Sunday, October 9, 2016

Back to Normal...Sort-of

Great weather yesterday and today. 

I've always liked the day after severe thunderstorms when I lived in the North.  There were a few trying times during tornadoes, but the same nice sunny days immediately after.  Here in Florida we seldom get the nice low humidity days.  At least the daytime high temperature seldom reaches the 90s F or mid 30s C. 

Today is getting back to normal as I get ready to do a bit more cleaning in the yard.  A bit of a late start since it is always better to get an early morning start before the afternoon heat, but after a full day of working outside cutting trees and clearing storm debris yesterday I may be lazy and only do a minimum of work.

We only had some tree branches fall, damage to my anemometer, and a broken outdoor light.  A tree fell on the neighbor's SUV, and another house had some roof damage.

Our electric went out Thursday night, and it was restored by about 07:30 hours E.D.T. yesterday.  Like the Mayor of New Orleans when Katrina hit the city, I did not follow my emergency plan so I did not have a generator ready.  No big problem though as most everything I have is on battery backup which can last up to 36 hours.  By next time even the refridge will be on battery.  I have the converter sitting in the garage. We can do without air conditioning for a few days.  Without a/c longer than a few days after a storm though can be unbearable or fill one's house with mildew.  Older houses are not so bad as they were built with thicker walls, different roofing, and larger windows that can be opened.  They are also ventilated differently. 

Our house has windows that can be opened, but they are small.  For example, houses in the north are well lit by only window light.  Here houses are more like caves with a small opening.  The new houses have bigger and better window lighting, but the widows are fixed and the only way to open them is to break them.  Some houses have a combination of windows types. Our house without air conditioning causes things to mildew even with fans circulating air.

I will not go into why I hate living in Florida since most readers of this blog know as soon as I can I'll be back in the North.  We were quite ready to move until I got the job I have.  So I will probably be stuck here until I can retire to the North unlike many Northerners who think Florida is a nice place to live.  I prefer Arizona if I am to live in any place south.  New Mexico is nice too. Either are better than here.  You must like heat and humidity to enjoy Florida. Oh, and lots of bugs (mosquitoes!) and lizards, snakes, and buzzards.  OK, the North has gnats.

Mrs. says it's time to get to putting things back in place.  I agree.  Next post will be a typecast or pencast.

8 comments:

  1. Glad things weren't too damaged in the storm.

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  2. Good to hear you are safe. I was away on Crete last week and missed the storm news. Right now, Oxfordshire is sunny but cold which compares to a very hot island we left behind. I think I'm beginning to understand your frustration at living there. Keeping warm in a cold climate is a lot easier than staying cool in a hot one.

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    1. Rob,
      I agree 100%. I kept warm outside in the dead of winter in Montana easier than keeping cool in Florida.

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  3. Phew! Glad to hear it's a minor clear up Bill. I didn't realise that it got so humid in Florida, we get the high temps but usually dry heat, but when we do get humid days it's horrible. Hope it's not too long before yourself and Mrs get to head North 😊

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  4. Phew! Glad to hear it's a minor clear up Bill. I didn't realise that it got so humid in Florida, we get the high temps but usually dry heat, but when we do get humid days it's horrible. Hope it's not too long before yourself and Mrs get to head North 😊

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  5. Glad you are OK! And yeah, the humidity is one of the things I remember most about my brief visit to Florida a few years back. Crazy humidity. Arizona sounds much better to me!

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    1. My business travel used to take me to AZ and NM several times in summer and I always enjoyed it. I even spent a few July and August months in Joe Van Cleave's part of the country -- much nicer there in summer than Florida.

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  6. Good to hear you fared the storm well! hopefully you can escape the humidity soon (:

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