Frankie used to rarely travel to the street behind our house, but lately, we find ourselves there quite often. I think it is because of the male ginger cat that lives near the opposite end of the street. I think Frankie knows he’s there and wants to check up on him, even though they obviously don’t like each other. Perhaps Frankie thinks this entire area belongs to him.

In other news, another hurricane is heading our way. We escaped harm in the last hurricane, but the beaches here were devastated, even though the storm was well out in the Gulf when it passed us. This hurricane, Milton, was forecast yesterday to hit St. Petersburg as a category-three hurricane. St. Petersburg is just a few miles south of us.

I freaked my wife out yesterday by suggesting we leave this time. While living in Pinellas County, we have never been directly hit by a hurricane. There were several that were supposed to hit us, but all veered off and gave us a glancing blow. That is what I hope will happen again, but if it doesn’t, we could be in a lot of trouble if we stay.

Rose and I tried to book on our phones the only reasonable hotel left in the county with rooms available. She and I both got rejected when we tried to pay for it. Their computer said the CVC number was wrong on both our cards. She then called the hotel directly. They had three rooms, and as she was booking one, she got cut off. When she called back, they had two rooms left. Another person tried to book it for her, but by the time he got through everything and took her credit card, the room was gone. He tried again with the last room but was so slow. He had to confirm every little detail, and the room was gone before he finished. Needless to say, Rose was not happy with him and let him know.

Today, Rose talked to someone at Hilton and secured a room at a hotel in New Port Richey, in the county north of us. She got it solely because she is a diamond member, and they keep rooms in reserve for them. She then learned that our next-door neighbor planned to go to Georgia with her dad. She will watch our cats when we go on vacation starting Friday. Rose feared she wouldn’t make it back in time to watch our cats, so she booked them a room at a hotel across the street. It cost us $500, but Rose didn’t want anything to stop us from leaving on vacation. We are Flying to Boston on Friday morning and then traveling up the coast to Maine. Hopefully, our house will be okay because that could ruin our vacation.

I checked the track today, and the center is now predicted to hit about 50 miles south of us. That’s a little better for us, but still not great. Rose also suggested that our neighbor and her 96-year-old father stay in the room with us to save us the $500. That’s a tough choice.