Yahoooooo! My internet connection is finally back. It took me a while to get all caught up on everything after a week with no internet, but I'm back up and running now. Thank you so much for all of the prayers and well wishes. That had to be the longest hurricane ever! The police had us all get in our homes by 12pm on Saturday, and Frances just stalked us right off of the coast until Sunday. She then kept us all under seige until Monday. We were very lucky and did not have any damage to our home. We did have a bit of excitement though.
As you know we decided that it was safer to stay at home instead of fighting the traffic as thousands of people evacuated. I was getting slightly calm about it until the paramedics came through our neighborhood. They had their sirens blaring and were shouting over their loudspeaker, "YOU ARE IN A FLOOD PRONE ZONE!! YOU ARE IN A FLOOD PRONE ZONE!! YOU ARE ADVISED TO EVACUATE TO A SHELTER!!" It was unreal. I felt like I was in one of those disaster movies. I had the inevitable panic attack until Rob convinced me that the water wasn't going to rise all the way up to our second story apartment. That calmed me down and we decided to stay.
After that we were sitting in our apartment having some lunch when we started smelling smoke. We ran around trying to find the source of it, but we couldn't find anything. That is when we realized that it was coming in from the vents, and it was getting stronger. Rob started gather up our important papers and belongings, and I dialed 911. I ran out the door to try and find out which apartment was on fire. Now keep in mind I was barefoot, in shorts and a tank, and running through a full blown hurricane. I'm trying to talk to the dispatcher while I'm getting blown every which way and fully drenched.
About that time two police officers were patrolling my area and spotted this crazy lady running around half dressed in the middle of the storm. They figured something was wrong. Haha! Well I took them up into the apartment and they confirmed to dispatch that there was smoke coming through the vents. They then began checking all of the apartments in our building. Rob and I were getting our stuff ready to go out the door when we heard the officer call up the stairs. "We found the problem you guys. You don't have to leave." He explained to us that one of our neighbors decided to heat up their food by burning paper in a metal trash can INSIDE THEIR APARTMENT!! People are just brilliant I tell ya.
On the bright side of the incident I got to be on the radio! The station we were listening to was asking for people to call in with their Hunkering Down stories, so I decided to share mine. They started cracking up and called it the Mike Tyson Grill. They got such a kick out of the story that they mentioned it a few more times during their show. My grandma even said she heard a different station warn people to not burn paper in trash cans to heat up meals. Too funny!
Well that is my crazy hurricane tale! I did manage to get some knitting done believe it or not, but I didn't work on my Christmas presents. Instead, I knit up three 9x9 squares that will be collected and knit into an afghan for a woman who lost her husband in Iraq. If you would like information on how to participate, contact me.
Things are about back to normal now. We thought we were going to get Ivan, but it looks like the poor people in the Panhandle are going to get it instead. My prayers are with them and the people Ivan has already left in his wake.
After that we were sitting in our apartment having some lunch when we started smelling smoke. We ran around trying to find the source of it, but we couldn't find anything. That is when we realized that it was coming in from the vents, and it was getting stronger. Rob started gather up our important papers and belongings, and I dialed 911. I ran out the door to try and find out which apartment was on fire. Now keep in mind I was barefoot, in shorts and a tank, and running through a full blown hurricane. I'm trying to talk to the dispatcher while I'm getting blown every which way and fully drenched.
About that time two police officers were patrolling my area and spotted this crazy lady running around half dressed in the middle of the storm. They figured something was wrong. Haha! Well I took them up into the apartment and they confirmed to dispatch that there was smoke coming through the vents. They then began checking all of the apartments in our building. Rob and I were getting our stuff ready to go out the door when we heard the officer call up the stairs. "We found the problem you guys. You don't have to leave." He explained to us that one of our neighbors decided to heat up their food by burning paper in a metal trash can INSIDE THEIR APARTMENT!! People are just brilliant I tell ya.
On the bright side of the incident I got to be on the radio! The station we were listening to was asking for people to call in with their Hunkering Down stories, so I decided to share mine. They started cracking up and called it the Mike Tyson Grill. They got such a kick out of the story that they mentioned it a few more times during their show. My grandma even said she heard a different station warn people to not burn paper in trash cans to heat up meals. Too funny!
Well that is my crazy hurricane tale! I did manage to get some knitting done believe it or not, but I didn't work on my Christmas presents. Instead, I knit up three 9x9 squares that will be collected and knit into an afghan for a woman who lost her husband in Iraq. If you would like information on how to participate, contact me.
Things are about back to normal now. We thought we were going to get Ivan, but it looks like the poor people in the Panhandle are going to get it instead. My prayers are with them and the people Ivan has already left in his wake.
