Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

Henry David Thoreau

Debby and us

Sunday June 24, 2012
Lithia Spring Park Site 25
Lithia, Florida

 

Runnin' in the rain 040

 

I wake up to the rain on the roof.  Sounds soooo nice.   Not much encouragement to get up and go out to run.  So I don’t.  I read instead.

 

 

 

 

 

But then my guilty conscience gets the better of me.  I stick my head out the door.  The rain isn’t nearly as strong as it sounds on the roof inside the coach.  Somehow I can never remember that even though I lived for years in a farmhouse with a tin roof. 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 004b

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like to run but running in the rain actually is my favorite if I could be said to have one.  Let me qualify, that’s if the rain isn’t too cold or too strong.  I get on my gear including, out of habit, my walkman so I can listen to a book on tape which usually makes the time go faster for me.  But I don’t listen to it, I don’t need it at all today.  I don’t need a hat either.  Just let the rain wash over me.

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 039

 

Out I go and I have a GREAT time.  The rain and the temperature are just right.  I’m not in favor of Tropical Storms and certainly not if they decide to turn into Hurricanes and come my way but Debby has so far only sent me this nice rain and I’m thankful. 

 

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 038

 

I don’t get hot, I don’t sweat, I don’t have trouble with the air soup because there isn’t any soup just rain drops and there isn’t any heat.  It is the easiest run I’ve done in a LONG time.   If I can arrange for the rains in Florida to come overnight and last until say 10am, I’ll run in them all the time.

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 015

 

After I finish with my 5 miles I come back but I’m not ready to come in.  It is just too nice outside.  Besides I’ve seen a hawk right down on the post next to the outdoor shower at the spring and David has seen him too when he was on his walk. (He took an umbrella)  So I think there is a chance I can take the camera out and maybe get a picture of the hawk.  Or not.  I don’t care.  I’m just not finished being outside yet.  And besides I want to walk the path from the boat dock to site 40 and see what all this rain has done.

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 017

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 019

 

I get some pictures of the park in the rain and the rising waters.  The hawk is on the fence  this time but flies up into a tree before I can get a good focus on him. None of the shots I take of him from below are good enough to print.  Oh well I saw a drenched hawk close up and he looked seriously wet, just like me.   The ducks I’d seen earlier are also gone.  DARN!   I like being wet with these guys.

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 029

 

My last stop is the natural spring where I find the water is really up and the grasses are getting submerged.  It looks much more flooded than the public spring.

Eventually the rain picks up and I am totally soaked to the skin so I begin to get chilly.  Chilly, in late June in Mid Morning In Florida. AMAZING!  I walked over but I run back to the coach. 

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 035

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 012

 

 

David takes a picture of the happy drowned rat.  No need to shower.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 010

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 045A

 

We have a delicious scrambled breakfast and hash browns.  We talk to Carrie and my father on the phone….free Verizon minutes on week-ends.
Then we do the final touches on the financial aid applications for housing during the stem cell transplant.  I thought I was finished with all of that when Carrie finally got out of the education game.  L

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 036 

In the afternoon I drive up to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for omeprazole.  David is having some stomach troubles due to the chemo drugs and taking these before he eats helps.

 

 

We have the weather radio on but don’t hear anything alarming.  Mostly just coastal rip tide warnings.  The tornados seem to be to the north of us unfortunately they are around the spot we will be moving to next week which is concerning.  So far Debby has been very nice to us.  Hope she doesn’t change her mind.  And hope she travels away by the time we have to move.

 

 

 

Runnin' in the rain 051

 

We have beans and rice and beautiful red chard for dinner.  Local weather is much more specific and shows every county touching the gulf has 4-9” of rain. 

 

They show tornado damage, flooded streets, giant waves.  They say another 2 days of rough weather.   Thank goodness we are on the far end of Hillsborough County and away from the Bay and Gulf.  Boy are we lucky this didn’t happen while we were at the beach.

