In a message dated 11/12/2005 11:28:32 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, VCrawf@aol.com writes: Rab - I remember that you are a Florida Mom - I hope you have been spared the bad effects of the onslaught of hurricanes this year and last. Take care. . . . After seeing the storms this year we got grazed last year. Katrina really makes you think. It takes a community years to recover after a hurricane that is not so devastating, so it will take decades for the gulf coast to be back to what it was .....if it ever can. We thought last year was pretty rough in my area, though. We live about 3 or 4 miles from the beach but on the West side of the Indian River in Palm Bay. Having that many hurricanes come through in 1 year was a little frightening and we always seemed to be on the worse side of it. Now if they send Jim Cantore we expect the worst. <g> Seriously thinking snow wouldn't be so bad after all. LOL Our window blew in in the dining room, but the roof stayed on(leaked though) so we were lucky. The boards covering the window when Jeanne came through a few weeks later came off so it made everything worse. Basically we lost our dining room stuff and a little damage to wall in kitchen. . Repairs were completed this summer so we now have dining room furniture. again--yeah! Between the 2 hurricanes before the airport or most of us got electricity back I flew up to the St. Anne area. Flew home in time to meet Hurricane Ivan in Atlanta. LOL We were the last plane to land and the first to take off after the squalls. Would never want to do that again. LOL This year I think we jinxed ourselves by thinking if we made it through Sept. we were safe. Wilma sort of grazed us with 50-75mph winds. Nothing compared to last years 125mph gusts. It damaged more trees but not structural damage. It dumped a lot of water on us in a short time which caused a lot of flooding in the area but in my town it went down fast. We are all definitely tired of hurricanes. LOL Rab