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Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers. My grandma, my pets and I made it through the storm just fine. And my house only sustained minor damage to the roof. My power's out, of course, and I don't expect it to be on for several days at a minimum, and possibly longer. I am posting this from my office over in Lakeland, where we actually have power and only minimal damage in town.

As far as I can tell, the storm center came through southern Polk County somewhere between the cities of Bartow and Lake Wales. There were two good things about it - it seems that the core of really damaging wind was very compact, and the storm moved through the area very fast. When I left my house around 5:30 yesterday, the winds were going about 15-20 mph or so, and by the time I arrived at my grandma's 20 minutes later they were already up to the 40-50 mph range (best guess). The power went out at her place about 6:15 or so when a transformer blew, and the really wild winds began about 7:00 PM But by 9:00 or so, it was pretty much all over. And thank God for that, because even in that short period of time it laid a lot of damage on this area. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if it had lingered.

Lakeland may be the only part of Polk County that has electrical power. It's out just about everywhere else I've been, traffic signals are down, and a drive which normally takes me 45 minutes or so took an hour and a half. The tree damage is just indescibable. We have a lot of very old oaks throughout the area, and lots of them have just been devastated, uprooted and/or blown to pieces. And the pieces are laying in the roads, on the power lines, on homes and cars.

Even with all that, the damage this area took is nothing compared to what happened down in Charlotte County, where Punta Gorda is located. It will take years for that area to recover from Charley. The people down there are the ones who really need our support and our prayers. But the good news is that the help is pouring in - I've seen steady streams of electrical workers, tree surgeons and emergency response personnel from all over the state, and from all over the country. I am so proud to be an American, part of the greatest, most caring and most giving nation the world has ever seen.

I've lived in Florida for 31 years, and watched a series of minor hurricanes barely graze my part of the state, watched major storms turn away at the last moment, and watched Andrew rip into South Florida in '92. But until now I had never lived through a major storm making a direct hit on where I live. And if I never have to live through it again it will be too soon. I won't be posting too much in the coming days as I clean up and wait for the lights to come back on, but please do know that I deeply appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. Freepers are the greatest!

Steve