Tranquility Himalayan & Persian Cats

Surviving Hurricane Charley and the Aftermath

I had never questioned surviving a hurricane although I read the book Condominium and Perfect Storm – two books about surviving extreme weather conditions.

This is a day by day journal of my experience living through a hurricane and subsequent aftermath.  My damages were minimal although there were a lot of almost could have beens.   I wish I could include a lot of tips for those of us who live in areas where disasters could harm our cats but there very few.   Stockpiling food is a dream-Heck we don’t even do it for ourselves.  Litter stockpiling- another dream.  Our water was to be boiled before drinking for a few days so stockpiling water for our animals would be another necessity hah.  The only tips I have is to keep a supply of litter and food that you can get locally at any chain store.  Canned food was great because the moisture helped keep them hydrated.  Get a phone that doesn’t use electric.  Write phone numbers down, they won’t be available on your caller ID or on you favorite list.  Give out and get cell phone numbers.  The   worst was the relentless heat and humidity.  We were without electric from Friday 2pm August 13 to Friday at 9PM August 20th. Some of this article may seem light hearted.  It is because I’m thankful we’re OK.  I am extremely sorry for people who have lost their lives and their possessions.  Sometimes when situations are at their worst, I am at my funniest.  I guess if I was on the Titanic, I’d have everybody in stitches as we sank.

Thursday

My husband emailed me at work and told me he was taping up the windows.  I thought he was an overachieving Boy Scout but there’s no talking to him sometimes.  He also informed me he bought a 3” TV and a plug in phone.  Well I had to tell everyone at work about the 3” TV and we all had a big laugh since this was a loooong way down from a 65” TV.  Later when we were able to crowd around the TV and watched the storm path and videos that were being taken by news photographers, we were quite thankful to him and he was quite the gentleman never stooping to ‘I told you so’.

Friday 10 AM

My daughter who lives nearby in a new house with higher elevation, hurricane shutters and new hurricane codes invited us to come over.  Let me stop here make a very strong point.  There are very very  few places which will accept cat lovers and our cats.  This is the biggest problem I can see.  If we have to evacuate, there’s really no formal place to go.  I think most of us have found that virtual strangers in the cat will call us at these times and ask “How are you” Do you need anything”  I know during hurricane Andrew west coast people went to the east coast to help and this time East coast people came out here to help us.  Fortunately I had to look no further than my daughter; she had no problem with us bringing the cats over to her house.  She was actually very glad to see us because her husband is a policeman and he was on duty.  He was stationed at a central location so she was home alone with the ten year old twins and her four year boy.

Friday 2PM

When the weathermen stated that there would be a 13 ft. surge and our house is at 10 feet.  Well, my math is pretty good so we decided to go.  We packed all the carriers we had-some are pretty large with two or three cats, long kitten cage, litter boxes , a container of litter and some food.  My plan was if we were going to be there for any length of time to put all the girls in the long kitten cage and leave the three boys in individual large carriers because there would be room in them for food and small litter boxes.  We also brought Honeybelle our blonde golden retriever and her crate.  My husband in his SUV with the dog and me in my van with the cats and supplies..

Just as we left, the electric went off.  The storm had already started and it was gusting.

We arrived at our daughters and the weather continued to worsen.  We brought everybody inside and left them in their carriers temporarily.  The dog was frantic looking.  My daughter had storm shutters (included in the price of a new house) she told us months ago.  We, at that time, were not impressed.  The intensity of the storm picked up almost as we arrived.  Since we have lived in this area for twenty five years, we’re kind of used to bad storms with gusting wind that knocks down fragile structures in this area so we were pretty calm about this storm so far but it got worse.  There were no more gusts, it was a continuous wind.  The shutters on one of the windows blew off and we were able to watch their catamaran which was anchored in the side yard cartwheel into the back yard.  It was stopped against the guy wires for the electric pole and their neighbor’s cyclone fence.  The boat held and so did our luck.  We wandered from 3” TV to window all the while the wind was howling nonstop.  A beach ball flew down the street as if it was jet propelled.  We watched shingles rip off nearby houses and wondered what was happening to our roofs and houses.  You could touch the steel front door or the window and feel the vibration.  My four year old grandson looked at TV and sudden said “Holy Crap”.  This raging storm lasted for five relentless hours.

