My Blog

Avast! Another Talk Like a Pirate Day has come ‘n gone. It be hard to be talkin’ like a pirate when the only ones to be talkin’ to arrrr meself and me dog. Me did have a bit o’ fun by having my portrait done and by sharin’ me mid-day meal with me first daughter, Cap’n Ashley.

And here be some piratical music fer ye by the Dread Crew of Oddwood

— Cap’n Rich

It is amazing what a difference a few days makes when it comes to forecasting hurricanes.

On Wednesday, August 28th, it looked like Dorian was going to pass directly over us as a Category 2 hurricane. By Saturday, August 31st, not so much. And by the time Tuesday, September 3rd rolled around, Dorian passed well enough offshore that we had just a couple of inches of rain and some occasional winds.

After having brought everything inside and having rolled up the carpets in the front rooms away from the windows “just in case”, I spent some time preparing a YouTube livestream of the storm’s impact. Using 3 old iPhones, the Live Reporter IOS app, OBS, the ZoomRadar Widget, and an MacBook Pro with lots of RAM, I set up a “4 up” scene showing 3 views out through the windows and the live radar. It worked most of the time, but the iPhones kept overheating in the windows, their streams to the OBS software were not always stable, and it was pretty useless once the sun went down. It got me thinking that what I really needed was some streamable outdoor cameras, possibly some lights, and maybe even a weather station so that I could provide the current wind speed and direction, temperature, precipitation, etc. But who am I kidding? That sounds like a lot of money and I have no real way of getting power to where I’d like to put the cameras. Oh well, I guess we’ll just need to avoid any more hurricane scares.

— Rich

Ahoy, mateys!

Cap’n Rich didn’t be dressin’ up in his full pirate regalia this year for Talk Like a Pirate Day, so no likeness to be showin’ to yer crew and sniggerin’ over.

Instead, here be hopin’ ye be enjoyin’ this hurdy gurdy cover of Stormseeker’s “The Longing” performed by Patty Gurdy and that it get ye in the piratical mood!

— Cap’n Rich

I’ve seen many men wandering
All strong and brave and keen
Seen them growing into rulers
But I long for the sea
Heard a ship came from North
To our harbour for a day
And before misfortune knows
I’ll be on my way

I’m all set to veer away
And I’m all set to go astray
All burdens I will leave ashore
To find what I’ve been longing for

Don‘t tell anyone
That this night I’ll be gone
Greeting the eternal blue
Right at the break of dawn
Sailing t‘wards the unknown
With my crew on the sea
And the day that I return
A hero I shall be

I’m all set to veer away
And I’m all set to go astray
All burdens I will leave ashore
To find what I’ve been longing for

I’ll be headed to my FLGS (that’s Friendly Local Game Store for the uninitiated) in a little bit to enjoy 13 hours of boardgaming to celebrate International Tabletop Day. I’ll hopefully get a chance to play some new (to me, anyway) games, play some old favorites, and even teach a few games to some newcomers to the hobby.

Game On!

— Rich

Why do these things always happen overnight?

The winds and rain started in earnest Sunday evening and by 8 p.m. started experiencing some leaking in the front room and the front door (which faces roughly east). Scrambled to get some towels down and some fans blowing before things got too bad. Looking outside showed that the street had flooded up over the sidewalk out front.

Spent the next 6+ hours checking the towels, texting with a friend near Celebration, and watching one of the local networks storm coverage via an old iPhone on the TV via an Apple TV. At one point I had that network on one phone, another local network on the iPad, Fox News on another phone, and a live stream out the front window on my laptop. Had some brownouts just before midnight and moved into the laundry room on some cushions around 12:30 and watched the radar of the remnants of the eye wall pass over around 2:00 a.m. Got up a couple of times in the night to do a quick check.

Daylight revealed a bunch more screens on the enclosure were in need of replacing, the tulip tree in the backyard laying down parallel to the fence, the leaks having stopped, and the fence seemingly intact. The tulip tree had actually been knocked down by the hurricanes in 2004 when it was a sapling and we’d replanted it, so kind of sad to have lost it. The cypress tree right behind our fence by the conservation area is also down. Not sure if the sycamore next to it that is also down took it down or if they fell independently. The street is still flooded (but not as badly as last night) and there is also standing water down at the fence-line by the conservation area behind the house.

Winds are still steady at 30-35 mph with occasional gusts at 50+, so staying inside for now. Will likely take a nap soon because of not getting much sleep overnight.

— Rich

Well, after rushing home from Michigan to prepare the house for what the forecasters were saying at one point was to be a direct hit from hurricane Irma, everything has changed and the latest track has Irma skirting the Gulf coast. May still get some winds, but theoretically shouldn’t be that bad here.

So far the only excitement is that overnight someone drove over the two large community mailboxes across the street. I ended up calling the sheriff’s non-emergency number who transferred me to the highway patrol since a vehicle was involved. They ended up sending out a trooper who apparently picked up the bumper left behind. He said he had been in contact with the USPS to deal with picking up the boxes (hopefully) before the winds pick up here.

— Rich

In a lot of ways, the last 12 months has been “not good” and it can be hard to be thankful: Mom’s passing; Karen’s cancer diagnosis; Job; Chemo; Karen’s mom”s passing; Chemo-radiation; Trying to sell mom’s house. Surgery; Hurricane Matthew; More chemo; The election.

But we do have a lot to be thankful for: Compassionate and skilled doctors and surgeons; Nurses and techs; Family; Successful chemo, chemo-radiation, and surgery; Job; Friends; Our country; Insurance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

— Rich

When I was a kid, Dad would take me to a baseball game for my birthday each year. Back then, I was a Cubs fan. In fact, we were in attendance at Wrigley Field in 1979 when the Phillies beat the Cubs 23 to 22 in a slugfest for the ages.

I pretty much stopped watching baseball after the strike in 1994, but still would consider myself a Cubs fan if pressed to pick a team.

When the Cubs tied up the series at 3 games a piece I decided I’d never forgive myself if I missed game 7, so I forced Karen to watch it with me.

Well, they have finally done it! After a 108 year drought, the Cubs have won the World Series!

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Holy Cow!

— Rich

While our house in Orlando survived the winds, the house in Viera did not fare nearly as well. Most of the shingles were ripped off of the back of the house that faces north. The house will need a new roof.

My brother-in-law and I went out to the house this morning to take down the shutters and do something about the roof. We had arranged to meet with a roofer today so once we got the shutters off we decided to take a break (it was hot work) and wait for the roofer’s advice before we tried to cover the roof ourselves. Thankfully, the roofer was able to cover the roof with a tarp and tar paper (properly) for us so that we didn’t have to get up on the roof ourselves. Unfortunately, it wasn’t free, although the roofer said that it could just be added to our insurance claim. Yes, we have hurricane insurance on that house, but the deductible is substantial. Oh well, at least now when we re-list the house for sale we can say “brand new roof!”

— Rich

Didn’t get much sleep.

At about 1:00 a.m. (right before it was to hit the Melbourne area) the forecast track and strength of the storm was updated to about a bit farther offshore and from a category 4 to a category 3. This means that the winds out in Viera likely didn’t exceed 80-90 mph. Winds here in Orlando eventually ramped up to probably 40-50 mph.

No apparent damage here at the house in Orlando (but it is still gusting). Word from my buddy out in Viera is that he had no apparent damage either and would let me know probably later today if there was any damage to the folks’ house, but technically there is a curfew in place until Saturday morning.

— Rich