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Hurricane Charley hit central Florida with a vengeance on Friday evening, August 13th,
2004. Some people died. Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power--nearly
a half millions homes powerless! Trees too
numerous to count are down. It's a mess. Here are a few of my pictures.
Click on the image to see the full size picture.
A few "Charley facts," at least as I see them:
- The final
path of Charley
- 8.2 inches of rain on Friday, August 13th.
- Another 3.5 inches on Sunday, just what we need!
- Barometric pressure was at 29.08 here when I lost power, about 20
minutes before the worst of it. That's about 985 milibars of Hg.
And it was plummeting dramatically at that time, I could almost watch it go
down by the minute. When the worst came, checking the weather station
was about the furthest thing from my mind.
- Orlando Airport recorded a wind gust of 105 mph!
- Biggest gust here was 39 mph, again, about 20 minutes or so before the
worst of the storm.
- As of Sunday evening, still a million people without power.
- As of Sunday evening, long lines for gas, and ice is nearly
non-existent.
- As of Sunday evening, friends are helping friends, neighbors helping
neighbors, just as it should be.
- President Bush visited Florida on Sunday. Nice to know he cares and the
federal government will help those hurt the most.
- Hurricane Food: See
Kimiye's Hurricane Cuisine: Shrimp Pasta
on the Grill for a glimpse of what creative Floridians are
eating these days when they don't have power, refrigeration, hot water, or
TV!
- Hurricane Preparedness: Here's
the last word on Florida Hurricane Preparedness by Florida's own, Dave
Barry!
- See some hurricane Charley
pictures here. These are not my photos, but from a web site of someone
who lives close to me. Hope you enjoy!
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This used to be a nice Drake Elm in the Front of my house. It's not standing so tall any more. |
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The remnants of the Drake Elm. All chopped up and ready to be haulded away. Only the stump left to deal with. |
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This is what things used to look like WITH the tree in front! |
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Radar at 7 PM. Sure was scary to see what's coming. I live right below and between the "a" and the "n" in "Sanford." |
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The last radar picture I got before I lost power. The center is only about 20 minutes away at this time. |
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Animated Radar from about 4:30 to 9:30 when I lost power... pretty impressive stuff! |
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The 7 PM position and forecast for Charley. The center arrived here around 9:45 PM |
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A radar image of the storm, about 1 hour before the center passed by me |
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And finally......
- 5 cloves not very fresh garlic, peeled with the little brown
spots trimmed off, then chopped finely
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1 tsp thyme
- Dashes of salt and white pepper to taste
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 lb. bag half thawed, freezer burned medium shrimp, peeled and
deveined
- 1 very large fresh tomato, which El Gordo inexplicably
bought during his hurricane run instead of an extra bag of ice
- 1 handful of fresh spinach, culled by hand from a 10 oz bag
that's half wilted
- 1 large bag defrosted penne pasta, also freezer burned
- 2 filled-to-the-top cause we ain't in a hoity-toity restaurant
glasses of red wine
Get a very large frying pan and dump in the oil, garlic and the
spices, crushed between fingertips. Fire up the Weber grill (a very good
investment by the way) and send a little toast up to the gods that
there's enough propane in the tank. Did I mention you don't have to
refrigerate red wine? Which is why I don't have any white wine to add to
this dish. Sauté the garlic and spices until they smell good. Drag the
grill back a little further under the garage door since it's raining
again and rain in hot oil is not a good thing.
Bring the ingredients out from the kitchen and curse the fact that there
is no counter space on a grill. Set the various bowls on the carport and
gently nudge the cat away. Repeatedly. Dump the shrimp in with the
garlic and sauté until they start turning pink. Then dump in the spinach
and the chopped tomato. Sauté till the spinach wilts.
Dump in the penne pasta, toss, then put a lid on the skillet and close
the grill, keeping an eye on the temp cause that sucker will bump right
up to 500 degrees in no time. Keep a cup of water ready in case the dish
isn't wet enough from the rain. Have another swig of wine. Wave at the
neighbors but try to look real busy so they won't come over to see if we
have cold beer.
When all is heated through, scream for someone to bring a couple of pot
holders so the now very heavy pan can be brought to the table. Cross
fingers that this will be edible and that E. coli is not a dinner guest
tonight. Go back out to the garage and figure out where you left your
wine glass.
Serve on paper plates by candlelight to family, who says that this is
better food than we get most days and wants to write down the recipe.
Finish with Godiva Belgian dark chocolate ice cream in plastic cups for
dessert. No spoons necessary since the ice cream is drinkable. Toast
Charley with the rest of the wine and give thanks that the roof is still
water tight and we're all okay.
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