Everyone's exhausted; we all want to sleep

After all the crazy this week with the storm, people my mother and I talk to, all say the same thing: "I'm tired". 

Worrying about what Milton was going to do, where he was going, what he ended up doing... No one has slept well since Monday. 

Now that it's almost a full week, one of my mother's friends mentioned something about running to various Walgreens to look for a specific type of sleep aid (some melatonin type pill, I think). The woman couldn't find what she is used to taking, and doesn't know what to do. 

Here, she spent a couple dollars worth of gas to run around and find what she needs, only to come out with not the full tank she started with, and no medication. Plus not all gas stations are open right now because there's not enough to go around. This is also after the woman got rid of company who stayed at her house because they were in a worse flood area then we are (we are in Zone A, which is a major evacuation zone because we're smack in the middle of being near an area of the Caloosahatchee River and Gulf of Mexico).

So my mother mentioned I take some sleep aid gummies. As I was in my room at the time (trying to clean up a tech mess), she came to ask me what is it that I take to sleep at night because her friend wants to know. 

I said it's a set of gummies, and went into the kitchen to read off what they are. 

I know I have previously written about the Plant People WonderSleep Mushroom Gummies Supplement for Sleep and Relaxation with Reishi Super Mushrooms, Wild Elderberry Flavor, but now I'm trying a new product, as the WonderSleep wasn't in stock on the day I went to Sprouts. 

The product I bought was Barker Wellness Co Nighttime Mushroom Adaptogen Gummies - Sugar-Free, Vegan Blend with Reishi, Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps, Chaga - Relaxation & Sleep Support. 

Which as I went to the Barker site to check them out a little more as I write this, I didn't put two and two together. 

The "Barker" in the title is Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink-182. Wow, I didn't even realize he had a link of organic / all natural products. I just thought this was a new company on the market. 

Go figure. 

It's not going to stop me from continuing to use what's in the bag, nor is it going to sway my opinion of the product purchased. Good for Travis for doing something good for himself and humanity. 

According to the website, they are "a vegan wellness company focused on empowering you to live each day at your best. Our founder, Travis Barker, understands the toll that a busy lifestyle can take on your health.

His demanding schedule as a professional musician led him to examine every aspect of his health. This eventually led Travis to discover cannabinoids and their unique ability to nurture both body and mind.

We strive to share those healing properties through our line of premium, cannabinoid-infused products", even though not all products are cannabinoid-infused. 

Case in point: the Nighttime Gummies I bought. do not include any type of CBD. 

Per the website:

By the way, if you're looking around the site and buy something, I actually created an account, and grabbed a referral link. We both get rewarded if you use this link (me, referral points. You, $5 off your order). 

From the look of it, Amazon is on point for charging the same cost ($35) as the Barker site. However, at the time of this writing, you can "clip" a 20% off coupon for the gummies. It expires November 9, 2024. Prime members get free shipping, however, I am thinking that because the bag is already at the non-Prime "free shipping" cost, you might get it to have free delivery too if you're not a Prime member. I could stand corrected, so please look in to it if you go through the Bezos site. There also isn't an option for subscribe and save, so no discount given on a monthly re-order. It's one bag at a time whenever you want it. No "Set and forget"; you have to log in and buy it all over again next month. 

That being said, to repeat, Barker's site has the bag for $35. Everyone pays shipping unless you fulfill an order of $100 (or more) in one fell swoop. I don't have a Shopify account, but from poking around, you can have a subscription made for this product. I know a lot of companies are using Shopify, but I haven't tied any of them to this site yet, so I can't speak on what the subscription costs are. Although, the front page states you can get "15% off" by signing up for emails and there's something called "Barker Wellness Bundle and Save - Save up to 20% when you shop our best selling packages. Our bundles include the best offer and when you bundle with Barker Wellness, you save!" so if you look into and purchase the best sellers, there's an added bonus. But it's only for best sellers. Not on single picked items. Also, like I mentioned above, there is a reward system. 

The reward system (like a few other sites I've signed up for) is: 

- 5 points for every $1 spent

- 50 points for following the company on Facebook

- 50 points for following the company on Twitter X

- 50 points for following the company on Instagram

- Every 100 points earned equals $1 (towards the next purchase, I would think).

- There are birthday rewards, but again, this is tied to Shopify.

When I bought the gummies at Sprouts, I don't remember what I paid; it was either on sale for $32 as a new product, or it was the actual $35. I had also bought the OM Mushroom Master Blend, Organic 10 Mushroom Complex & Adaptogens Powder to put in my smoothies, so I remember my total being around $70 after tax (I think). It was a month ago; things have been rough lately. 

But after all this comparing, how do I feel? 

Much like I said with the Plant People - I'm not waking up feeling gross or sick. I have been feeling fine in the morning and am not overly tired / groggy. I do get the afternoon slump but that's to be expected; everyone does. You also have to give this half an hour to an hour to kick in; it's not automatic - you won't be asleep in 5 minutes.

The directions state "Consume 2 gummies, then chill and relax. For best results, continue using consistently as part of your nightly routine. Enjoy!". 

So when I know I want to go to sleep, I take the gummies and hang out for half an hour before going to bed. I have been sleeping though the night once I get in bed and relax. I have been finding I wake up a little earlier than my alarm some times, but I've been in such a different sleep state (not all REM or anything), that I'm slightly more rested. If I wear my watch to track my sleep, especially on weekends (rather a Friday and Saturday night since I get a little anxious on Sundays knowing I've got to go to work Monday. It's weird. I know. Don't question it), I'm finding I average 9.5-10.5 hours, depending on when I go to bed. One day I clocked in at 11 hours asleep with no wakeup during the night. Conversely, I usually get somewhere between 7 and 7.5 hours of sleep during the week. Sometimes less depending on what's going on in my head and what happened during the day. 

So they do work.. it's just that you have to figure out a routine with them. If I don't take them daily (because even the friend said "take too often and you throw off your body's natural rhythm".. the whole reason why she's leery about taking anything, but needs something every once in a while), I find I sleep better when I do take them. The two work fine for me as I haven't tried just one. 

