Titusville - survivers

Maybe it lost a frond or two  but it's otherwise undamaged - right at the end of our dock

Titusville saw a lot of wind from hurricane Irma, sustained 54 mph with gusts to 74 officially recorded. Yet, there were not that many trees down. There were some but it was not widespread devastation. What amazes me is how few palm trees fell. I think all I saw in driving around Titusville was one palm  tree down. So what makes palm tress so good in surviving high winds? The answer appears more complicated than I imagined. On the negative side, they do not have a tap root that goes down many feet. Most of their roots are surface roots. On the other hand, they don't have side branches to catch the wind. All they have is a top-knot of leaves that are very flexible and bend away from high winds. Add to that the flexible trunk and you have a recipe for surviving storms.

On the other hand, the banana tree lost everything a foot above the ground

In the marina here, there's not a single palm tree down despite the direct exposure to the high winds of Irma. However, the banana tree at the end of our dock did not do so well. The only thing left are leaves growing out of the root system. We'll have to wait awhile for the next crop of bananas from that tree!

As many of you know, I have webcams spread all through the house, some pointed outside and some inside. One is pointed at the furnace and in the course of checking out the house today over the cams, I noticed that the furnace was off!  The boiler temperature was down to 61F and a red light was flashing indicating some kind of error. I called my oil company and they came out in the afternoon to fix the problem. They have instructions on how to enter the house and disable the alarms although they don't have access to disable the webcams. I watched them repair the furnace and all is now well. Having webcams in the house is a great help. They only cost in the $50 to $70 range each and they give great peace of mind. Of course, you need an active WiFi signal which I have from my router which I leave on while we're away. I often get the question, "How do you know your furnace has a problem?" To which I answer, "I can see it through my webcam!" It seems to amaze some people that I can still see my house even through we're in Florida.

Somewhat of a sunset, looking through the boats and railroad tracks

It remains hot and we're in boat preparation mode for our trip north next week. That includes more laundry, boat washdown, new power cord, adding lines, taking on water, and more. The most expensive part is renting a car for two months, I wish there was another option but we don't like to fly with Hoolie.