Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The lights are all blinking red.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Houseboats and Hurricanes Don’t Mix (Open Thread)

Houseboats and Hurricanes Don’t Mix (Open Thread)

by | 70 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Well, I’m involuntarily ashore, having cut short my houseboat vacation due to Hurricane Matthew. Part of our intended route is now in the Cone of Doom, so relinquishing the boat early seemed like the responsible thing to do. But it was fun while it lasted. Here’s a view from behind the wheel:

houseboat-8

Here’s a gorgeous spring we swam in a couple of days ago:

manatee-springs

The spring water is icy cold, and it blows out of the opening in the limestone at such a rate that it’s difficult to swim down toward the bottom. The water in the spring and run from the spring to the river are clear, as you can see. But we saw gators on the banks of the river just outside the spring, so we had to look sharp to make sure they didn’t decide to join us.

We’ve got a rain check for the houseboat and will definitely be back, maybe in early spring when the weather is good and hurricanes are unlikely. It’s a fine idea for a vacation — the boats are not at all fancy but are roomy and well-appointed with all the mod-cons.

But when the winds picked up just a bit yesterday, I could immediately see how unpleasant it would be out on the water in a large, cube-shaped vessel. Even in a fairly minor squall. I hope everyone in Matthew’s path is in a safer place.

Missed all the political hullabaloo for the last several days, but I did catch a bit of the veep debate on radio. Pence lied about pretty much everything, but I guess that doesn’t matter. Can’t wait for this election to be over.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    maurinsky

    That looks beautiful! Getting out of the water is always a wise decision when there’s a hurricane on the loose.

  2. 2.

    donnah

    Betty, that looks wonderful! What a shame you had to cut it short, but it really is smart to anticipate the worst. And you can come back and pick up where you left off.

    The debate was poorly managed by the moderator and Pence came across as a solid politician, the opposite of Trump. Kaine was aggressive to the point of being obnoxious at first, but he calmed down and made some good comments. I would give the win to Kaine, but it was much closer than the Clinton/Trump circus results.

    Hope you get back to the houseboat!

  3. 3.

    Punchy

    Wait….all the peeps here said you were West-Saaah’yde’ing it. Over by Panama Beach and shit. Why would a easty cane force you to give up the party barge?

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    Sorry to hear about your vacation getting disrupted like this. I hope everyone is safe,etc.

    But maybe THIS is finally Obama’s Katrina.

    Thanks, Obama.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    Looks like the storm may affect the DC area over the weekend.

    Are hurricane names unique? I suppose I’d have noticed any others named ‘Matthew’. It used to be an uncommon name, but then, for a while, it seemed that every other kid had that name. But when I was a kid, it was rare– my mother used to tell the story that I came home from school upset once because I’d encountered a ‘Matthew with another face’.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Glad you enjoyed what little time Hurricane Matthew allowed you. Def go again in the Spring. Did the boxer babes accompany?

    RE the debate: it’s sad our media is auditioning for the lead role in “Memento.”

    No recall of past policies and events, just how calmly the debater can roll off lies. It’s about tone, not substance. Shame on them.

  11. 11.

    Humdog

    I don’t care to swim in water that has fish in it and they won’t try to eat me! I do not understand the pull to swim in springs with gators on shore. Is it like wanting to bungee jump where the fact you could die gives the thrill? Don’t get it!

  12. 12.

    RaflW

    we saw gators on the banks of the river just outside the spring, so we had to look sharp to make sure they didn’t decide to join us.

    Y’all are just adorable, but no damn way I’m going to visit Florida.

  13. 13.

    NorthLeft12

    Pence lied about pretty much everything, but I guess that doesn’t matter.

    IOKIYAR!!!!

    The video bits I have seen confirm that Pence’s smarminess quotient was off scale high. How does an obvious shitheel like this get elected to anything? All I hear from south of here is how real Americans hate typical politicians; their fakeness, arrogance, deceptiveness, smugness, and insincerity.

    So then the paragon of all politicians steps up and acts exactly as predicted, and they appear to not only accept it, but applaud him. And elect him to Congress and then to Governor. Sheeeesh!

  14. 14.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    My workplace is warily keeping an eye on the storm. It looks it will hamper a weekend Cracker Festival and we may be called to emergency duties if the storm hits our area.

  16. 16.

    J.

    Nice photos! Sorry about your vacation being cut short.

    So what is it about Trump that brings out the worst in people? (Not that those in his inner circle were nice, or sane, to begin with, but it seems that the more time they spend around Trump, the less truthful and more crazy they get.)

  17. 17.

    oldster

    “But we saw gators on the banks of the river just outside the spring, so we had to look sharp to make sure they didn’t decide to join us.”

