Dennis

It’s not over yet. Dennis is just the beginning. It’s pretty rare that a hurricane actually lands here in July, but as usual for me, the unusual has happened again.

I’m not in any real danger here; not this far east of the center. I’m concerned though, for my relatives in the Pan Handle. They haven’t even recovered from being slammed so hard last year (not that Titusville has either), and here comes another disaster pointed straight at them.

So, for them, I hope for the best.

Around here, things may not be as bad as what they’ll get, but I still have had some trouble. I unplugged the PC and the TV, etc. last night. We were having power fluctuations from the high winds coming through. Since I live right on the water, the wind speed is higher here than it is farther inland. The screen on my balcony that faces onto the water got blown down. The three that face south are fine, but I wish the one with the hole in had blown down. Oh, well, I’ll just ask management to patch the hole when they come to re-hang the one that blew down. I did manage to save that one from further damage from pulling completely off the frame before it could get torn. But there’s no way I’m going to be the one on a ladder trying to re-hang the thing over a gaping hole six floors above the ground.

Then the rain, lightning and hail started. I had turned off all the lights in the apartment except the one by the sofa so I could read and watch the storm through the balcony windows. It was a great show from the safety of my apartment. I would not have liked being out in it—especially the wind part.

The rain was pretty cool to watch from my bedroom window when I finally decided to hit the sack. But then something solid, probably a bird, got blown against the building. I looked this morning to see if it was on my balcony, but whatever it was, it was gone.

Oh, well. There’s still plenty of wind today, and it looks as if I may be in for a good bit more rain. But they’ve lifted the tornado watches. I keep checking the water out here on the Indian River Lagoon. The usually calm water has been covered with white caps for the last couple of days. It still is. But the water isn’t rising. It’s just getting blown around a lot.

So, here’s the major storm to really impact this area so far since I’ve been here. I doubt it will happen this way, but I hope it is the worst I have to deal with this year.