Will I buy this again? More than likely. It's not a sweet or tart gummy, but it does have a fruity taste to it, so it's not earthy if you're expecting a mushroom flavor profile. Because of the way it's made, it's got a slight stickiness to it. I think it's whatever gelatin and sugar combination there is on it, to make it almost glisten. It's not gross; I think it has to do with the fact Florida is hot and humid right now, and even though these are in a cabinet, they're still susceptible to getting touched by the moisture in the air. I am no scientist so I could be wrong. 

Then again, I'm no doctor, so please take this review with caution and a grain of salt. I do not study medicine and am not suggesting everyone takes what I've talked about. Please read the full ingredients and warnings on everything you do, as again, I am not a medical professional and cannot assist you in answering any medical queries. What I write here is based on my own experiences and my review is strictly that - my review and research. It does not substitute any advice from a medical professional and I urge you to seek help or answers from those more qualified than I am. If you end up clicking on any link I post and purchase something, I do get a commission from Amazon and a referral reward from the Barker site. But please conduct your own research and ask a trained professional if this would be right for you. 

Please stay safe, sound and dry. Until next time.

Cheers;

Oh boy; not a good sign...

It is 7:30am and I was in my mother's room talking to her. As she was smack dab in the middle of repeating what the news said this morning, the power went out (7:25). We both looked at each other like "what just happened? The TV go out again?". 

No, the power went out. 

Crap.

Luckily, it came back on two minutes later, so I ran around the house fixing the clocks. However, if this is going to happen for a while, it's not going to be fun. 

I guess we shouldn't be on edge or on guard for quick outages, but we should be on edge or on guard for outages. At least for the next few days of local clean up. 

My mother was telling me that there is still a curfew in places like Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva and Matlacha, and the tolls are open for those residents and emergency services to get in and out, but as of midnight tonight, the tolls go back to being paid. 

So even though residents are not formally allowed back on the island - they're allowed during day light hours only to clean up - as of midnight, they have to start paying to get back to their homes tomorrow. 

That's wrong on so many levels. Here, these people have had another damaging storm come through their community, and they aren't allowed to be there (also because there's no power or water), and when they are given the "all clear" to return to clean up only, they're having to pay like the rest of us starting tomorrow. 

Why can't the bridges be open at least for another week or two, to allow those poor folks the opportunity to get things done? It's six dollars every single time you want to go to Sanibel. It's two dollars every time you want to go to Cape Coral. If you're driving back and forth with a full car of trash from the very end of Captiva, that's $6 every trip you make in one day and I'm not even going to try to imagine what that cost will be by the end of the day, let alone the week! 

We take for granted the one or two trips a day over the bridge and think "oh, our transponder will get the money taken out once today" and there's your two bucks. But to make a dozen trips because you're cleaning your house out after a storm? Not right.

People have lost everything all over again, and I'm sure they don't have the income as it is to be able to get dinged with tolls now. Then again, there are million dollar homes in Sanibel and Captiva, so they might have the money... chump change and what have you...

But still... if you're a modest person, living within your means, and happen to own property there... wow. Just wow. 

Allegedly there's still no gas in a lot of stations across the west coast. The governor had made an announcement during one of his updates on either Monday or Tuesday that he was going to get gas tanks in en force to fill up as many stations as possible. Millions of gallons of gas were at the ready and there was going to be a police escort for those trucks so it can be safely delivered, but as of some point yesterday (I don't know when), a cousin posted to Facebook that stations were empty. She is somewhere north of me in Florida, and she went to Facebook to call the governor out and say "Where's the gas you promised?". When my mother told me this, she said "she might be out of power if she's out of gas". I said "I don't know". My mother said that this woman's sister also lives in the state and must be gearing up to start her driving with her husband. The couple have a vehicle hauling service and they primarily deal with motorcycles, but do transport cars as well, and they are all over the state and country bringing people their beloved rides. If they can't get gas for their own truck, they certainly can't do business right now. I don't know where the live in the Sunshine State, but I know they are very active with their business. Always posting pictures of locations they're going to, fun smiles on the road. It's a big business for them and if they can't move, they can't generate income. 

News said the Sarasota Bradenton Airport got damaged in the storm. There's structural problems across the building. I saw pictures of the stadium where the Tampa Bay Rays play (Tropicana Field), and their their entire domed roof was damaged, to the point that half the roof is completely missing. The stadium was being used as a shelter for emergency services and this damage exposed everyone in there to all the elements and harm because, from the look of the pictures, the roof pretty much imploded on itself. Pieces of ceiling and stuff are everywhere on the ground. So scary! (By the way, we're playing catch up after not having news. So things might have been reported yesterday)

I don't have anything else at the moment to write about. Except maybe I should make my coffee. I haven't done that yet. And my bedroom window is open because it's 70°. It won't start getting humid and gross for a couple more hours today. Woohoo! 

Cheers;

Techno-advancement?

Okay, so.. as soon as I had written my last post (I wrote it on the stationary bike, finished my work out, and sat my butt on the park bench outside to cool off), I went home. 

As I was walking home (I had walked to the gym because I didn't know what the clubhouse parking lot would look like... water? Debris? Etc.), a guy in an Xfinity truck stopped me at the main intersection. He asked me if we have power. "Yes," I said, "but we don't have our Hotwire internet". He informed me that "the Comcast boxes and a lot of other power boxes do not have any power to them what so ever". He asked if I was "sure the community has power". I again said "yes we have power. Just no internet". He told me that "the power that is no good, is coming from the FPL boxes. It's up to FPL to come out and look at them", but he "will see what he can do" and winked at me. I thanked him, saying "it's appreciated". Off we both went in our separate directions. 

Once I got home, I took a shower, got a cold drink, and checked the router. 

It was doing something funny... it was trying to get online! 

Seriously? Lemme try rebooting; maybe I'm seeing things.

1...2...3..4..30. Plug it in, turn it back on. Sure enough, everything started connecting.

Great! Maybe I can do some work! If I can't get in to the office, at least I can use the laptop at home and not lose another day's pay. 

Scurrying like a fiend in a fire, I get my work laptop on, authenticated, and clocked in. I was able to get a solid 90 minutes before the wireless flicked off again. 

Damn.

Well, I guess I'm using my allocated 10 minute break earlier than expected. 

Then I used my second allocated break.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to take my 30 minute lunch, and everything suddenly went back on. Which meant I'd be eating while working, to catch up with everything. 

