JUST SO GLAD TO BE ALIVE - Page 2

Poodlepet2 · ‎03-09-2010

@GCR18, the event at the nursing home happened in Hollywood Florida: it's horrendous. The mayor is launching a criminal investigation. That nursing home had 30 citations against it including failure to maintain a backup generator.

There is a Holiday Florida located on the West Coast in Pasco County. Hollywood is on the East Coast.

Hugs,

Poodlepet2

dex · ‎03-09-2010

I am happy that you at least have power and that you can begin to put your life back together...you survived a nightmare and I had no idea how bad it was and still is for the people who lived it until you posted.I hope that there will be a lot of help for everyone that needs it and that your life can get back to normal soon.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

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Winn Dixie yesterday afternoon. Without power since IRMA.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

A couple of things popped into my head today as I started to reflect on Irma coverage.

1) The national media is not the place to turn to for reliable coverage of an approaching hurricane. The depth is simply not there. It's all about loud music, flashy graphics, and gloom and doom. They are not concentrating on how a hurricane is going to impact YOU. The coverage is way too much big picture, and not nearly enough Tampa Bay. I guess that's fine if you are in Missouri, but if you live here. Local news is the way to go.

2) There are no Indians or Chiefs protecting Tampa Bay from getting hit by a hurricane. It's a nice local legend, but when a storm is churning south of us, all bets are off.

3) I am proud of all of you for your awareness and your preparedness. There was a true feel of worry and concern last week, but I would not classify it as panic. When a hurricane approaches. Be a pro. We live in Florida. Hurricanes are part of our deal. Be prepared. Have a family plan. Don't buy into hype and hysteria. It is just wasted energy that should be used to get your family ready!!

4) Thanks to Irma, I've been sleeping like a college kid this week. Up every day at Noon. Need to get back into a normal groove We all do!

WTVT Fox 13 in Tampa

Poodlepet2 · ‎03-09-2010

@Zhills-agree aabout local news: best source for news-if you can get it!

Hugs,

Poodlepet2

LolaMontez · ‎12-18-2011

Glad you and your husband made it thru the storm OK.

We are on the West Coast about 60 miles north of Tampa in Hernando County.

We were in a mandatory evacuation area and went to a shelter that accepted pets. It is a school that is built to withstand storms and tornadoes.

They put all the pets in crates in one hallway away from the people. We all had to take care of or own pets. The sound was deafening when all those cats and dogs got started howling. Yikes! I don't think my Yorkie has recovered yet. The power went out Sunday night and we didn't get it back until late Wednesday afternoon. Many people around us still don't have any power and there is lots of flooding from the rising Withalacoochie (sp?) River that is causing some people to have to go to shelters even today. There are promises that all the power will be back on by Sunday night for our area.

TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR FOOD COLD:

We don't have a generator, so before the storm, I started freezing as many bottles of water as I could stuff in my refrigerator-freezer. I did have some meat in there and didn't want to lose it. The larger the bottles the better, but I used large, medium and small. . . whatever I could stuff into the space. I put them in the door, too.

When we returned home on Monday with the power out since the night before, everything in the freezer was still frozen. I removed two bottles from the freezer and put them in the refrigerator and kept doing that as they melted, leaving the cold water in the fridge, too. Believe it or not, we did not lose any food at all. Everything stayed cold or frozen from doing this. I did throw away a small bottle of mayo just to be safe and some veggies that were past their prime, but that's it. Even the milk stayed cool enough! I was amazed this worked so well so I thought I would pass it along.

I also have a butane stove that I used in the kitchen for coffee and breakfast and a coleman camp stove and coleman oven that I cooked on out in our screen room when it got too hot to cook in the house. We had scrambled eggs, salmon, pork chop hobo meals, and chicken. I took all these meats frozen from the freezer as the days wore on trying to use them up before they defrosted, but they were frozen when I took them out.

We were in a boil water zone, so I boiled tap water for washing dishes in a small dutch oven and filled the other side of the sink with cold tap water and added bleach to it.

We had plenty of bottled water to drink. We were hot, but kept ourselves cool with cold showers -- it's ok to shower with tap water during a boil water order -- just don't drink it. We also had washclothes that we kept wet and cooled ourselves with. The dog even allowed me to put one over her and she stopped panting. You can also put your feet in a container of water to cool yourself a bit. We sat quietly by the open window and listened to the local news station and suddenly the power came back on. YAY!

When the power came back on, I removed the bottles from the freezer and put them in one side of my double sink to thaw so I could empty them. The one gallon water bottle took all day and night to thoroughly thaw even sitting in the sink (ac was on by this time).

Poodlepet2 · ‎03-09-2010

@LolaMontez, we lived in Pasco-Gulf Harbors-but looked in Hernando. How's the water running there-high?

I always remember sewage being a problem-especially by this one fish house we used to go to that was a landmark.

Our pups are still spooked but stayed by our sides during the duration. We too had to evacuate at the last minute, and thankfully our son had a high safe house in Cape Coral. Getting out of there was another issue: when Harvey was making landfall, our neck of the woods experienced historic flooding, so going into this, we had saturated ground.

I remember many people who had waterfront in Hernando had houses for wild parakeets: did they return?

Glad you are ok: please keep in touch!

Hugs,

Poodlepet2

LolaMontez · ‎12-18-2011

@Poodlepet2 wrote:
@LolaMontez, we lived in Pasco-Gulf Harbors-but looked in Hernando. How's the water running there-high?
I always remember sewage being a problem-especially by this one fish house we used to go to that was a landmark.
Our pups are still spooked but stayed by our sides during the duration. We too had to evacuate at the last minute, and thankfully our son had a high safe house in Cape Coral. Getting out of there was another issue: when Harvey was making landfall, our neck of the woods experienced historic flooding, so going into this, we had saturated ground.
I remember many people who had waterfront in Hernando had houses for wild parakeets: did they return?
Glad you are ok: please keep in touch!
Hugs,
Poodlepet2

I am near old town Brooksville on Route 41 in Hernando and we are pretty much back to normal with not too much damage in our neighborhood. Lots and lots of trees came down on power lines and that is still not all resolved. Trucks came from as far away as Illinois and even Canada and Texas to help get the power back on. The water is still rising and flooding out homes along the Withlacoochie River. They are being evacuated to a shelter right now. We had to drive through some pretty deep flood water to get home from the shelter because we missed a turn and got lost like dummies. We did have a boil water order, but that has been removed now. I don't know anything about the wild parakeets. I don't think the grocery stores and restaurants are fully operational and read online that our Winn Dixie store is still closed. I fully expected our house to be gone when we got home, but we got lucky, praise the Lord.

Poodlepet2 · ‎03-09-2010

@LolaMontez, I loved Brookesville: we looked there but it was too far out from DH's employment at the time....I remember it as being "hilly"-and the beginning of horse country.....are you in a subdivision or in "the country"?

Praying for Our Dear State and Texas,

Poodlepet2

GCR18 · ‎07-03-2013

@Poodlepet2 wrote:
@GCR18, the event at the nursing home happened in Hollywood Florida: it's horrendous. The mayor is launching a criminal investigation. That nursing home had 30 citations against it including failure to maintain a backup generator.
There is a Holiday Florida located on the West Coast in Pasco County. Hollywood is on the East Coast.
Hugs,
Poodlepet2

@Poodlepet2 yes, that's it. I had my Hollywood and Holiday mixed up. My parents had a condo in Pasco county, so I had a general idea where it was. Awful. I wonder what would have happened if they didn't call an ambulance for someone. It's just too close to home. I had to admit my younger sister to a nursing home this year. She's in CT though.