for the death toll in Punta Gorda. A lot of people didn't leave because they can't drink in shelters or do whatever they want to in shelters. All of these things are what lead to an unnecessary loss of life, and although of course I have compassion for them, I also have a bit of anger for those that want to cast blame on the NHC and other outlets. It simply comes down to being responsible for your own actions. If you're told to leave during a hurricane, then by all means, LEAVE. If you don't, the only place to look for blame after the fact is in the mirror.

Yesterday my sons' football league had their Jamboree. We heard stories of people without electricity, water, etc. who still made the trip here to participate. People around here just a couple of blocks away have no power. We have a lot of gas stations closed. However, there are some people who just can't look past the end of their noses and see how lucky they are...like my son's coach. He was complaining that they should have had more people here because "that damn storm wasn't that bad" and we should have been making a lot more money than we were but because people had "few limbs down they chose not to come." I let loose on him, too. I told him that football may be the center of his life, but there were people all over this county who had NOTHING left, even some of his own players, and if all he cared about was the stupid money he didn't make than he was one sorry individual. I also told him that he might want to take a ride around Polk County and look at the devastation around him and instead of blowing hot air out of his mouth, start using it to help other people. I told him that although he was generally a nice guy, at that time I thought he was a pompous, selfish, uncaring person who didn't have a lick of compassion for anyone. Even the Bucs weren't playing, for goodness sakes! My outburst was quite loud and I have to admit that I was a little embarrassed afterwards, but I didn't really care either way. I fully expected to be told that I would no longer be the team mom for his team, but that never happened. Instead, we were informed over the intercom that $1 of every admission fee would go to the American Red Cross Disaster fund.

I'm sorry that I have gone on so long about this, but I've never been through an actual disaster that hit so close to home and it's amazing the way people react to it. Some of us are just different than others and can only see it when it hits us, unfortunately I see everything and I cry like a baby to see people suffering but I also get mad when people refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

I sure hope that Earl stays a tropical low, but I don't think he will. I also hope that we don't have another storm hit anyone again, but that's unlikely. At least I know what to expect and to all those out there that haven't experienced one and want to, let me forewarn you: the reality is quite different than what you can imagine. It isn't any fun staring at a Cat 4 coming up your back door. A 1 or 2, maybe but not a major one. Be careful what you wish for, my friends. You might just get it.

On top of all that, I just learned that I have strep throat and I am feeling really ratty. So forgive my rantings, feel free to edit anything that isn't necessary and thanks for listening.