Yes I am back the power finally came back on tonight! Tired of cold showers, cooking on a camp stove, boiling our drinking water and sweating to death! Without further delay I bring you some images that I have taken over the past week or so. We are now looking down the barrel of Hurricane Ivan the terrible. It isn't looking like a direct hit (thank god), but I am sure it will bring more devastation! :-S

The wet drive home through the the gales of wind and rain, what an adventure this drive was! :-S

30 miles east on SR 40, too far to turn back with nothing open where we can purchase gas, we sneak under this tree suspended by power lines...

Debris like this became a common sight on SR 40, and later in the evening on Interstate 95...

Home again! The front yard doesn't look too bad but there is a tree from the neighbors yard resting on the roof when we checked the back yard! :-S

My neighbor posted notice... even though I didn't post a notice, I would not have hesitated to shoot a looter, my trusty shotgun has been by my side for the past week...

This house is next to the one in post #6! Ya just gotta love us southern rednecks eh? ;)

My dad and mom and two sisters decided not to leave. We kept in touch via the two way on our Nextel's... At about 1am Sunday morning my dad alerted me, told me he was on his way outside to tie down the banging door, when all of the sudden there was this woosh of wind and to quote him "the screen room just left" it was the last contact I had with anyone until I returned early Monday morning.... Yes you could say I was getting worried.

The screen room didn't really leave... a tornado spawned by Hurricane Frances picked it up and dropped pieces of it everywhere! :-S

This is Princess! Princess and her stablemate Bradley got spray painted with mom and dad's address! You can just barely see the bright orange spray paint that was recommended by FEMA. This is what you are supposed to do with your livestock when facing a hurricane, you do not keep them in a barn, you let them run free in the pasture, and if they get out, your address is painted on the side of them so they can be returned home.

This convienience store opens for business the day after Frances left. Doesn't look like they will be selling gas anytime soon... this is a common site here right now as you will see in the next image...

This store not only lost their canopy over the gas pumps, but also lost the roof on the store, I don't think they will be open for business anytime in the near future.

The images in post #'s 11 and 12 add to the lines for fuel. I waited in this line Wednesday for 2 and a half hours to fuel up. It seems the gas tankers couldn't get near us with Frances covering the whole state...

And gas isn't the only thing you wait in line for... This image shows the end of the line that stretched over a 1/4 mile just to get a few gallons of water and a few bags of ice. Thanks FEMA!

It has been a long nine days for me. I evacuated to the Panhandle of Florida and will do it again if Ivan the terrible threatens us directly, so please excuse me for being absent. As I said in post number one, our power just came back on tonight, some people here in this county won't have power until the 18th. At least I won't sweat to death in my sleep tonight! I missed you all! Really did! Huge hugs! Brenda :)

Thanks for the update. Happy you are safe. [Visions of livestock flying by, each with a return address...]

LOL Misha! Kind of like a scene frm Twister maybe?! ;)

oh man... what a mess... glad you finally got your power back! & you & yours are alright! you got some great reportage shots here... ecspecially the "no looting"...those gas awnings just aren't very stable are they, speaking of gas! ack!!! lines!!! :p

what an ordeal you and so many others went through! And to think it may be coming again soon...frightening! Thank you for sharing these images and for your narration. Hope Ivan will fizzle out! TV

Im glad that you and your family are alright Bren, welcome back ! :o) These are some awesome shots, what a mess !! I just love photo number 7 "You loot, he shoot" LOL :D Like TV i hope Ivan will fizzle out before it hits Florida again !! I havent seen the news yet but it must have done quite some damage in Jamaica. Some season eh ? Three in a month.... Jeroen

shivering while reading Welcome back, Bren! I can imagine your sorrows, phew! What a violence in nature! Thank you for sharing your story and photo's. Very impressive! I hope Iwan won't be so devastating! It's great power is restored, without that Florida is pretty paralysed, isn't it? hugs Jan-Carel

Oh well you survived, thats the only thing that counts in the end! Sure hope that Ivan won't pay you a visit too. All the strength with the cleaning up! Ric

oh my thats looks bad,Brenda. i am glad you are ok. be careful.

We're so small agains the forces of nature. I hope there was not to much injured and as Gerhard, happy that you're safe !

eyes glued to the TV, was praying for your safety...glad your house was not hit bad...oh no, here comes Ivan for a side swipe to the other side, or maybe not...eyes glued to the TV for Ivan updates...I've got an Uncle in Orlando and friends in Miami.

Glad to hear you're safe and sound.... looks a mess... hoping Ivan goes in another direction.

Attached Link: http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm9/tropicalatlanticsatellite_large.html

Despite all of my attempts to send Ivan to Texas, it looks like Ivan the Terrible will be making landfall in the panhandle of Florida, state officials are debating on evacuating the west coast of Florida right now, they are afraid it might pull a Charley and come a shore before they expect it to! And in case you didn't already know, Ivan is a category 5 (catastrophic storm) ranking it right up there with the likes of Camille, Gilbert and Andrew! :-S Well that aint all folks, seems there are two or three more out there off the coast of Africa somewhere... The only good thing that could come out of all these storms, is that maybe they will convince all these northerners that it isn't worth living here, and they all will go back to NY city where they came from!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, wishful thinking eh?

REally scarry.......never seen anything as bad , just some bad dust storms.

Ohhhh!!! I know everything's worst than I've seen!!! I really don't want to be there in your skin!!! Thank God you and your family are OK!

rolls eyes ... now Ivan the Terrible ...like the Wild West, the Law of the Gun. Take care :]