tim and lisa cocking

It has been wet and windy and probably will for another day with the way this storm is tracking. But apart from loosing power for a couple of minutes it’s been pretty much a non-event. It has made these guys appear in the streets.

Our friend counted 27 of them in the sub while jogging this morning.

This is from the channel 13 news:
The walking catfish uses its pectoral fin to shuffle up the street and can breathe out of water as long as it stays moist.

Dianna Fernandez maintains the lawns in the area and drove up on the incredible sight.

“I was, like, ‘No way, there’s fish in the street.’ And I kept going further and further, seeing fish everywhere. In driveways. I’ve never seen anything like it,”

Paul Shafland, a scientist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said walking catfish can travel short distances on land as long as they stay moist.

“Scientists say these walking catfish are pretty tough. They actually live in storm drains, and when it rains a lot they come up with the water and start walking around the streets,”
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It has been raining a lot! Apparently they are quite edible. Dinner tonight?

Not quite sure what to think about this. We’re not too nervous, but we’ve battened down the hatches as best we can. We still have a day or so to watch and see where she goes.

We went to meet the girls’ new teachers at school yesterday. Ellie and Micah are going to be in kindergarten, Bethany in 2nd grade. They’re attending our neighborhood public school, Moss Park Elementary. MPE is a great school, open just a year. It was a relief school for this area, to help with overcrowding at another elementary school.

I grew up in a fairly large suburban/rural school district. I was in a graduating class of about 400. My elementary school had what I think was a typical population for the time. From what I remember, there were usually about 3 classes for each grade (K-6), probably 20-25 kids in each class. So a total of about 21 classes, and a student population of maybe 525.

My kids’ school is very different. First of all, it’s K-5 like most elementary schools are now–one fewer grade than where I went to school. But instead of 3 classes for each grade, there are 7 or 8 classes per grade–a total of 45 classes if I’ve counted correctly. Even though the school has only been open a year, they added four portable classrooms this year. From what I’ve heard, the enrollment is around 900. Amazing. Another thing I found really interesting when the school opened is that they don’t have a gymnasium. There is a covered outdoor pavilion (attached to the building) where they have PE classes.

The other big difference compared to my childhood is the number of parents who drive their kids to school. I rode the bus to school from K-12, just like most students did (I lived in a very spread-out district). Florida state law says that schools have to bus children if they live more than two miles from the school. So those of us who live 1.999 miles from the school are out of luck. Last year we carpooled and joined the ranks of the “car loop”; this year, we’re hoping to have the girls ride their bikes in (escorted by us). It remains to be seen how well this will work!

People keep asking me how we’re doing with Tim gone. The answer is, pretty well! We’re keeping very busy with friends and outings, and outings with friends. Today we met up with some friends at Sea World. It was very hot and sunny when we arrived, but within an hour or two it was pouring… which was great! It was cooler, less crowded, and who cares about getting a little wet? We ended up staying much longer than we expected to (and quite a lot longer than our friends) and had a great time.

It’s summer in central Florida, and that means afternoon thunderstorms. Some days they’re no big deal; others…

We have a small backyard courtyard/patio area that is nice, but very hot and sunny. We got one of those shade shelter “gazebo” things from Target not too long ago so that the courtyard would be more usable. You know, one of these:

(Only instead of looking all grown-up and elegant like that, ours shades the kids’ old Little Tikes slide/climber thingy so they can play out there without getting cooked.) The one problem with the gazebo is that we haven’t been able to figure out how to stake or otherwise secure it to the ground, since it’s sitting on a brick patio. We’ve been pondering and talking about doing something about that, but haven’t yet.

So today, just as we were getting dinner ready, this pops up in my email…

… A Severe Thunderstorm Warning remains in effect…

At 600 PM EDT… National Weather Service Doppler radar continued to indicate a severe thunderstorm [moving into our area] capable of producing quarter size hail… and damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.

Shortly after the warning, the storm hit and we started watching the gazebo with some concern. Mind you, there’s only about 3 feet between it and the house, the fence and the garage. Our concern was justified when we saw the whole structure begin to levitate. It lifted about six inches and started drifting alarmingly toward the fence. Tim and I looked at each other and ran out the door into the storm. We each grabbed a post, pulled the structure off the fence and back down to the ground, and held on. By now it was pouring–we were both soaked to the skin in less than a minute. Then the hail started–some of it nearly as big as ping-pong balls! I wish there had been a way to get a picture or video of us, but we were a little preoccupied.

We were probably out there for about 5 minutes, holding on to the gazebo for (its) dear life, getting pelted by hail and soaked by a deluge of Noahic proportions, when the wind began to shift and lessen slightly and the lightning started picking up. At that point we decided that the risk of the gazebo being either slammed into our house or carried over the fence and slammed into somebody else’s house was now outweighed by the risk of death by lightning. So we went inside.

The storm did move out, and the gazebo stayed put. I was amazed that the neither the metal frame nor the fabric top on the gazebo were damaged at all. The only real damage was to my elbow, where I got hit hard by a big piece of hail (imagine a big ice cube at 60 mph). But tomorrow we are going to figure out how to attach that gazebo to the brick patio! Any suggestions?