Off to the races I went... checking in with my department and splitting up the work load. We have all survived the storm, including the guy who lives in one of the harder hit areas north of me. He is safe and dry and is without internet. I don't know where he was working today, but he was informed by his ISP that the internet should have been up and running by 5pm last night. This morning it was still down. He hopes it is back by Tuesday, as he was taking a half day today and a full day Monday. The other members of my department were good. The exception is one of them is now sick. Probably stressed out or got wet as she's literally 3 streets away from the River. I hope it's the former and not the latter. 

After working most of the day, and flickering Wi-Fi free, you really don't understand how blazing fast speeds on a new laptop feel when you've been without the various websites for two days. Like I said earlier, we take advantage of those little things, and when you don't have it, you gripe and complain. We get so accustomed to it, that we act like children because we can't get our way. We constantly check our feeds, our shopping cart, our news... it's an addiction and it's as bad as too much salt and sugar in our diet. 

Studies have shown (years ago) that the fast food chains ask you to enlarge your meal because they not only know they'll get more money out of you (great marketing... money grab), but they know the salt they overload on their potato sticks, will get you to buy a bigger sugary drink. If you're dining in, you're refilling that cup as many times as you want. Which leads to eating more salt. The sodium content acts as one addiction and the drink acts as another and they feed into each other. This becomes a vicious cycle that has caused all the health problems (dopamine high, insulin resistance / obesity, high cholesterol, etc.). 

I'm not condoning the act of going out to eat, especially in a fast food joint. I didn't get overweight because I've been strict with my diet. I know I've been guilty of eating at a quick serve meal joint just as anyone else has. I acknowledge my problem and am working on fixing it, and it's friggin hard, man. I do eat healthy but there's always that commercial that makes you want something. Or you're out shopping and smell the grease traps starting up at a neighboring restaurant. The smell of the fried food makes you crave whatever it is. It's all a mental game that you have to learn to over come. 

One of the few social network sites internet forums I am on, a user had raised a question about AI and social media. The question was, "are people posting to this site more due to social network issues?" The basis of the question / thread was the person has been noticing there's been a "deterioration and proliferation of AI and misinformation on Facebook, Twitter" and the likes. After registered users went back and forth with their opinions and shares, plenty of pages were full of thoughts. One user had posted a Youtube video explaining how "social media is actually a casino". 

Why is social media a casino? Because the video goes on to explain that both are "designed to create psychological dependencies" at the click of a mouse or pull of a slot machine arm. It's to "keep people engaged". There are other sites that go on about this too. 

The similarities include the aforementioned dopamine high (like you get from the salt and sugar).

A rewards system (algorithms on social to get likes, comments and shares or that rush of a slot machine).

Instant gratification (pull the lever on the machine, get flashy bells and whistles; maybe win some money. Open up a web browser once upon a time ago, and hit "I'm feeling lucky" into a certain site and you'd get a random page given to you).

Unpredictable rewards (you might win, you might not)

Infinite scrolling (the pull to refresh the page tactic on your smart device is similar in how casinos keep users engaged... this I don't understand the comparison).

Sites have been built to grab people's attention - lights, sound, crazy. Just like casinos - flashy and immersive. You can't pass a blackjack or roulette table without being pulled in to it due to the excitement around it.

So technology is creating addicts. We are substituting one vice for another. It is like quitting drugs or alcohol. You find something else to focus on. Some people have multiple focuses going on at once and some times they can't handle it all going around together. That's how people have break downs. 

But oh, am I squirreling down a rabbit hole. This is not good.

Gosh, I went sideways quickly with this and I'm sorry. I didn't intend for that. I let out the conspiracy side unintentionally. I think you get the point? We have been so absentmindedly brainwashed into turning our smart phones on every couple seconds to check the screen and see if something new arrived. We open up apps to various products and see what's there. It's an addiction that needs to stop.

Which is why when there's no way to connect for hours on end, you get a little crazy. And we don't need that in our world. However, like I said earlier, if there was a way to connect with other human beings during a natural disaster, that would ease a lot of people's minds.

Trust me, my mom had the entire world blowing up her cell phone from Tuesday night into Thursday night, wondering if we were safe. People were listening to the national news from far and away, and hoping we were okay. The fear mongering had been happening - the "if you don't leave, you will die" type stuff. And where it's just me and my mother, thousands of miles away from her brother and his family, he didn't want to have to get a phone call that the both of us were missing or dead. The same thing goes for the cousins in Sarasota - their kids (really, only one of the two who called) said the same thing about this couple. I know it's such a bad thing to say or think about, but if you aren't near specific people, your heart is in your throat the entire time you don't hear from the person. 

Yes, we heard from the people in Sarasota. Somehow they got their generator to work. Their community has no power and there's problems in both her immediate area and the surrounding area. But they're fine and they're dry in their house. They just have surrounding challenges. I don't know the whole story, but I know there is debris and stuff in the vicinity. They're fine though; safe. I think even the dog got to actually go to bed early like he likes to, even though the poor thing was scared shitless. 

We all were, Chester, we all were.

It is 8:57pm and I feel like I have been writing this all day. I've been writing it for at least an hour and a half, because I kept getting squirreled by other things, including the need to go outside and attempt photos of the northern lights, which you can't see from here because there's too much cloud covereage.

So off I go because I'm tired (wiped from the last couple days) and need to wash my feet. They're dirty as all dirty from whatever shoes I was wearing outside. I keep a pair of crocs in the garage and they collect the dirt easy. Guess I shouldn't keep things outside and expect to stay clean...

Anyway, have a good night and I'll check in when I can.

Cheers; 

Whatever happened to the days of dial up..

 ... the slowness, the buffering; the dialing be bop be bop…???

Okay so I fixed the lines to the Full House theme. But having two days with no internet got me thinking: in situations like natural disasters, if you have power but no internet, shouldn’t there be a way to use antiquated technology to your advantage?

I’ve been struggling to use my cellular (LTE) data since Wednesday morning. My phone can’t handle it; trying to use gmail or other service apps (Skype, chat, etc), it’s failing to sync. Even the podcasts aren’t connecting so great. With no internet access, my phone has already used 2gb of data. This isn’t a fun incident. When you’re used to watching what you do and limiting yourself, seeing that cellular data creep up is a slow punch in the gut. 

Everything we do on our smart devices (phones, tablets) use data no matter what. Trying to connect to cell towers during an outage like a natural disaster, everything throttles and slows down. Becomes resource hogs. 

