Another Brandon-ian here! (right next to Tampa) (yes, my profile says I live in Baton Rouge, but I’m home in FL visiting for the summer)
Sounds like this is gonna be a major thing here - errr, the hurricane, that is. And I’ve been hearing about it non-stop on the news.
Um… Just wanted to check in. 
::waves:: Hi vix! I think we’re safe here in PBC. It looks like the storm will be north of us when it passes over the state. I’ve lived here for almost three years now and I haven’t had to deal with a hurricane yet.
Unfortunately, from the latest storm track it looks like Charley will be heading right through my parents’ living room. (My mom actually laughed when I told her that.) And my grandmother ended up with some unexpected house guests – my aunt and uncle were vacationing in Clearwater with their teenage son and his friend, but they had to evacuate this afternoon. Should be an interesting weekend.
I’m glad to hear that Bonnie didn’t do too much damage. Stay safe, everyone!
Autumn term starts 30 August; it’s all the offices, etc., what have closed (and I think there may still be a summer session in session.)
Overly cautious? I had to snicker – Longwood has been known to close if there’s even a hint there may be snow. I lived in Minnepolis for a winter, and was very impressed with not only the amount of snow, but the general reaction to it, and I giggle every time people here freak out over a light dusting of snow.
Or it could just be that it’s a case of colossal cheek. Either way, for me, on hearing this news, was in serious danger of permanent eyeball damage.
School in Virginia does start in mid to late August, which I find very weird, too. I went to high school and uni in Delaware, where it starts after Labor Day. I have never got used to school starting in August. That’s why I’m moving back to Delaware next week 
An aside – when I was at the University of Minnesota for that year, the autumn term started at the end of September.
Anyway – crikey yes, Longwood, and the local county schools here seriously overreact to rain, snow, you name it. I think it goes back to a massive ice storm a few years back what caught everyone off guard with its severity, and ever since, they err on the far, far side of caution.
Look, there’s a tidal wave in Japan, a meteor hits the moon, a star goes supernovae 35 light years away – Longwood closes just to be on the safe side.
Ps on preview – I’m reading this out loud to my partner, and he’s laughing and agreeing.
I just hope I can reach an open bookstore before everything closes so I have something good to read while the world is going to hell and houses are falling on old ladies with colored bands on their socks and whatnot. Here’s hoping Catch 22 is a book I’ll enjoy, for it’ll be the olny thing I have to read for the next few days…well that and the Prince, but I’m almost done with that.
Anyways, I’m having a hard time getting into this hurricane. The other hurricanes were great! Hurricane season was a time for families to get together, love one another, and make meals without electricity while talking about they’re favorite MAS*H and Cheers moments. Afterwards, we have a walk around the neighberhood taking pictures. I’ll probably end up spending time this one with myself. Here’s to dying holidays.
raises glass
I called the work hotline this morning.
Only “essential personnel” were required to come in.
So, I come in about a hour early, and I can’t access our software. The gal that handles that part of our department is also “essential,” but she’s not here yet.
I’m going to go file some paperwork.
Howdy neighbor!
Not in Florida, safely tucked away in Appalachia where there are no hurricanes.
I was about to start a thread for you guys and saw this one so I figured I’d pop in.
Ya’ll be careful, ok? Seriously.
I’m at work and word is they’re gonna let us go around 2…just in time for a highway view of all the action starting. :smack: Right now it’s just cloudy but we’re due to get sustained winds of up to 75 mph and we’re east of the track. I wanna go home. 
Okay, gang, I’m out of here. Wish me luck driving home. Good luck to all the Floridopers in the path of Charley, and please check in when it’s blown by so we can be sure you’re safe!
Good luck driving home! Okay, good luck to everyone.
Weird moment of the day: I switched the TV from Cartoons to hurricane info this morning. Hmm, that voice is familiar. And the face. And the name. The Director of Communications for Pinellas County was a friend at USF many, many years ago. (We were on the same committee in Student Government) . Strange part is that I remember her as a very young 19-20 year old girl. Now she is a woman in her late 30s. I don’t like people aging 17 years at once.
I’m heading home to Ormond Beach now- My bro and sis-in-law and nephew are taking refuge at my place (they are from Tampa) and my other bro and niece live with me so I have a house full.
