The Aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby

Once the name was handed down to this possible hurricane, everyone's minds immediately went to the Little Debby Snackcake franchise.  What damage could a snack cake do?  And as most people who live in the south along the coastline, they start things off being very skeptical.  (Unlike me, from the midwest, I hear the word "hurricane" and I'm SO ready to evacuate!). For those of you who don't know, I am currently in South Carolina, so they are no stranger to hurricanes!  But I am in Beaufort and this place almost has a kind of magical protection around it to where it doesn't see nearly the damages as the surrounding areas.  The way the islands are set up, almost protects the town from most hurricanes and storms.  Don't get me wrong, it does get hit and when it does, they are whoppers!  (My first experience was with Hurricane Matthew in 2015.  The devastation was astounding!  I drove around with my jaw dropped (I mean, AFTER I returned from evacuating!) and was shocked at the fallen trees, damaged homes and my most vivid memory... a boat dropped in the middle of the airport landing strip!  
Make no mistake... they can do some serious damage!
Now poor Charleston, only 2 hours up the coastline, gets hammered every. single. time.  They have such issues with flooding and every storm takes its toll on this beautiful, historical town.
So here, in Beaufort, everyone was going about their business, watching the news by the hour, but... just going along.  They encouraged me to "stay put, it's not going to be that bad."  Meanwhile in Charleston and all of Florida and prepping for major damage.  Sandbags, evacuation, boarding the windows, stocking up on supplies... all the things.
Being raised by a man who thought you should always be prepared for any kind of disaster event, I too, was automatically stocking up on can food, batteries, candles... you know, the usual.
She came in hard, slamming against Florida with intense fierceness, but couldn't quite reach hurricane status. Little Debby was going to have to be content as a Tropical Storm.   And she stormed her best.
Seven people died. (Two from falling trees!) She did a lot of damage to the trees and flooding and everyone's efforts did not go to waste.

Here, hunkered down in my little camper, I listened as the torrential rain hammered everything in its path.  Believe it or not, I was most worried about my lavender plants that are still considered "babies", being less than a year old.  They were unprotected, and are not fans of large amounts of water.  
I could hear branches crashing down on the roof and soon after, drops of water made their presence inside my office.  (Horror of horrors because that is where every scrap of paper and inventory for Lavender Letters is stored!!!). I couldn't go out and find the cause with the storm raging.  Then another blow.  A log, somehow hit sideways and busted the cover of one of my windows. (not glass) That also broke the seal.  Water started to pour in my office floor!  It was about one in the morning, so I was up and out of bed tossing all of my boxes, and drawers and supplies into my livingroom.  Every towel I could find went about soaking up the water creating a pond on the office floor.  (And y'all make fun of me for having "extra" towels!! Lol!)

Eventually the storm moved on.  It spun out into the ocean, took a turn back in for another run, but then finally dispersed, dropping only 14"-20" of rain instead of the anticipated 24"- 40".  So that's a win.
On the first sunny day, I went out and repaired the ding on the roof and decided to completely close off the window, sealing it shut on the inside and out.  There was also damage to the back corner of the camper, which probably helped the rain come in... I sealed that off too.
While I'm congratulating myself for my maintenance skills, (They become almost a requirement if you're going to own a camper!) I attempted to settle back into regular life.
That's when I started to see all the additional "tenants". 
Bugs. All of them.  Even those big huge gross ones,  Yeah... you know.  They were all taking cover from the flooded areas and thought my home to be welcoming and comfortable.
As much as I love the outdoors.  And as much as I don't bother bugs and spiders on the outside... Lord help them if they come INSIDE!
It only took that first night when a bug crawled down my arm WHILE I WAS IN BED!  for me to FREAK OUT!!!  This was definitely against my rules!
I ordered my go-to pet and human friendly diatomaceous earth and WAGED WAR!
I pulled everything away from the walls and I promise you, there was a lot of squealing as these invaders jumped from their hiding places to seek refuge elsewhere!  The D.E. is a white powder.  And they critters are supposed to tromp through it and take it back to where they live and share it with their neighbors and friends... which means, I'm not supposed to kill them.  Admittedly, some may have had their lives squished from them at the telling of this story. 
My little house is COVERED in white powder.  It trails along the edges of every wall, every opening, inside the cabinets and even on the mattress (under the mattress cover).  
If you have never used this, it works really well for fleas and ants!  You just have to be patient with white powder everywhere for a while.
And that's the stage that I'm in right now.  I getting ready to pack up and move, so I do NOT want to take these uninvited guests with me!
The last and final issue Little (Angry) Debby dropped on me, was my tires.  With so much water, my tires sunk into the ground... it's going to be interesting trying to get them out.  But that is another adventure for another day.

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