So if there was an active telephone line somewhere or somehow, maybe that would be the key to getting in touch with the outside world. Especially for those who need to rely on Internet Service Providers like me with Hotwire. 

Hotwire is strictly wireless service. It’s supposed to be underground, fiber optics, easily maintained to not lose structure. But when they came in and used duct tape and bubble gum to hook us to preexisting (Comcast) cables, we are shit out of luck right now for an outside connection. Especially since headquarters got slammed by the hurricane. There’s no local place here to contact. Even to turn in the router for a new one, I think we would have to go to a free standing store front in Naples. Which got a lot of water this week. 

So cell data we use and watch what we do, we are. It’s a struggle to get apps open and it made me realize that may be I need to upgrade my phone to 5G to get a stronger signal. 

Which is totally against what a lot of people I know are saying about the connection. I can hear you guys in my head right now, starting to make your facial expressions and comments. I am looking at you, my holistic fam and friends. lol. I know, I know. I feel what you’re putting out. But what choice do I have? At least I can connect to something to tell you I’m safe and I’m okay. We can’t turn back anymore. There’s a reason why dumb (flip) phones are being fixed to have 5G accessibility. It’s now become a necessity. 

Technology has progressed too rapidly and we can’t keep up. We are drowning in what we can and can not do. Some creators of what we take for granted these days, say they didn’t intend on that product doing a 180 into something else. What was originally meant to help in one realm of usage, has flipped into something totally different and taken advantage of. If we could only have some of the old school things that worked for that time they were in to fall back on, I think it would be a great fall safe for when disasters strike or when you really need it. 

I mean; hell, here I am in the community gym writing this in apple notes as I use the stationary bike. I can’t get a solid cell connection to write this in my blog so it will come at a later date and time. But the fact remains; I am using a smart phone, notepad and able to type on it. While in an 80° sauna of a gym and working out. Our reliance on tech is too massive and we really should be cutting back to simpler means.

That’s not to say what I’m doing is totally horrendous because it’s not. It’s a great gift to be able to go anywhere and connect at any time. But you have to be able to have that connection. If it’s severed, what do you do? Nothing, because you can’t. 

Even when some girl came into the gym and automatically tried turning on the tv, I had to tell her that the internet is down so the tv won’t work. Hotwire is working on it. She said she doesn’t have internet in her house and I said we all don’t. Hotwire is trying to fix it. So she says okay, puts the remote down and puts her AirPods in her ears. People use the tv as a visual distraction as they work out. She was fine on the treadmill without the TV I’m sure. I’ve had them off while I’ve been in here. My podcasts aren’t syncing because of the lack of service so I’ve had that off. We make accommodations. 

So why can’t we get some sort of old school connection to be online? Something to help today’s world get back in business while the main conglomerates work on getting the state back to normal and back to what was before the storm hit?

I don’t know. Maybe I’m talking nonsense. I HAVE been in this heated room for over an hour..

Stay safe. Stay dry. Stay skinny

Cheers;

Going to quickly write

Because the internet keeps going off and on, so I don't know how long I will have to be able to post this. It is 10:04am as I start. 

We are back in our unit, and the only visible damage the community has is down palm fronds. There was no water surge, no flooding. The people who have lush landscaping, have to clean up everything, but there may be a few houses with some shutters that got blown off. Nothing too major to fix; maybe a gutter or downspout replacement. 

We were so friggin lucky with this. The predictions were going to be disastrous for the entire west coast of Florida. I know the beach and other sand communities are devastated yet again, but the more we have these storms, the more the sand is going to wash away in to the ocean. 

It's like the news said - Fort Myers Beach was literally the last destination in Southwest Florida that exemplified "Old Florida", to the point that you could look down Estero Blvd and see the 1960s to 1990s where you had okay, some tourist shops in places, but you didn't have the super resorts or big build up. You had just easy living. 

Same with Sanibel and Captiva. Those are truly Old Florida - no chain stores, no malls, no big grocery. Not even street lights in some places. Just houses and land. Calm and relaxing. 

Now the three areas are being battered year after year with storms. The Earth is eroding away and what is left, mega mansions and resorts are being built on top of it. It's becoming too touristy. 

Yet, where this last storm hit the hardest, was in Sarasota and Bradenton. My mother can't get a hold of her cousin in Bradenton. The last couple texts this morning started repeating on themselves, which means one of us lost cell service. It's probably the cousin since we don't know the state of the cell towers there. We have slow service, but we aren't Pete and Repeat in our texts. One of the last things that was written was "we have no power", even though they have a generator. We expected them to be able to last through this. The woman and her husband are nearing 80 and have a little 3 year old dog (I think Chester is 3?). They're healthy people (to a point) but if their generator isn't working, we don't know what's going on. We can't go check on them - the rivers we cross to get there are going to overflow by the weekend. High tides and stuff. 

With all the traffic that will come back from the north, if they can come back, it's going to be insane to try to get up there. We don't even know what type of damage they have. Considering the tornados that plowed through this area yesterday morning, local news was talking about all the downed power lines and destruction in Fort Myers. I think my mom saw on Facebook or we heard it on the news, that most of the intersection lights are off. 

I just looked at the front page of the local paper. One of the headlines says "3.1M people without power". I didn't look into it. It was a DeSantis article, but I was looking to see if there was anything else for local. Anything that stood out. 

I know the area of town I work in will be bad. I don't know how bad though. Too many places got ripped through by the tornados. 

We just got such crazy and scary wind all night, that my mother and I didn't sleep. We kept the radio on all night because there was no television upstairs. We were able to maintain power and such, but the internet keeps flickering. Hopefully this is it for the rest of the week, but there's still the prospect of surges happening. Bridges getting washed out because they are already at peak levels over the waters. 

This is what happened during Ian. The storm surge brought in all the water from the oceans and could inundate the bridges. It won't be pretty. Or safe. Hopefully the water can go back down and make for safe travels for people. Especially those hard hit and need the crews to get to the broken cities and fix them. It's going to be a while before everyone is back to whatever "normal" is. 

I've got to finish putting my stuff away. Like I said, I wanted to create a quick post to say we're okay, we're in our unit. No flooding, no big problems. 

I'll update later if I can.

Cheers;

Where there is power…

… There is no internet. 

As I start typing this, it is 7:17am. I am using my phone again due to Hotwire being down. We do have power, just not internet. 

