This is my horse gallopping towards one of her friends. 

Huricaines and Life in Fla

This year (2004) has been one of the worst huricaine seasons in history. I live on the East coast of Florida and we have been hit by three of the four major storms. First Charley came in from the west and drenched us with rain. Followed in a couple of weeks by Frances which was pretty devastating. Then came Jeanne. A direct hit on the Treasure Coast. My neighborhood was turned in what look like a war zone. There were several tornados spawned by the storm and the damage was unbelievable. My house only lost most of the screens on the pool enclosure, a lot of trees and the fence I have for my dogs.

When Frances was predicted to hit the Treasure Coast as a catagory 3-5 storm, we decided to evacuate our horses and dogs and cat and head for the west coast. While trying to get out of "Dodge" we took two vehicles, each fully loaded with all kinds of stuff. We headed out on Sept. 2nd at about 3:00 pm. I was following my wife, who was pulling the trailer and had all the other animals with her. After dark we had only gotten about half way to our eventual destination. I couldn't see anything in front of my wife. She tapped the brakes 3 times which I rightfully interpreted as a warning, so I checked my rearview mirror and saw that it was safe to stop. I did so and put the emergency flashers on. What happened next is forever burned into my memory. A huge tractor trailer sped past us, partially in our lane. The wake from the truck caused the horse trailer to slam into the guardrail on the westbound side and the truck to veer into the east bound lane hitting the guardrail on that side. Somehow she managed to get the truck turned back towards the west bound lane. Both truck and trailer went up on two wheels and slammed down onto all fours just as she crashed into the west bound guardrail, five feet before it ended. On the other side of the guardrail is a ten foot drop into a drainage ditch. Fortunately she was wearing her seatbelt as were the two dogs, the cat was in a transport cage. As soon as I saw that she was safe I went to the trailer to see what had happened to the horses. I got the door opened to find both animals on the floor and the walls of the trailer were very badly damaged. We got my mare out without too much trouble, but her horse had slid under one of the stall dividers and couldn't get up. She yelled for someone to come help her move the horse and a group of men came to her aid. She told them to pull on his tail to get him out from under the divider. They did so, very reluctantly. With a lot of coaxing from my wife her horse got up and out of the trailer. She handed the lead ropes to me to hold the horses while she went to get some medication for hers. He started to get a little antsy due to the growing commotion and started to back into me. I'm not very steady on my feet, so I pushed him off of me, but I had put one of my hands directly on his injured shoulder. He got mad and kicked me in the legs with his left front hoof. This knocked me off my feet and I hit my head on the bumper of the truck, breaking my neck. I was transported to Lake Placid Hospital and they determined that my injury needed better care than they were able to provide so I was air-lifted to Florida Hospital in Orlando where there was a neurosurgeon waiting for me.

He had some X-rays taken and told me that 80 to 90% of patients with a break like mine either die or are paralyzed from thwe neck down. He said he was going to operate and try to prevent the above from being my future. I told him that I had prayed for the Lord's guidence and that He guide the surgeon's hands. I awoke in the ICU and had complete control of all my limbs but my neck was wrapped up in a sturdy collar (which I'll be wearing for another few months). Small price to pay to be alive and mobile. I spent the next week in the hospital watching Frances cover the entire state of Florida with devistation.

Then, after coming home we were told that Jeanne was headed for the Treasure Coast. We decided that we would hunker down and sit this out in our house. I had told a few of my neighbors that they could come over if they felt unsafe in their homes since one of the houses had already suffered damage from Frances. Two couples took me up on my offer, one with their young daughter as well as lots of supplies.

I've got to go for now, but will finish this in another post.