= new reply since forum marked as read
-_-
I fkn hate tornadoes
I'm with you there, malaise. 
Stay safe folks 
You don't need another disaster
My husband and I had a cruise scheduled and left early to avoid the storm bands. The cruise before us on the ship had it rough - had to stand off the Caymans because it was too rough to dock. Then the passengers had a rough return to Tampa with lots of sea sickness. Our cruise was smooth, great weather and the day we got back our power was restored so we missed the entire thing. We lost a couple of trees on the farm and a lot of branches that had been damaged in Hermine and Irma finally came down - and are still coming down.
My husband's family didn't fair so well. Both sisters' houses had slight damage and they lost all their trees. One brother was still living in their mother's house which was ready to be listed for sale. It had the new metal roof split off - but the old shingles kept most of the rain out so there was minimal damage. His other brother's place lost both front & back porches, but his father in law's house was totaled. Between the two families, they owned over one hundred acres of planted pines - they say the trees look like a giant game of pick up sticks with the trees thrown down every which way. All the oaks around his house were blown down - and they had sited the house to be in the middle.
No we don't need any more disasters but that seems to be our lives these days...
Thank you! 
I worry about my brother in law's father in law. He's about 90 years old. He's owned that property for over sixty years and lived there exclusively since he retired. That's why my brother in law bought a place next door - so he and his wife could help take care of her father's property. He had developed trails all over his 100 acres, selectively cut and managed the trees, encouraged the wildlife, and since his wife died it was his entire life.
Since Michael he has not attended any of the family get togethers. His house was destroyed along with most of his possessions of a lifetime and he is living with his other daughter and spending some time at my brother in law's house. They bought a mobile home but have not been able to get a septic tank or electrical put in since the entire system is so overloaded with people needing places to live.
He will not live long enough to see the property he loved for all those years restored to even a semblance of what he had made it. 
That is so sad - losing everything familiar is losing way more than property
When that old man told me about the trees I was young. Not sure I'd live to see them grow if we were hit with a big one.
It's hard living in these red States but there are many fine Democrats around me.
