zfzz grout sponge

My New Hobby Is Moving!

Remember Hurricane Irene? You probably don't
unless you live in South Florida. The truth is, most of us
just flat out don't give a shit about anything that happens
outside our immediate geographical area... unless, of
course... that event somehow affects us personally or
business-wise. Ah, whatever. Anyway, Irene was one of the last
hurricanes of the 1999 season (she popped up in the middle of
October) and wasn't even supposed to hit the Keys at all. Not
only that, nobody much cared because Irene was only a Category
One hurricane which is as low as you can get on the "hurricane
meanness" scale. Category One hurricanes get "minimal" wind
speeds from 74 to 95 miles per hour.

I go to bed not even thinking about Irene.
Well, the forecasters mispredicted (I think I just invented a
new word) the track she was going to take and she made a
bull's-eye directly on the house in which I was living. I
lived in the bottom half of the house and, at the time, my
aunt and uncle lived in the top half.

Category One. No big deal. Except somehow,
everybody forgot it is the water damage from a hurricane which
wreaks the most havoc. Those high wind speeds make the most
dramatic video bites for the TV news casters... but... it is
the amount of water the hurricane dumps on the land which
mostly determines the extent of the damage.

Guess what? Irene dumped 13 to 16 inches per
day on some parts (including my part) of Florida. When
I woke up, much of the stuff in my apartment was floating.
The property on which we were living literally turned into
"Lake Halbert." My Aunt Wanda actually took photos of me
paddling my poke boat in the driveway and all around the lawn.

Bottom-line: The damage was so extensive, I
had to move. At the time, I had a little office I really
didn't need. I just had to have a place to go so I
could get out of the house once in a while when my uncle was
sick. My little "getaway" was next to the gym where I worked
out, thus, I decided it was as good a place as any to move
into.