I'd Like To Introduce You To.

     I have someone that I would like to introduce you to, but first, we need to get the story before the story. You may remember that I mentioned early this week or maybe it was earlier last week. I'm not completely sure right now, that I was giving the humane society another week to get a hold of me about the in home visit with The Truff. That week came and went, and no word from them, so it is with a sad heart, that I have to say that I've decided to put the idea of Gypsy having a home with me away.

     I also mentioned that I was searching around for other dogs that might be a good fit, and as always The Truff was going to have the final say on anything. While I was searching around the internet yesterday for local shelters and what dogs were available, I happened to notice that the local SPCA was having an adoption event. Due to Irma, they were overflowing with pets, and they were running a special for any dog over 6 months of age. The cost for an adoption during this time? Only $5. You read that right, it is only going to cost $5 to adopt a dog over the age of 6 months.

     That is one of the locations of two of the dogs I was looking at, so I decided that yesterday was a good time to head down there and see about those dogs. I got there about an hour before the closed, and I knew that I wouldn't be adopting that day, but I get start the process. The first dog I saw was the one that I thought had the greatest potential to get along with The Truff. She was a Pitbull mix and she happened to be afraid of cats. I thought this could be ideal. The Truff isn't a cat, but since she is small, it might cause the other dog to just shy away from her. Not an ideal reaction, but one that we could all live with. Star was beautiful, but she had more issues than they mentioned on her bio on the website. She is very territorial and I got to witness that as we went back into the shelter to put her back in her room. She lunged at a doorway that another dog was in. She was also very aloof in her interaction with me. She is a sweetheart, and I hope she finds her fur-ever home soon.

      The second dog was also a pitbull mix, and she was great. The interaction was promising, so I decided that I would bring The Truff to meet her today. That meet didn't go very well at all. Charlee was similar to Gypsy in that she was a little too rambunctious for The Truff, and she even snarled at The Truff at one point. That was a no go for sure. I'm fortunate in that I happened to know one of the women that works there, and she was on top of things. She asked if I wanted to try other dogs with The Truff since I was there. I was up for it, and The Truff was hanging in there. She brought out a male dog, which I hadn't given any thought to male dogs. I don't know why, I've just always owned female dogs. They are what I know. This dog, also a pitbull mix, was adorable. He was active, but not too active. He sniffed out The Truff in her carrier, but then he could do with or without what was going on in the carrier. I took The Truff out, and even she was more relaxed in his presence. It finally came down to a moment when I was squatting down, holding The Truff, and Monsur sat right between my legs, he turned his head to look at The Truff, and then just casually turned around. It was a match.

     We began the adoption process. In a matter of an hour, I was driving home with Monsur in the car, that was when I decided we needed to do something about that name, so, I would like to officially introduce you to Morty.

     He has shown little interest in The Truff, which is what The Truff wants. He is maybe the best dog ever, I'm totally biased on this and I'm not apologizing for it. He has been following me around everywhere, and he just wants to hang out and be near people. This is the best case scenario. To make it even better, he and The Truff went outside together. He tried to sniff her out, and she didn't want anything to do with it, and he was just like, "ok, I'll give you time.", and off he went. This is perfection in a furry family. Morty is a little over 5 years old, and that is exactly what I wanted. He has gotten through those puppy years, and is just a great chill dog. When He goes outside I know when he is ready to come back in, because he goes straight to the door.

     I'm pretty sure that I don't have to tell you, that you are going to see many more pictures of him in the coming weeks, and possibly years. I'm glad I went up to that shelter, and I'm glad that I went through a tiny little search, because I found the perfect dog for this house. I'll leave you with one more adorable picture of Morty and as always, peace in and goodnight.

Oh yeah, that tail is always wagging. Isn't it the best?

My Prediction Was Wrong.

