MarieElaine

What a great story and a great family it seems from their contributions to charity.  Is the house occupied today?

It looks to me like the car rolled and stopped doing so when it hit the house.

Is there somewhere in our community where donations can be made?

 Barbuda, being a flat small island has been completely taken out by this storm.  I read this morning that Mexico is now being affected by the little hurricane hovering in the Western Caribbean.  How much more can these poor people take?

My family in New Tampa are staying now that the biggest threat per the governor is storm surge and they live pretty far from the coast.  Hope this is the right decision for them and their neighbors.  Time will tell.

Once again Hollywood has an answer for everything!!!!  LOL  

Wow this in Mexico and two hurricanes in the Gulf smacking the heck out of the Caribbean and heading towards the U.S.  Did we do something wrong to deserve this?  Very glad I live here but worry about those being affected by all this tragedy.  My family lives in FL and am in constant touch with them.  Prayers for all!

I took advantage of this offer two years ago.  While they generally only take one Xray (in my experience) they took two for me since I have had a biopsy in the past.  As per Penny, they don't squeeze the s--t out of you with their equipment.  You would never get a mammogram this cheap in the States.  A good deal!

There are online U.S. banks you can use that charge no or very little fees because they do not have brick and mortar locations.  If you are a veteran of the U.S. military, you might want to consider USAA (I use this online bank).  While you still pay that horrible Panamanian fee at the the ATM, USAA reimburses $15.00 per month for fees charged by any ATM.  I get this every month and it offsets what I pay in fees to use the Panamanian ATM's.

In Canada I always packed lunches for my kids and only learned when they had grown and had children of their own that they used to throw their fruit out.  I sent them a bill for $2,000 each for the wasted food and they laughed!  They are both now discovering how difficult it is to get their children to eat right.  Pay back is a wonderful thing!  I hope that the children here are all about eating what is given to them and resist the junk food that is all around them.

I lived 21 feet above sea level on a lake that was connected to the Anclote River and was never evacuated or flooded by storm surge.  There are areas in Pasco county that lie below sea level and flood during heavy rains (urban planning at its worst).  Tarpon Springs proper is on the coast and anyone living right on the coast and is less than 10 feet above sea level has problems with flooding during heavy rains and storm surge.   It is not just hurricanes that cause this flooding.  There are parts of Miami that do the same thing during normal rains and the real problem is sewage backing up into the lying water.  You will notice in the picture above, there is no flooding in surrounding areas and that is because these areas are not in the flood zone and are likely higher.  Anyone buying in Florida needs to do their homework because a lot of areas are built on land below or just barely above sea level.  I was in the building industry for 23 years in Florida and you would not believe how certain builders are given permits to build in flood areas.  They target these areas because the land is cheap.  Doing ones homework is vital when buying property in Florida.  Remember, Florida is a big sand dune lying on top of water aquafers.  Also, when these aquafers are drained for potable water, house are swallowed up by cave ins called sinkholes.  Florida has it's share of issues just like anywhere else.

I apologize for upsetting those on this site however, I was quoting actual hurricanes making landfall in Tampa Bay.  Obviously the year of 2004 & 2005 was a bad one for all of Florida but the Tampa Bay area was lucky in that direct landfall did not happen there.  Tornadoes and water spouts can happen anytime and are not necessarily hurricane related.  Storm surge and high winds as a result of hurricanes elsewhere in the state are devastating and it was never my intention to minimize these events and the destruction they can cause.  I lived near Tarpon Springs on a lake for 23 years and was never impacted by more than wind and rain and was never evacuated.  This is a fact.  I did volunteer on the west coast to help those affected directly by a hurricane that hit in the Boca Raton area and saw first hand what a direct hit can do.  I have never seen so many damaged homes in my life so please do not assume that I am insensitive.  Right now my sympathies lie with the animals that have been displaced by Harvey the where the newest hurricane heading for the Gulf will impact.

34 minutes ago, TwoSailors said:

e lived in Tampa  2004-2006. In 2004 Florida had 4 hurricanes that made landfall. We had to evacuate for 2 of them. After that, most insurance companies pulled out of the state and Florida had to have a State run homeowners insurance policies. Our home owners insurance tripled in 6 months.

The last actual HURRICANE to hit Tampa Bay was in 1921.   See; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_Tampa_Bay_hurricane  What you experienced was storm surge on hurricanes that hit north or south of Tampa Bay.  If you lived on the barrier islands, the coast line or in the Bayshore Blvd area you would have been evacuated because of storm surge.  Bayshore Blvd. can flood when there are multiple days of just heavy rain.  More damage seems to occur in the Tampa Bay area due to tornadoes or water spouts than actual hurricanes hitting the area.  Either way, being evacuated is not pleasant and hopefully you did not have any flooding in your home.