You guys be careful!
My parents and grandparents are safe in their hotel rooms. I’m not sure what will happen to my cat - she’s staying at the vet’s office, but they’re in an area that was asked to evacuate this morning because of higher storm surge predictions. Right now, they’re calling for 10-13 feet of storm surge, which puts the first level of our house underwater. Charley’s jogged to the east a bit this morning and they’re now putting landfall at Sarasota. Wish us luck, guys.
Well, they were going to let us all out of here at noon…seems they’ve suddenly decided we’re essential. Grrr! I plan to leave early whatever happens, but for now we’re all just hanging around waiting for someone to say the word.
Luck to everyone and I’ll be back Tuesday!
My roommate and I didn’t even realize that there was a hurricane headded our way. When I got into work yesterday, one of the ladies I work with was asking everybody if they were reay for the hurricane. My response: “There’s a hurricane?”
At this point I start doing a mental inventory of the food and other various suppies in our appartment. Well, let’s just say that it was a short inventory becasue of the lack of anything that we needed. A few hours later my roomie walks into the restaurant where I work. “There’s a hurricane out there” she says to me. “Yeah, so I’ve heard” I tell her. She asks me what we have (because she didn’t think to look through the cabinets and such). I proceed to tell her that we have NOTHING, and the lady I work with pulled out a handy dandy list of things one needs to be prepared for a hurricane. My roomie left to do some shopping.
Now, both of us have lived in Florida all of our lives (excpet I spent 3 years in VA), and we’ve both lived through several hurricanes. You’d think that we would be able to handle this. Ha! It is to laugh! I get home from work and see what she buys. (Now, this is good) She buys canned goods - this is all well and good, makes 'nuff sense to me. There are cans of ravioli - all pop-top because we have only one can opener and it’s electric - two bottles of Juciy Juice, two cases of bottled water, a loaf of bread, several of the Campbells “Soup on Hand” - one of which is pizza flavored and another which is taco flavored, and last but not least two cans of creamed corn. Creamed corn? I still don’t understand that. I know when my life is in danger I always wish I have a can or two of creamed corn by my side. There is a reason she’s not allowed to do the grocery shopping and/or cook around here.
Now that I have the day off, we’re having a hurricane party. (Let’s make the most of a stressful situation, right?) There’s pictures, food, candles… oh, it’s a lot of fun. We’ve been documenting as we go along.
Oi. It’s going to be a fun day. All of this, and the storm isn’t even supposed to be here until tonight!
Looks like we’re expecting hurricane force winds all the way across central Florida as the email I just got from the National Weather Service says, "An inland hurricane wind warning is now in effect for lake, seminole, orange, western volusia, osceola, and okeechobee counties for today and tonight. Peak winds this evening are expected to reach hurricane force, 75 mph, especially in numerous squalls near and ahead of the center of charley. "
According to Channel 2 Charley is this close to becoming a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 120mph and gusts to 124.
I sure hope those of you stuck at work get out of there soon!
Hey, Tupug… isn’t Claire in FL somewhere this week? Have you heard from her?
I just saw the latest tracking info. The center of the storm is projected to pass over our condo as the thing makes landfall. We’re about half a mile or so north of Tampa Bay in Eastlake Woodlands (just west of Oldsmar). This should get interesting.
Planning ahead for snow days, huh? Makes sense. They do that here, too.
It’s now expected to make landfall South of Tampa, in the Ft Myers area. It’s then expected to move North as it travels inland. I’m going to get wet now.
BTW, Shibb, that director of Pinellas County used to work for Ch. 8. It was weird seeing her open the press conference and not asking questions.
Did anyone see the press conference this morning with Jeb? It was interesting when he broke into Spanish.
The AP wire just reported that an Air Force storm chaser measured winds of 162 mph at 10,000 feet, making the estimated surface winds 145 mph. This is a serious-assed storm. Everybody hang on down there, and report in when you can.
Just got a message from screech-owl. She wanted to let everyone know that she, her bird, and her cat were all doing ok and are huddled up in the bedroom waiting it out. Her modem is apparently shot, but I think that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Hang in there Floridians!