Wilma 22

Waves took out the wooden bridge leading to the Avalon Reef Club on North Beach


We saw in the local paper today that Beta and Gamma have been named. Thus creating a record for the most hurricanes in one season. I could easily live the rest of my life never hearing the H word again! They are not expected to come our way, but it is unnerving anyway that they are still forming this late in the season. We only have two weeks left to the official season.

I am still concerned about the sea and keep a close eye on it. Although there is no danger of it rising or crossing the road to get into my house, it is still very angry looking out there. It just won’t settle down. Waves are still coming it at about seven feet high. Impressive but worrying. The hot temperatures that normally follow immediately after a hurricane are gone. Daytime highs are about 78F and nighttime lows are around 71F. Cold enough to put a blanket on the bed at night! I know, this probably sounds like a great temperature to all you up north, but, believe me, for us it is cold! The wind comes in directly off the ocean, is strong and very chilly. We have no supplemental heating system and can only close our doors and windows to keep the wind out. This doesn’t work very well though!

We finally have some water! They have repaired the lines enough and brought over some huge generators that we are now getting water to fill our rooftop tanks. It is only on for four hours a day, but that is tremendous luxury, knowing that what we use now is being replaced everyday. And no more standing in line with buckets for the local people either. A great piece of progress. We have now discovered that one of our tanks has a leak. Or maybe one of the pipes leading in or out it has been pulled loose. To me, these water tanks are a confusing mess of pipes and joints. We are going to have to try to get the plumber out to fix it. Water is running off the roof. Besides being an awful waste of water, it is making a mess! These tanks work on the same principle as your toilet tank. As the water level goes down, there is an arm inside them with a float. When the water is turned on, it is pumped into the tank on the roof and the float shuts it off when it reaches the top. Watch your toilet tank fill sometime and you will know what I am talking about.

The local store is getting more and more stuff. But still no fruits or vegetables. We have plenty of canned goods, including many cans of fruit cocktail. L figured we should buy this because there would be no fruit after the storm and we would probably appreciate it. Wrong! We all hate it and, until recently, the cans remained on the pantry shelf. We finally gave them away and will not be replacing them! Next time we will just buy plain cans of peaches, pears or something like that. We sure would love a fresh salad about now….or even better…..bacon!!!