Dennis the Menace

Wednesday morning the phone rang early.
The answering machine did it's thing, and then I heard,
"This is your sister and I need to talk to ya."
She sounded stressed..........

Sis lives in Pensacola.
Dennis was comin' to call.

Our Dad died two years ago.
Mother had a minor stroke about a year later. Her eyesight was adversely affected by the stroke, so living by herself became an impossibility. Since Sara Jean and I have always hoped to retire in the Florida Panhandle, Sis and I made the decision that moving Mom to Pensacola would be a great idea!

When Ivan came to call last year, the wonderful facility Mom lives in suffered only minor cosmetic damage.
But he blew the roof off Sis's home.
She and her hubby have been living in a motor home in her driveway since, supervising the workers rebuilding her home.
They were within weeks of having the work complete.

We picked up the phone.
My sister, having gotten to the end of her rope and tied a knot, began to cry.........

"I need you to come down and get Mom. I'm workin' a shift tonight, and we are loading up the camper and buggin' out tomorrow with the critters."

It's an 11 hour drive for us. We started down Thursday morning, spent the night with Mom, then headed back North Friday morning.
22 hours driving in 48 hours! Whew!

It's comforting to have Mother and her cat here. It's comforting to know my sister is safe, well East of the storm track.

Now we wait to see if Sis has a roof.......and a home.

And we are doing some re-thinking about the idea of retiring in the panhandle.

I don't want to be a target for Ivan, Dennis, and their ilk every year!