This is my post for #freewriters 3001 prompt audience of one hosted by @mariannewest
We do have a few areca palms (very few) that might be sellable in the spring, but for the most part, the tallest ones are fried. I would not doubt that it will be another two years before they are good enough to sell, if they make it.
This is what the dwarf Cavendish bananas look like. Yesterday I wrapped the stalk that is on one of them, but if the plant dies, so will they.
Maybe I should have tried harder to cover these bananas. I do not understand why they do not look like the Cavendish, they are taller and were more in the wind, but they still have green leaves. I do not think the bananas will make it since tonight will be colder than last night, and since the wind is to die out, we will not only have a freeze like last night, but they are saying we will have frost, too.
Last night, an hour before dark, my husband told me the huge piece of plastic that my sister helped me cover my tall plants with blew off.
We were trying to get it pulled back over the plants and I was backing up while pulling on it. I backed up on one of the bricks that I had on it and fell straight back, landing on my back and twisting my already hurting knee. All I could do was lay there until I stopped hurting. This time we tied ropes to each corner and tied the other ends to trees. I put more bricks on it and threw a step ladder there,too. It stayed.
The temperature got down to 25 last night, and even though my husband turned the outside faucets on and let them drip, they still froze. You can not make it out but there was an icicle hanging from it.
I let the bathroom sink drip, but I guess we did not have a good enough drip, because we had no water in the house this morning. My husband hung a heat lamp over the well pump to get the switch on it to unfreeze, and we still did not have water until the lines thawed. We have a 5 gallon bucket outside for the dogs water and it had a layer of thick ice.
My husband has been watching Marketplace for a folding extra large twin bed frame so when he goes camping this spring or summer, he can get a thin mattress and not have to sleep on a cot. A lady in Palm Bay listed one, so today we drove there to get it. On our way, we could see smoke from a big fire. The woods along I-95 were on fire. As we passed it, we could see another fire.
As we got closer to the address we were going to, the fire looked closer. When we arrived at the lady's house, she was an audience of one standing in her front yard watching the smoke. A helicopter flew overhead with a big bucket of water. She told us she had been watching it and was worried, they had just bought the house and she was still unpacking.
We bought the bed, and on our drive home, traffic was backed up on the local main street because they had closed I-95 because of the other fire. We finally made it home at 3:30. An hour ago, 5:00, the lady sent me a text, hoping we made it home alright, and telling me the firemen evacuated her street, she had to leave her house, and does not know if her home is still there. I hope they saved her home and the others.
photos are mine