Florida Amendment 3

So Florida voters can amend the Florida State Constitution via the ballot.  Next month has a number of amendments for voters to consider, most notably Amendment 3 to legalize marijuana.  I've been increasingly skeptical about this simply because there is a very well funded TV advertising campaign.  Someone is putting a lot of money into this, which I find suspicious.

Well, the devil is in the details, and the fine print for Amendment 3 is, shall we say, interesting.  The Polk County sheriff cuts through a lot of the fog in a way that I find pretty convincing.  While I'm not adverse to legal pot, this seems to be a pretty bad way to go about it.  I'm not a fan of changing the Constitution so that particular interests can make money.

Thoughts on hurricane prep

Overall we are pretty pleased with how our preps went.  We have a "hurricane kit" which is 3 storage tubs of stuff plus water jugs and equipment like a generator.

I plan on adding a set of tiler's knee pads to the kit for when I have to be on my knees setting up the hurricane shutters.  I also think I'll add another 5 gallon gas can, just for an extra window.  That will give be about a week of generator time.  

I'll also get a one gallon gas can so that I don't have to lift 5 gallons of gas to gas up the cars.   I don't like to keep gas around when we don't need it because you have to put in a stabilizer and it still ends up getting gunked up.  I just fill up the cars (which keeps me out of the post-storm lines at the gas station) but transferring it to make the lift lighter would be good.

With the water cans we were in good shape, and we filled up the bath tub and washing machine for wash water.  I am pretty comfortable that we could have ridden out a week fairly easily, maybe two with our water filters.

I'm thinking about getting Starlink for Internet because that will be back as soon as the storm passes; no linemen needed.  The kit is $350 and install is ~ another $350.  Not sure I want to spring for that right now.

I do think that a battery radio with AM/FM/Short Wave needs to be an addition to our kit.

I'm shocked at the number of neighbors who had essentially no preps at all.  This was maybe a good window into what things might be if something serious happens.  Since I'm the guy with the loud generator, this would make me a magnet.  Ugh.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, if you're in the Great White North at least.

 

Well that was different

Back now - the Internet connection returned from where hurricane Milton blew it away to late last night.

We had a fair amount of damage.  We figured we did when we heard the hurricane make weird noises on the roof.  Ah, well - Florida.  You catch a Cat 5 over your house every now and then.

I'll put up some thoughts later, but the one that really stands out is how I was the only guy with a working generator.  Even people with medical devices that plug into the wall didn't have anything.  It didn't look like most people did any prepping at all other than grab some extra toilet paper and maybe a case of water bottles.

I'm glad that I went to Home Depot for roof tiles on Thursday afternoon - there aren't any within a hundred miles now.  We're newbies in Florida and even we know that was going to happen.

Florida Man lives in my neighborhood?

Sumd00d posted to the neighborhood Facebook group, recommending that people prepare their lanai screen for the high winds by cutting them.

[blink] [blink]

That's some righteous hurricane prep, right there [rolls eyes so hard you can hear it over the hurricane]

My thought is why not open all your windows to keep the wind from blowing them out, amirite?  Sheesh.

Hurricane memes

They're funny because they're true ...

 

Dear God: it would be OK to let this hurricane season be over ...

 

That dot that says "M" on Wednesday at 7PM?  Yeah, that's right over my house.  They're calling for Cat 4 and a 12 foot tidal surge.  We're on moderately high ground - if we flood then 80% of Florida is basically gone, but the folks on the barrier islands are looking at a fresh hell coming at them.

As is Joint Base McDill.  Maybe if it hits there the military can get some quicker rescue going when it hits there than they did in North Carolina.  Yes, that's pretty nasty to write.  The fact that you can write that is even nastier, IMHO.

This seems to be a useful site, if you're on the water:

I give NOAA a lot of flak for their climate change nonsense, but this is exactly what you would want from a world class national weather bureau.  The model may be wrong - all models are - but the fact that the tidal surge arrives at high tide is no bueno for McDill.  I hope they are taking action, and I hope that people along the water are evacuating.

Lord Almighty, what a hurricane season.