64 thoughts on “There’s a Storm Comin’”

  1. We’re trimming trees and chain sawing dead limbs this morning. Nothing like potential hurricane winds to get that job done. Thanks for the post help Pat.

  2. Be safe.  It’s early but the weather folks seem to think Irma may go up the east coast. That would be better for you , dad & Toby, yes?  Here’s hoping. But for sturg and Flatus, batten down the hatches.

  3. Pogo, yes, that’s almost always what happens and at most Orlando (60 miles inland) gets tropical storm stuff, maybe 50-70mph winds, just below hurricane force, 5-8 inches of rain, but we never count on it. Two direct hits in 60 years is plenty.

  4. Craig, hope all concerned stay safe with minimal effect from this monster.

    One of the places on my bucket list got flattened last night.  Fortunately Richard Branson, his family & employees were happily ensconced in the wine cellar playing dice.  Everything up above them, pretty much not there until he can rebuild.  So here’s the pretty pictures that put it on the list with the new big house rebuilt after a fire.

     

     

  5. Well I see the latest estimates has Irma’s eye are  going directly over Mar a Lago.  Looks like God is pissed.

    As usual God doesn’t worry about collateral damage. Seems like a lot of trouble to make a point when a lightening bolt would do just as well.

    Sturge, Craig, all this Irma crap, just the cost of living in paradise.  };-)

    Jack

  6. and well worth the price, Jack — as disasters go, at least with hurricanes you get plenty of notice

  7. Good thing we prepared in solidarity —  it’s raining here.  Good because it will help dampen fire season but bad for people who still have to harvest. Very unusual to have rain this early in the season.

  8. “at least with hurricanes you get plenty of notice”

    craig, yep I think about that now that I live in tornado country and where the new madrid fault might anytime  shake things up.  wildfires don’t give folks much warning either.

    even with notice though, hurricanes aren’t fun in coastal areas. Orlando and up the spine to Tallahassee are more fortunate not being subject to storm surge with homes and the land they’re on totally washed away.

  9. schadenfreude, anyone?

    Hurricane Irma v. President Trump: Mar-a-Lago, Other Family Properties Face Storm’s Wrath

    Hurricane Irma has swept over one of President Trump’s resort homes, while Mar-a-Lago and other Florida properties are still targets

    [….]

    Realtor.com says that Trump purchased the St. Martin property known as Le Chateau des Palmiers, on the island of St. Martin, in 2013 for an undisclosed sum. At the time he called the 11-bedroom, 12-bath estate “one of the greatest mansions in the world.” Although the home’s current list price is available only upon request, the real estate website puts it at $28 million. Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing on Trump’s St. Martin hideaway, which it says is for sale for $16.9 million.

    […]

    Florida venues owned by the president that could face hurricane damage include:

    Mar-a-Lago, 1100 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach
    Trump International Golf Club, 3505 Summit Boulevard, West Palm Beach
    Trump National Doral Miami, 4400 N.W. 87TH Avenue, Miami
    Trump National Jupiter Golf Club, 115 Eagle Tree Terrace, Jupiter

  10. oh boy, now we are going to have to pay to fix his property?  I don’t think so

    I like to propose DDDD DropDeadDonnieDay

  11. has anyone tho’t about what’s gonna happen to all those pythons when Irma floods the ‘glades?  any chance they’ll slither northward?  craig, how’s toby when it comes to big ugly snakes, gators and wild monkeys?

     

    Jamie, that house is gorgeous! no wonder it’s on your bucket list.  the structure looks sturdy and aero/nauto dynamically designed enough that it may survive.  too bad the beautiful furniture most likely is lost.

  12. Tony just posted on Facebook for the first time in a while.  I sent him a “stay safe” message.  He give his address now as Edgewater just down a bit from New Smyrna judging by maps.

     

  13. A shout-out to Toby the shiny dog, may you keep your humans safe and warm.  Remember Otis!

    Largest solar flares in a decade headed to earth.

    putie abandons US, tillerson fails and trumperdoo is controlled by panetta (who was booed loudly by the progressives at the DNC lovefest of Aug. ’16.)      The kelly intervention is complete and ivanka is free to become the ‘daddy-whisperer’ again.   What a change in trump and pence is dealing with his own legal issues.  His ‘come-lately’ attitude to ruskie meetings is a weak defense.    ryan stumbles and the junta will run things and I think I am grateful for that. trumpence campaign trash is taken-out and barely recycled.

