Last night:

Margaret emailed me about the last hurricane, and now she’s emailed me about this one. I told her it would be tough if we lost the house since we don’t have much money. Of course, she didn’t offer to help. I have mixed emotions about that. It’s her money, sure, but come on—if you’re a millionaire, why wouldn’t you help someone you’ve talked to for years who’s at least somewhat of a friend? I don’t know exactly how much she has, but I know it’s a lot.

There were times I regretted not settling in Tampa. It’s closer to more stores and doctors, despite the crowds. But now, I’m so glad we didn’t! The storm is still heading right for Tampa, and to make matters worse, they’re expecting it to hit at high tide. The flooding is going to be awful.

I’ve been in touch with Becky, Mitch, Kathy, Jessie, and Toni. Several others, including Toni, are choosing to stay. I told Toni I’d let her know if we decide to go to the shelter and that she’s welcome to come with us if she wants. She told me to just let her know, and if we need anything, we can come over. In California, Bob, Virginia, and the Twenties were our best neighbors. Here in Florida, Toni’s by far our best.

Jessie also wants me to keep her in the loop and says she wishes we were on the same coast. She’s going to be going to a shelter.

Today:

The good news is that my lungs and nose are feeling better. The bad news? I’m still tired, even though I’m sleeping normally—well, normal for me. I’m determined to get a mouth guard for sleep apnea. If not, I guess I’ll have to get used to that damn CPAP. Jessie had never heard of the Inspire device until I told her about it today, and she was just as skeptical as I am.

Now that I’m better, I’m asking myself, “Why was that so hard on me?” Yes, I’m older, but why couldn’t I have just believed Tom when he said it was the spray? Why did I get so worked up? Trauma really changes you. Before 2014, if something unusual happened, I wouldn’t have liked it, but I wouldn’t have freaked out over it either.

Becky’s been sending me info about various areas in New Mexico we’re researching. That’s another thing that’s changed—I’m way more cautious now. When we moved to Maricopa, I didn’t think about everything that could go wrong. I was just happy to leave Phoenix and the freeloaders behind and live in a big, beautiful home with some space around us. But after the disasters in Arizona and Oregon, we’ve definitely learned to be cautious—and that’s a good thing. Plus, we have so many more resources at our fingertips now than we did in 1999 or 2004. The last thing we want is to get trapped in another bad situation.

First, though, I need to get my sleep apnea sorted so I can have more energy. Besides, selling a home during hurricane season is definitely not ideal. I also need to switch back to Galileo so I can take them with me no matter where we end up.

We’re not locked into anything yet, but we’ve talked about putting our stuff in a container and having it shipped to us once we know where we’ll be. Then we’d fly there, get an RV, and stay in that while we develop the land. We’d need to install a septic system right away, haul water, and set up solar panels.

Instead of eventually getting a used manufactured home, we’ve talked about one of those cabin kits, dome houses, or Quonset huts. I’d love to be on a concrete foundation with multiple levels! When building the walls, we could even add MLV (mass-loaded vinyl) for extra soundproofing, especially since it’ll be like Maricopa with monsoon storms a few months a year and the occasional sonic boom from White Sands.

The storm has dipped further south but not much. Hoping we won’t get any damaging winds and won’t be without power for too long. Tom checked with AI and asked it what the highest wind speeds were here over the last 5 years and nothing got over 70 MPH. We know the house could handle that. It’s over 75 MPH that it would become a concern.