I have had it with FRANCES

FRANCES -- After a week of gloom and doom predictions on TV, it looks like we will be saddled with 60 mph winds or 6-8 hours and a lot of rain. Only potential problems are flooding or trees falling. I slit the plastic roofs on the Z shop and greenhouses of insure that the structures would stay intact. Boy that was tough. But they needed new roofs anyway once the hurricane season is over.

I worry most about flooding as we do sit in the lower part of a small sloping bowl. It could accumulate up to 2 feet of water before draining off the back of our property. This problem will be fixed before next year. In 28 years the most water to accumulate is a small pond 3 inches deep that was the size of our house. Fortunately it is quite dry here and our sandy soil drains very fast. However, I need some disaster scenario to focus on, or maybe I should be a TV reporter.

There are also 2 big oak trees that could affect the house and the power lines – they are toast in a couple of weeks. I planted both of them and never thought the day would come that they would over grow their usefulness. Maybe I need to move more often. I will not plants such large growing trees near my house or power lines again. Miniature magnolias sound like a nice option.

It looks like we may be lucky again but guess what. Ivan the terrible is coming along behind Frances. It could be the 3rd one to hit Florida this year --- that will not be the charm. I hope it goes somewhere else.

Besides, it is getting close to fishing season and I do not have time for anymore of these distractions. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr………..