Sit~n~Spin Fay

The outer bands of Tropical Storm Fay reached the Daytona area around 6pm Tuesday evening. By 11:30 pm, we were hearing the howl of the winds pretty frequently as they began moving through the area. If you've never been in one of these storms, they are really pretty neat to experience...you can actually hear the wind coming towards you several minutes before it even begins to move the trees...the sound is like listening to the ocean in a seashell as the wind moves in. Once you hear the 'hollow seashell noise', you begin to see the trees moving and can tell which direction the wind is spinning from before you even feel the breeze.

We've been under Tornado watch since early Tuesday morning....its been extended numerous times and is currently until sometime Thursday. So far, Fay has just been sitting and spinning over the top of the county just south of us, Brevard. They have been getting slapped around by the rains and winds since Fay made landfall. Right now, the 'eye' of Fay has moved just off shore around Cape Canaveral. The entire area there is experiencing some severe flooding as they have received ten inches of rain or more in the past 24 hours. This storm is not moving very fast, only 5 mph at the moment. The expected path...well, that's something no one is very sure of. Fay seems to be hugging the coast as she moves north. It is expected that she could gain strength and actually become a Category one hurricane before she turns and heads back across Florida....someplace between Daytona and Jacksonville.

When we awoke this morning, the winds were gusting much the same as when we went to bed. The rains we received overnight have once again turned the yard into the familiar 'swamp'....its still raining lightly at this time. By the time this storm finally blows out, we are expecting close to 15 inches of rainfall. Will definitely have to take pictures of the yard at that time.

I left the chickens penned in the coop yesterday. Their yard is already under water once more, but at least with them inside the coop I know they are dry and safe. Later I'll go check on them and give them a bit more feed and water. Good thing hubby made the coop so large, but then, this type of weather is what was in mind at the time it was built. Could be days before I can turn them back out into their yard. Barney sure was quiet this morning, but as it is raining pretty hard at the moment, it will be later before I go check on them.

Our news coverage of this storm is laughable at best. These people have hyped it to the point of being ridiculous. You'd think Florida had never seen a tropical storm or hurricane before. In the newspaper, the comment blogs are so negative about all the hype being broadcast....you can tell how fed up most of the locals are about hearing this. Just let us know if there's something severe like a tornado being spawned and tell us which direction its heading...but for cryin out loud, show something other than the storm and what it looks like standing on the beach...most of us know what it looks like when the storms come in. The only damage from this storm besides the flooding, seems to be from a tornado that was spawned yesterday in Brevard county. Seems like every two minutes they are bouncing from one beach area to another just to show how angry the ocean looks and how much erosion is likely to happen...enough already!! Just throw the map on the screen and let us see where the bands are and how close it is to our location...then move on to something else.

This isn't the first storm we've experienced that has done the 'sit~n~spin'...can't recall the name of the last storm that did this, but its just like the afternoon rains, a normal occurrence that happens now and then.

As slow as she's moving, we are being told that we could be feeling the effects of Fay into the beginning of next week even...ok, I'm over it now!!