     It has felt like an exceptionally long week, and yet, it is once again a short one. Something very interesting happened today though. The boss walked around asking everyone if they wanted an advance on their vacation check, since we didn't work at all last week due to Irma coming through. I'm not completely sure, but I believe that I am the only one that turned him down. Everyone took the advance as far as I know. This is just my opinion, but to me, that speaks of an essence of greed. They didn't save for that proverbial rainy day, one which actually came, and they are jumping at the opportunity to get a little change in their pockets. Here is where the greed comes in, as the boss was walking around, another employee was walking around giving everyone information to get money from the state labor board for lost employment. They are going to double dip, and then, and  this is the real kicker of all of this, they will be the first to complain that they are missing money, when their vacation time comes up, and they are short. This will eventually bite them all in the ass twice. The first time with the vacation check, and the second time when they are hit for the taxes on that money taken from the state. I know at least a few of them are going to go out and do something frivolous with the money since they know they are getting more from the state. They are so concerned about right now, that they are forgetting about the future.

     Learn from this, and plan ahead. I didn't even bat an eyelash when they asked me, I immediately said no. I already have everything covered with savings, so I don't need it, and I definitely don't want to pay any extra taxes that I don't have too. I think I will get several laughs out of all of this by the time it is over.

     Last night was the results from the finale of AGT. I did not go 2 for 2 in back to back years. My pick to win it all, didn't even make the top 5. I have no explanation for why Preacher Lawson didn't make it. The only thing I think it could have been, was that he went long on one of his bits, but that was the whole point for the set up for the eventual punch line. This is the clip of his final performance on the show, let me know what you think of the bit.



     With Preacher not making it into the top 5 I had to go with my back up favorite for the win, and I was wrong on that one. Mandy Harvey was the one who I thought could have a chance, but it would be hard to overcome Preacher's presence on stage, but she had a chance. She is a fantastic singer, and get ready for this, she is deaf. She lost her hearing 10 years ago when she was a music major in college. She thought her life was over at that point, but she picked herself up, and figured out a way to move forward, and part of that was singing, and playing music again. Her performance for the finale was flawless, so I thought her story, along with her talent could put her over the top. I was wrong. Her is her performance from Tuesday night.



     It really doesn't get much better than that right? Plus, she is a Florida girl, how could I not pull for her. In reality, there were no bad acts in the finale. Every act is deserving of getting something out of this show. The group acts, should definitely get a Vegas gig somewhere. Preacher will be a headliner in clubs and should have a special on either Netflix or HBO, or whatever network wants to put him up for one. Mandy Harvey should get some sort of a recording contract out of this. There was a dog act that could easily become part of Universals animal show. Here is why I say Universal. They own Marvel comics and all that good stuff, they even have an area at Universal Orlando dedicated to Marvel characters. Why do I mention Marvel comics in all of this. Sara the dog trainer is definitely a Marvel nerd, and I don't use nerd in a bad sense. The names of her dogs are, Hero, Loki, and Marvel. Come on, they are tailor made for Universal Studios.

     The rest of the singers could end up in a broadway show or something along those lines, and the winning act, I could easily see as part of The Muppets or maybe Sesame Street. The winner was Darci Lynne. She is this shy little girl that found her voice through puppets, and she is a really good ventriloquist. One of the best that I've seen. The only reason I didn't think she could win it all, was because I thought her acts was just a little too niche. I was clearly wrong. She is truly fantastic, and she is no going to have a show in Vegas for a year, after that, she can do anything. I could see her doing a yearly Christmas special or something. I could even still see her on The Muppets and Sesame Street, although she may be a little too big for them after all of this. This was her finale act.



     I am almost certain that she writes her own material as well, and that is key for this type of act. I've seen several ventriloquist on that show, but they had no material. It's the same thing with impersonators. It doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't have good material, and Darci Lynne did. I remember her first audition for the show, and she blew me away, and I do believe that I said at that time, that I didn't know if she could go all the way, because you would need a lot of material. Clearly she had enough, and from what I saw in the little video piece they did before her performance, she has several other puppets that she never introduced to the AGT audience.

