We’re home safe and sound. I drove up and checked the house around 11:00 AM this morning. Power was on – I don’t think it ever went out. And no damage to the house at all. So I went back to my brother’s, loaded everything into the car, got the girls in, and we’re now home chilling.
A huge thank you to my younger brother, sister in law, my nephews, and their German shepherd for providing a port in the storm!
I checked with BettyC this AM when I got up and she said:
Everyone okay but it got pretty bad here. Some structural damage. No sleep for 48 hours. Kinda trapped with no gas, no power, etc. But we’ll be okay. Got food, water, our health!
This is at the place they evacuated too. So the good news is they’re all okay. I can tell you that they’re working both hard and fast to get power back on. So hopefully they’ll be back on the grid shortly.
I’m gonna get cleaned up, eat, and crash.
zhena gogolia
Great news. I hope Betty and crew are back in business soon.
TenguPhule
And not necessarily in that order! //
One a more serious note, welcome back and glad you made it through without any hitches.
And hopefully Betty gets nothing more then a few horror stories about farting dogs and nervous chickens out of this.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
Great to hear that you and Betty are safe. What was the storm like where you evaced to?
randy khan
Happy to know that you and Betty are safe.
I’d put crashing first on the list, but YMMV.
TenguPhule
Oh no, Here we go again.
Felonius Monk
Glad to hear you are in good shape, Adam. Also happy to hear Betty C. & Company are okay.
My SIL in Boca checked in via email yesterday afternoon. They came through pretty well, although no power.
Stay safe everyone.
Jeffro
Welcome back, Adam – glad you and Betty are safe!
On the open thread front: 9/11 Brought America Together: When Did We Rip Back Apart?
Hey at least Bump did his homework and figured it out correctly: it was right when Dumbya used 9/11 to gin up support for an unnecessary war that cost us several thousand lives and $2T. That, and W’s buddy Rove deciding the best way to bring Americans together was to run a “50% + 1” campaign (complete with fucking purple heart band-aids). And then the banksters getting away with economic murder. And the birthers, and the Tea Party, and the depths of right-wing insanity that have plagued us ever since.
Patricia Kayden
Good to hear that you and Betty are okay. This has been a scary September so far. Whew.
HRA
Very glad you are all safe. My relatives in Stuart and Orlando checked in this am with good news, too. I am waiting for those in the Tampa area to check in now.
O. Felix Culpa
Glad to hear that you, Betty, and respective family members – human and critter – are safe and well!
Patricia Kayden
@TenguPhule: Trump and his sycophants have no reason to pivot so this is not surprising. I’m hoping that the Supreme Court doesn’t bend an inch on this issue.
JPL
When Betty is able to return from her hideout, I hope that her house is okay.
TenguPhule
@Patricia Kayden:
Only one vote matters. Kennedy’s.
boatboy_srq
Here’s to being safe and (mostly) sound. Hurricanes are no joke.
Manyakitty
@HRA: My parents live in the Westchase area of Tampa and they are in good shape, with no injuries or property damage, thank FSM!
Manyakitty
Also, too, so relieved to hear the other Juicers in Irma’s path are safe and sound as well!
GregB
Glad to hear you are safe and sound. Betty too!
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule:
Anything to keep Teh Blah and Teh Brown from our white, white wimminvolk and our jerbs.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Why the fuck did Injustice Kennedy do that?
JPL
Well good times. My power just went out and I’m north of Atlanta
HeleninEire
Good, good news. Happy for all the BJ’erz in FL who are safe. Its not over yet so everyone keep checking in. Y’all know that Rush is gonna come back from his bug out place and say “See, told ya”
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Sorry, story just updated.
TenguPhule
@Goku: I have no idea what Kennedy is thinking at this point. The whole thing is a dog’s breakfast at this point.
eclare
Glad to hear you are home, and I hope the Crackers, human and pet, are able to go home soon!
hedgehog the occasional commenter
Good news, thanks!
james parente
We did OK here in Bradenton. Irma’s Eye passed East of us and placed us on the “weak” side of the storm. We didn’t lose power for any more than 10 minutes. I feel eternally grateful to a weakening storm and steering high pressure masses.
Shell
We once lost power for five days. Its a lot like camping…except when you go camping and decide you hate it, you can always go home.