Friday 7pm 

I was itching to get home now.  I wanted to see if I still had a house or if I had to make long term arrangements to live somewhere else.  We attempted to go home because we wanted to get there before dark.  We figured we’d go alone without the animals because if we got stranded with them….Anyway  There were wires everywhere and large flooded spots with unknown holes in the road.  One street had a row of electric poles knocked down and they were leaning on some houses.  We turned back.  Our son-in-law the policeman came by his house as soon as he could to check on his family.  He told us he’d check on our house and get back to us.  He and his partner came back later and looked horrified.  They said our house looked OK but trees were down.  When we asked about a safe route, he said stick to the main roads.  We loaded up the animals that had been cooped up but quiet and headed home.  The conditions didn’t look any better this time but we continued.  There were electric poles down everywhere.  A seven story condominium lost its whole roof and air conditioners.  That mess was in the middle of the main thoroughfare.  We got home and inspected the house quickly to see if there were any obvious faults, there were none so we unloaded the cats and the dog, let them lose in the house.  Then we walked around the outside of the house to see if there was any damage there.  Four huge trees were uprooted-a mango, Hong Kong orchid, jacaranda and a carrotwood.  The storm was over but the work had just begun.  We went back in the cats were trotting around the house, eating, drinking and using the litterbox as though nothing had happened.  We went to bed fully expecting the electric to be on the next day. 

Saturday

No electric yet.  We’re starting to throw stuff out of the fridge.  I’m going to miss those black olives I bought for my daughter in law when she was pregnant with Ethan two years ago.  I have ceramic tile floors so I mopped in case anybody wanted a cool wet floor to lie on.  Our neighbors were hell bent on removing every branch, leave and stick of wood from their yards.  There were piles and piles of horticultural waste up and down the street.  Our four trees that were uprooted didn’t hit our house or anyone else’s.  These trees were out of our league of trimming expertise so we called the tree trimmer guy who informed us the first time we met that he had had a vasectomy.  Most people have an arborist or a tree surgeon.  We have what we refer to as Neuterman.  .  He told us he was busy but he’d squeeze us in

Sunday

Still no electric.  We went to our daughter’s house to sleep.  She has everything, electric, water AND cable.  Her husband’s police officer friends who had neither water NOR electric were also over there to take showers. 

Back home  in the AM all food was thrown out of the fridge and the freezer.  Nothing in it but ice made by our daughter to keep a few cans of soda cold.  I threw the bags of frozen vegetables around on the floor in case anybody wanted anything cool to lie next to. Everyone was suspicious of the foreign bags of peas and corn.  I had already brought my vaccines up to my daughter’s house to store

Monday

Fortunately school is closed for the next three days so I don’t have to do anything except to keep my husband, myself and the cats and dogs as comfy as possible.  My husband found a little coffee shop and brought home two cups of Nicaraguan coffee.  After I drank it, I had enough energy to hack down six travelers palm leaves with my machete.  He also found one fast food restaurant open so we were set for breakfast. My son who is in the reserves brought home some MRE’s (meals ready to eat) so I was set for lunch.  I wished I had a bunch of little battery operated fans.  Many people bought generators but we don’t have a safe place to put it.

Tuesday

You guessed it no electric yet.  Back home after a restful night sleep in my daughters air conditioned house.  We usually left ours about 9pm or 10pm after the night cooled down somewhat due to good cross ventilation.  I teased my grandchildren and asked them if they still loved me even though the 65 inch didn’t work, the pool was under construction and our house was hot.  They replied they did.  Our daughter manages a restaurant so when we told her we need some ice to keep a few cans of soda cool, she sent all kinds of bags and containers filled with ice.  One huge bowl was a solid block of ice so we put it down for the animals.   By the way they approached it you could almost hear them thinking “Get the hazmat team-there’s a new and foreign substance in this bowl”.  The dog who is most wary of all things new approached it and drank from it first. Afterwards they all seemed to enjoy it.   I might continue to make them a tub of ice to drink in the summer.

Later that day I dropped in to see another local breeder.  I had nothing to offer but commiseration.  She wasn’t in much better shape than I was.  She had a generator going.  She told me after she put out an emergency message on the Southern Region list, three breeders from Miami came over with all kinds of supplies for her cats. 

Wednesday

No school for the rest of the week.  Our Neuterman is here to cut down all the  trees that fell and put them out by the street.  To be honest, I’m not going to miss them.  I had put them in years ago when I didn’t know any better.  I’ve already got new trees in pots and I was looking for a place to put them.

More and more homes are getting electric.  When it happens, it is very exciting.

I finally heard from the woman I sold a kitten to on Useppa Island which is north of Captiva.  She couldn’t evacuate because she and her husband are the fire department.  She’s fine and so is the kitten who slept through 140 mile an hour wind.  Her only problem was that she couldn’t get the food he was used to and he didn’t like anything else.  She said she was flooded with calls from her friends on Thursday because she had planned to call the kitten –what else- Charlie but she had planned that since he was two weeks old.

I think a couple of the cats are trying to kill the dog.  He was lying in the hallway in front of the boys/naughty girl’s room.  The screen door is just resting in the door frame.  The naughty girls working together pushed it down on top of her.  Fortunately she is a big dog with a great deal of survivor spirit so she’s fine.