 

Runnin' in the rain 057A

 

After dinner the rain is still heavy.  Someone comes down the drive in a car, honks, comes up to the door and says a tornado is coming and they are leaving.  We haven’t seen that at all.  Not on the weather radio or the TV.  No winds or anything here.  We think he is foolish to be driving in this weather.  We go out into the rain and move the boats, the bikes, the car away from the coach.   We keep watching and listening.  If it it looks as though it is coming here, we are possibly the only RV in the park, the other two were a pop up camper and a truck camper, and possibly the only people in the park other than the one house for the on site Ranger up near the station.  We will go to the bathroom which is the only building with no windows. 

 

But we never see anything that shows our area on the map for a tornado.   There are a lot of them touching down with damage and continued flooding in areas closer to the gulf.  We continue watching the radar until all the cells have passed to the north of Tampa.  This reminds us of last year when we were running from tornados in Oklahoma and sitting in shelters.  Ruby was damaged by hail, we crossed the Mississippi in Nashville the day before they closed the bridge due to its flooding.  Very scary.

Now the rain gets very heavy.  It almost sounds like hail.  Things have changed, we watch a very red area on the radar moving right through Lithia.  But luckily we have no winds.  Just nearly deafening rains.  We can hardly hear the weather. 

The rain stops just after 10:00.  We are very lucky.  Our day ends not with a hurricane but with tornados passing us by.  Even the rain has stopped…….for now. 

Tomorrow is David’s last pre-stem cell transplant visit with his Moffitt hematologist Dr. Ken Shain.  We are hoping the flooding and damage we are seeing on TV in Tampa doesn’t prohibit us from keeping that appointment.  But I guess we won’t know until morning.

17 comments:

  1. Sherry I've been watching "Debby" on our weather channel. Looks ugly. I'm praying the storm will stay away from where ever you two have to go for the surgery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Walking in the rain - not running - is something we enjoy -- provided it's just a light rain, not cold, and we're geared up for it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We've been watching the news of the horrible flooding there. Please stay safe and leave for higher ground if need be. Flash flooding can happen in a matter of minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad Debby passed through with not a lot of hoopla so far. Was wondering how you guys were weathering the storm.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So glad everything passed u by and all OK!!! You did look a little drowned there after the run!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glad to hear the bad weather skipped you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I guess it's the wet season there now. You're right about the rain on the roof. It sounds a lot louder and heavier than it really is. Stay safe...
    Syl

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your run in the rain sounded so soothing. I hope there's a break in the weather for you and David to get to Tampa.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It blows me away that you casually say, "After I finish my 5 miles..." Then, on top of that, you're drenched and smiling. David, just as disciplined taking a walk; all the time both finding little things in life to enjoy. What a couple you are.

    Then there's me. I drag myself over to my recumbent bike to do 20 minutes in the air conditioning while watching TV--not finding much of anything to enjoy. What's wrong with this picture!

    I think you and David are aliens. ;)

    My thoughts are with you through this storm, Sherry, and through David's appointment, today. There are so many of us "with you" as you move forward step by step toward the direction of your dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I also like hearing the rain on the roof. Stay safe in this crazy weather! The food pictures look very very yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for the Debby update. You two have been on our minds. Glad it seems to have past you by and made you a very happy runner as well;o)) Love the photo of a very WET Sherry. Oh, by the way, where are your adorable duckies?!?! Bet they would have loved to go running with you;o))

    ReplyDelete
  12. So thankful that Debby didn't cause you any more challenges than you already have. And to think you had fun "playing" in the rain. Too bad you didn't take a bar of soap on your run, then you could have been a real multi tasker. :c)

    Your soggy picture is priceless! Any thought to using it on your next Christmas card? ;c)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am so deep in the TS debacle that I hadn't even *heard* of Hurricane Debby until today. It sounds like y'all are safe, thank heavens. Stay dry and stay tuned to that radio!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I so admire your discipline. It could just be sprinkling out, and that would be enough of an excuse for me not to walk (I don't run).

    Be careful of any flooding, and please stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Every place else is just plain hot! Enjoy Debby's cooling rains.

    ReplyDelete
  16. We are so happy not to live in Florida anymore. Hurricane season was always so stressful and of course having the 24 hour Weather Channel made it even worse. Hope you continue to weather the storm without any problems.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Some of these comments made me smile :) I am sooo glad Debby only brought rains and nothing more - that is scary and something over which none of us have any control when Mother Nature decides it's time for a party.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the best part of this blog for me.
I LOVE hearing from you!