Month: September 2017

Sunday was consumed with moving my brother out to the other side of the state to start a new job. Due to extenuating circumstances, the plan is for him to stay in a borrowed RV during the week and come back to Tampa on the weekend.

Lessons to take away:

1. Having a soda erupt in the lap is bad enough. Having to drive around with slightly sticky jeans for eight or nine hours just makes everything worse.

2. Running GPS while connected to a Bluetooth speaker and a watch takes more power than my iPhone 6 draws from the car outlet.

3. Revolutions is a great podcast to just leave on for a long drive. And I don’t understand those who talk about the “romanticism” of the French Revolution. That was just a bloody, ball of crazy on all sides.

4. I really miss my truck when I have to drive someone else’s vehicle for a semi-long trip.

5. Anytime I think of just buying an RV and living out of an RV to simplify my life, I remember I hate driving vehicles bigger than my Xterra.

6. It’s a very good thing that Honda Civics get very good gas mileage. Particularly when your brother accidentally leaves his idling the entire time you go out for Chinese buffet. Side note – we found his keys!

7. Even after all the memes, it’s still kind of amazing how inventively a soldier can crash a humvee with trailer. Even more amusing when it’s the MPs who crashed their humvee.

8. I’m very glad to be back in my home – even if the cats are already driving me insane.

My brother’s place came through just fine. We didn’t even lose power. My house came through intact. Lost the fences, some branches and a gutter. Power was still going strong.

Now comes the fun of moving back. The cats in particular are going to be fun – especially now that they know what the crates are for. And then there’s setting back up my office.

Overall, my family came off much better than a lot of folks in the state.

Due to the storm moving to come up right into Hillsborough, I relocated to my brother’s place, which is further inland.

1. I feel better not facing the storm alone. A near miss I can deal with
   and have dealt with. This storm is something else.

2. The cats did not like the trip over. Bucky, my big cat, rarely speaks. He cried out the entire twenty minute trip. Between that and not having eaten, I was emotionally wrecked.

3. It’s odd leaving your home of almost fifteen years and wondering if it will be there on Monday.

4. Best guess is we’ll lose power sometime tomorrow evening. Yay for Chem lights, flashlights, portable chargers, and lots of batteries.

1. The storm shutters have been located from where my ex-roommate hid them. Unfortunately, there’s a bunch of heavy stuff on top and they’re up in a high place. Fortunately, my adopted brother is going to come over and help me out.

2. We cleaned all the various knickknacks and plants and things from the outside of my mom’s place. I was thinking very bad thoughts about my sister-in-law, since most of the stuff was from her nesting.

3. Last minute food items were acquired. This included copious amounts of Coke Zero and a bag of Kit Kats. Those will be useful for Sunday night, because I really don’t expect to sleep.

4. My brother’s belief that in my house you are never more than 18 inches from a knife was reinforced. Really, it was just a little pen knife that I keep in the entertainment center for package opening.

5. My battery powered fan didn’t come in, which is annoying, but understandable. Fortunately, the big seven gallon jerrycans did show up late last night. Those will help reinforce my brothers’ supplies.

6. It’s the unknown that’s really causing me issues. I just have to remember that by Monday night/Tuesday morning, I’ll have my known problems and can deal with them.

My preps are decent. As good as budget allowed.

Worried about the wind because I don’t have any real storm shutters.

There’s this little tiny part of my mind – I get it from my grandmother- that is screaming in terror about this monster bearing down on the state. I’m trying not to pay attention to it because: a) it’s not helping me prepare, b) there are people who are looking to me for guidance (as if that ain’t scary all on its own), and c) being frightened is just draining.

This is more confessional than anything else. Hopefully, I’ll look back on this post in a week or a year and think “It wasn’t as bad as I feared.”

Now to gird up the loins, and go put on the brave face.

This storm has me more worried than I have about a tropical in quite a while. Of course, it’s been a bit insane around the homefront. Stores running out of supplies, gas stations out of gas, and people are going insane. I’ve been letting my prepper side run a bit wild.