Like hundreds of other people, Tony Rivera waited in line at the Home Depot in Zephyrhills on Friday to get plywood to board up his windows. The boards went up on his windows on Saturday.
By Monday, Rivera had other plans for his plywood.
"I'm going to use them to make cabinets for my garage," he said. "It looks like I won't need them on my windows."
With Hurricane Ivan taking a western track toward the Panhandle, Pasco residents and officials alike have scaled back their storm preparations. The county's Office of Emergency Management has put its efforts for Ivan on hold.
But most people aren't turning their backs on the Category 5 storm just yet.
"It's a long way out for us to say we're safe," said Jim Johnston, operations coordinator for the county Office of Emergency Management. "(Hurricane) Charley turned two hours before it should have hit us, so we're not taking any chances."
At this point, officials do not expect to call for evacuations or shut down the schools.
County crews and equipment remain on standby in case Ivan veers this way. But forecasts on Monday show the storm would bring Pasco County 1 or 2 inches of rain in isolated areas and a storm surge of 1 to 2 feet.
"Sounds like a summer thunderstorm day, doesn't it?" said Michele Baker, the county's director of Emergency Management, relieved at the improved forecast.
The temporary reprieve from Ivan allows officials to focus on Frances, the storm that tore down tree limbs and flooded dozens of homes earlier this month.
"One could say Frances' impact on our county was not that severe," compared to the east coast counties that bore the brunt of the storm, Baker said. "But there are some people who have flooding, who have damage and who need help, and we will continue to provide that."
While the threat of Ivan fueled shopping sprees last week, few shoppers brought back the goods Monday.
At the Home Depot in Zephyrhills, manager Carlos Fines half expected that the people who lined up for hurricane supplies on Friday would be back to return merchandise on Monday.
"Not so far," Fines said Monday. "We had a couple of people, but not like what I expected.
"I think people wised up after all the hurricanes," Fines said. "They started to realize it'd be good to just have it. Batteries and plywood - most of this is stuff you could use sooner or later anyway."
Oddly enough, Fines said he had a man come in to buy 30 sheets of plywood on Monday morning, even as Ivan was forecast not to strike the Tampa Bay area. Fines suspected the man was a subcontractor who "knows even if it doesn't hit here, it has to hit somewhere."
How Ivan might affect us