Storm Weary

Well, it appears the Tampa Bay area is spared a visit by Hurricane Ivan. This doesn’t mean we won’t be affected, but if Ivan proceeds on the current projected track, we’d get little more than some wind and rain.

As you may have noted, I have not posted on the blog in a while. This is because I was cleaning up from Frances and preparing for Ivan, and dealing with some (probably) unrelated problems around the house over the previous week.

I was on a previously scheduled vacation last week, but it wound up being nothing I expected or needed. A number of changes at work have resulted in my stressing over the need to evaluate my future with the company. I had previously really liked my current work situation, but a recent re-organization has put me in a situation that is extremely difficult. Perhaps I?ll elaborate on this in a later post. Previously, we’d been forced to evacuate for Charley, and had gone to Orlando, where the storm finally struck.

I’d requested this vacation to take some much needed time for relaxing and doing a few minor projects around the house. We were planning a party for Labor Day as well. As it turned out, my vacation was anything but a time of rest and relaxation.

Of course Labor Day was literally a washout. We lost power for about 19 hours. Friends of our’s lost their power until Thursday evening, so we had house guests for most of the week. They are great guys, and fun to have around. We spend a lot of time with them anyway, but it was something that was unplanned.

It took two days to clean the limbs and debris from the yard; I had to spend $300 with a plumber when the drains started backing up. This resulted in some of the parquet tiles in the hallway to buckle. They will have to be replaced. Somehow, a leak has developed in the pool, and I?ve had no luck so far in finding that.

And of course, just as I finished with the cleanup of the yard we had to start again with preparations for Ivan. This time, finding ice, bread and gas was very difficult. The system just had not had time to recover from the previous weekend’s storm.

I realize that it sounds like whining. I am completely aware that many more people have it much worse than I do right now. There are still people in the Tampa Bay area without power, others are out of their homes due to flooding. South of here there are people who lost everything. So I’m uncomfortable complaining, but I really needed the vacation.

While chatting with a friend last week, I was trying to find the right word for how I felt. “Weary” seemed appropriate. One of the definitions is, “To grow tired; to become exhausted or impatient; Having one’s patience, relish, or contentment exhausted.” I think these feelings were already there from the situation with work but certainly this past week didn’t help to relieve some of that, but only added to the feelings of weariness.

I am so glad Ivan has tracked to the west, and will most likely have a limited impact on the Bay area. Again, my hopes for Ivan to move elsewhere are tempered. Like Mark Twain in his short story, War Prayer, I realize, “If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time.” I know by wishing the storm away from Tampa, I am wishing it on someone else, but I am very tired.

I know I’ve actually been very lucky during this rash of storms, and feel guilty about the complaining, but I do worry about the disruption of losing the house, and having to recover. That combined with the situation at work makes it a very stressful time.

Hopefully I can take a long weekend next weekend to try to get in some relaxation.