Near Misses and Bucket Lists

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I have lived on the east coast of Florida since 1982. And when I say the east coast of Florida I mean the farthest east part. It looks like a glass jaw hanging out there waiting to be swung at. In the 37 years I’ve been here several swings have been taken. They have been so many hurricanes that I have trouble keeping their names straight, but I know one of them had 115 mile an hour sustained winds as it crawled through my neighborhood. The result was enough to cure me of my fascination with hurricanes approaching.

As I write this I am sitting in a house where day is night . All of our shutters are up and it’s very difficult to tell what time it is. They will remain up until the threat passes. More about how they got up in a bit. Suffice it to say we are as safe as we can be without leaving. We have two rooms with windows rated at 140 miles an hour; As I watch Dorian out in the ocean with her 155 mile an hour winds I hope she slows a bit if she turns our way. At the moment, it appears she is turning away, but the odds still have us somewhat in the bullseye.

No matter what Dorian does chances are really good our power will be out for a considerable length of time, and that roads will be impassable for a possibly less amount of time. Every time a hurricane approaches we realize what we should have done after the last one. That sense of…