     I really hope that I see all of these acts in the future, doing something, there were that good. AGT has done a good job with past winners. They are either touring in some capacity or they have their own shows in Vegas, that keep getting renewed. The season 2 winner is signed to a deal through the next 5 years, and he was a ventriloquist. The crazy thing, i think Darci is better than he is. I'm just still lost over how Preacher Lawson didn't win. I'm with Howie on the assessment of him. He is going to be the next big thing in comedy.

     I found out some bad news tonight. One of the motovloggers that I follow on Youtube, was in a very bad accident. One that is very similar to my friend Elie. She is a rider in Miami, and she does ride a little risky. She is normally in yoga pants and a tank top. She does wear a helmet and gloves at all times though. What I've been able to piece together, is that she was t-boned on her Ducati Monster. She broke both of her legs, and I saw an Instagram story with her saying she was going into surgery, and I think she said something about her neck. Not too sure about that one. I do know, that she now has external supports sticking out of her leg. This was what the doctors said Elie was going to have, but they ended up not doing it with her, and her legs are doing just fine. She was recording when she was hit, and she said in her latest Insta story that she has her laptop, and is going to begin editing the video of her accident. Here is a link to her Instagram. If you have the time or are so inclined, go and leave a comment on her photos or send her a message of good hope. I know she will enjoy it. She is a very bubbly and sweet person, and this isn't getting her down, but everyone needs a little help some time.

     That's it for tonight. I'm going to try and see the new Kingsman movie this weekend, so I'll have a review for you on Sunday, and I'm still slacking on the Irma video. I may just scrap the whole thing, and just do the helmet review. I going to try to get the B roll footage tomorrow for that. I just need to find the right location to mount the GoPro for a good angle. I'm planning on having that up Sunday some time. I'll see you Sunday. Peace in and goodnight.

There Is Beauty In This World.

     I learned another valuable lesson. When you trim a Bougainvillea, you should wear long sleeves and long pants that are rather durable. The reason, Bougainvillea has thorns, and not just an thorns, but throws that are coated in a toxin. That toxin is very similar to poison oak, and it causes rashes and allergic reactions. Here is the best part though, it is all delayed, so I didn't know there was a problem until yesterday. I noticed small welts and lumps that resembled mosquito bites, and they itched like crazy. I had to do a very hard scrub and then use some cortisone to help get over this. I'll get through this, but I'm going to have to continue treating it aggressively with hard scrubbing and cortisone. It's all over my arms and legs, and it kind of sucks.

     I'm having some kind of trouble with my wifi tonight. It could be my browser which has an update waiting for it, but the estimated time for the download keeps fluctuating between 20 minutes and 2 days. Something is going on, and I don't like it. After I write and post this, I'm going to try the download again, but I wanted to get this up before that happened, otherwise I could be without the ability to post for a day.

     While all this is going on, I'm updating the software on my phone. Ok, I just took a second to checkout this new update, and it's pretty cool.  I'll have to play with it later, but I like the look of what is going on with it. Lots of new features to learn, and things to play with.

     I mentioned that I had a Rick of Rick & Morty on the way, and he arrived today. that gives me a set of Rick & Morty now, so that they can watch the show with me. I do have a Rick Pickle on the way, but it won't be released until January. Rick Pickle happens to be my favorite version of Rick, and the episode is fabulously hilarious.

     It felt good to go back to work, but I'm ready for the weekend already. Monday was just that, Monday. Because of the power going off from Irma, it created a weird power flow with our machines, and that created all kinds of problems with the machines running unusually. We had to make constant adjustments for the first 3/4ths of the day, and then when everything seemed to balance out, we had to revert all of the adjustments that we made back to they original settings. It was intensely annoying. Today, the frustration was an employee. He is maybe one of the laziest people that I have ever met. He was supposed to be an employee for the second shift but things went awry and he never went there, and now we are stuck with him. It's my opinion that he should have been let go a long time ago. He cost the company tens of thousands of dollars when he messed up an entire shipment of parts by not checking his work. It was an unfixable mistake and cost us 30,000 parts that aren't just easy to reproduce. That is basically 10 days worth of running those parts to make that many. Beyond all of that, he does the absolute bare minimum to get by, and that bugs me to no end. Oh, there is also the fact that every time I sit down to eat my lunch, he calls me for some problem that is barely a problem, and is usually something that I've told him a dozen times, isn't a problem. One day, I may lose it.

