Hurricane Irma

   I hope everyone who might be affected is safe and takes this thing seriously.    I  live in Tampa, Florida  and we have been watching the news updates constantly.  It's really spooky.   I mean  right now it's  a beautiful day outside,  sunny,  no wind to speak of  but you know the check's in the mail. It's  probably going to get bad Saturday,  I think worse on Sunday.   I hope  it goes further East.   Would prefer it to go to the middle of the Atlantic and dissipate but these things change by the hour.  We don't plan on evacuating----yet,  I hope it doesn't come to that.

Stay safe Bongo! 

Stay safe bongo.   I hope it changes direction and you don't have to evacuate. 

This thing finally showed a little weakening  as it's going over Cuba.   Thank God,  I'm starting to get a little more panicky now.    I've lived in Florida almost all my life (mostly in the Panhandle region around Tallahasee) . We  really didn't get a whole lot  of hurricane action up there which was fine by me.   My wife and son and I are going to try to ride this thing out.   We are pretty far inland and not in a flood or evacuation zone.  My daughter is in Gainesville at UF  and so she should be okay.   we've got maybe a day,  day and a half.   This SOB  keeps changing so  we have to be constantly updated.  We're going to try and fortify the house today with plywood  and whatever.   I'll keep you guys updated.  Thank you for your well wishes. 

Good luck, stay safe! The weather's gone crazy lately

Thank you my friends.  I have to tell you,  at the moment, it's really a rather lovely day here.  Sunny,  very light breeze  nothing exciting.....yet.    The drama probably won't happen  until  early Sunday morning.  My son and I put plywood up over the windows in the front.   We have a good deal of food,  water,  etc.  just in case.   I hope this beast keeps weakening before it hits.   More later.

Stay safe everyone who is in Irma's path, remember stock up on water & food. I read after Texas was hit they were selling water at $29.99 a case ... what bastards 

It's about 6:30 pm  here in Tampa,  so far so good.   Just a little overcast.  No  real drama to report.   It seems every store is closed for obvious reasons.  We're pretty well stocked.  Plenty of  food, water, beer.  It's funny, O'Brien's the Irish pub  less than a mile from here--that parking lot must have 20 cars.   Anyways,  we're hunkered down here for the duration.  Like I said earlier,   drama probably won't happen  'til  Sunday morning.  I'm already soo over it.  Stay tuned.

Please take care and stay safe bongo. I c that some reports show that the Hurricine Irma was upgraded to a Category 4 again. 

Still here, ya'll.   It's about 08:20  in the morning in Tampa.  There appears to be a slightly heavier than drizzle rain at the moment.   Still have power--for now.   The wind hasn't been too bad.   I actually slept pretty good last night.   The Keys unfortunately,  are getting pounded right now.   So I guess the next 24 hours is going to get rough.  I have 2 older sisters that  live in Jacksonville and my phone hasn't stopped getting texts with advice.   Kind of getting annoying at this point.   I thought Irma was going to go East earlier and was going to sort of miss Tampa.  It's kind of funny I guess,  if it had,  I would be the one texting them with advice...LMAO!!    Oh well,  these things change by the hour.   I really just want this damn thing to finish so we can all get back to our jobs, routine.   Anyway,  I'm starting to sound like a broken record.  Stay tuned for the Bongo Hurricane update live from Tampa.....see 'ya.

Hi guys,  it's 4:26 pm here in Tampa,  the rain has been coming down a little heavier now and the wind has also been picking up.   This is gettin' creepy as they say the worst of it  is still many hours away. (Of course it'll be at night ).    Almost time to hit that beer,  Hell, it's 5:00 somewhere in the world....Anyways,  we still have power,  (obviously)  I can't say for how much longer.   I'm sure we'll be okay though.   I heard Irma's down to a category 3  which is a lot more palatable but I would love to see that number drop even further.   Sorry if I seem to be rambling  but I think writing about this is somehow calming.  Anyways,  for anyone affected by this,  please stay safe. 

I just heard the news and understand it is heading your way bongo.  Please take care.

yes i really do feel bad for all who may be affected by irma and i do hope it passes and everyone will be ok ty

I really hope things don't get worse. I'm following these events on CNN and Al-Jazeera from East Africa. Here we are fairly safe but the poor people in Cuba?! My prayers to Florida too.

I'm no expert but you should always avoid being near electric poles at all costs during such situations. Take care. And going into underground basements I think when it floods you can drown.

We're all okay here.  Rough night, however.  Power went out around 7:30--still out.   So it really was a dark and stormy night.   And I DO mean stormy !!! The wind was the worst of it.  It blew and howled for hours!!  Really scary.  I was just outside and there is debris (mostly tree limbs, etc.)   scattered throughout  the street and yards.   Looks like I'll be doing yard work for the next month!  Fortunately I dont see a lot of structural damage.  Guess we were lucky.   I'm sending this on my cell.  Thank you all for keeping us in you prayers.

Glad to hear you're ok.  I hope there were no fatalities.

Hey Blue, fortunately I haven't heard of any in Tampa but even 1 is too many.  The power is still out so I can only get news from my cell phone at the moment.   Gotta go, talk to you guys later.

you have some pictures ? I have never seen Tornadoes ? 

Trust me,  you don't want to see one up close.   I'll try to get some pictures in.  Right now I'm still using my cell phone.  I'll upload some as soon as I can .  

hurricanes to me are scarry,  even theough i have never been in one. just listening to some of these storys about hurricanes brings chills down my spine. thank goodness you all made it safe.