Last week, Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic. Evacuation orders were issued, but many couldn’t make it off the Islands, so they risked their lives trying to hold on to whatever they owned.
For some, it might be a tin shack that looks like a shed on an old farm. For others, it’s multi-million dollar properties. For all, it was a gamble with their lives.
Once we became Florida residents, we learned quickly that the hurricane season is very important to Floridians. Weather stations watch the Atlantic Ocean and follow any system with even the slightest chance it might spin up to hurricane strength. They also watch the path of these storms and give very ample warnings to people living here.
So far this year, we’ve been very lucky – no storms have come close to the state of Florida. Most took a northeastern turn, out into the ocean. What we experienced here was lots of rainstorms that lasted longer than normal. The season isn’t over yet, so we’ll keep watching to the south and west. Kind of like how you folks keep an eye out to the north and east, for those things called blizzards.
Some reports had Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica at category 5 strength with winds in excess of 155 miles per hour, and it’s the strongest storm to hit the island since 1988. The storm was moving around one mile per hour when it first hit, so the damage was expected to be severe.
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Our weather here finally took a turn toward being much more comfortable with humidity in the 60s and 70s and temperatures hovering around the mid-80s. It’s so much different than the stifling heat of summer when the temperature and humidity are nearly the same, around 95! It doesn’t take long to break out in a sweat in that kind of heat.
With the cooler temperatures comes the return of the “snowbirds” – The Villages swells to nearly 200,000 people, and it is very noticeable when it comes time to dine out or golf. And let’s not forget about the difference in traffic – easily three times what it is in the summer months.
We’ve grown to really enjoy the heat of the summer because it affords us much more freedom of movement and enjoyment. There are very few restaurants we can’t just walk into and be seated right away from mid-April to late-September. In the other months, there are waiting lines everywhere we go, but it is a lot easier to tolerate the temperatures, so both times have their advantages.
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I’m not sure I agree that the White House needs a ballroom. Even if it is funded by private donations. With the government shutdown, don’t you think they shouldn’t have any time to feel justified in making use of the new venue? Maybe they should halt the construction until our lawmakers get their work done?
Have A Good Week