     Let's get over all of that and leave it in the past, because it's time for Favorite Song of the Week. It seems like a very long time since I've done one of these mostly because it's been a couple of weeks, and I've been sitting on this one the entire time. This one comes from my choice to win America's Got Talent last year. If you recall, I chose the right one and she won. By the way, I'm watching AGT right now as I write this, and my pick for this year, just preformed, and I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm going to go 2 for 2. There's still few more acts to go, but so far, he is the only act that blew me away. I should name him so you can look him up. His name is Preacher Lawson, and he is a really funny comedian. Anyway, back to last years winner, and the FSOTW. The winner was non other that Grace Vanderwaal, and she deserved her win. She is a super talented little girl with an amazing knack for writing really good songs. you quite possibly have been hearing one without even knowing it. Her song is featured in the Windex commercial where janitor cleans the window at a nursery for new borns and then a new father coming up and leaning on the window in the spot that was just cleaned to stare at his new child. The song I'm sharing with you tonight is off her upcoming album, and it is just a great catchy song. It will make you want to shake your tail feathers. Here is Grace Vanderwaal with "Moonlight".

     Really listen to the lyrics in the song, and see if you can figure out what it's really about, I have my own theory and I'll share it with you, if you share yours with me. You're going to have to leave a comment to do that. I had to stop for a second and watch the video again. I just wanted to let you know that she is only 14 years old, and there is a good chance that I'm wrong about that, she could be only 13, I don't fully remember. My theory of the subject goes a little dark and that is daunting for someone so young to be able to write a song about.

     I have one more video that I really want you to sit down and take the time to watch tonight. It is from someone I featured on here before. Rosie Gabrielle, she is a free spirited woman that is documenting her travels throughout the world. On this adventure she has been traveling through Oman, and it hasn't been smooth sailing. She has had difficulties with the motorcycle she is riding, in that it is rather large for her, and she has dropped it quite a few times. Because it is so large, she has difficulty getting it back up. That brings us to this video. In the previous episode, she left off with having just dropped the bike and was in the middle of nowhere. She had to run back to the roadway and hope that a car passed by, so that she could ask for help to get it back up. Oh, I should mention that part of the reason she can't lift the bike on her own, is that she suffers from fibromyalgia. It's a disease that affects her muscular system and causes her great pain throughout her body. She has several videos on her channel documenting the times when it flares up really bad, and she has to spend the whole time in bed curled up in pain. The reason I want you to watch this video, is because of the series of events that take place when she waves down a car to get help. It is something that you truly should see. She documents the true beauty of this world in these moments, and it's something that needs to be shared and viewed by as many people as possible. I really hope you take that time to watch it, and truly enjoy it for what it is. It is a beautiful peace of work.




     I'm just going to leave you with that and of course, peace in and goodnight.

A Lot About Nothing.

     I really don't have much to tell you about since everything happened for the Friday Post. I have slacked off the last couple of days. I haven't worked on the new video at all. I'm going to take a little more time on it, for a couple of reasons. I have a lot of footage to go through from Friday, because I scraped all the footage I got in my car. I just didn't like it at all. the second reason is, that the footage of the beachside just wasn't exciting at all, so I'm going to try and whittle that down to a couple of minutes and put a music bed behind it with some hopefully slick edits. I'll work on that this week and try to get it posted by either the Tuesday or Thursday post.

     I went riding yesterday, and my goal was to push the envelope of my skills. I want to get lower on my lean angles in turns, and the only way to do that, is with practice and pushing it just a little bit each time. It felt pretty good, and I did get lower on those lean angles. I don't have any footage of that, because I was wearing the new helmet. That thing just slices through the wind. There is almost no wind buffing unless there is a strong headwind, and then it is still minimal. I'm going to work on a review video for that helmet next week. I should have that ready for the Sunday Post.

