Lift Up Your Hearts!

Hurricane Charley did not cut off our water supply; we did not even lose pressure, as some cities did, so our tap water remains healthful. Most of those being told to boil their water are also without power, and gas stoves are rare. Fortunately, gas grills are more common.

We can argue about whether it is good or bad to add fluoride to water. We can worry about Prozac making its way into our water supplies. We can aver that, despite treatment, dangerous chemicals still lurk in dangerous amounts in our tap water, and drink only filtered or bottled water. Then we can worry about what dangerous chemicals might be in that water. Some of us can remember the taste of cold mountain springs or fresh well water, and regret that our children may never experience such pleasure. But we can't deny that access to plentiful, clear water—hot or cold at our touch, even!—that doesn't harbor life-threatening germs and parasites, is a blessing that sets us apart from most of the people who have ever lived.  (More)

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light. (Rev. 22:5)

Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Bathed as we usually are with light at the touch of a switch, with light at our command even in the darkest night, I rarely appreciated what these verses must have meant to people who really knew darkness. The idea of constant light seemed less than paradisiacal to me; I thought of darkness as restful, comforting, and revealing of starry splendors rendered invisible by the brightness of the day. I had been known to grumble at the intrusion of the light: our neighbor's motion-sensitive floodlight, activated by a passing cat and piercing my sleep; or a city's midnight glow that washed out my view of the stars.  (More)

8/14/04 10:00 p.m. Our power was restored at 7:45 p.m. We had spent the day trying to conserve cool air, in the house, the freezer, and the refrigerator. Porter had the rest of the strawberry-rhubarb crisp with nearly-liquid ice cream for breakfast. The house stayed reasonably cool, though we lost some of the effect by spending much of the day outside in the sun and heat, cleaning up. Porter and Janet worked on the roof, Porter on the screened enclosure, and I stayed on the ground. Hurricanes are good for neighbor relations; many people were out working, and all were friendly and free with encouragement and help.  (More)

8/14/04 9:00 a.m. This won’t be long, as I don’t want to use too much of the laptop’s battery; there is as yet no estimate as to when power will be restored. Seventy-five percent of Seminole County (us) is without power, and 50% of Orange County. We lost power at about 9:30 last night.

Thanks be to God! And thanks to all of your for your prayers. We have a lot to be grateful for today. We have lost one easily-repairable screen section, and there are a number of tree limbs that will have to be trimmed, as they are broken and hanging. (That will be an interesting project of the kind I will not want to watch, with Porter on the roof. Come to think of it, don’t stop praying yet!  (More)

8/13/04 9:20 p.m. Bringing the computer down now. Love you all! Hope to post good news in the morning.

8/13/04 8:50 p.m. Just lost power; it came back on in a few seconds. But it may be a harbinger of things to come....

8/13/04 8:45 p.m. Wind really picking up now. I hear tree branches falling on the roof. They sound large but I know from experience that they are small branches making a large sound. On our roof, a squirrel sounds like a herd of buffalo.

8/13/04 8:30 p.m. The rain's picking up now, and so is the wind. Still less than a normal summer storm. Right now we're just annoyed with the local NBC station, which insists on broadcasting "news" instead of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, even when they don't have anything new to say. They say if you want to see the Olympics, watch it on cable. But if you don't have cable.... We looked for live Internet coverage, but apparently NBC nixed that. Funny - we watch TV maybe once every couple of months, and two things we want to watch are in conflict.

8/13/04 7:15 p.m. Charley is now a Category 3, and some of the commentators are talking almost as if it's all over. But it's not here yet, and even if it's a Category 2 when it gets here, that's a LOT of wind and rain. There's still a tornado warning, too.

Andy will be pleased to know that amateur radio is getting a lot of good publicity - hams are providing emergency communication. Nothing else to report, except that the strawberry-rhubarb crisp is very good. :)

8/13/04 6:40 p.m. Time to make some dinner, while we still have power. We've filled almost every available container with water. It's a little funny, since we're much more likely to lose power than water. But we're fresh out of Leyden jars....

Still drizzling lightly.

8/13/04 5:00 p.m. I'm taking a break at the moment. We've brought the potential missiles inside, and have positioned the cars right up against the garage door, on either side. Our collected milk jugs are filled with water; most are in the freezer, some in the refrigerator. We'll fill the bathtub later. I'm experiencing the "nesting instinct" - I thought that only happened when you were about to go into labor; maybe it works for a different kind of labor, too. Janet and I have been cleaning, and I made a strawberry-rhubarb crisp.

One of our friends in the Tampa area just turned the tables on us; they escaped and she offered to let us stay with her....

8/13/04 4:00 p.m.  Janet and I just returned safely from her voice lesson.  It had looked as if we would have plenty of time, but while we were gone Charley suddenly strengthened to a Category 4, and made a turn directly for us.  So the lesson wasn't quite as long as we had hoped, but was still very good and now that we're home safely I can say it was worth it.  :) I'm going to make this fast and get back to work, but I wanted to get something new up.  We drove through heavy rain on our way back from Janet's lesson, but right now it's raining lightly.  More later...thanks for your prayers!

8/13/04 11:00 a.m. We awoke this morning to the eerie, sultry pre-hurricane stillness, though if I hadn't known a hurricane was coming I might not have been so sensitive to the odd mood of the weather. The sky is completely overcast (unusual for here) and there is not a hint of a breath of wind. The latter is supposed to change this afternoon. Latest predictions are for 65–70 mph winds. I went out to run errands this morning and didn't see any unusual activity; perhaps I would have if I had gone to the grocery store. I filled the car with gas because there were no lines at all, contrary to reports. Supposedly there are few empty hotel rooms in the Orlando area, thanks to the 400,000 or so people fleeing the Tampa area. So far none of our Tampa-area friends have taken us up on our offer.

8/12/04 10:00 p.m. Janet just creamed us in Quiddler, so it's time for bed. We'll check on Charley in the morning.

During our 20 years in Central Florida, we had experienced no more than the outskirts of a hurricane, although in 1999 Floyd was enough of a threat to induce us to board up our windows and make other preparations. This year, when Hurricane Charley set us in its sights, I created an online diary to keep family and friends informed—and continued the practice for subsequent hurricanes.

8/12/04 8:00 p.m. Hurricane Charley is projected to come in our direction. You can follow the Three-day forecast track, the Strike probability map, and local Orlando area news.

Janet and I spent a couple of hours shopping for hurricane supplies this afternoon. Unlike the rest of Central Florida, we weren't stocking up on food, water, and batteries. We were buying knitting needles and yarn.... If we're stuck without power for a while at least she'll have something to do.  (More)