The Florida hurricanes have been particularly relentless this year. Hurricane Debby in late August flooded our downtown office three or four feet deep, rendering the building uninhabitable at least for now, and destroyed some electronics. Our home out of town was mostly spared, some siding off and some windows broken. (As comedian Ron White says of hurricanes, “It’s not that the wind is blowin’, it’s what the wind is blowin’.”)
Less than two weeks ago, Hurricane Helene hit us harder. The roof is completely off the pole barn and one wall completely down. Pieces of the roof blew into my neighbor’s property and up into my trees, one of which makes a whistling sound when the wind hits it. “Florida wind chime,” so to speak. Another neighbor hundreds of yards away saw his carport wind up in my front yard. We have some trees down on the back of the property that I’m not too worried about, but my favorite live oak in the front yard is looking like Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tree since Helene.
Now comes Hurricane Milton.
We were teaching in Texas and Louisiana for Debby and in San Diego for the Gun Rights Policy Conference for Helene. The Evil Princess and I are debating firing up the generator and riding this next one out, or taking the opportunity to visit relatives elsewhere. Days without power are the main vexation apart from the cost of repairs.
And hurricane season still won’t be over for a while.