I figured I'd finally post up here to let everyone know we made it through hurricane Ian just fine. Since the storm shifted trajectory at the last minute, we dodged the majority of the winds and water. As a result, there was no damage to the house. The only mishap we had was that several trees in the preserve out back fell over in a domino effect, with the last tree landing in our back yard. Since we have nothing in the backyard, there was no damage to anything. The tree still needs to be removed, but since it originate from off-property, the CDD is expected to remove it. I reached out to them on October 9. I suspect it'll be a little bit before they can make it around. A view from the treeline. The opposite view, from the lanai. The trees covering the walkway in the preserve. Carl...
Author: Chewbode
Hot dogs!
Waiting out the Storm
Ian just made landfall down in the Punta Gorda area. So far, all is good here except for some heavy wind gusts. Friends nearby, including us, have had some power flickers over the past couple of hours, so I think it's inevitable we'll lose power for a bit at some point. I'm the blue dot. Getting a little dirty out there.
The Ian Shuffle
Things are looking better for us with the storm. It has decided to shift and go more easterly which means it'll make landfall about 200 miles south of us. Downside is that, since it's been slowing down and soaking up so much warm water, there's a good chance that it'll turn into a Category 5 hurricane. Here are some of the latest diagrams. We were able to get all of the storm shutters on the house yesterday. All outside items have been stowed in the garage. All hurricane prep-items are at the ready. Generator's ready with 25 gals of extra fuel. All-in-all, we're looking quite good.
Staring Down the Barrel
Oh, Florida life. I've been keeping my eye on Tropical Storm/Hurricane Ian the last couple of days and it's not looking good. This is forecasted to be strong with a lot of storm surge and rain. The house is out of a flood zone and we're not in an evacuation zone, so I feel good about that. There's a decent chance we'll lose power, so tomorrow I have to focus on getting storm shutters up and gas for the generator. I'll keep everyone updated here. Meanwhile, congrats to the DART team! And, oh yeah - Fuck Hurricane Ian for fucking up our view of Jupiter tonight.
The Lunch Gamble
It completely paid off. If you’re traveling down the Florida panhandle along I-10, do yourself a favor and coordinate a visit to Skins & Bubbas BBQ located at 1458 Main St in the little town of Chipley, FL. They have a great buffet but also a full menu of BBQ, burgers, etc.
Louisiana Bound
We're headed off on a road trip to Baton Rouge tomorrow morning. The car is packed and everything's ready to go. Since it's likely going to be a 12 hour trip, we're waking up at 5:00am and will be on the road by 6:00am or so. We'll be in town there for three whole days, and will be driving back on Monday. One of our friends is from Louisiana and she's going to be there with her boyfriend this weekend, so we'll likely spend some time hanging out with them. On deck for when I get back next week: I have some movies in the pipeline I'm adding to my collection, there is some post-DeLorean-build news, and 3D printing lined up.
It’s February Already?!?
Wow. I just looked and saw that it’s been about three months since I posted last. I guess a quick recap is in order of what transpired during that time. Thanksgiving was great. I took off from December 18 through January 2 to relax and get some projects around the house done, however I was mostly bedridden that entire time as I threw out my back on the FIRST DAY off. As a result of that, and that the girls were out of state for Christmas, Cari and I did very little and postponed Christmas day for a couple of weeks. Last week I got a little bit of the flu. That’s about it. I finally received my Bobcat Helium coin miner that I ordered in June of 2021. It’s up-and-running, but is mining slowly. I intend on replacing the stock 4 dBi antenna with an all-weather 8 dBi one...
A Needed Break
I took Thursday and Friday off this past week to have a long, four-day weekend. And for the first time in quite a while, I went into this break with very little planned. Resting, consuming entertainment, and generally clearing my mind were the top priorities. So as I write this in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, I feel like this was a successful break. But, that doesn't mean that I did nothing. As we slide into the cooler fall weather, I've had a hankerin' for some goulash the last few weeks. It had been so long since I made it, I dug around the internet to find a recipe, and stumbled across this one (original link at the bottom of the page). I made a double batch and have been eating it every day. I did a couple of small projects around the house too. I fixed a...
TinyTV and Weekend Plans
Cari is away in Miami for the weekend and I have a bunch of little household projects I want to complete. Out in the yard, I need to replace the old garden hoses and sprayers, pull some weeds, apply lawn fertilizer, and trim the palm tree and Bird of Paradise in the front yard. In the garage, I have a few tool holders to hang and need to recycle some old rotors and a car battery. Inside there are some pieces of iron artwork I need to hang, as well as some normal chores such as laundry. And, if I can get all of those things done, I have some work to do on the DeLorean and some more organization to do in the office. I recently saw a YouTube video from Norman Chan of Tested.com reviewing the TinyTV from TinyCircuits. Instantly, I needed (and ordered) one. It arrived a...
Storage and More
As noted before, I got the new boxes in for my nerd collectables et al. And today I've transferred everything into them. Behold. The box. The main collectibles box. The second storage box has a bunch of lanyards, badges, and materials from cons. This last image shows the new boxes in one of the cupboards (top right). I pulled everything out of here today and re-organized it all. I don't have a "before" picture, but this is actually a lot better. Still not done, though. More organizing to come. And, lastly, here's a quick view of the state of the DeLorean.