    Yeah, I too have to say: this strikes me as crazy!

    If I see a gator on the bank of a river, I don’t swim in that river. Or that state.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    Perhaps it’s the perspective, but that barbecue looks barely large enough to handle two small burgers.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    @MattF:

    Whatever it is they’re doing on that screen, it’s not ‘journalism’.

    It’s not, and you’d think they could get pantsed.

    They are beyond shame.

  21. 21.

    RK

    VP candidate Bill Weld told the Boston Globe that he plans to focus exclusively on attacking Donald Trump for the remainder of the campaign — essentially admitting that running mate Gary Johnson can not become president.

    Trump has Weld’s “full attention,” he explained, because his agenda is so terrible it’s “in a class by itself.” “I think Mr. Trump’s proposals in the foreign policy area, including nuclear proliferation, tariffs, and free trade, would be so hurtful, domestically and in the world, that he has my full attention,” Weld said.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Humdog: I rather suspect that gators, like all other reptiles, don’t like cold water. Therefor, not much danger from them.

  24. 24.

    Corner Stone

    But we saw gators on the banks of the river just outside the spring, so we had to look sharp to make sure they didn’t decide to join us.

    It’s not the ones that you see…

  25. 25.

    ruemara

    It looks really idyllic. Except for the gators. Sorry your vacation got truncated.

    The debate annoyed the hell out of me. I follow Jon Ralston on Twitter and for a supposed good journalist, the criticism was ridiculous. He declared Kaine shrill for insisting on the truth and Pence cool and collected. Even decent journalists do not get that style points are not what they’re supposed to be commenting on!

    On a lighter note, my friend’s rock opera performs in Reno tomorrow night and has 2 days in Phoenix starting the 10th. They just wrapped the cast album, which I am going to buy. If you’re looking for an unusual play that has some pretty good performances while presenting history from a Native American perspective, you should go.

    Yes, I am shilling for Big Indian Thespian.

    Ok gotta go to work. I also have an interview with another place for a producer director job. I have no idea if I would take it. I just got this one.

  27. 27.

    Roger Moore

    @MattF:

    Are hurricane names unique?

    No. They can be re-used, but they stop re-using them once the name has applied to a very powerful and destructive storm. I assume that’s a mixture of superstition and avoiding confusion.

  28. 28.

    Shell

    I have seen confirm that Pence’s smarminess quotient

    Most of the time I thought Pence looked like his underwear was riding up.

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Conservatives snap over the lapel pin Tim Kaine wore during the #VPDebate — here’s what it really means

    Is Kaine wearing a Japanese flag lapel pin? What is that?

    Hey @timkaine where is your #AmericanFlag lapel pin?

    @timkaine look at your lapel pin. Look at @MikePenceVP. @timkaine you’re wearing the wrong one because you’re for the wrong team.

    “[Tim Kaine] wears a Honduras flag pin on his jacket but no American flag.”

    Hey GOP?

    That’s a Blue Star Service pin for his son, who’s a deployed Marine.

  31. 31.

    SenyorDave

    @RK: VP candidate Bill Weld told the Boston Globe that he plans to focus exclusively on attacking Donald Trump for the remainder of the campaign — essentially admitting that running mate Gary Johnson can not become president.

    I don’t get it. He has said that Clinton is the most qualified person to be president, he never was a libertarian until this election, he’s never been a small government guy, doesn’t seem like he would have bought into the extreme positions of the libertarian party, and probably would run rings around Johnson in terms of knowledge. Did he agree to be second banana on a lark?

    I think I saw somewhere that he has a huge grudge against Trump, I wonder what it is.

  32. 32.

    Face

    essentially admitting that running mate Gary Johnson can not become president.

    Wow, there’s a news flash. Or not.

  34. 34.

    Punchy

    But we saw gators on the banks of the river just outside the spring, so we had to look sharp to make sure they didn’t decide to join us.

    Seems like nobody wants to be seen with Tim Tebow.

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    Well, I have returned from a vacation in a place that has neither alligators nor hurricanes, so it ran its full course and we did not have to leave early. It was also largely Trump-free, for which I am immensely grateful. Looking at some of the coverage lowlights from last week, it appears that Il Donaldo had a less enjoyable time of it than I did. Did I miss anything else of importance? Did Cole’s new house fall down yet? Have we attracted any good trolls?

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SenyorDave:

    I think I saw somewhere that he has a huge grudge against Trump, I wonder what it is.

    He has to share oxygen with him. I have the same grudge. It’s like using the same straw.