  14. Spotted deep within the eye of Hurricane Irma, #mar-a-lago via direction from Mother Nature.

  15. Just saw the latest track, looks like it is hitting Struge and going inland. Pat and Pogo, might want to keep to high ground for a day or two, Sound like a “hell or high water” event in your part of the world

     

    Jack

  16. Sweetie and I are sending wishes for safety and happy adventures to our Floridian pals, with special shout outs to Messers Crawford (X2), Tampa, Pong, and b39 !

  17. High ground isn’t a problem for me – w’re at about 1000 feet above sea level 250 miles from the head of the Chesapeake and our house is about 40 feet above the West Fork River on the crest of a hill that’s situated in a bend of the river.  When it floods really badly we’ve got 30+ feet of hill between us and the roads it floods. I just hope Irma doesn’t race up the coast and get to NY by Sunday.  My recollection is that the worst that we’ve gotten in terms of rain and wind from hurricanes were remnants of hurricanes that came ashore in the gulf and decayed as they went northeast.  We may have been brushed by a couple that hit the mid coast but nothing worth worrying about.  We worry about cold fronts sweeping in from the great lakes.  Now those pose risks to us.

  18. Those cold fronts sweeping down across the Great Lakes from Hudson’s Bay are man-killers in MN, too.

    We’re presently safe in Vancouver, BC., except for a little smoke from the enormous forest fires.

    Omnis in natura in ignis renovatura est – except in Houston and SoE Florida.

  19. Pogo

    While it is busy breaking up it can sure bring a lot of water. Coming from hill country I’m well aware water runs down hill and creeks rise fast.  Sounds like you are like we are, As I tell people if the water gets up here start collecting the animals 2by 2.  but watch those low water crossings.

    Jack

  20. Jamie, please send our concerns to tony for his safety and tell him he’s really missed on the trail.

     

    jack, well, Harvey tho’ old, dissipated and battered did come directly this way into and dumped about 5-7 inches in a just a few hours the other day, but nothing worse than that.  not expecting a visit from irma as she would have to cross the smokies to get here.

     

  21. wapo:

    The Senate approved $15.25 billion in disaster aid as part of an agreement struck by President Trump and congressional Democrats that will also raise the federal borrowing limit and keep the government open until Dec. 8.

    The bill passed by a vote of 80 to 17 on Thursday afternoon. The House is expected to quickly vote on the package, despite growing opposition from fiscal conservatives who oppose pairing aid with debt and spending elements.

    The Senate legislation includes $450 million for the Small Business Authority disaster loan program and $7.4 billion in grants for housing affected areas in addition to $7.4 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the House bill. The Senate legislation also gives Congress until Dec. 8 to negotiate a new spending agreement and increase the debt limit.

    […continues…]

  22. Dozens of dogs will evacuate Florida on a private plane to New York

    More than three dozen dogs from the Miami-Dade County animal shelter are being flown on Georgina Bloomberg’s private plane to New York ahead of Hurricane Irma.

    “She’s taking 40 dogs,” Lauree Simmons, president and founder of the Big Dog Rescue shelter in Loxahatchee, Fla., said of the daughter of billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. “We took a van down there to get them, and we’ll deliver them to her private plane at the Palm Beach County Airport.”

    Bloomberg, whose family has a home in nearby Wellington, “is passionate about rescues” and chairs fundraisers for Big Dog, Simmons said.

    Big Dog staff went to Houston after Hurricane Harvey, rescuing 60 dogs from the floodwaters. Those dogs are now awaiting adoption at the no-kill shelter.

    Simmons’s 33-acre rescue center currently has 457 dogs and puppies living in air-conditioned bunkhouses.

    […continues…]

  23. XR

    Both Vancouvers are smokey.  One of my grandsons lives in Vancouver WA and has air filled with ash from the Portland fire.

     

  24. Our host’s beautiful Victory motorcycle is flecked with ash grit. This could be hard on auto & other finishes.

    Q for Pogo : could Canadian insurers sue the Oregon/US for damages from Portland forest fires ?

  25. Jack, LOL!!.  I have to laugh at that.  On I-68 over near Frostburg, MD there is a little church – it’s called God’s Ark of Safety.  They started “building” an Ark on the side of the interstate across the parking lot from the church – more than 20 years ago that I can recall.  It is a mass of steel I beams that roughly resemble the bow of a boat.  It appears from the interstate that the vertical beams are set in concrete.  Not sure how that would work.

  26. Tony

    In case you check over here out of curiosity, know that there is a long list of people here who miss you and whose ears perk-up at the mention of your name. I’m one of them.