LOL, love your pics JudyS!  While the help we give each other is heart warming, the help pet lovers extend during these times is also note worthy.  Saw people loading up pets on the news yesterday and was thinking about Katrina and the number of pets relocated and adopted/fostered by caring people in other states.  Hope these animals eventually find their way back home.

I lived in Florida for 23 years just north of Tampa Bay and, other than a few tropical storms, I never experienced a full blown hurricane but the few tropical storms that hit our area where blown way out of proportion by the media.  I even lived on a lake that was remotely connected by the Anclote river to the Gulf and never had to worry about high waters.  While I agree that there have been many horrible hurricanes in Florida, from my experience in the area I lived in, the anticipated affects were way out of proportion to the actual events.  The tragic events in Texas are worse than anticipated however, any little storms that come into the Gulf are treated like cat 7 hurricanes by the media.  

ARF does such good work!  Our abandoned and neglected furry friends need forever homes.

As a former resident of Florida, the media plays up the worst possible scenarios and sometimes the reality is a lot less horrific.  Has anyone spoken with friends/family in Texas about the extent of the damage?

I agree in part Judy.  Once here they should be processed for possible integration into Panama especially those who have specific skills and education.  Those with serious crime issues should be sent back.  If they are here to try and pass through to another country, they should be turned back as Costa Rica is not as friendly as Panama is with this issue and the U.S. certainly is not going to take them considering the current administration.

1 hour ago, Bonnie said:

Since this appears to be addressing the crux of the problem, I wonder if the Panamanian government will let up on retirees. I wish they would do something formal. I know any number of people stressed and distressed by the strict enforcement of immigration regulations.

We can only pray!  

Chiriqui is a simple 20 minute bus ride for those of us who do not have cars and takes the whole morning to go through it is so large.  I believe it has something for everyone.

Most online banks reimburse withdrawal fees.  I get a max reimbursement of $15.00 per month from USAA.  There are no transfer fees either.  The fees in Panama are outrageous!  Multibank is charging $250 per year to expats with accounts at their banks and then they are still subject to transfer fees, cheque, minimum balance fees etc.

While I am a big advocate of education, I think "teaching abstinence" will do very little.  The hormones of teens are popping all over the place at this age and experimentation will happen.  Think back to your high school years.  Teaching about birth control I think would be slightly more beneficial.  27 pregnancies a day, wow!!!!!

I have a brother-in-law in Vancouver who has a whole patch of them on his property.  He actually won the lottery in Canada in the 80's and he did not wear a foil conical hat.  Coincidence?  LOL

22 hours ago, Bonnie said:

This claim, and the article and science on which it was based, has been retracted by National Geographic. See  http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/30/narcolepsy-paper-retracted/

I contacted Gert Lammers, president of the European Narcolepsy Network, who originally told me that “the results are very important, but they need to do a replication study in a large group of patients and controls.”

Quoted from the article you sent.  There needs to be replication of the original study.  The program I saw stated that the only thing in common with these children stricken with narcolepsy is the vaccine.  There are hundreds of children in Europe and Britain who have this problem and there are class action suits against the drug company.  While no science is perfect, I am glad this particular pediatric vaccine has been pulled from production.  Too much controversy over these issues and everyone has an opinion and belief.  None are 100% right and no opinion is 100% wrong.  I believe in doing my research before having my body injected with something that may be a  hit or miss.

I have a friend in Canada whose daughter died from immunization.  The virus' moved into her organs and slowly broke them down.   She was 15 years old when she died.  I was informed at that time that 1 in 10,000 children dies from immunization but very few die of measles.  A well respected person from this community worked as a drug rep for "Big Pharma" and she will tell you what they push on people that have deadly effects.  Look at the thalidimine (sp?) problem of the 60's or the dalkan shield issue of the 70's to name a few.  All were approved even though they knew there were problems.  Someone has to pay for the development and a few deaths and deformities are worth the risk.  I viewed a program on Nat Geo that outlined the most recent problem with a vaccine given to children in Britain and the EU that caused them all to develop narcolepsy.  Talk about ruining lives, they cannot drive, work or socialize.  There will always be controversy on both sides of the argument but I believe we have to educate ourselves and determine what is best for us as individuals.

Congratulations to all!!!!!

Only my opinion of the situation which I believe works for me.  Everyone needs to evaluate their own situation.  Where does one go in Boquete to get the vaccine, do you know Bonnie?