Whew! Once again we are without power, but I'm beginning to think the whole state of Florida is without power. It hit really hard here in Polk County and I think Lakeland took the brunt of it. Both of my sons have trees down and one tree fell on my youngest son's roof. My neighbor told me that the main drag Hwy 92 is a disaster with power lines down all over the place. My generator is chugging away and finding gas tomorrow may be a problem. We got lucky here in Winter Haven this time, at least where I live. Of course my roof continues to leak and the water was ankle deep in my garage this morning. The lake I live one looked like the ocean with the white caps and waves. It is also now about 5 feet from my patio, I just hope the gators stay out in the middle of the lake! :-) The folks who take care of my 97 year old mother in Indialantic (Melbourne) evacuated her over here for the last one, but this time they decided to stay put. I remember my father would never even think about leaving the island during storms when I was a kid. He liked to go out in the eye of the storm with his chain saw to cut up the cabbage palms that had falled to get those wonderful hearts of palm for salads. This morning they called me and amazingly enough Mother's 100 year old house never lost power! It's been a long and exhausting day here, but we are all thankful to still have a roof (although bits of it are missing) and when you look at the pictures of what other folks are going through, you really count your blessings!

Anne