Of all ISPs, this Hotwire is headquartered in Sarasota. So they are more than likely under water since Milton touched down and dropped his bags at 8:30pm yesterday in Siesta Key. Which means the Sarasota / Bradenton area got the partial impact because Milty struck just over the ten miles of the projected target of Tampa. 

So this also means even though we currently have electricity in the house we are in, there’s no way to watch regular programming on the tv because Hotwire is supposed to be fiber optics. And it relies on Wi-Fi. There are no cables inside the houses at all. It’s a modem in your laundry room or garage, an eero mesh extender, and HDMI cables if you want television.  

Therefore, no catching the news. 

The pipes work so we can use the toilets and take a wipe down shower. There’s no flood water outside on the street but we don’t know yet what our house looks like. 

It has taken me 20 minutes to write this because I got squirreled. My mom wants to try to walk to our house to see what’s going on. So when we get back, or sit back down, I will write again. But for now we are okay. 

Cheers. 

Downgraded to a 3… take the water with you

 I am writing this on my phone at the moment with my Magic Keyboard because I did not want to run back up stairs and get my laptop (the keyboard isn’t a touch model. It is the model below). 

As of 5:11pm, things are starting to turn. Milton has now become a Category 3 storm and “taking the more northerly track”, which means he is on his way toward Sarasota and Tampa still, not Southwest Florida. There will still be “powerful winds until it makes lane up”. They “will increase”. The eye wall is “missing some of the rain and thunderstorm. That is a sign that the storm has some weaknesses in it. […] It will still impact the other side of the state, but this is not symmetrical anymore. It does not do us any favors with impact because the wind increases”, says the news. I kind of tried to go along as they were talking, but it is hard to keep up. I could not get it all through my head quick enough to type out. 

“It is about 80 miles away from Florida” and is still 82 degrees out. “The surge is beginning. The water is coming in”. The beach is already under water. 

5:15 - News says “local government is now saying everyone needs to shelter in place. From this moment on, people need to stay inside. It is now at the point where people should not be outside. Local government is saying people should be indoors. It is not the time to go take videos or walks. Be inside and away from windows”.

Tide is rising. Beachcam shows Estero Blvd is flooded. Times Square, FMB is under water. 

Storm surge for tomorrow (per news):

6am: Very high

9am: Very high

12pm: High

3pm: Medium

6pm: Low

High tide is on the way for Marco Island, They don’t want to see that because we are just starting with the water. 

They still think the forecast for us is 8 to 12 feet. Naples to Marco, 5 to 8 feet. Port Charlotte up is 9-13 feet. 

5pm northeasternly motion will continue tonight. They are watching the threat to “take it off the table” for some places north of me, but it “is not done growing and will push more water into our region”. The cone is now showing impact is Tampa / Tampa Bay Area.

The wind is picking up here. The beach is getting a “slow and study rise of water”. The water is getting angry. 

The Sanibel Causeway is almost touching more water. Sanibel is shut down. Curfew is in place on the island. 

Roads “are starting to flood near Coconut Point in Estero”. There is already an accident near there because someone hit a downed wire / pole and skidded out.

The Pink Shell Resort on the beach is under water to the point that the pool and the ocean are one and the same. The Naples Pier is having water rushing under the pier. Marco Island beach area (Might be the Marriott based on the webcam) has water up past the cabanas. Matlacha has a lot of damage from the tornados. Down power poles, roofs blown off. 

We are wondering now what is going to happen to us. We are still trying to stay positive; we don’t want the water. Let it find a way to get somewhere else or stop and turn around.

“Turn back, Milton. Turn back before it’s too late”

Okay, so I redid a line from the movie Labyrinth, but you get the point. 

There’s a mini golf at the intersection of San Carlos and the police are already there. The end of San Carlos that goes to the Beach is already flooding out, so they want to make sure anyone that is currently out, does not travel that way. They must turn around and go somewhere else, but they also shouldn’t be out. 

There is still a chance of dry air that could come in and help dissipate the eye wall more and the storm more. Per the news. 

The waves are rushing over the Naples Pier now, and it’s 5:40. The winds are picking up. Full areas on the beach are getting flooded right now. People are sending Ring Cam footage to the news. 

News says they officially pulled their news crew off the street. People must shelter in place. This is it. 

The wind is definitely picking up. I don’t know how much longer we will have power. 

The reporter right now is eating her dinner on air. It’s been that long of a week already, that they haven’t really left for more than an hour or two, 

Ugh.. I don’t know, Hopefully this ends quickly and we don’t get the water. No one needs it, but those more on the coast are susceptible to it. They just keep rebuilding. It’s tough. 

I need to plug my phone in while we have power. I’ll try to add when I can (again). I might do what I did for Ian and hand write so then I can do other updates. 

Be safe and dry

Cheers;

Power flickered... storm is nigh

It is 2:05pm as I start typing this. The power pulled and flickered around 1:56. It was a decent pull too. 

News now says (I am paraphrasing because I was typing as they talked) Milton is due west of southwest Florida and they (news) expect it to take slow easterly turn. It might be in Sarasota as landfall around midnight tonight. They are watching it closely, as Milton is now a category 4. The over night hours are when we are going to get everything. Storm surge tonight into the morning, including the actual hurricane and all storm related winds and rain. By tomorrow afternoon, it should be cleared enough to start assessing some of the challenges, but they're not going to give any okay until it's 100% safe to do so. 

Outside of that, we got about half a dozen active tornado alerts. We ran into the lower level bathroom. 

Guess what we learned - the houses here (both condos and houses) are made of concrete on the first floor and wood and timber on the second floors. So my condo is concrete and cement, while my upstairs neighbor is wood and timber. Which means the house we are in is in the same situation. 

Shit.

But yeah, we've had about half  a dozen tornado alerts and my mother and I were in the lower level bathroom for about 30 minutes. Nature got angry as hell for a little bit and we just had to mind our business and not do our business while in the room. 

Once out and back on the couch, people checked in. One friend's nephew has decided he wants to leave today to Miami. A tornado hit his complex and he is about 6 minutes away from my complex, on a good day. Luckily, we didn't get hit, but the news is showing how bad it is. People are taking photos and pictures. One of the news people said he got a confirmed touch down in his complex and when it was safe to get back into work (they've been working around the clock for over 24 hours now, primarily in tag teams), it was like a war zone trying to get across town. 

