I am dressed for church, but had a few minutes.  I have had a quick summer and my house has felt the brunt of it.  I spent all day yesterday working on cleaning and I am not near done.  I am glad I have Monday off, but doesn't seem right to have to labor om labor day!  But I'll feel better when it is done.  The first 8 weeks of summer, I had no life outside of ten hour work days, teaching two nights a week (5:30 - 10:00)!  Needless to say , when I wasn't working or teaching, I was preparing and grading, grading, grading.  It paid my new doors and windows off.  Then  the rest of the summer was two rtrips to Arkansas.  When I was here, I was doing a lot of house sitting.  The number of nights I have spent in my own home compared to others.  A long story to stay....my house REALLY needed deep cleaning.  When you aren't here, it still gets dirty and doesn't get cleaned.  That was a boring post!  My prayers are with many families involved in the weather situation. 

My squirrel is famous!  It made the paper today.  Rusty Starr Jr., from Arkansas was who runs this item.  His Dad was big with the Gazzette ofr Democrat at one time.  He went to ASU.  We had some interesting e-mails.  I know you can't see this well, but it is my small claim to fame in a small town...sigh.  It was fun though

Today is the first day we have seen the sun in well over a week.  Since pre-Fay.  I am house sitting and two little noses nuzzled me up early.  It was a cool breeze and a beautiful sun.  It is a beautiful day.  I guess you have to experience a storm to appreciate the sun.  I am thankful.

The after effects were minor.  With the constant onslaught of rain, the ground was soaked and trees have begun to topple al over town.  Last night one went down on my street burning every transformer down the street.  Talk about a firework display!  Sometime duting the night we had power restored.  I am grateful for the men who worked all night.  I thank God we got off so light! 

A section of chain link fence is minor.  I haven't looked at my roof to see if it bounced off it first!  It has been too wet.  Thanks for all the prayers.

This is the sustained winds we had all day.  There were wind gusts up to 50 mph.  The worst came through during the night.  We escaped the worst of it.  Some trees down and power lines.  We are now getting the rains from the back side and are still under threat of tornadoes.  No school again today.  I had no damage and am thankful for all the prayers. 

and she is in no hurry.  She stalled stationary off the coast all night, but the outer bands of rain and wind are reaching us now.  Putnam County's coordinates are 29 degree lat and 88 degree long.  Fay has consistently been 29degrees, that hasn't changed, she is just closing in.  She is just a tropical storm now, but will be moving slowing dumping a lot of rain.  We have had some pretty good wind gusts and the rain has picked up.  My electricity has started to flicker.  I live on higher ground, not a flood prone area, so if I lose electricity, know that I have food, water, lanterns and a grill.  Downed power lines and trees have caused thousands to be without electricity.  I will try to update later.  I feel your prayers, I am not alone.

Update.....Fay took her sweet time coming across land dumping lots of rain and spawning a  few tornadoes.  She didn't venture out into the Atlantic like they thought, she hugged our coasts.  The latest path shows her turned sharply south around Daytona, Flagler Beach (Candace) and then coming through the middle of Putnam county (me) and on toward Gainesville.  It was predicted to turn in at Jacksonville, but she stalled.  Schools are closed for shelters.  The worst they expect are wind gusts up to 50 mph, not sustained winds, lots of rain and bridges being closed.  Oh yeah...and tornadoes.  But, that could all change by nightfall.  Fay has broken all the rules and kinda flitted around making a name for herself.  That ususally slow down when they come over land...not Fay.  I will keep you posted.  (If I have power).

Well, while Fay is Island hopping and visiting our best beaches on the Atlantic coast, I have a lot of family in the areas that may  be affected.  I know most of you know I live in Florida, but not sure where.  Fay is predicted to enter the warm Atlantic long enough to become a category 1 hurricane.  Last I looked it was predicted to turn back and enter between St. Augustine and Jacksonville.  My daughter Angela lives in Jacksonville.  Candace lives with her dad near Flagler Beach on the coast.  Palm Coast.  Palatka, my home town is 30 miles from St. Augustine.  Danny lives about 45 mile futher inland toward Gainesville.  We have had heavy sporadic rain today and are now under a tornado watch.  But we all know that hurricanes are unpredicable.  Katrina was originally predicted to come through the middle of Putnam County, where I live.  It turned on a dime and headed for Linda Jane's territory.  I have ridden out one hurricane.  I was without power for nearly a month.  A tree went down between my house and my neighbors house and yanked our power mast and meter boxes right out of the house.  Yeah, get on a waiting list for an electrician, and then on a waiting list for the power company to come back and turn the power back on.  But, through all that  I only considered it a minor inconvenience compared to the people who lost much.  So, now you know where we all are.......keep an eye on the sky!

I had to run some errands, so I must have missed the first few slippery attempts.  Then it happened so fast I couldn't grab the camera.  And of course they didn't do it again, yet.  I will try to catch it.  They run across the screen and hurl theirselves at the feeder and fall to to the ground, thus knocking seeds with it.  It is a little slower process......but smart!  I wish I could have gotten it on film, they are fast.

Some people may perceive this as cruel...but Hal is right, I can't afford to feed that smart squirrel and all its friends.  I moved the feeder closer to the end of the roof and slathered it with crisco.  Don't know if it will work or not....but I am camera ready!  I'll keep you posted.