Ivan did hit my home and the damage is horrific beyond description in my neighborhood; in fact just 400 yards south of me eight are confirmed dead, fourteen still, missing, fifty-eight housed completely missing and nearly one hundred other houses in the sub division went under water. We did not stay and luck was with us at this house; a three-week-old roof saved most damage to the house. My RV was declared a total loss; the new mini barn is a twisted pile of rubble and the sophit on the house was sucked off. All in all, we had very minor damage compared to most around us.

Ivan has provided much material for future BLOG post's but for now it is time to help those around me dig out and help them try and get life back into some semblance of order. Too tired to make a proper link but a Goggle search of Pensacola News Journal will provide hundreds of photos of what has taken place. After viewing many of the photos I can only say they don't come close to what the first eye view reveals. Photos of Grand Lagoon are my sub-division and Perdido Key the area I live.

What is important here is that my family is all-safe and that life goes on. I would also be remiss not to mention that our good friends Randy and Jojo have driven up here from South Florida to help all of my family and many of my friends dig out in removing trees, debris and such with their BOB CAT and other equipment; all this after they have been at it for five weeks for the folks in Punta Gorda. They are examples of the best in humanity.

Angst is high at the moment with that monster Ivan crawling toward us at 9 mph. The probability of Ivan hitting here is high, and even if it doesn't make landfall here it looks like it will be just west of us and west of a hurricane is a very bad place to be. Living close to the coast is nice, but at times like this very risky. Fortunately there is a barrier island between my house and the Gulf as well as 500 yards or so of State Park, but the wave action for this storm will likely be so big that flooding is not out of the question. The house is only 200 foot north of the government's official flood zone.

Late yesterday and most of today has been dedicated at doing what is possible to secure things. The house is boarded up; the RV is secured with 30-inch anchors, the boat with 15-inch anchors and the mini barn with 30-inch anchors wired right up to the rafters. Any thing that is loose been picked up so now it is time to wait and see and a bit of wishful prayer can not hurt anything at times like these even for an agnostic such as my self.

Tomorrow morning Margo and I will be hauling ass twenty miles inland and waiting it out. With any luck there will still be a couple computers left at this location to use and the house renovations will come to and end albeit they still grind on. The light is at the end of the tunnel however, providing Ivan does not force things to take a couple steps backwards. The only thing that is really important now is the safety of my family friends and neighbors and a bit of self-preservation as well.

BLOG on and someday I will be back with a few more post although I doubt the daily routine will ever once again become habit. Miss a lot of you, and I have been checking up on your activities from time to time even though my observations have been brief and non-verbose ones.