    I did get some artsy looking pictures yesterday when I was out. This first one was limited because someone saw me turn into the empty lot where I took it and decided to park right next to me. It bugged me  to no end. They were sitting across the road looking at the water and when they saw me, they pulled in and came right over to my little section. I still managed to get a pretty good shot though.

     Like I said, I got a little artsy with them, and wanted to show off the helmet a little. All in all, it was a great ride except for one tiny little thing. After I took those first 2 pictures above, I headed down a very long, straight, and empty road. I don't know if you've noticed in my videos, but I have a small disco ball hanging from my front windscreen. I found something out yesterday. At speeds exceeding 120 mph, that disco ball will not hold on. It started waving around violently at 120 and then finally bailed at 126. I briefly caught it between my arm and the gas tank, but as I slowed down and tried to release the handlebar to grab it, it took it's final journey to the asphalt. I'll miss that little disco ball. Good news though, I have 5 more of them, so the new disco ball is already in place. Lesson learned. If I feel like going fast, take the disco ball off first. 

     Earlier this week, and something I forgot to tell you about, I joined a Kickstarter campaign for 121c Boards. They are a skateboard company that I've mentioned before. I was part of their last Kickstarter for their last skateboard, with was called the Rover. It is a smiler skateboard that is better for the every person to ride. The new board, is one that I've been waiting for for a very long time. Actually I wanted this board before I bought their Aileron board, which is a slightly bigger board meant for hard riding. This new one is their long board called the Afterburner. 

     I don't just like t his company because they make really cool skate boards made from carbon fiber. That is pretty cool on it's own, but what they do is upcycle carbon fiber from a rocket program the would normally just throw the scraps out. They repurpose all of this scrap material and make skateboards out of it, and not just that. The plastic coating that the carbon fiber comes in, is compressed and recycled as well. Here is a link to their Kickstarter. At there very least, take a look at the video on their page and see what they are all about. They are a very worthwhile company that deserves support in any way you can give it, but if they aren't up your alley, go check out other projects on Kickstarter, you may find something you like.

     One last thing for you tonight. I wanted to give you an Elie update. She is doing marvelous. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that she was ready to start running and jumping around. I went and saw her today, so that I could take her to the site of the accident. The location was more than half way to her house. She wasn't that far from home. After looking at the location, I think even less about the guy that hit her. There is absolutely no reason for him to not have seen her. It wasn't a four way intersection, there was no median to cause a big separation, and where he was turning from, he would have been looking directly at her when he made the decision to accelerate directly into her. He was turning from the inside line which was right next to her lane of oncoming traffic. She only had enough time to swerve slightly before he rammed into her. In a way, that little swerve alone, did a great deal to save her life, otherwise he would have hit her head on. He was in a normal pick up truck, his quick acceleration lifted the front of his truck up, which is how her bike ended up underneath of it. As I said before, she was fortunate to have been knocked clear of her bike. If she hadn't been, she would have been pinned underneath the truck with the bike, and her injuries would have been far greater. Sometimes the only thing you can do, is attempt to lessen the damage, and that is exactly what she did. There was no other way to survive that accident, outside of superpowers, that would give you the ability to jump off the bike at the exact right time. Even then, it would have only lessened the damage. In that scenario, she would have jumped onto the hood of the truck and possibly gone through the window. Doesn't sound like a much better result does it?

