I always dreamed of having a big Hubski party in Key West, but it might not happen, at least not any time soon.

My ex-husband bought a house in Key West in a mania of recovery in 2013. I've been renting it out most months. We used to go down together for two months in winter, but since his mania of separation, we have been each spending six weeks a year there, separately.

The house was built after the great fire of 1886. Back then, cigarmakers lived in compounds. They even had a trolley from downtown that picked the workers up and brought them home at night. There were cigar factories all over Old Town Key West. Our house was originally one of these cigarmaker homes, probably the superviser's. Over time, three of these homes were pushed together, so the house is very large and open. With two bedrooms, two pull-out Murphy beds, sofas and blow-up mattresses, I've had nine people sleep quite comfortably.

The walls are made of thick Dade County pine. It has withstood many hurricanes. The previous owners told me that they lived there through nine hurricanes:

We're close to Solaris Hill, the highest point on the island. It is 18 feet above sea level. We're 8 feet above sea level. Real estately speaking, it's in the X zone - which is an area that has never had a flood. If the storm surge is six feet, we're okay.

They are predicting the storm surge to be 8-12 feet.

On Wednesday, our friend and handyman, George, put up our hurricane shutters. Most of our friends have left - but it seems a lot of people hunkered down.

We watch and wait.