10/13/24 Update
Honesty, I didn’t sleep well last night. Too hot! I planned to sleep out on our back porch, but the couch cushions were still very wet. Lesson learned, next hurricane bring the outdoor cushions inside.
We got off to a slow start this morning. We picked up more debris about the yard, swept up a lot of leaves, and placed a few outdoor items in their proper spot. We have an outdoor shower which is handy for hurricanes because we put our trash cans in it for safe keeping. You would be amazed at how many trash and recycle cans are strown around the island. We’ve also learned through the last hurricane to store a few kayaks in the shower too, just stand them up and bingo safe storage.
Next up we were off to the Walgreens pharmacy on the island, which was closed until today. I had to get my hormone replacement medication; trust me it would have been no fun if I had run out of that. Talk about one hot momma, that would have been me.
We have about a ½ a tank of gas, so we pulled into the Wawa just on the mainland, the line today was much shorter than yesterday. They didn’t have any premium gas, so we decided to wait until we either get close to empty and then fill it with regular or until some stations get premium. For now, we have enough. While driving we were able to charge several devices, my laptop, Scott’s iPad and both our phones. I was grateful for 4 charging ports in my car.
We had visited with the Walgreens pharmacist, Joseph, about how he made out with the storm, he has a roof leak, how the Walgreens was doing, now on a generator and no damage, their employees, glad to be back at work, and life on the island for those in one story homes, devastating. He really got me thinking as we chatted. He shared that he lives about 40 minutes away and gas is a necessity for him to get to work, indeed it is. He spoke about the stress on people with no power, unable to get gas and needing to get to work to make the money they need to pay the bills. FEMA may eventually help with some expenses, but it doesn’t cover this type of need, not to mention the mental toll.
This afternoon we rested quite a bit and then went through some personal items that were impacted by the storm surge. We went on a bike ride and took a route closer to the beach. The sand is still on the roads and there are high sand piles all along the right of way. It’s our understanding that all this sand will be taken to a central location on the island and cleaned before being redistributed. We saw several linemen working hard, installing new poles and running new wire. We also learned that the city government has established a debris field on the island where all the debris is being taken, it will be crushed and then taken to a landfill. Hopefully they will get to our street in the next few days.
Dinner consisted of turkey sandwiches, apple slices, a mandarin orange, cherry tomatoes and chips. Desert was a Twix bar. I find when I’m stressed, I lean towards a Twix.
We are sitting on the back porch, Scott with his mini lantern from AARP and me with my rechargeable sleek table lamp. It’s so quiet that every little noise I notice. Right now, I hear crickets, the hum of a generator, the wind rustling the leaves and some animal that I cannot identify. The police just drove by slowly with their lights on, patrolling the island. We are grateful.