Gozer
Glad to hear you and Betty are OK.
My folks evacuated to NOLA. Luckily they only lost some screens over their pool. No serious damage, just some debris.
Back to lurking…
Yutsano
Frabjous news is frabjous.
@TenguPhule: Dog’s breakfast is being kind. It’s a total mishegas at this point.
JMG
My cousin in Ponte Vedra Beach checked in. No power, but no flooding despite lots of rain. Her development is on west side of A1A so storm surge not an issue. She didn’t mention tree or property damage, so I assume it was minor if any.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
The whole thing is especially crazy because the nominal justification for the ban was to give the government temporary breathing room to come up with a new policy. As far as I can tell, they’ve done nothing to come up with a new policy even though the original term of the travel ban is already past. I’m going to predict that they’ll let the ban expire, claim that the case before the Supreme Court is now moot because the ban has expired, and then either propose a new “temporary” ban and force the thing back into court again or just keep on acting as if the ban is in place even though it’s expired. Whatever the technical details, their goal will be to continue with the ban while doing everything they can think of to tie up court cases against it in procedural bullshit.
Tom Levenson
Good news. Thanks for keeping us in the loop
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
I think you’re right.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
Kennedy, at least my impression of him that is, is a squish. He should have told Attorney General Nathan Bedford Forrest to fuck off with his stupid, bigoted, and likely unconstitutional plea. At least the executive branch departments are slow walking some of this shit.
It’s still bad because they’re disobeying the POTUS, but it’s the least had option at this point.
chris
Glad to hear everyone is safe. That was a very tense week.
I went out today and bought a few survival items to add to the store I keep at all times. I know it’s too soon to be sure but windy.com is showing Jose on the coast of Nova Scotia by Wednesday the 20th. Too close to my doorstep for comfort.
Since it’s an OT, shit was still happening elsewhere. Bastards!
SiubhanDuinne
Glad to hear everyone is safe and (relatively) dry. I was out for half an hour (northern suburbs of Atlanta) and it’s raining and wind blowing like a sumbitch. So glad to be back inside!
@JPL:
Hope you get power back soon!
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Too early to tell. They’re still updating this story and Suckabee Sanders is giving a new conference right now.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
It’s not as if I’m going very far out on a limb with that prediction.
TenguPhule
Oh fuck that bitch Suckabee. Pardon my French.
Fuckers.
eclare
@JPL: Sorry to hear that, it sucks. Hope some linemen stayed in GA and that it comes back soon.
Brachiator
Adam, good to hear that you and BettyC are all okay.
I have relatives in Tampa who, fortunately, did not get hit hard.
And a coworker who went to Disney world. He may not be able to start home until Wednesday.
Yutsano
@chris:
Oh snap. Better keep RedKitteh in communication.
@TenguPhule: Looks like Bannon’s interview got under Dolt45’s skin. Good. Let his thrash about his ego.
CaseyL
So happy to see all of our FL peeps are safe and sound, and here’s hoping Betty’s place is all or mostly fine when she returns home. Still want photos of the Great Chicken Roundup.
My Mom (Pompano Beach) and friend (Coconut Grove) are OK, too, though without power.
TenguPhule
Fox and Friends actually went there on today of all days.
Soulless bastards.
eclare
@Shell: Four days here. Nothing like sitting in your idling car, in your driveway, charging your phone.
Mary G
Glad to hear you and yours are well and have power, Adam. Betty may have lost some stuff, but stuff can be replaced. People and pets can’t be.
TenguPhule
Hey Adam, when you’re awake and coherent, can you give us the skivvy on how the hell this happened.
US Navy ships in deadly collisions had dismal training records
Nobody caught on till now?
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Kennedy isn’t a squish, he’s a conservative who incidentally believes in ‘dignity’.
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule:
OMEFFSM, really? So, it’s not a completely wrong-headed interpretation of the Testaments that’s the problem with modern society, it’s the lack of statues of Gun-Totin’ Capitalist White Jeebus.
Exactly what century is this wanker inhabiting? Because it sounds more like the 12th than the 21st.
Davebo
Really glad Irma @TenguPhule:
Scott Swift COMPACFLT should be stepping up to state his former rank right now.
rikyrah
Glad to hear from both of you ?
low-tech cyclist
@eclare:
Would the latter be the animal Crackers?
