All is well here, except I may need to change my user name to sweatinginplace :). We lost our power Saturday at midnight and Uverse (wifi and tv) cut out Monday afternoon, so we've been completely out of touch. I live in an older neighborhood full of lush tree canopy and aging power poles and lines. We always lose electricity quickly and get it back slooooooowly. As of this morning we'd seen no sign of a tree trimming crew much less power trucks to deal with a lot of downed trees and lines. FPL, our energy provider, claims power will be back by midnight Sunday but based on past storm experience I doubt it--I'd bet midweek next week earliest. Fortunately we had no damage; we have huge oak trees surrounding the house and I was so afraid one would fall, or a large limb would crash down. Despite the misery of living without electricity my wonderful, wonderful husband has kept me as comfortable as possible. We have a generator and he really likes working with electricity so over the years he's set it up to run the power through circuits into the house, meaning normal operation of lights, tv (except after UVerse disconnected so no signal), ceiling fans and small appliances. This time we realized the generator would also power the wall unit AC we have in our Florida room so I dragged a mattress out there and have been comfortable to sleep. Forget roses and candy, THAT is a keeper of a spouse! And we feel incredibly blessed that the vacation/retirement house we bought 5 months ago in Key Largo came through the storm unscathed-HUGE relief. We have direct deep water access meaning the house is on a short canal on the Atlantic side of the key; climb in the boat and 45 seconds later you're on the open ocean. So we were frantically worried up in Miami about the storm surge and of course the wind. The water came within inches of the top of our stairs from the dock to the back yard but didn't overflow into the pool or lower level. Minor wind damage to screens but overall the house is in perfect condition. Most amazingly of all--the electricity came back yesterday, the UVerse is humming and everything is perfectly normal inside! We decided to bug out of Miami so packed up the cats and the refrigerators, turned off the generator and now I"m sitting comfortably in air conditioning with laundry going downstairs and all the comforts of home. We've got many friends down here and the damage and destruction is heart breaking. Even in the upper Keys which didn't get the full force storm, lots of people have flood damage and the debris fields are stunning to see. However it is awe inspiring to watch the outpouring of help. From FEMA trucks to electric restoration convoys to giant Salvation Army semis with supplies to C-130 planes and helicopters flying over in formation....a steady stream of resources. It's a reminder that despite politics or divisions within our country, when something terrible happens Americans pull together to help.

Sending goods/don't send goods has presented quite a quandary! All one can do is follow the guidelines of the distribution center your group/organization is sending to. The first truck left our area on Thursday morning, ahead of the intended schedule because it was full the day before. They had already started filling a second tractor trailer. Then, word started getting out that goods should not be sent. Money was the best way to go. The church organizers panicked, not sure what to do. So many people had advance notice and were, at the very moment, working to fill the truck. You can't just suddenly say to people that we are no longer accepting donations, they don't want it down there. Money only. Fortunately, by that time, the truck was already down there and the driver said, Yes!, send it on! He said many things were going right off the truck into peoples cars. Particularly air mattresses, play yards, portable chairs. And the distribution center said, Yes!, send it! So, the second truck left on Saturday afternoon. But they also followed the guidelines of the church distribution center, which asked for no clothing and no used items. Also, different groups have been raising cash. We had bbq chicken dinners Sunday. $10 a plate, a little more than usual, but it was for a great cause and tasted delish! Our volunteer fire department knows how to bbq chicken! ETA: Just looked at the church website and I was wrong. They are accepting clothing items such as socks and t shirts that are pre-packaged. This is the group my community is working with. I'm sure different organizations have their own guidelines.

This is very different than after Ike, in 2008 (I think). I could be wrong about the year. People got ice and water and MREs....is that what you call the military type meals? We ate at the city hall again today...chicken fajitas, Spanish rice and refried beans. And they gave away loaves of bread. We have food but we have been eating the noon meal at the city hall because it is convenient and we don't have to stop working to fix food. I asked my partner who donated the boots and the horse stuff. She said someone gave her the boots. She didn't know them or the people who donated the horse halters and leads. Six halters and 3 really nice lead ropes. People asked her what kind of donations she needed for the wildlife and she said she needed horse equipment too. Now I have more than I need and more than I have ever had, so I will pass some of them along to other people. We just came home from working in the house. For the first time looked in the other building where most of my furniture was stored. Total devastation. It was on a concrete slab, so only 6" up as opposed to the house which was almost 4' up. So water had to have been 8' in there. I couldn't stand to look very closely. Actually we couldn't get far enough in to walk around. You know, I am not going to worry about it. It is what it is. I will salvage what I can. There is no use in worrying about it. We will finish cleaning the house and work on it then.

There are approximately 50 homes on my block, a circle, in Port St. Lucie. I saw the crew from WastePro start at the other side of the circle from my house at about 10 a.m., and they didn't get to my home until 4:00 pm with about 10 homes left to go. Until I watched them working I didn't realize what took so long, but while observing I saw that the machines can't move as quickly as one might imagine. They had a large claw vehicle which did the picking up and scraping and two trucks to load the debris plus a man keeping on eye on the traffic. Nothing seems as easy as one imagines. Just about everyone on the block has a good-sized patch of dirt and overgrown grass, but by spring that should all be tidy again.