Before Milton

We live in Orange County, Florida, about 25 minutes west of Orlando and an hour and a half east of Tampa. Yes, we are in the path of Hurricane Milton. No, we don't have mandatory (or even recommended) evacuation orders, and will be staying put. I'm glad to avoid being on the highways with all those poor souls from the storm surge areas of the Gulf Coast. The city of Tampa alone has more than 400,000 people, and the evacuation areas run up and down the coast in the area where Milton is expected to land. We are on high ground in the middle of the state, so we're not expecting any flash flooding. However, there will be WIND and RAIN and this will be a messy mess.  

Tom is putting plywood up over windows. We have sandbags for the doors at the back of the house facing the pool, which we are draining quite a bit to make way for additional rain. We're pulling every thing we can into the house and garage. We have bottled water and lots of food. I'm doing laundry in anticipation of losing power. I half filled zip lock gallon bags with water and stuck them in the freezer to help keep things cool for a couple days. Today I will get large heavy duty water proof plastic bags to store electronics and important documents in. I'll fill the bathtub with water for washing up.  We have a solar lantern, batteries, and plenty of candles.  

I think we are as ready as we can be. Wish us luck!