Yet the storm really isn't here yet. There's something like 10 hours left on the clock before Milton sets his bags down on our doorsteps. 

This is so nerve wracking. 

National Hurricane Center says "now is the time to stay inside, where you are, and away from windows". It's 2:25. 

"We're getting a bit of a breather right now, but don't take it lightly" News just said. 

As long as we still have power and a TV, the nerves are a little settled. Not by much, but not truly scared. It will change in 6 hours or so. We will get dark quick and it will get loud. It's more scary over night because you already can't see things during the day arrive, but at night, you're feeling more trapped. Especially since it's that water that will come and attempt to knock on doors. 

"It's game time" says the news, "so we will get hourly updates". Milton has arrived closer. It's north, northeast at 16 miles an hour. Which has changed in the 20 minutes I have been writing?? What? I'm so confused. But he still is saying it's going to be a Sarasota touchdown. 

At the 2pm update, "they're still expecting 8-12 feet of storm surge in Charlotte and Lee County". "Hurricane Hunters are finding this is a very strong hurricane". 

The build up of these storms.. the waiting for it to arrive and do it's thing, then go away and we have a cleanup. That's the thing that really messes with you. It's the fear of the unknown. Like I've said prior, you can see snow start and stop. You know what to expect. Hurricanes are a different beast because it's like a ghost moving though. Makes a lot of noise and brings a lot of ectoplasm in the way of water and wind. 

"When you are in the front right quadrant, you're going to get a lot more tornados. And monster tornados at that. We are in that area - the front right quadrant with Milton", the news says at 2:40. 

People are supplying pictures and the area I work in, is a mess. The commute I have, is now a mess because of the tornados. Just like the rest of the city and county, and our neighbor counties. 

More rain is going to come in by 3:51. But they will be quick moving rain storms. In two hours, rain band will come a little east of is. Not touch us a lot. Spotty rain for my area.

2pm advisory says it's still a powerful category 4 storm. The eye has filled in, which is a sign of a weakening storm. They'll know more within the next ten minutes for the next hourly update (it's 2:53). 

Power is out for double digit thousands of people right now because of the storms that rolled through earlier. Just as much are trapped right now because they stayed. The damage is already big.

News says

"Loads of people have seen the worst of the wind damage, but it might not be the worst either"

(3pm) "water levels are already rising in Collier County. Winds are turning on shore. Collier County is going to see the surge first. "

"Naples Bay is already getting water levels to the top of the docks. Water from the Gulf is already approaching".

There are places where the roads are already flooding (Cape Coral). Just from the rain and not the tornados. 

3:21 news says it doesn't have an eye anymore which is a good sign because it means it is weakening. Also, it will hit between midnight and 2am. Then continue to go east and by tomorrow it will be a category 1. It will hit as a 3, maybe. 

I keep getting squirreled. I think I'll end it here. 

Stay safe. 

Cheers.

The news is creating fear

.. and it's unfortunate. They have to keep banging it into people's skulls because look what happened with Helene two weeks ago. So many loss of lives, that the country doesn't need a repeat. 

Then again, we're on deck for getting a repeat of Ian in the way of flooding. We don't want a repeat by any means. Which is why we decided to take our friend up on their offer. They have a two floor house in our community and the last major storm we had (Ian) they didn't flood where our street did. So we have moved some stuff into our friend's and will be there tonight. 

Even with the smaller storms we've had, our friend didn't get wet. We didn't either, but we are being proactive. They also had electricity when we didn't. 

So we are in the house, we are watching the news. We are as prepared as we will be. 

The news is creating fear because people learned from our last problems and then from the last hurricane that demolished the states above Florida. They're telling people here, for Milton, "if you're going to stay, you're going to die. Be prepared to have someone find your body. Write your name, date of birth, and social security number on your arm with a magic marker. That way, if your lifeless body is found, you are identifiable". 

I mean, it's true based on what everyone has gone through, but really??? People are nervous as hell and panicking. No one needs to be told "you're gonna die if you stay!!" on top of worrying about placing sandbags in spots for possible flooding or the roof will blow off. We just really hope and pray it will all be fine.

Let this be a lesson for us and maybe if all goes well and there is no damage to the community, people will want to move out of this area and house prices will rise. We can move the hell out of this festering storm place and go back to New England. Take the snow over the frantic worry of a hurricane. To quote my office mate, "Ain't nobody got time for that". We don't need to continue to stress over monster storms. Our phones are being blown up by friends and family up north. They desperately want us back there. They see the news. It's as worrying for them as it is for us to be in it. 

Again, we do not want damage. We want to rise above this and come out with "okay, we lost power for an hour or two", "we got a little water in the street, but not in our homes". The more people we are talking to within our community, the more we all are pushing out positive vibes only. We are strong and resilient. That's why we are all here. We will get through this together. 

It's the beach and island people that you have to worry about, especially since they still are dealing with Charley restoration (2004), Ian restoration (2022) and then Helene hit 2 weeks ago. That's why there is more a scare tactic to them. The storm surge will hit them first and ruin what little is left. Once the water gets going, it will come down McGregor and Summerlin and San Carlos... all the corners of the area I have been in and live around. We know we are on borrowed time and the gods are angry. We just keep putting it out there that we are being peaceful and wish for things to pass quickly. 

Love, light and peace. It's a mantra everyone should be saying. I am no angel with my negative thoughts. I've written bad stories before; hell, this blog started with a weird ass crime drama story. But over all, I do try to stay positive. It's hard because things in your life bring you down. You can't help that. We just need to stop the fighting and the arguing and get rid of the trickster mentality. Get along and get going. We need more peace domestically and internationally.

It is only 9:45 am and I feel like it should be after noon. I've been up since 4:30. This is going to be a long event.. 

Until I can check in again, stay safe and dry. Live nicely. 

Cheers;

I still can't believe...

 ... the tree frogs haven't shown up yet on the storm shutter in the kitchen. 

This storm must be a doozy if there has been no action at the window. It's so weird because I've noticed a frog for Irma and a frog for Ian. Maybe because this is not an "I" storm, there's no amphibian hanging around.

