We live in Pinellas County, Florida, which is west of Tampa. As far as I know, a hurricane has never made landfall in the county, but we had some close calls. This was not that close, but we did get tropical storm force winds. Our house is under a large oak tree and we found it hard to get to sleep last night because every couple of minutes we would hear something dropping on the roof.

I got up at 5:30 this morning, and it was still raining and very windy. Despite that, Frankie would still ask to go outside every fifteen minutes. Finally, I had to say to Frankie, “Are you crazy? Have you looked out the window.”

Just before 10 a.m. Frankie became relentless. I looked out the window and noticed the rain had stopped, and the wind had reduced to a nice breeze. I couldn’t resist any longer and had to take him outside.

Fortunately, there was no noticeable damage to or near our house, although I haven’t checked the roof yet. The only evidence a storm came through were numerous twigs and branches on the ground, and my rake was blown into the yard.

So my record in Florida is 35 years and no hurricanes. Let’s hope I can continue the streak.