My in-laws in Plant City are all doing OK, amazingly enough. Everybody’s alive and well (or at least, as well as they were before Irma, given that MIL’s in the ICU), and while my FIL lost power and my BIL’s yard has turned into a pond, that’s about the extent of it. Lucky lucky lucky.
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: The Republican party has routinely worked 9/11 like a pimp works his stable of hookers during Fleet Week. With a similar amount of grace and dignity and respect for the dead, which is to say, none at all. So I’d like to say this is shocking and surprising, but it’s not at all.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@TenguPhule:
In 100 years, almost everyone alive today will be dead so it really doesn’t matter, because there’s very little we can do about it now.
This Zinke guy must not get out much. Go to the nearest Catholic Church and you’ll see statues of Jesus in all of his tortured, half-dead glory.
This zombie lie has got to die. No one’s proposing erasing Robert E. Lee from history. There will still be history books teaching that history, hopefully in a more accurate form. The real bone of contention here is whether Confederate monuments put up decades ago to commemorate slavers and treason should be allowed to still be on public property. Most city officials aren’t even considering completely destroying them.
I’d rather they be in museums and special public spaces so people of the future can understand how pervasive white supremacy was in the past. And how dare Fox compare Confederate traitors to ordinary Americans who sacrificed themselves to save potentially hundreds or thousands of lives.
boatboy_srq
@TenguPhule: IANAA* (I Am Not An Admiral), but it sounds a lot like the kind of skimping on training the Royal Navy did in Victorian times – when captains pitched shot overboard to preserve their brightwork rather than drill with the munitions and have to repaint/revarnish. Training costs, and keeping under budget is still likely a performance metric.
Bobby Thomson
You didn’t do the “dime on the bowl of ice” trick?
randy khan
@ Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) :
I think it’s pretty normal for a Justice to issue a temporary stay in a case like this, so that the whole court can review the request and any response. It obviously would be better if he hadn’t, but I wouldn’t read anything specific into it.
FlipYrWhig
@TenguPhule: Um, I haven’t been in churches in a little while now, but isn’t there a big gory dangling statue of Jesus in the Catholic ones?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
Then why override the 9th District Court? Even for only a day? That’s one day too many to allow this shit to continue.
ruemara
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: He’s fucking huge ass hole piece of crap. SATSQ
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: I can substitute.
The US Navy is getting ground to the bone, like all the other services. I’m hearing stories of guys working sixteen hour days, seven days a week, or more for years on end. Not weeks, months, but years. There’s no time for training or anything else, everything is falling by the wayside, and the whole reason it hasn’t gone completely to shit is due to the sailors being fairly young and just busting their asses, and a healthy dose of luck, but both can only keep you going for so long and we’re running out of youth and luck in a big way.
We need more people in the system, and that means vastly increased salaries and better career prospects, and a better chance of “doing your 20” so you can get retirement. The odds right now of someone doing a full 20 – and those people are valuable, the have knowledge and skills that get lost when they’re drummed out early – are less than me being able to retire at 60. IOW, zero.
We spend all the money on shit hardware and weapons systems that don’t work and haven’t put a dime into the human asset end since the 1990s. That desperately needs to change. From where I’m sitting, nobody’s even acknowledging that it’s a problem, so it won’t change.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know: Thanks, appreciate it.
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
There’s a reason 9/11 is also known as Wingnut Christmas.
Major Major Major Major
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: because conservatives are assholes? Because some legal reason I don’t grok?
Brachiator
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
All white people, patriots and Deplorables, look alike to the shitstains at Fox News.
TenguPhule
News cameras caught nine looters during Hurricane Irma. The suspects were arrested within hours.
Florida.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: exactly in that order!
opiejeanne
@chris: Yeah, those fuckers are in WA. I don’t understand why the cops didn’t arrest them for assault for the tear gas attack.
Lapassionara
@The Moar You Know: I agree, and I don’t know why they strut around so proudly on this anniversary, since Bush was in office that day and almost every decision he made afterward has made us less safe, not more.
Major Major Major Major
10th Century Viking warlord remains turn out to be female
Adam L Silverman
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Pretty much the same as where I evaced from (went 40 minutes south). We were west of the eye, so on the last dangerous part of the storm. Steady winds in the 40-50 mph range with gusts up to 70-80 mph. Steady rain. The eye moved past us between about 7:30 and midnight. With one last feeder band around 1:30 AM or so. Power never went out where we were at and from what I can tell it didn’t go out at home either.
