Pensacola Revisited

The Great Omnipotent One told me to tell my readers that “Pensacola was Shot at and Missed, then Shit at and Hit.” Damage is extensive.

They are blessed. No trees hit their home. To understand Pensacola is to know that the yards are chock full of 200 foot pine trees and Oak trees. Every tree except for the family Oak has been felled or sheered, not one of them landed on the house. So far it appears that although every house around them lost every single tree, not one house was hit. TGOO said it appears that a small twister may have come down, but not landed, and twisted and snapped the tops off the tallest trees. Some of the trees are contorted and snapped, but have not totally fallen. As he puts it, “Major relandscaping has been done.’ They do have roof damage, but think it may be from tree branches brushing the roof as they fell.

Some funny stories. It was about 11PM and my folks had been without power for about 5 hours. Their neighbors in their back yard and all along that street all had power. TGOO went to bed to catch some sleep before Ivan hit and my Mom was sitting on the couch, looking out their big windows at our neighbors, quietly pissed that they still had power and they did not. (During Opal, my folks lost power for a week and these people never once lost power.) My folks live alongside the power easement. As she is staring down their house, she heard an enormous explosion, the sky went the most brilliant colored light, lighting all around for miles, and then… everything, including the backyard neighbor's house, went black. Black as the inside of a hat, is how she put it. She said she looked in shock and thought, “Oh no! What have I done!” heh heh heh. When my Dad looked out to investigate this morning, it was one of our 200 foot pine trees that took that line out. Don’t mess with my Mom, Dammit!

They went into the bunker room about midnight. My Mom had created this small bed for TGOO to stretch out on. Their bunker room is a very small bathroom. She said she sat against the wall, fully clothed, shoes on, flashlight in hand, holding the quilt I made her for her birthday looking like a ‘sitting corpse’. TGOO fell asleep. My Mom said she was horrified by the noise, the explosions. Of all the hurricanes they’ve been through, and they’ve been through a Cat 3, this was the worst. She said TGOO slept and was snoring. She sat stone straight listening the whole time. Finally, TGOO woke up and said, “I’m tired of this shit. I’m going to bed” and he did. She said she joined him, staying full clothed and awake. He started snoring again.

TGOO has already started calling tree services and roofing companies. He doesn’t mess around.

There are nearly 350,000 people out of power with 50,000 still with power… never lost it. I can’t figure out where those folks live.

That’s the latest. My folks are fine.