Milton decided he wanted to be a 4 instead of a five for a little while, as well as put the storm surge down to 3-6 feet of water. Well, he decided to do some internal housekeeping and moved some stuff around. Now he's back up to a five and upped the storm surge to 8-12 feet at the peak of the storm surge, especially along the coast. It needs to weaken some how in order for the numbers to go down.

Sanibel has officially closed down. There's a mandatory evacuation and 24 hour curfew. With the curfew brings arrests. Sanibel police have said anyone who is caught on the island, even as a resident, you're going to be arrested because you're not supposed to be out. As it is, you're supposed to have moved to another part of the state for this storm. So if you're out and about, expect to see the inside of a jail cell because you're officially trespassing. 

Things are getting a little more serious and stuff is being shut down. City water for example on the beach areas are going to have low pressure systems until further notice. We aren't under that yet, but I'm sure something will be said, if anything. 

There are still quite a few people in our community. It's nice to see that, and we all hope for the best. Power outage is going to happen, we just don't know when. 

News is saying now Alligator Alley is still bumper to bumper. Expect 2-4 times longer to get through it. East bound, southbound. People are going to Miami and Fort Lauderdale. It's going to be hours before people arrive in another area. However, 75 is officially back to not being bumper to bumper. So those going north, might have a fair shake, but don't stay long in Sarasota area; that's where Milton is expected to land now. Bradenton area will be destroyed, they think. It's not Tampa anymore as predicted. News said the storm shifted south a bit, but not in the good way they'd want. 

I can't even think at the moment. It's already been a long day, and it's only 8:30. I think I'm going to shut down all my tech and just try to breathe. I'll check in when I can. 

Be safe and dry.

Cheers;

Normal traffic patterns = a 3 hr drive is 10

Yesterday the news was saying that Route 75 (the major highway) is so jam packed with bumper to bumper traffic, that a normal drive that would take 3 hours, was about to take ten hours. The highway is so full of cars escaping the storm, that they opened the shoulders and other areas. 

A neighbor called around 11 because he found a place on the East Coast for fear the worst here (his wife has health problems. Needs to be on the power grid for oxygen). They've got kids over there, so it's just as well; the hotel is about a mile away from the son. We don't know when the guy and his wife left today, but he said that he's stuck on Alligator Alley. My mom said she saw a report that it's now 5 miles an hour in traffic, and he said he's going about that. So who knows what time this evening he and his wife will get there. But the call mainly was to ask if he shut his garage. 

It seems that majority of the neighborhood is still here. All the people we hung out with for Ian haven't left. No one is heeding the evacuation notice. We all are collectively hoping and praying and putting love and light out there: We will get through this. We will survive it. People are already banding together and helping put shutters up, so there are already enough people in the community who are staying. My mother is seeing the local Facebook and Nextdoor Groups checking in; how many people are here, who needs help, who has found a hotel. So all four parcels have enough people that I think we will be good. 

Right now, it's been quiet. We've had the news on and it's been spitting rain but not heavy. If it keeps up like this, maybe the water won't rise. 

Stores are closing between 12pm and 3pm this afternoon if they're not boarded up already. People are pushing the limits on allowing workers in offices as they know most should be traveling to leave. So if you need last minute stuff, good luck finding it and also good luck getting gas because a lot of places are out as well. 

Fort Myers Beach is making people leave the island by 3pm today. Forcefully evacuating and if no one heeds it, then they are on their own. For the safe guarding of the pipes, Lee County is shutting off the lines at noon. Which makes people leave as well because there will be no water. No flushing. Nothing. It's to save the pipes and not have problems. 

Sanibel and Captiva are forcing evacs too. Island living creatures need to get out or not get help if and when needed. 

I've got to go do some things so I'll write when I can.

Stay okay!!

Cheers

Just keep shifting, downward, downward.

Hurricane Milton shifted downward overnight to a category 4 but is expecting to gain traction again and become a 5 at some point today. News reports are still predicting he could be a 3 by landfall, and the storm surges will be worse. 

Tampa is still looking like it's going to get absolutely battered, but now that Milton's status has changed, he could get bigger and have more of an impact south of Tampa (i.e closer to me). We are hoping that's not the case, but instead of being out of the state by Thursday afternoon, Milton might still be trying to cross 75 and Alligator Alley by then. 

Not cool, man. Not cool. 

I took some photos with my iPhone 11 last night. I edited them with my name in Photoshop. 

My friend Cat said that they're so eerie looking. I told her that it's because the iPhones (those older than the 6 I had previously) have some HDR level filtering in them where they open the lens more and can bring out colors and texture. It's no special effects done by me; it's all basic magic done by the phone when you're doing night shoots. It's all in how the lens is capturing it. I think it's like using manual mode in an analog camera and you start messing with aperture and all that. I'm not technical with camera terminology, so I don't want to misquote or misrepresent anything. 

I hope this isn't a new sign.. when I was uploading the photos, I heard a voice. It sounded like a female voice saying "mommy?". My Spidey Sense went a little weird. I hope the ghosts who used to be here aren't coming back. I can't deal with them right now. I don't want to deal with them right now. Yes, we had visiting apparitions who like to do things in this place. My mother and I think it's one of the daughters of the woman who owned this unit before us. The daughter had passed away of a heart problem in 2001, according to an internet search. My mother said when she originally was looking at houses and first saw the one we're in, the walls were shrines to this young lady. She died suddenly and the family took it hard. As evident with the message boards I found the girl's name on (she was an actress, a relatively known bit part actress. For the sake of privacy, I'm leaving her name out of this post). We were still getting her royalty checks and tax stuff in the mail up until a few years ago. We did try to smudge the house a couple months ago. It worked for a while, but if she's back, we may need to do it again. 

But now isn't the time. It's still humid as all hell and with a hurricane starting, there's no way we can even open the windows since the shutters are up and I don't want to tempt the fates with smoke in the house. This is going to be interesting... 

(or rest of the week...)

Stay dry.

Cheers

Well, it's a category five. That escalated quickly.

Hurricane Milton is officially listed as a category five hurricane and he hasn't even made landfall yet. He's sitting pretty in the Gulf, slowly making his way to Florida from Mexico. From reports made, he has a "pinhole eye" which makes him rapidly progress into a strong storm. 

He literally went from a 2 to a 5 in a matter of hours today. 

