For those who aren’t aware, today is the twentieth anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Andrew, as Isaac churns in the Caribbean (or Atlantic – I haven’t seen the latest track). We were overseas during Andrew and this area had suffered through the very lengthy recovery period by the time we relocated. It has been interesting to hear the many stories over the past month or so as people reflected back on the terrrible destruction that impacted everyone who lived here.

The very first summer we were here was 2005 when we had Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma blow through; none of which did significant damage in our neighborhood and limited damage in the general area. We did, however, buy better hurricane shutters and a small generator; neither of which we have used since then. We don’t mind though – far better to have them and not need them. Like most people though, we have selected the weather sites that we prefer and my husband has become quite proficient in reading about “cones” and “millibars”.

Although our house is built to the newer, very strict codes and is rated to withstand high winds, we are of the mind that if it is a Category 1 or 2, we will stay – higher than that, we are likely to head to GA and AL to visit family and friends. It isn’t that the house can’t handle it as much as we don’t want to deal with the extended loss of services that inevitably occurs in a storm that powerful. Hopefully, we won’t have to make that decision any time soon. We have properly stocked for Isaac other than needing to go get more rum and scotch and shall see what the next few days bring.