Hurricane through a pinhole: the post-Irma post

By Holly Lisle

The pictures that follow were taking during calmer periods in the storm, through one of the tiny holes in the bathroom shutter. Smallest window, least danger from opening it.

On some of the pictures I took, you can see the curve of the holes where I didn’t have the lens lined up quite right.

We lost trees, lost power three times (but it came back up each time, so we were really, really lucky compared to most of the folks in the area), and we had the slashing rain and screaming wind that come from high sustained winds and higher gusts.

The shutters and our homemade hardware held. We had no way to see what the damage outside was, though. You don’t want to put your eye up to the hole and chance debris being blown through at that moment.

I figured out that the lens of my cellphone camera would fit against the hole in the bathroom shutter, though, and I could look at the screen and see what was out there, whether trees or light posts or power lines were down. And while I was looking in between bands, I took a few pictures.

The whole process was frightening and exhausting. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in two weeks.

Sheldon was a trooper. He kept going to the windowsills trying to see what was going on outside, but most of the time, he sat on laps and snuggled and stayed with us.

All three of us were glad for his company.

We came out the other side of this with everything intact but our nerves, took the shutters down yesterday, have sunlight in the house again for the first time in about a week and a half (for most rooms).

And Monday, I’ll be back to work.

Thank you to every person who offered comfort during this. We didn’t have Internet until Tuesday, and that was spotty. My daughter in Georgia, where the infrastructure hasn’t been hardened against hurricanes, was without power for a couple of days, and just got her internet back steadily yesterday.

And if you missed the notice, and related to the hurricane, and my realization that I’m going to be 57 on the October 8th, and I don’t want to face another thirty years (or even one more year) watching hurricane maps and filling empty soda bottles with tap water and wrangling heavy shutters over windows and wondering if this is going to be the time we lose everything (again)…

I put together a Patreon to fund the writing of my fiction, with the plan being to have my fiction create a fund for moving us to a hurricane-less place.

Patreon is a site that allows any creator’s fans to pay small monthly amounts to fund the creation of work, in exchange for monthly rewards from the creator. The site handles the money and the delivery of rewards, lets patrons know about new posts and reward delivery, and gives folks like me a little security in knowing there’ll be some money each month to cover bills while we create.

If you’ll take a look at the page, consider becoming a member, or let someone else know about the page, I would really appreciate it.

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