Evacuation orders are all over the map, as he could touch down as a three for the west coast of Florida, but also hit majorly bad in the Tampa area. Tampa is expected to get the brunt of it, while the rest of this side of the state sees powerful storm surges and lots of wind. The next area to get most of the damage would be the Sarasota / Bradenton area, and that's 90 minutes north of me. But for water, we are talking the possibility of 6 feet or more of a surge. There's not a lot of high shelves we can put our stuff on to save it in case we get water in our unit, so we hope we don't get any. 

As 75 (the main highway) has been a parking lot all day today, there's no way we are going to get out of the state by nightfall, should we get the hell out of here. The three hour drive it would take to get to Tampa, under normal circumstances, is going to take more than 10 hours right now. Good luck trying to get gas if you need it, as no station has any. If they do, it's getting down to fumes. So getting out of here means US 41 and other back roads. It'll be stop and go traffic, but you might make it north of Tampa in 8 hours. 

When the news starts talking about evacuating and grabbing stuff, you don't realize all the stuff you have and what is a priority until you have to grab stuff. Bug out bags are supposed to be light and tight. Not "take 4 trips to the car and load it up with everything". Basic. Necessities. But when you stupidly revolve your life around tech and you save everything on external hard drives, it's hard. When you've got cameras and gear and don't want to lose them, what do you do? This is all stuff you have to decide to leave in a heartbeat should you have orders to go. Take change of clothes, toiletries, things you can fit in pockets and a backpack (jewelry? Cash?) and go. 

My neighbor upstairs said that she plans on staying, but she thinks about this a lot. If she could afford it, she'd just lock her doors and walk away from this place. Go back north to her kids. Forget about these storms. She will deal with the snow. I get it. It is very tempting, for sure. But then once you get north, you're apt to start all over again with collecting stuff. Making new memories. You're no better there with everything than you are here. But you're out of the path of freak hurricanes. 

I spoke with someone at work today who said that it's either these storms or it's horrible blizzards in the north. The west has the earthquakes and fires. The middle has the tornados. Everything lately is becoming too intense and bigger. Somehow all these monsters are being fed worse and worse things, making them worse as the seasons progress. It's true; I see her point. We had bad storms in the past, but lately, it's just one after the other and each one is worse than the other. Look how many years running, that it's been 80 degrees or higher by the end of February here. It used to be 70-80 for a very long time. That's why people moved to Florida. They love the warmth and sun, but it never got hot and humid until after they packed it in for winter and went home in the spring. We've had summer like temperatures way too early for half the time I've lived here. 

Now we're getting a lot more category 2, 3 and 4 hurricanes season after season. And it's not like it's one or two a season. It feels like a handful of storms per season. They may be spread out, but we get through most of the alphabet. I think there's been at least half a dozen category 5 hurricanes in the last 8 years that have hit the United States, but I could be wrong. 

I just don't know what to say right now. We are under a hurricane warning and watch, so I'm back up my computer and the intent is to stay in our unit. It will hopefully pass by with no major issues. All we want is minimal damage - tree branches breaking and a little water. No flooding, no loss of power (maybe the power loss is expected for an hour, but no more), no storm surge. Keep the water in the streets and away from the house if we have to have anything. Let's try to keep this at bay and hope it lessens itself within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Be safe.

Cheers

This keeps up, Florida will be severed at its base

We're in for another round of storm surging this week. 

Tropical Storm Milton is on his way from visiting Mexico and is coming east to sit on top of the entire state of Florida over the next few days. By Thursday, he should be swimming into the Atlantic and dissipating into the ocean. 

What this means for me is, it's going to be another great start to the work week; watching the weather and worrying about how we will be affected. Right now, reports are Milty could strengthen enough to become a category three by Tuesday and when / if he hits us on Wednesday, he could be a 4. 

It figures we get this, as my mother and I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought frozen meals for the week. I was planning on lunches for work, and when we got home, my mom's friend called. Asked if we watched the news, and my mom said no. Friend said Milton is on his way to us. My mother said she checked the news around 6 in the morning (friend called around 12:30) so she didn't see any updates. 

Well, she immediately turned on the TV and got an update. 

As we are in the cone (like the rest of the state), it doesn't look good. Especially since the states that border this one are still picking up from Helene, just last week. 

How quickly we jumped from the letter "H" to the letter "M". I know we had a "K" for a moment, but hot damn. If we keep getting repeatedly banged by hurricanes, Florida will soon be cut off from Georgia and Alabama and it'll become it's own island. Wasn't California supposed to have been the first one to do that??? With all their wildfires and earthquakes... the burning and shaking should have ripped them away already. Yet, their weather conditions said "nope; Florida's gonna do it first". 

So what this means for us is that the shutters are up as of last night, the extra phone chargers are out (and will be plugged in tomorrow morning, hopefully), my tub will be filled with water, all the other things we need will be pulled out of the hurricane supply box. We just wait and see what happens.

It could very well be that we get just the storm surge and rain like we did for this last round, or, we get something as bad as Ian in 2022. It's such a crap shoot because you just never know how these storms are going to turn. Which is all the more reason the cold and snow look so much more inviting!!! I'm always going to say that, and I don't care. If I get to move back there, I'll gladly suffer because you put your life more at risk in a hurricane than a blizzard. 

Sure, power goes out and it's below freezing and you can die from hypothermia, but if you prepare well enough, you can survive it. Hurricanes bring 10 or more feet of water inside buildings. Look at Tennessee and all the other states that got decimated by Helene - videos are posted of entire towns that don't exist anymore. The floodwater wiped them off the map. I saw a video of an entire family and friends in their living room, all chest deep in water. The pets were on floating boards so they could stay dry. Yes, those people are alive, but until that water recedes, that's no way to survive this. But what are they to do? It's so crazy. 

I really hope one of the predictions we get is all we get - just 5 straight days of rain and nothing else. However, that being said, if there's no stopping of that cloud water, the ground is going to become so saturated, that it will create more flooding; they will be no where for the ground water to go. Which means it's going to add inches to any storm surge we may get. My low lying car (Hyundai Accent) can only take so much. Maybe this is a sign to not only get a higher vehicle (I'm still too little and fat for a souped up pickup truck. Plus I ain't no FloGrown country kid. I've got no need for that) but it's a sign to attempt to move out of this area when / if everything dries out?

Regardless of questions, I'm going to end it here for now, and start getting some other things done. I'll update when I can and if I get pictures, I will post them. 

Stay safe;

Cheers