This is Sierra.  My rescued pit-bull mix.  We think she’s mixed with Weimaraner.  However, it doesn’t really matter.  She was adopted due to Hurricane Irma.  Failed Foster at it’s finest!  Being that I love animals of all kinds I’m volunteered to shelter animals when inclement weather arises (Hurricane Season in the Florida Keys).   The FKSPCA (Florida Keys SPCA) which is not affiliated with the ASPCA, is a non-profit, independent, private organization.  If you’d like to donate to them it would greatly help the animals under their care.

Sierra’s story has a mostly unknown history prior to being brought to the FKSPCA mere days before Hurricane Irma.  When the shelter found her she had been running around Shrimp Road on Stock Island (The Key next to Key West).  It was visible that she had puppies at some point, was malnourished, and her coat was covered scabs.   The shelter had called me to see if I’d look after a very timid but sweet dog they had just found during the hurricane.  Which I eagerly agreed to do.

Now, you may wonder, why didn’t I already adopt an animal at this point?  My rule pre-Sierra was that I’d wait until I bought a house (check) and fix it up (not checked) with the limited money I had for renovations.  I wanted to “puppy-proof” my house prior to adopting my first fur child.  Yeah, I foster failed with the help of my mom (Sierra’s her first grand anything), my numerous neighbors (who loved her at first sight), and Sierra’s sweet demeanor.

When I arrived at the shelter she was so timid, curled up in the back corner of the kennel, and had depressed puppy dog eyes for days.  :Insert: Instant awww poor baby heart melt.  The shelter had packed her up with a to-go care bag, including: Food, toys, blankets, treats, harness, and leash.  In order to make the transition from shelter kennel to unknown new environment I had spent some time with her in the kennel so she’d know I wasn’t a threat (stranger danger!) and she’d be fine with me.  We loaded up my SUV and headed back to my house.

She had the proverbial red carpet rolled out for her.  The princess was even carried upstairs to the house because walking wasn’t gonna happen at that point.  She had her own sleeping spot on the floor with blanket, her own spot on the couch with blanket, food and water right next to her, and all the toys out and ready to be played with.

She didn’t move from her blanket.  So we watched “The Secret Life of Pets” to try to make her new environment less foreboding.

For the first few days, I had to physically carry her (she’s 50 lbs!!!) up and down the stairs to use the bathroom, and upstairs to my bedroom to sleep at night and back down in the morning.  Spoiled dog even got to sleep in the bed with me!  Since where I work hadn’t gotten the green light for personnel to be released in advance of the hurricane, Sierra had the whole downstairs to her disposal while I was at work.   Have to give her credit for no accidents in the house during that time too!

Her demeanor was incredible.  She didn’t bark or run around like crazy, she just laid on her blankets and watched what was going on around her.  When my work finally gave the OK to go home in advance of the hurricane, Sierra and I just hung out at the house getting it ready for Hurricane Irma’s arrival.

Initially, the plan was to ride out the hurricane. It was only at Category 3 at the time and not expected to directly hit Key West.  We were in an elevated townhouse in the center unit rated for a Category 3.  We’d of been fine.  Well, mother nature has a way of throwing some curveballs last minute.  About 36 hours before the Hurricane Irma was supposed to reach the Keys, she decided Key West was her new landfall target with a projected increase to a Category 5.  Ha, not hanging around for that!  I’m crazy but not stupid.  We packed up last minute with my friend who was going to ride out the hurricane at my house.

About 1am, Sierra, my friend, and I hit the road headed for the mainland en route to my mom’s.  Side note: Driving over the Seven Mile Bridge in the middle of the road on the bridge was something else.  We felt the bridge swaying from the first few bands of the hurricane reaching the Keys.  Sierra was in the back of my SUV sleeping.  Such a good dog.

Now, in my life and I don’t know why, there’s always something crazy that happens to me in the most inconvenient of times.  Without fail.   The three of us made it safely out of the Keys only to start running low on gas.  Well, we had known there were gas shortages due to people evacuating from the hurricane.  Irma was expected to head up the East Coast of Florida initially and that’s incidentally the same side of Florida US-1 reaches the mainland on.  Thankfully, someone developed an app to locate gas stations with gas still available.  My co-pilot friend was tasked with finding one of those gas stations.  Slim pickens for sure, we located a gas station.  After driving around in circles looking for this gas station we found it….on the other side of the road where I had shut off my SUV to conserve fuel.  My SUV didn’t want to start now.

So there we are, passed out pitbull mix in the back and my friend and I trying to figure out how to get my SUV started again.  The gas station was a stones throw away, full of on duty police officers  (not pictured) who didn’t have jumper cables, and a station that had gas but no gas cans due thief that had just occured.  It gets crazier,  about 4 o’clock in the morning we had managed to get help from a guy on parole (who sounded like he just robbed the place…still not sure but he did have a gas can with him) and another gentleman who happened upon us to get a jumper cables to get the SUV started again and drive it over to the gas station. We were back on the road to mom’s and knew the SUV was NOT going to be turned off until we reached her house!

We arrived at my mom’s about 8 or 9 in the morning.  Usually it only takes about 6 hours to get there. Not this time. We unloaded the SUV, thankful we made it and were able to contact my mom with enough time for her to reach the house at the same time we did. My friend was picked up by his sister shortly after. Another side note: My mom had been planning on staying at a friend’s during the hurricane and the entire time I was trying to head her way I couldn’t reach her.  My phone was the only one working out of the two we had on us and the charger in the SUV did not want to work either! When it rains, it pours!