Adam L Silverman
@HRA: keeping good thoughts
raven
@Adam L Silverman: The wind is cranking pretty heavily here but nothing compared to what others get. We just finished watching Cross Creek just to keep the florida theme going. The 5 dogs have all gotten along well but the chihuahua still doesn’t like me! The two cats have been non-factors, they are just laying low in the guest BR.
Yutsano
@Major Major Major Major: The Christian sense of female acquiescence has always been a silly notion. There are numerous societies outside the Christian west that have had strong leadership. Hell Pakistan has had more female prime ministers than England.
Quinerly
Great news. Get some rest!
Adam L Silverman
@HeleninEire: SE Florida got hammered. They were in the NE quadrant (most dangerous) for hours when Irmas was moving through the Florida straits and the keys. They’re going to be out of power down there for a while. If he’s smart he’ll keep his gob shut.
chris
@Major Major Major Major: That’s very cool. She’s probably an ancestor of mine considering my sisters…
Msb
So glad to hear everyone is safe!
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m glad the storm hasn’t killed your inner optimist.
Major Major Major Major
@Yutsano: the Vikings weren’t particularly known for female leadwrship, but as you got further north and resources got more scarce the sexes became more equal. Bigger things to worry about I guess, and later to christianize.
stinger
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I want to ask these people, “How often have you sat down with your children at the foot of a Confederate statue and used it to teach your children about the horrors of slavery and how Confederate leaders were traitors to America?”
Major Major Major Major
New Yorker: It’s Time For Hillary Clinton to Gracefully Bow Out of Public Life, Along With All Other Women
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Brachiator:
The most disgusting people I can imagine are people who only have their race and nationality going for them in their lives. These are the same people who link skin color with how patriotic they are. It’s so hypocrtical and gross.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@stinger:
Never. They’re fed a sanitized version of American history and either believe it without question (and are too busy getting drunk at HS football games) or know what the statues really stand for and agree.
mskitty
We didn’t get hurt by Harvey at my home, and a lot of Houston is functioning normally, but – a front tooth crown just fell out and my dentist can’t work because his water is shut off today, to clear contamination.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Major Major Major Major:
?
Miss Bianca
Yay, good news from Adam and the Crackers! Hoping all the other BJ-ers out there in Irma’s path fare so well!
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: That was great!
Ruckus
@TenguPhule:
Why do you think the fleet commander was relieved? He’s a pretty high up dude and they are the one’s normally handing out the penalties.
I said this before and it may be valid again. During Vietnam we were supposed to have a 600 ship navy. We of course didn’t have the personnel, the money nor enough ships in reasonable condition to do that. But that was the order, 600 ships. So most ships had crew shortages, we had at least one WWII destroyer in our flotilla, stationed as I was in Charleston. I knew a sailor on that ship and it was barely sea worthy at all. It was ordered to Vietnam and most of the crew were certain it wouldn’t make it that far. It looked in pathetically bad shape, fresh paint or not. Some of the ships, like the USS McCain are 25 yrs old, really the end of their service lives. The USS Fitzgerald is 23 yrs old. These ships have seen a lot of miles and I’d bet between the ships and the reduced crews (current DDGs have a complement of 281, DDGs from the 60s like I was stationed on had a complement of about 325, but we sailed with around 300) mean most likely longer hours and more on station time and less training and rest time. It’s always been a problem for navy ships, the time sailing drains you, and that is if people aren’t shooting at you. It’s worse when they are. Keeping qualified people in and recruiting new people is always difficult and a lot harder when you are at war, especially when they are “unpopular.” Running ships undermanned and under trained always equals trouble. Here is one link
The Moar You Know
@Ruckus: “Hey, uh, where’s the lifeboats?”
“We slapped some paint and a pair of .50 cals on ’em. They’re the newest destroyers.”
“Damn, I wish I asked while we were still in port.”
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
I see that you were there.
