Friday, September 10, 2004

Strike three?

Okay, okay, okay! Charley didn't do enough damage, so the Universe sent Frances to clean up with the One/Two punch, and our area received massive damage! Thank goodness, for us, the eye of the storm made landfall about an hour south of us, so they received much more damage than we did here...where I call home.

Today, Curtis and I took a drive south to Vero Beach....he's a bit of a catastrophe junkie ... but he also has a friend who lives there that he wanted to check on. Since the power is still out at Lancade, we've been on a bit of an impromptu vacation. It's been relatively cheap, very intimate, and until today, relaxing.

I saw some of Nature's toys. She uses trees like we used to use Pick up Stix. Her kite string is the electricial line dangling and twisted from poles. Fences and gates are her houses of cards and what we call our homes are just building blocks to be toppled in a toddler's rage.

We have encroached onto her territory and now, we pay the price. We watched full grown crabs crossing the streets in their efforts to return to the ocean. I had to wonder where the other wildlife goes during a storm. What becomes of the eagles, pelicans, raccoons, armidillos, and feral cats? Last week, we put sandbags in front of the doors to Lancade, to help prevent any flood damage. We had to go in before the storm, and when moving the bags, saw two enormous cockroaches scuttling toward the door. We shooed them away, but as soon as the door opened, one scurried in, despite our efforts to restrain her. Reflexively, I stepped on it. Curtis and I marveled at the wonder of how such a simple creature could know that it would be safe inside Lancade. Except for my foot, it was safe, too.

Lancade suffered minimal damage - just two areas developed leaks. Unfortunately, we will remain unable to open for business until the power has been restored. It would seem that, in an effort to minimize fires from downed power lines; prior to the storm's landfall, the power company turned off many business grids. Ours was among them. Today, we learned that our power may not be restored before September 18th! This will mean that we have been unable to be open for business for three weekends! (Saturdays are our busiest day of the weeks, too!),

If our customers didn't leave voice mail at the store, or send me emails, I might not notice or miss them so much...today, we stopped by to check on the battery power for the alarm system (still going strong), and two gamers showed up....we all just sat outside in the breeze and chatted. They said they felt better just for having spent time with us. I know that Curtis and I felt good for having spent the time with them. We even put a note in the window to let our Lancaders know that we are missing them as much as they are missing us....what a shame, too. School's out almost two weeks, and we can't get a dime from the kids! Not only that, but they like coming to Lancade to play games on the LAN and they can't....they have to stay home, bored, or go bowling.

If only our website could be hosted remotely!

posted by Unknown at 9/10/2004 01:35:00 AM