Not good

Last night I planned to go home and mow down the area that had been under water since I knew after the storm we would be inundated again. I also wanted to do prep work by securing thin trees and putting away anything that could get blown around. As I approached our area the skies were pitch black. It was a deluge. We got 2 inches of rain so everything was underwater again. Having the ground be saturated isn’t the way I’d like things to be the day before a hurricane could possibly hit. The rain didn’t stop me, I still pulled things in and put most of the loose items in the shed which supposedly is rated to 130 mph. As I was picking up it was pouring down on me. I also noticed that the Jacaranda tree we were so happy to get the other week was all brown and looking like it was near death. I assumed it was because the roots were drowning in the water logged soil. So I looked around for some high ground to move it to. I located some and dug up the tree in my flip flops and moved it. The water had washed away most of the insect repellant I coated myself with so as I was transplanting the tree in my shorts and flip flops, the mosquitos were attacking me mercilessly. At one point I looked down at my legs and I had at least 20 of them on me. I largely ignored them and instead worked feverishly to get the tree in the ground. I temporarily attached a pole to the trunk of the tree to try to give it some strength against the high winds that were to come. I doubt that it will survive but maybe we will get lucky. I also attached poles to two smaller trees that are in the front yard. I came inside soaked, full of mosquito bites, dirty and smelling of OFF. We filled up some additional containers with water and did a quick inventory of food. We should be fine if things go bad.

When I drove home yesterday the grocery store was as full as I ever saw it. There are alot of people down here that are freaking out. I doubt that it will be all that bad except for the excessive water that will arrive. My mom is a couple hundred yards from docks off the river so I am worried about her. She isn’t too concerned but I’ll be ready to go retrieve her if necessary. Our office may close early today and be closed all day tomorrow.