Wow! Been awhile since a hurricane has closed the Disney Parks, but thanks to Ian we did.
Speaking of work…………….that’s what I was doing when I heard the news of the actual closing. And to be perfectly honest I had misjudged the timing. I really thought I would be working a partial day on Wednesday, so I didn’t bring comfortable clothes & shoes. Wrong! All that work needed to be done before going home Tuesday night. It was a v.e.r.y long day.
What did my team need to do? Our main focus was mobility. What’s that you ask? Strollers, wheelchairs and ECVs that we rent on a daily basis. They have to be rounded up, organized and stored – creatively. We have waaaaaaay too many to store in our building. We bring the extra to a nearby guest locker area – perfect.
It was time to activate our plan! We rely upon partners to gather our random (lost, abandoned) items, place in designated pick-up spots and my team drives a box truck to load them – repeatedly. One obstacle………..guests! We can’t finish until the park was clear – hence one of the reasons the day was long. We’re usually one of the last to leave…………and the first to come back.
One positive from the night’s experience – night-time photos. Yep, it’s damp outside and it was just starting to get windy for the photo below.
I made it home safely and was able to convince Eric I needed a foot massage before bedtime. 🙂
What to do while waiting for the storm to arrive? LOTS!
We had a few chores around the house to get things ready like pulling in lawn chairs, placing potted plants next to the house and laying down anything that could go flying. Eric thought we might have two weak spots. One was the front door; this was his solution.
Notice the sandbags at the bottom? He decided (late) that a few sandbags were needed and we had to make our own. East-facing windows were our second weak spot with the direction of the driving rain being the main factor. Here’s one of them. Not very pretty, but effective.
Outside secured – check. What’s next? Time to head inside.
I think we’re fairly secure with the power not going out since the utilities are underground – but there’s always a first time. I want to be sure we have clean laundry, and several loads of wash were done.
It was also a good time to iron shirts – for when we return to work. Crazy I know, but got to be prepared for afterwards.
What does Eric concentrate on – food! He drove around until he found one grocery store open. When he couldn’t find all of his needed ingredients for gumbo, he went to plan B – chili!
Not to be outdone, I baked some Toffee banana bread to satisfy my sweet tooth – very tasty.
Now all we had to do was wait, while listening to the wind, the rain, the wind, the rain and more wind. One way to ensure a good night’s sleep? This was courtesy of my leader. It worked.
I woke up to this. The eye of the storm was south and east of us and now we just had to deal with bands of rain throughout the day. I can do that!
Walking outside, things didn’t look too bad. THANK goodness we had our trees trimmed last Fall taking away some of the weight and branches over the house. Clumps of leaves and branches were all over the front yard. Got to find the rake!
One of the funnier things I saw…………this wrapped tree in my neighbor’s yard. Really? We’re expecting rain and wind, not cold temps.
Bottom line – we made it through unscathed. Others in Florida were not as lucky.
I’m closing with a photo after working 15 hours and finally heading home to wait out mother nature. We still had icons lit so I took advantage of the moment.
Ginny
Darden Travels 