***MATTHEW*** It could've been much worse

For almost 3 weeks we watched as Matthew tracked across the Atlantic getting closer and closer to the US. The track changed some but ultimately we knew it was going to be close if not a direct hit to Florida. And the likelihood of northeast Florida being affected drastically became more and more apparent. We live approximately 40 miles inland in a heavily wooded area. Growing up in central Nebraska I'm no stranger to tornadoes and their destruction. But after living here in Florida for close to 24 years I've noticed in this particular area people seem to brush off hurricanes as if they won't get here it'll get somewhere else. I've been saying it for years and years even after close brushes with hurricanes and tropical storms eventually this area's or luck will run out. And although this was not a direct hit it did some crazy stupid damage. I hope if nothing else this was a huge wake-up call for residents in this area. We lost power fairly soon after the Nor'easter passed through and the very first few bands of Matthew started to come through. Back in 2004 after succumbing to two back to back tropical storms / hurricanes I bought and installed and automatic transfer standby generator that would power 90% of the house. We of course bought all the normal hurricane supplies just in case. I kept in communication with locals friends some Eggheads some not. The winds were pretty intense and I believe we hit at least 70 mile-an-hour gusts if not more. People that haven't been in hurricanes hear 70 mile an hour gust and think BFD. Well after a nor'easter dumps close to 10 inches of rain and the ground is already saturated and in some areas flooding the soil is nice and loose ground. It becomes a very bad situation with an incoming CAT3-4 hurricane. I believe after all the damage is assessed this will be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record. During and before the storm I began to cook on the egg. And continued cooking on the egg and other electric skillets etc. Many of my neighbors are elderly and had no power. We have and always will believe in helping our neighbors and friends out when we can. I delivered some hot meals to Neighbors and water that we had. If nothing else it showed them that we cared enough to think about them when their own family couldn't help them. If I seem to ramble on I do apologize. Here are some pictures of news articles my wife forwarded to me via text. And some of the cooking that took place during and after the storm before power was actually restored.  For those of you that were affected by Matthew I hope you didn't have any tragic losses the family or property. We're All in This Together in the area will rebuild and clean up had begun the day after. Take care Blake.

Ribs...variety. This was on Thursday at the tail end of the Nor'easter and the very beginning of Matthew.
https://youtu.be/y41p_NZXCjc


No egging Friday which was the worst day. 


Saturday....getting better. 
My Mother had made a couple of meatloafs...no need for them to go to waste And this is also what we delivered to our neighbor. 






And some meal prep for Tacos for Sunday. 




Sunday breakfast. 


And for supper Tacos


We brought in our feral kitty that adopted us. And after several hours of him going crazy we decided he would be ok outside. The death cries were just too much for us ( @nolaegghead ).  Saturday morning came and he was dry and happy


Some of the damage in the surrounding area. 


Less than 48 hrs and they had The Shands Bridge open again. Pretty impressive!  I use this bridge a lot and it saves a lot of time especially from my neck of the woods going to Saint Augustine.