See that narrow black patch just east of Belle Glade? That's where I am. Damn did I get lucky. Tammi did not. She's feeling it now.

I hope you don't mind but I posted this graphic of Charley after copying it from here, you're credited ;)

Me too, John. As always, I have credit where it is due!

Power just came back on here, about sundown. We were very lucky here, in Collier County. I watched the track on the Weather Channel and the NHC site, as the thing came straight north, dodged left around us, then turned to starboard sooner than expected and whacked Charlotte County good and hard. We got our shutters up in good time, with some hooraw over not finding the critical clips which are not made anymore. (Neither Dad nor self can find, or stow, anything around here since Mom died)
As late as twenty minutes to eleven AM on Friday, I walked out into the yard and demonstrated that there wasn't enough wind to snuff a candle. At 3:40 pm, there was a cat 4 'cane coming ashore not too far north of here. All we lost here was the contents of our refrigerators. I continue to be amazed at the oblivious silliness of my annoying insane (They voluntarily paid money to move here) neighbors in the face of life-threatening, or life-ending, dangers. Hey, it's Florida.

P.S. What's the first thing the crazy transplanted Midwestern Yankee golf geezers did after the weather improved?

Mowed their lawns.

To continue:

Eff their damn' lawns! I have counted 6 dozen (at least) not-quite-ripe mangos I had to pick up from the ground. Maybe 10% will ripen enough to be edible. What is it with those people? They claim they moved here because they like the climate, but they never go outdoors. They have an opportunity to plant really neat fruit trees, which grow nowhere else in the Continental US, but all they plant are itchy ugly St. Augustine grass lawns and exotic decorative plants which get blown away in the first suggestion of a gale, let alone hurricane. (Our native sand oaks and mahogany tree, and our mango trees, came through just fine. Even the brittle avocado trees didn't lose a sizeable limb.)
And they want to play pasture pool, when they ought to be out shooting and fishing. And they all speak in those Godawful Midwestern accents which hurt one's ears. And ...

Well, better stop now before I get upset. Very sorry about those poor dead folks in the badly hit area, and more so for their friends and families, but, well, uh, FLORIDA! Argghhh!

2 gees, 3 aitches!