    I know of only one place that is reasonably safe along your coastline; the Castillo up the coast from you.

    If you insist on staying where you are, make sure your remains are identifiable. And if your niece is staying with you, hers as well.

    Best,

    Flatus

  27.  
    Expect Irma evacuation to begin Saturday morning, SC governor says
     

    By Jamie Self

    jself@thestate.com

     

     
    September 07, 2017 2:58 PM
    COLUMBIA

    S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster says he intends to order some S.C. residents, mostly likely along the coast, to evacuate Saturday morning as Hurricane Irma moves closer to making landfall.

     

    The evacuation, expected to begin 10 a.m. Saturday, will trigger immediate lane reversals along I-26 to carry westbound traffic away from the coast, McMaster told reporters Thursday at the state’s emergency management center.

     

    As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the governor ordered healthcare facilities in coastal counties to evacuate. The counties impacted by the order are Jasper, Beaufort, Colleton, Dorchester, Charleston, Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry.

     

    About 143 healthcare facilities – including hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers and alcohol and substance abuse facilities – are included in the evacuation order.

     

  28. renee, thanx for telling tony.  hope that our other florida trail friends know we’re concerned about them too… like purple and ping pong and folks we lost along the way when we fell into a major funk here.

  29. Let’s check out where I live. A peninsula southeast of Annapolis, jutting out in the Chesapeake Bay, about one half mile long and a quarter mile wide.  We have the pleasure of being in direct line with the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Bay.  Which means a wave starting one hundred some odd miles southeast coming off the Atlantic will hit us (same with a hurricane like Isabel).  The highest point is 15 ft above Mean Sea Level. My house is about 9 ft above MSL or roughly where my eyes are when I am standing on deck of my sailboat.  Three sides are bounded by the Bay,  water view is how I think they advertise it, but only if you climb on the roof and stare between two houses.

    I was supposed to deploy to Texas with American Red Cross, did not deploy, held back for Irma.  Ready to go to Florida or S. Carolina, now held back for local and Delmarva Irma problems.  So, a nice martini and the knowledge that a new banana plant is ready to be put in the ground us how I am consoling myself.

     

  30. Hmmm,  I suppose Canadian insurers could try. Couple thorny legal challenges to a cross border suit over smoke. Hard to say that Oregon would have expected it’s activities, whatever the hell they all are, to subject them to jurisdiction in Canada- what with Washington and Idaho and Montana between them and Canada. But hey whatever stopped an insurance company from suing someone?

  31. Models shifted west for the second time today, now have Irma bearing down for a rare Orlando direct hit on Sunday night. Southern Command going to battle stations.

  32. BB,
    If it does does follow a landward path, that should take you off the hook–for this one. Sure sounds like time for some stilts for your place. If possible, that would give you a genuine crow’s nest view.

    I had wondered if they had sent you out to TX–glad they didn’t considering all that has transpired since then.

    Stay safe!

  33. Watching local news showing hordes of people at stores, nothing to buy. that’s why we hurricane vets finished our shopping yesterday.

  34. So people are complaining that “Chuck and Nancy” struck a deal with PG

    geeze louweeze

  35. Pogo

    That’s what I meant about the two Vancouvers.  People are always getting them confused.  Vancouver, Canada is getting the Seattle area fire smoke.  Vancouver, WA in the far south of the state is getting the Oregon smoke & ash.

     

  36. So sturge what kind of Voo Doo incense did you burn to get Irma to land in Georgia? Looks like it is tracking to the west of you

  37. I basically just left it up to Zeus……he deals with that kinda crap all the time, he’s used to it…..

  38. But we still in line for some serious reper cushions and it could change….and (haha) the place we got for evac is as much in “the cone” as we are…….Spruce Pine, NC

    Zeus got a wacky sense of humor.

  39. My favorite Smokies motel for about 50-60 years now……

    A classic knight fork, or Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire.

  40. If they don’t mandatory evac we will abide.

    If they do, we get to see what a hurricane looks like in the mountains.

  41. Spruce Pine, NC……the home of Woody’s Chair Shop
    who made Kennedy’s famous rocking chair, now in the Smithsonian…..

  42. Went there oncet, happened to be a slow day, and one of the Woody brothers treated us to a tour of the entire operation, with stories galore…..seat weaving done by ladies of the town at their homes……

  43. I love it when I come up with a really great reason for putting off an odious task…….
    Sometimes it can transform a whole day from “Perplexing” to “Not so bad” in the blink of an eye.

    Great big eye.

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