Phew....close call, hurricane force winds extended 70 miles out from the center last night when Jeanne made landfall and was closest to Broward County and I was about 75 miles away from the center (talk about getting lucky) We had very strong gusts, probably some hurricane force, but mainly between 9pm and 1am we had the worst winds and rains.

other than a few more branches and trees down, we didn't have the massive power outages as with Frances, my power was actually on and off intermittently all night.

let's hope that this is it for the year, I am not sure if my luck can hold out.
stay safe to those up north getting ready for Jeanne now, looks like she is getting weaker.

Well, down here in Hialeah/Miami, we have only gotten rain, some thunderstorms, and some wind.

Lets hope we don't get any more hurricanes, but be ready just in case, the hurricane season hasn't finished and i am afraid we might get one or two more hurricanes touching land...and it is probable that next year it is going to be a repeat from this year. If anyone is thinking about buying a house by the beach or anywhere in Florida for that matter, I do hope what has happened this season changes their mind.

I've updated the front page with a current satellite picture and the track of Jeanne as she heads up the eastern coast. So far I have heard reports of 2 people being confirmed killed due to the storm. More is feared as the storm passes and damage can be assessed.

but this is the second time people on the east coast thought tampa looked like a better bet and then at the last minute - not!

Once again, our invisible shield seems to be holding. I got some good pictures though. I went out driving during the last bits of it, as I was helping out a friend who lost power. I'll post the pics soon, probably later today... We lost power for a few hours, but not enough to be real bad... Problem was, we heard about the track change on the radio, (as the eye was approaching us), so it was hard to not SEE it, but only hear it.

While out driving, had to often take another street, as trees were down, power lines down, etc. (got some pics of all this). Personally, I'm experienced at driving in such hazards, but many were out who were not, and that was pretty scary. They'd blow through intersections with non-working signals, etc. We thought most of the gusts were gone too, but ended up going head on against about a 45mph gust, and had to turn off the road (as we saw lots of debris coming, hehe...). This was only going about 4 blocks mind you, which is the only reason we were out in the first place, because they were close.