By Saturday late afternoon, September 9th, final preparations for Hurricane Irma were complete. The wind had started to pick up. I got a long luxurious shower, knowing I wasn't going to get another for several days. Ate a wonderful meal as who knew when I would again. Time to double check everything, all is good. Power went out. Really? Already? The winds were a steady 20-25mph maybe. 3 hours later it was back on. Slept good in the cool embrace of the AC that night.

Sunday I woke to a cloudy day, the wind had gotten stronger. Had a cooked breakfast, scrambled eggs, peanut butter toast, yogurt, juice. Belly was full and happy! At 10:30am, heard a transformer blow and the power was out. Damn, thought we would have for a few more hours at least. By noon, the rains had started and the wind was a steady 35-40mph. As the afternoon progressed, the winds got stronger and the rain was steady, at times it poured, but it never stopped. By dusk the wind was a steady 45-50mph with gusts to about 60-65mph. We watched as the wind gusts pushed a stream of water into a bush off the back patio, splitting it down the middle, over and over again. The bush didn't survive. As darkness fell, we could no longer watch the storm. Candles were lit, beds were made on the couches, radio turned to the news of the storm, tracking it’s progress closer and closer to our area. As the storm raged we caught snatches of sleep, waking every hour or so to listen to it howl. Always waiting for the crash of something into house, hoping the front door didn’t start rattling in the jam. It never did.

Just before dawn on Monday, the storm started quieting down, the rain stopped, a restful sleep came at last. We woke to a windy day with the clouds parting, showing plenty of blue sky and the sun once again was seen. Survey of the property was completed in the bright light of a new day. Not much damage on my street. Street was even clear of water. We were missing a few shingles. Not many branches in the yard either. Checked my phone, no service. Cell towers were down. Shutters were removed quickly before the day got too hot, taking full advantage of the breeze still blowing to cool us off. Nothing else to be done, a book I had not read yet was pulled from the shelf. Stephen King’s latest release - Hearts in Suspension. An enjoyable read, that was finished sometime Tuesday.

My days blurred from Tuesday on, I read. I moved from inside to outside seeking whichever was cooler throughout the day. The constant hum of generators filling my ears. After I finished Hearts in Suspension, I read the first 3 Harry Potter books before the power came back on. I checked for phone service once or twice a day. I was finally able to send a text message to family members Tuesday evening, asking a cousin to call my mom to let her know I was alright. Apparently that was too late for my mother. She had already blown everyone’s phones up. lol She was still mad at me today when I talked to her! sheesh Moms.

The days were very warm, no wind after Monday, mid to high 90’s with the real feel over a hundred Tuesday and Wednesday. Blessedly it was cooler on Thursday, a slight breeze now and then on Friday. I was fighting heat exhaustion, Thursday and Friday. The bathtubs filled with water, one very low now, looked ever so tempting to just lay down in. But without the certainty of when power would be on, we had to conserve. We took sponge baths. On Friday we used the ice packs that were half melted to cool us down.

There is not much to do when you have no electricity. My phone’s power slowly drained away each time I checked for service. I was at 76% power Tuesday evening when I was finally able to send a group text to family, fairly certain it had gone through. By then I had ate through another 10% of my phone’s power just to send the message! Tried to send the Tweet but after another 5% of power lost, I shut my phone down again. Today I saw it had gone through, or was that last night? lol I checked the next morning to be sure my text went through, I had answers so message had been received. :) Merlin’s phone was left on to receive the warnings. His phone was dead by Monday morning. lol My phone had been turned off when the power went out on Sunday.

Last night and today, Saturday, has been spent catching up on emails, phone calls, etc. Trying to put some normalcy in the day. Tomorrow, back to business, one week after the storm. Have to make up a week's worth of lost income.