  42. 42.

    hovercraft

    @bemused:
    Megan Kelly was finally able to stop Kellyanne’s gish gallop, to the point that she called uncle.
    Kelly played clips and challenged her so much on her bullshit about Trump and women, that finally Kellyanne whined that they were there to talk about the VP debate. Watch.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    Weld’s biggest contribution would be dropping off the Libertarian ticket, endorsing Hillary, and campaigning for her.

    This “all attacking Trump, all the time” is pretty much an appeal to Glibertarians who want to vote “none of the above”. No courage at all from Weld. He probably doesn’t want to be a laughingstock now that Gary Johnson’s liabilities as a candidate and potential statesman have hit the news. He can’t seriously promote that.

    He might be pulling away some votes that would have gone to the Democrats, just to keep Trump out of the White House.

    Weld’s actions are pretty self-serving, IMHO.

  47. 47.

    qwerty42

    @OzarkHillbilly: I rather suspect that gators, like all other reptiles, don’t like cold water. Therefor, not much danger from them.
    I went swimming down the Ichetucknee and doubt any cold-blooded critter could survive in it too long. But this was up by the blue hole the water comes from. Farther down …

  48. 48.

    Bill

    Glad you’re safe.

    You swam in water where you could see gators on the shore?!?! Not sure if that’s brave or crazy.

  49. 49.

    StringOnAStick

    We jus go home last night too, but from deep in backwoods Michigan Trump territory. My BIL last days from cancer are soon, but once we could finally convince him to take the morphine, his lungs relaxed and he could breathe again so it looks like he has more time. We can be thereat a moments notice.

    Woodsy white Michigan, full of angry mostly old rednecks. The only jobs are at the prison complex since all the manufacturing has been wiped out by people like Trump buying imports, but of course they don’t see it that way. There are very small manufacturing businesses that don’t pay that well; funny how they are all located outside city limits to avoid paying those taxes, yet I heard bitching about the city’s crappy roads. Government: how does that work?

  50. 50.

    Ruckus

    @NorthLeft12:

    All I hear from south of here is how real Americans hate typical politicians; their fakeness, arrogance, deceptiveness, smugness, and insincerity.

    People that believe that and tell you that are lying to you. They want all those grand qualities because they want to fuck over everyone else. Being special they don’t expect it for themselves. They aren’t special in a good way.

  51. 51.

    gogol's wife

    @hovercraft:

    Yes, but I found Megyn Kelly to be extremely partisan in that interview. It was all, “Oh, why can’t Trump just control himself so he can win????”

  53. 53.

    hovercraft

    @dr. bloor:
    When asked bout said report, he said that was just a rumor being spread by Clinton supporters to put pressure on him to drop out. This was during the time when the polls were getting tight.

  54. 54.

    terraformer

    I grew up in Florida, and lived there most of my life in the DAB area (although I’ve lived in Ft Lauderdale too), and I learned to scuba dive at Ginnie Springs and have been to several springs, offshore in the Atlantic, and in the Keys to dive. Beautiful springs, all of them. Real treasures!

    I see FB posts from friends talking about how they are preparing (or already have) left FL for higher ground. These same people regularly post laughingly, during winter, about the temperature there with pictures of the beach and how nice it is compared to other places (like where I now live, in Wisconsin). I shake my head.

    I know you love FL, Betty. I did too, to an extent. But over time, I’ve become a FL-hater, at least from the perspective of living there instead of as a visitor (it’s great for that). Don’t get me wrong, a broad brush is never good, but from my experience, it’s filled with 65% retirees, 20% young-to-middle-aged families, and 15% of people who prey on both (in terms of scam/con artists and other criminals). Made worse by an economy that is largely service-oriented. Closed/boarded stores abound. There’s a reason most of the footage on those “Cops” shows are in FL.

    I got the hell outta there. Not saying you need to too, but I think you should if you can. Move to a place with lots of fresh water, or at least where the lack of water isn’t critical. Where it’s not always hot, and getting hotter.

  55. 55.

    hovercraft

    @gogol’s wife:
    She’s totally a conservative, which is why it’s funny that she’s been one of the toughest on Trumpsters this whole season. It’s why he lashed out at her. I think as you say she wants to give him a pass, but the woman thing really bothers her. Whatever the reason I’ll take it, the so-called liberals are just overwhelmed by the gish gallop that they just “leave it there.”

  58. 58.

    Davebo

    Houseboating is a fabulous way to vacation (or live).

    But boxes on the water do catch a lot of wind and there’s normally not much freeboard there. I can remember going to sleep tied up to some old tree on the lake and waking to a storm. I go out to the front deck and see we are still tied to the tree but look aft and see the shoreline approaching really fast. We spent the next 4 hours crashing against the bank and lost two windows to tree limbs.

