Tropical Storm Anna

I know all the news reports say that Tropical Storm Anna is no threat, it's 'dissipating', it will not hold together, etc. Well let me tell you - it passed between Cuba and Andros last night and it was holding together pretty well then.

Around 1 in the morning we were woken up by lightning. Incredible crashes were right on top of us it seemed. Every 5-10 seconds there would be another incredible crack and the rain was so strong it sounded like pebbles on our windows. Needless to say the power went out and Ginni got up to unplug our internet phone and the router (when power is restored it usually comes with a power surge that creates issues).

Around 2AM we got out of bed again and checked the house - all seemed well but the lightning show was nuts. At one point I actually felt the whole house quiver as the thunder crashed right over us. This lasted until about 4AM with the power going out and coming back on several times during the night.

When we got up this morning the back yard had one huge puddle under the clothes line, our screen porch had 2" of standing water in it, & one of the panes of glass in a window in the priest's residence had been blown out. The window in the Sacristy had been left open about a quarter inch and the rug in there is soaked, but the vestments and everything else seems OK.

I must say, if this is a storm that isn't a bad one - a storm that is only going to be a 'rain event', I am not looking forward to actually dealing with a hurricane. It was crazy for those few hours in the middle of the night - absolutely incredible.

When Peter came by to clean up the Church this morning I showed him the window and he was able to force the glass pane back into place, but we'll need to fix it later. Ginni suggested that since nobody is living in the priest's residence and we are in the hurricane season, why not put the hurricane shutters up on that set of windows with the loose pane of glass.

So we went into the garage and took out a few of the shutters. The shutters are made of corrigated aluminum. The ones we needed were small, about 4' long, and they fit into a groove on the top of the windows and a notch in the bottom and are held in place by a metal clamp that you hammer into place. It was good for me to see how they go in for this small job because when a hurricane really does bear down on Andros I will have to do the whole Church, and our residence as well - and in the midst of the pre-hurricane rush Peter may or may not be around to help. The Church shutters are a good 7' long and you need to climb up on ladders to reach them from the outside. Hopefully hurricanes stay far away and its a task I won't have to do.

Right now it is partly cloudy, a light breeze, high 80's and 80% humidity. A lovely day in the tropics - whew!