Kathleen
@Adam L Silverman: So glad to hear all is well with you and your family. My family in Tampa didn’t lose power either, though I’m not sure if they had any damage at all. My best to all Juicers and their friends and families who have dealt or will be dealing with this storm and its aftermath.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
We also had issues with safety equipment. No climbing harnesses if you had to go aloft. I did, twice. My safety line was a rope that I tied and no one watching me. At least 25 yr old WWII life vests and no foul weather gear even though we sailed above the Arctic Circle in winter and refueled at sea. An open motor launch and a captains gig but no life rafts. We once were refueling at sea and they called for the helicopter handling crew to recover stores, but they were the same people, so it was impossible. The captain called for it twice before someone told him we couldn’t do that, we didn’t have enough people, and that was one of the lower enlisted people who shouted up from forward refueling. The captain had no clue and neither did any of the officers below him.
It amazes me that more navy ships don’t run into things or get in the way.
Kathleen
@Major Major Major Major: Was that snark? I couldn’t tell. At any rate it wasn’t really very funny even if it was meant as snark.
Raven
@Ruckus: I wish I could get you the final war diary of the Crosby. I’m gonna put my email up for a minute
It’s markann at the google mail dot com
WaterGirl
@Kathleen: @Major Major Major Major: I was about to ask if that was snark, too. Not a good sign that it’s hard to tell anymore!
Major Major Major Major
@Kathleen: @WaterGirl: How could that not be obviously snark? I’m assuming you didn’t read it.
dimmsdale
@Adam L Silverman: REALLY glad you & Betty made it thru. I have a cousin in Polk City, so I was glued for the duration to the internet feed from Channel 10, Tampa Bay–a local station, but a first-rate weather & anchor team and disconcertingly young roving correspondents (I felt myself wanting to ask “Do your parents know you’re out in this weather??”) The storm track was never entirely certain, until it finally was–and my cousin’s expectations went from bracing for 90-mph gusts (in a building frankly not built for it) to emerging unscathed from 50-plus gusts–and a ridiculously narrow margin between total destruction and “Whew, dodged that one!”
eclare
@WaterGirl: Did you read the article? I thought it was hilarious.
Scamp Dog
@Kathleen: To me it came off as an over-the-top exaggeration of a Bernie Bro, funny in a somewhat disheartening way. An actual Bernie Bro would probably avoid contradicting himself in the same sentence (although it would definitely happen before too long).
Major Major Major Major
@Scamp Dog: As far as extremely cringeworthy on-the-nose satire of what people sound like when they talk about Hillary (there’s a noun phrase) goes, The Onion nailed it 11 years ago with Hillary Clinton is Too Ambitious to be the First Female President.
Ruckus
@eclare:
You’d have to understand exactly what the New Yorker is to see that as funny. Otherwise he is so spot on the rabid right that it’s almost scary.
Now if you did understand that it’s an Andyism, even if he didn’t write it, then it’s cool.
Westyny
@Major Major Major Major: Love this.
eclare
@Ruckus: Yes, I understood, and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t Andy Borowitz.
Ruckus
@eclare:
I think a couple of others didn’t know see or know that. And yes when I first read it I thought Andy. But then it was too close to home and not quite satirical enough to be him. Hence the Andyism.
Karen
@Ruckus: My Dad stayed touch with all his friends from Navy, not hard to do when you live in SF; after some complaints he suggested that they check Alameda to make sure some idiot wasn’t using something from Naval Yard.
Kristine
Late to the thread, but glad you and Betty C are okay.
celticdragonchick
Good to see you are okay Adam. :)
Also, only a month to go until the next Blade Runner movie!!!!!!!!!!!
Mel
So glad that you and loved ones are okay. Fingers crossed thal all is well at Betty’s, and hoping that everyone else who was affected is safe and sound.
Brachiator
@Kathleen:
@WaterGirl:
I thought that the piece struck just the right note. But then again, I think that snark is often easy and obvious, while good satire takes some talent.
..
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: I thought it was hilariously on point.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@boatboy_srq: Part of the problem is lack of time–if people are pulling extra or longer shifts because of personnel shortages, and ships are pulling longer cruises because of ship shortages, you’re not going to have the time to get everything done, and things are going to be left undone. Training is often one of them, especially when it’s training people in things they feel they already know how to do.
Tehanu
Just adding my 2 cents. Glad that you, Adam, and family, and Betty C and her family (including dogs, hens…) are all OK.
Barry
Congratulations, Adam!
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Shouldn’t that be Wingnut Easter?