Hurricane Irma

I have been quiet lately for good reason. Hurricane Irma went right by me. It may be more proper to say that Tropical Storm Irma went right by me. It had a greater effect than one would have anticipated. I plan on posting some pictures of my yard in a couple of days. They are week old pictures of my yard, for I spent the two days after Irma cleaning up the yard.

Hurricane Irma didn't really do all that much damage here. It certainly was nothing like the Florida Keys, or southern Florida. The report from the electrical companies here is that it knocked down a bunch of trees, and blew a bunch of branches down. The end result was a mass of transformers out and a great hurry to locate some and to get help in Georgia putting up new lines, poles, and transformers.

My power was out for 3-1/2 days. When I turned my computer on it would not boot. I am now typing on a new laptop computer as my desktop is still in the shop. I just got it online and don't even have my email on it yet as I wanted to get off a blog. Tomorrow the plan is to get my email loaded on here with my email manager so that I can take care of that.

I was remarkably surprised when I did see one email on my tablet yesterday and it was from Office Depot. It was advertising Dell Laptops for less than $500 dollars. I remember when you couldn't get any laptop for less than $1,000 dollars, especially not one like I got that is 15" and has a DVD.

I have found that it is nice to go to the Oases Coffee House in Montezuma, GA. It is only about 3-4 miles from the house. It is Christian owned. Some of my daughter's friends own it and they put her to work setting it up. It has been open a little more than a year. She kept her original job, though. It has free wi-fi. It will be nice to come to the coffee shop and do some computer work.

3-1/2 days without electricity really means without an external source of electricity. I had 12 volt electric, for I have 3 large batteries that supply me with power. All of my lights and fans are 12 volts, as is my potable water system. When not needing emergency water I have water from a pump in the yard. Of course, that didn't work without the power from the poles going to it. I had to rely on my 20 gallon potable water system in my bus. It worked just fine.

In many ways I found my situation to be much better than my neighbors. The local stores were out of charcoal and grills, yet I cooked just like normal on my propane stove and oven. It is a full size one and only has to have the tank refilled about every 12-18 months. I watched as my neighbors hooked up generators to power their house. Then they brought in a large outdoor grill on the back of a pick-up. It is nice to have cooking in my house. It may seem a bit smaller than most peoples homes, but it is just right for me.

My refrigerator had been frozen up. I checked it and after 2 days it was defrosted. I had to go down to the Ace Hardware store and purchase a cooler to keep my food in. Walmart was all sold out. It seems like everyone thought of Walmart, but few thought of the smaller stores. My daughter thought it was funny when I got us some bottled spring water from a new Tractor Supply Company in town. It was 2 days before the storm hit. The Walmart was completely out of spring water, and bottled water for that matter. I found just what I wanted, and they were not expecting a hurricane and were running a special on the spring water.

I did a little more prepping for the storm. I bought some paper plates and plastic ware. They were very nice to use for the 3-1/2 days I did not have regular water. I probably could have washed the dishes, but it was nice anyways.

I took down my mosquito net and canopy which is outside by my bus. I am sure the wind would have made a wreck of them. I put them back up the day after the storm. The weather was unusually cool for about 3 days after. I slept outside in a chaise lounge chair that I had recently gotten. It was very nice. My dog Champ enjoyed the company.

I am back now, and tomorrow I will attempt to answer my email. Be at peace.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063