    When the wind comes up strong no amount of horse power will keep a 60′ x 18′ box from blowing away. Well, at least not the amount of horsepower we had! At best you can just guide your drifting a little bit.

    Still, it was one of many great adventures!

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    Betty Cracker:

    I wondered whether the weather would wreck your recreation. Good to know, though, that all is safe.

    Hurricane Matthew looks pretty bad. I understand that Mark, Luke and John might be horrible as well.

  60. 60.

    catclub

    @MattF:

    Are hurricane names unique?

    Notoriously bad ones do not get returned to the pile of available names. So no more Camille, Andrew or Katrina.
    So repeats are still possible.

  62. 62.

    Larkspur

    @Gin & Tonic: How long have you been away? Because if you haven’t seen one of the recent Walter updates you’ve missed the photo of Walter holding paws with Ellie in front of a glowing fireplace. So so beautiful.

  63. 63.

    daves09

    Kelly is a terrific journalist-yes, even better than Maddow when she actually does journalism
    She’s sharp, fearless and she is not condescending, and know it allish, which is Maddow’s great failing.
    If Kelly moves away from the dark side she’ll sweep the board.
    Watching the clip of Kaine laying out Trump’s statement how on earth can people say he was shrill?
    Too many interruptions though.
    As for Pence * a man may smile and smile and prove a villain.*
    Miss Conway worked for Pence for ten years-that says all anyone needs to know about her character.
    Are Conway and Coulter having an emaciation contest?

  64. 64.

    Larkspur

    @StringOnAStick: Best wishes for peace and a degree of comfort and solace for your BIL. Morphine is essential to ease breathing as well as pain. I’m so sorry.

    I grew up in Michigan; haven’t been back in nearly 40 years. I have relatives in Port Huron, and friends with whom I’ve lost touch in Lincoln Park and Kalamazoo. It’s a crazy place geologically, all that post-ice age carving up of the landscape, with the lakes and the weird rocks. My grandparents lived in Detroit and grandpa made a good living as the foreman of a tool and die shop that had a contract with the auto industry. Then they retired to Florida. (They died of natural causes, not gators.)

    I keep reading about urban gardens and small business and even farms springing up in Detroit and it makes me hopeful-ish, but I wonder if they need to truck in clean dirt for raised-bed farming, because I can’t believe that the native ground isn’t heavily laced with toxins. You know, if I were among the wealthy tech elite, I’d seriously consider making a go of it in Detroit, but I don’t have that kind of money and I don’t want to be poor in Detroit, and god knows Detroit doesn’t need me being poor there. They have enough problems.

  65. 65.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    No Republican would know about Blue Star, or for that matter, Gold Star, families. Look how stupid Trump was just a few weeks ago. And current R voters didn’t learn a thing from that catastrophe.

    Idiots. All of them.

  67. 67.

    gvg

    gators are common in Florida, the water is beautiful and the gators aren’t that aggressive. There are millions of people and millions of gators but very few attacks. They are also cold blooded and quite sluggish in cold weather or water. they lie on the banks in the sun to get moving. Of course it also means they don’t need as much food in the cold because their metabolism slows down. Springs are the safest place to encounter them. I have been canoeing at Juniper springs near Ocala where the stream is so narrow and twisty that it switchbacks about 6 times and you can pass the canoes ahead of you and behind you going the other way about 6 feet over from you and the stream is barely wide enough for each canoe plus the banks are about shoulder high. We surprised a BIG gator maybe 12 feet long that was trying to warm up lying across this stream with his back maybe an inch below water. the current was fast and no way to stop so we ran over the gator and it didn’t react. The canoe ahead and behind did the same….no reaction. Now i would have avoided that beast if I could.
    There are very rare native saltwater crocodiles that are aggressive. I have never seen one. water moccasins (snakes) are mean but I have never had a problem. There are things to be cautious about in all states but gator fear shouldn’t be such a big deal.

  68. 68.

    Chris T.

    The spring water is icy cold

    In Florida, that means it’s below 70 degrees F, right? :)

  69. 69.

    gkoutnik

    We have neither houseboats nor hurricanes (or gators) here in upstate NY, but we do have the Erie Canal, where you can rent a canal boat for a week and cruise in comfort. The locks are very cool. Of course, there are a variety of dangers:

  70. 70.

    gkoutnik

    I’m new at this, and it looks like the link didn’t make it into the comment. So – Google “Weavers erie canal” and shudder at the disasters that Pete and the gang had to overcome to get their drink in Buffalo.

Comments are closed.