A few bands with mild gusts, but nothing major yet. No sustained winds so far. The worst will come in the wee hours of the morning, starting around 2am. Until then we expect around 40mph.

Dh and I just woke up from a nap a short time ago. Ds took one earlier. We know we won't be able to sleep tonight when the worst is here, so we thought we'd get some sleep now. It was surprisingly easy to fall asleep.

Cappuccino and lattes for only 25 cents? I'm coming to your house for coffee! :lol:

We Floridians and former Floridians know all the theme park secrets. :)

How about not using the suffix ly when appropriate? I've heard multiple people - newscasters and emergency management people - say serious when they meant seriously. Sure there are other things to worry about, but it still hurts my ears. I just heard a sheriff's dept. spokesman say "We're taking this storm serious and we hope our citizens take it serious as well."

Yes, but rarely.

Many counties have 2 or 3 pet friendly shelters now. You have to have them in a carrier though.

Yes, there have been several in this area, and even a few arrests of clowns creepy stalking schools. I don't get why someone would do the clown thing but I also don't understand the fear of clowns. Then again, I've never watched any horror movies with clowns (I don't watch horror movies in general).

LOL. The peninsula is only about 160 miles at its widest point (not counting the panhandle).

There's really nowhere to go that won't get hit pretty hard, unless we go to the west coast or the panhandle. Most of the pet friendly hotels are already booked in those areas. We have family in inland Volusia County who offered for us to go there, but they got it worse than we did in 2004. Dss lives in Osceola County but they're notorious for getting tornadoes (though not like mid-west ones) that spin off from these storms. Power went out in 2004 and it was not fun but it's survivable. If I thought we weren't safe we'd leave, but people who leave when it's not recommended for them to do so only add to the traffic nightmare. I'm about 30 miles inland and somewhat protected by the barrier islands. If you look at a map of Florida's east coast and see where it juts out, I'm on the west side of that. The cape (geographical cape) protects us a bit. Not that it won't be bad here, but it's not like living on the barrier islands.

If I was told to evacuate I would. However, I understand why some people do stay. It has to be hard not being home and not knowing what you'll find when you get home. (((((hugs)))) Oh good heavens! Stopped up ears and sinuses with this pressure! I hope the meds start working quickly. I had a cold but am nearly over it. Dh caught it from me but fortunately didn't get it as bad as I did, so he's not too stuffed up.

Thanks. I saw that early this morning then forgot the numbers (even though they're easy to remember). I was going to look it up but now I don't have to.

Hello BaW gals. If you haven't seen the hurricane thread, I'm very close to ground zero. We're almost done with our prep. I'm actually doing laundry today. I figure if we're without power and/or water for a while I at least want my clothes clean lol. I'll either be bored and online a lot until we lose power or I'll disappear. Either way I'll try to check in briefly once we get on the other side of the storm. If the power is out (and I'm sure it will be) it will be a quick drive by post and I likely won't respond. If I'm using my phone I'll want to preserve its battery life. Ds has a portable charger but still. I'm not concerned about hiding my identity so if anyone wants to friend me on facebook I'm Kathy May Chumley. On the bookish side - my Kindle is loaded with anything I might want to read, and is fully charged. :D

BOOM! We're ground zero. 11:00 update has winds at 140-145 and landfall in Cape Canaveral. That's where my brother lives. He had trouble getting the cat, but finally caught her. They're heading inland. We're as hunkered down and prepared as we can be. We're still going to see 100+mph winds but hopefully no flooding. All of our neighbors are staying and have boarded up. I hate this city - it's backward and dead - but I love my neighborhood. On our facebook page people who are staying have chimed in to say where they live and what they can help with. Dh is next door helping the neighbor finish putting up his shutters. This morning everyone was out on our cul de sac pledging to check on each other after it's all over. I've lived in Florida 47 years, 46 in my current city. I've never experienced a direct hit like this.

Oh Katie, have they not seen the 5:00 update? I hope they change their minds in the 12 hours or so. If they don't, I'll keep them in my thoughts. ETA: I just saw your update in the other thread.

Yes, we put them up today as did several other people you knew from when you lived here. We have a few more small preparations to make, which we'll finish tomorrow morning. My city is fairly well protected from storm surge by the cape and the island where Katie's parents live, but you're right. Wind, lots of rain, and power outages will be our biggest problems. Where you used to live is under an evacuation order and the people we know who live there either have left or are leaving early tomorrow.

double post

I just returned from a treasure hunt. Yesterday dh told me we had all the batteries we need, but texted me today while I was out and asked me to get D batteries. We have some small portable fans that use D. I went to 4 stores then started hitting convenience stores. I finally found them at the 3rd convenience store I tried. The ATM at my Publix ran out of cash - everyone was probably trying to avoid lines at the bank. I went to the bank and there was no line. I left the drive through window with my cash in less than 5 minutes.

And they're between two rivers!

I'm not sure where you are, but I hope all is well with your home. Have you decided what to do yet? Where we are it will brush pretty close to us. We'll be boarding up the windows today. My brother lives on a barrier island and is under mandatory evacuation beginning this afternoon.

I haven't heard much about the west coast, but this storm is huge and expected to cover the entire state. I do know that a First Robotics tournament scheduled in Tampa this weekend has been canceled.

I watched in horror yesterday as each update brought it closer to us. We're now hearing it will be less than 25 miles of our coast. My brother lives on a barrier island and is under mandatory evacuation orders. They'll be leaving today. We're putting up our shutters later this morning.

I thought of you last night when I heard of the evacuation zones - almost pm'd you. My brother and sil live on a barrier island and they're coming inland today. He said they're supposed to be out by 3 (they're in Cape Canaveral). We'll be putting up our shutters today, and need to help fil get his up.

I'm with you Dawn. Anything involving heights would be out of the question. I taught middle school for a year. That was one year too long. I loved both elementary and high school. Kudos to teachers who can teach middle schoolers and like it.

There are hundreds here working for Boing, thousands in the industry overall. Other companies with local employees include SpaceX, ULA, Northrup-Gruman, McDonnell Douglas, NASA itself, the U.S. Air Force and Navy (with both military and DOD people), and many many more smaller mostly unknown companies. In addition to Kennedy Space Center there's Canaveral Air Force Station, where unmanned rockets are launched year-round, both private, military, and government but non-military. There are often one or more unmanned launches per month plus they often support launches that originate elsewhere.The space industry is a major employer in this area. The downside is that engineers are a dime a dozen, so you'd better have a good resume, good school, or good connections to someone who already works in the field.