Sierra now had to get accustomed to yet another new place with a hurricane quickly approaching.  My mom has a cat named Star.  My mom’s neighbor’s nickname for this cat is “The Egg with Legs” and she is.  Fluffy and huge.  My mom and I both weren’t sure how they’d get along.  Sierra’s demeanor pulled through again.  Neither one of them showed any sign of ill contempt towards each other.  Another hurdle cleared!

The hurricane was still working it’s way towards the Lower Keys, with a slight shift to the East expected and possible downgrade to a Category 3 or 4 when making landfall.  We were out of the direct path of the hurricane at my mom’s however, we were on the stronger side of the Hurricane and only 2 miles inland of the Atlantic Ocean….in a manufactured home, that could use a new roof.  Still safer then a Cat 5 coming right at you on a 2 by 4 mile island with only 1 road out!

We set up camp there.  Mom’s house was thankfully boarded up prior to the hurricane and we had power initially.  We had a nice 48ish hours while the hurricane moved through Florida.  Mom and I got to spend time with one another, the dog got to chill out in the living room, and I worked on clearing the storm drains in my mom’s neighborhood so the rain water wouldn’t flood into any of the houses.

We all safely rode out the hurricane at mom’s.  About halfway through we lost power.  That was one very cold shower I had to take before getting the work phone call calling me back to the Keys.

In about an hour after the work phone call, I had my mom’s car loaded up since mine was dead in the water with the mystery issue preventing it from turning on.  Sierra and I were back on the road again head south driving down the turnpike with all the other first responders making their way to the Keys.

Being back on Monday after Hurricane Irma past was a surreal eye opening drive.  Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.  I wish I had a picture of the sand dunes that had to be driven over to keep heading down the Keys  on US1 after the hurricane.

Sadly, these pictures don’t do it justice.

Sierra and I reached the rendezvous point for my job.  The area was so beat up I didn’t feel comfortable driving my mom’s car down the road any further.  After getting our bearings, Sierra joined my coworker and I for a truck ride to one of our plants for work so we could help get communications up and running.  The Keys at this point didn’t have power, cell phone reception, or running water.  By the time her and I made it to Key West it was about 10 o’clock at night and completely dark from cloud cover.

My house was boarded up prior to the storm to help protect the windows from flying debris so inside was pitch black.   At this point, inside was still relatively cool from being closed up after power was lost from the hurricane so it wasn’t a bad night.  We were tired and just needed sleep.  We slept upstairs that night using my lantern to guide the way.

Day 2, Tuesday:  Having to go to work Sierra stayed home at the house which still felt cool that morning.  I headed out the door after letting my neighbors who stayed there know she’d be at house and I’d be working for an indeterminate amount of time.  She was fine that day and was also very good about going to the bathroom when I finally got back.

Day 3, Wednesday:  The heat was starting to get awful.  Having the plywood over my windows wasn’t helping because I couldn’t get a breeze through the house.  Since the house is an elevated townhouse the only piece of plywood I was able to get off at the time was the one on my deck for my living room.  I knew I had to fix that so she wouldn’t overheat while I was at work.  We slept downstairs that night.

Day 4: I worked on getting the plywood off my kitchen windows in the morning before reporting into work.  Needless to say it took an extension ladder and lots of muscle to unscrew the screws holding them in place but it did allow for some air in the house.  Upstairs was still too hot to sleep in.  We wound up sleeping in the living room with the windows and door open using the plywood as a barrier to prevent anyone from using the stairs to gain access on my deck.

Day 5 and 6: From knowing how hot it had been overnight with no power to run the AC I knew I was going to have to do something soon to keep her cool.  She was ok with drinking water and eating but the heat and humidity was at a high point.  After that night she joined me in the work truck so she could lay in the cab with the AC on.  She proved to be great and kept out of the way.  I also felt really safe having her with me too in the more harder hit areas.  There were times I felt like I had entered the realm of Mad Max.

Power was starting to return to parts of the Key West (not my house though) and water was available for a few hours a day for showering purposes but was non-potable so it couldn’t be consumed.  Even cell phone service came back up.   Things were starting to return to normal.  During this time my neighbor had work done to his roof and I had asked if those people doing the work would be willing to take down the rest of the plywood which they were able to.  We had all the windows open in the house throughout the day and within a few days time my house finally had power and the AC was back on.

She was good while I was working 12 plus hour shifts until we returned to a normal operating schedule and within 2 weeks after the storm we returned to mostly normal operating hours so I’d be able to be home with her.

One thing she showed me after the hurricane back at the house was she didn’t want to leave my side.  The dumpster where I live had been packed to the gills with trash and debris without having been emptied for a bit.  Having lost power, the frozen contents of my freezer melted and I had to throw away everything in my fridge.  It took two garbage bags to empty everything out.  Well, I had the front door open to let air in the house and Sierra was just sitting on the couch chilling out.  I thought she was just going to stay there.  Nope, I get to the dumpster and there she it right behind me like, “Where you going?!?” So I panicked in the back of my head thinking she might run off on me.  Thankfully, she followed me right back.  So while taking the next trash bag out, I shut the door this time only to turn around when I got to the dumpster to have her right behind me!  She jumped out the open window!  This time I got her heading back to the house with me until my neighbor stepped outside and she just bolted.  Yet another panic moment! Thankfully again, she ran right to the house and waited for me there.  Such a good dog!

This once super scared shelter pup was beginning to turn into the loved, spoiled little girl she is today.

It took about 3 to 4 weeks before I could sign the papers saying she was mine.  She’s only gotten better by the day since.