Thursday

Still no electric.  The cats and kittens including two preggies don’t seem stressed at all.  They’re eating, drinking and lying around.  Sometimes when the heat gets too bad my husband and I sit in the car in the driveway with the air on.  We bring a few kitties along with us to enjoy the coolness.  I really don’t want to go anywhere because that would entail closing the doors and then there would be no breeze.  I did go to Petsmart to pick up more food just in case delivery was going to be spotty.  There was a notice about a $5. refund available at the checkout counter.  We checked out –no refund.  I told the cashier to get the manager.  He explained that the offer ended the day before but he would give me 10% off.  I think he saw a woman who had sat in heat for a long period of time and he figured 10% was cheap price for his life.

Friday We were asked to go to school today to check our classrooms.  The principal took a poll and everybody had electric except for two or three people.  I’m beginning to feel like a loser living on Loser Street in Loserville.  The cats and kittens are holding up well. I’m angry!

Friday Night  While walking the dog, my husband noticed the electric trucks down our street.  We were out every few minutes to see the progress.  It was looking good.  The only glitch would be a problem from the pole to our house.  It was like the coming of our Saviour when the electric came on. 

It’s over for us except for about 100 feet of horticultural waste across our front yard.  But just like disasters that occur all over our country, there are animals who are now homeless because their families are homeless.  Just as I was typing this article a message came over email about this very subject so although the hurricane is no longer front page news, there are still hurting people and animals in this area.

BABY RAISED BY CATS!!! I could see that headline in a tabloid newspaper followed by a story about an infant who was left in the care of his grandmother who raised Persians and Himalayans. The story would go on to tell that since the baby had very little human contact other than the grandmother he preferred to 'meow' rather than say 'Mama' or 'dada'.

As a teacher with summers off, I really enjoy it by relaxing, doing crossword puzzles, working on projects, surfing the 'Net' and especially spending some quality time with my furry grandkids. But my daughter who works fulltime was faced with fulltime daycare for six-year-old twins and an infant. When she asked me to watch all three, I was very reluctant. Teaching challenging high school students is rigorous enough without having to spend a summer saying "No", "Get down from there" "Stop that or else". I told her I'd compromise and take the baby. After all, it would just be a matter of him sleeping, eating and pooping. Does this sound familiar?

I bought a large area rug/pad to cover our ceramic tile living room so if he fell (he was just learning to stand) there would be limited damage. The cats fell in love with it. They rolled on this new luxury as if it was sable. They plucked it and of course they had to run the length and breath of the house so they could have a hairball on it. When I rolled it up at night to limit the amount of hair, it was still OK with them- they could pluck the back or leap out and scare each other.  

The day arrived and Taylor arrived at the crack of dawn. Ginger, a flame point, came over to examine him immediately. We had breakfast and I set him on the rug with his toys and barricaded him in the living room with chairs.  The cats have devised this game they call Tag Team Torment. It was specifically invented for my son and daughter-in-law's Shih Tzu who visits occasionally. It is played like this. In turn, every cat runs across the living room just in front of the dog but out of reach. The dog lunges at them and barks. Everyone gets a turn and no one gets stressed except for the dog. Well they tried this game on Taylor and it was working out marvelously. Timing was

perfect except Taylor never barked or lost his temper or lunged. He just crawled after them grunting and drooling. So they gave it up either out of boredom or pity.

Her final words to me before she dropped him off were "he likes to pull hair". No news to me because I had already seen his reaction to our sweet old Golden Retriever -his eyes would get big as saucers and his hands would shake. It was almost as if he was saying 'so much hair, so little time'. She was thinking 'I hope he doesn't get bitten or scratched'. I was thinking the same thing but in addition I was thinking 'great, a houseful of beautiful longhaired cats with chunks

of hair missing'. None of this happened. Most of the cats had no interest in him and continued on with their lives with haughty disregard except for Ginger my flame point female and a kitten. They liked him and wanted to be petted by him-which happened under very close supervision. Some of the cats did find the smell coming from his back end intriguing. Speaking of intriguing odors, many times I scooped every litter box in the house and there was still that brown cloud over my head---until I changed the diaper.

They did however enjoy his toys when he was sleeping in his crib or eating. They would pounce on his toys. One of his favorite activities is ripping pages out of magazines and wadding them up (never cat magazines) and flinging them around. They also liked to do that together. They showed him their game of Skid the Papers Under the Couch and he tried that. He came with a tiny Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal that rattled. I had a singleton that played with it as if it was a littermate. The cats had a little sisal toy with a rattle -he played with it.

Taylor was a very poor eater and preferred his bottle to any type of baby food. When my daughter came to pick him up one evening, I told her I'd found baby meat he seemed to like. She was delighted until I showed her lams kitten food can. To say she was horror struck would be an understatement. Then I showed her the Beechnut baby meat that he actually was being fed as well as some of the kittens. Someone told me once, there's no sense of having children if you

can't mess with their minds occasionally.