     Things are getting back to normal around here after the storm, and I head back to work tomorrow. I found out that my work got power back on Friday evening, and everything appears to be ready to go. It will be good to be back at work, even though I did slightly enjoy my unscheduled weeks vacation. I did get some things done around the house that I normally would have put off until I just couldn't stand not doing them. Oh, I do have one last thing to tell you. I have decided to give the humane society one more week, and then I'm going to have to give up on Gypsy. If they don't contact me this week, then I doubt they are ever going to contact me. I do have contingency plans though. I've looked at some other dogs in the area. One of them is at the same location as Gypsy, so I'm not really confident that I can make that work either, because I've lost faith in the staff their. One is a boxer rescue in Melbourne, and the other two are in Titusville. Either location is not that far from me. There is one dog in particular that is standing out, because of her little bio. She seems to hit all the check marks for what I need and want. She is a little older, she is supposedly good with other dogs, and she has a tendency to be very loyal to her owner. There is also the fact that she likes taking long walks on a leash. That is something that I've always wanted in a dog, and hopefully, I can get her to run along with me while I ride the skate board. I have small dreams, what can I say. I'm not going to tell you any more than that until things are moving in a direction. That won't be until after next weekend though, so you'll hear more about it probably two Sundays from now. There is always the chance that the humane society will come through and I'll get that call I've been waiting for. If that is the case, you will hear about that, sooner. Until then, peace in and goodnight.

The Aftermath. A Rare Friday Night Post.

     The title is more ominous than reality. I do have a couple of pictures to share, but they either have nothing to do with the aftermath or the storm or aren't exactly exciting as storm damage goes. Also, I'm working on the video, and should have it posted tomorrow, if things go well.

     Now, to the storm. I spoke to you last on Sunday, right before the storm arrived. Actually about 10 hours before the storm arrived. This storm was like none that I'd experienced before. It wasn't that it was very strong where I'm at, but the winds were sustained for so long. We had 30+ mph winds for a good 12 hours, and we had 50+ mph winds for a good 4 hours. That length of sustained winds did all the damage. Almost the entire county was without power, and briefly without water. The water lasted a day. The power was a far different story. If you've been following along on Instagram, then you would see the random posts I would get up. I got some stuff in the storm and then after, as well as the random post about how things were going. I finally got power back last night, which was Thursday, and the internet back today. In the meantime, I set up a kitchen on the front porch with a little portable propane stove.

     With limited supplies and kitchen cooking appliances, I have to say, I made some pretty good meals. The first morning I broke out the last of the frozen waffles. I found out that if you watch them carefully, you can make frozen waffles in a small skillet on a camp stove. Along the way, I made chicken stir fry, breakfast tacos, quesadillas, and if I went into another day, I had rice and beans planned. Not real sure how that was going to turn out. It was going to be baked beans for the beans and minute rice. That one could have been a disaster. 

     Enough about the cooking though, you came here for the storm. I went out several times during the night, since I couldn't sleep with all the noise and the lack of AC. There was something new for me in this storm. At one point, there would be these lulls of silence. I'd never experienced that at all. I ran out on the front porch during one of them and it was quiet with very little wind. Then I could hear a loud roar. My first thought was that it was a tornado, but they say that always sounds like a train. Out of nowhere came a deluge of rain. It was as if someone had taken a giant bucket and dumped it over my house. it was not a curtain of rain, but a wall of water. I'd never seen that ever. I got some footage outside in the storm and at one point nearly got blown over and down the street. I managed to maintain my balance like a ninja.

     When the power finally went out everywhere, it was pitch black, maybe even darker than pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand right in front of my face. It was rather cool. I wanted to go out and ride Saki in it, but I decided that just wasn't a good idea. I wouldn't be able to see debris in the road in time to avoid it, so Saki stayed in the garage at night.

     The next day, after checking out the yard and cleaning up broken limbs, and helping the neighbors pick up theirs, I headed to work to see how the building held up. The craziest thing was in the front drive when I pulled up.

     That is not our dumpster. That is from across the street. The other strange thing about it being there, is that there are no scrape marks anywhere around it. We all figure that the street flooded and it floated over. The street where I work has a tendency to flood in just a brief down pour, so a good ten hours of constant rain lifted that dumpster up and floated it across the street into our driveway.

     Since I didn't have any power, I decided that after a couple of days, I would head up to the humane society and give a visit to Gypsy to see how she was doing. When I got there, they had just gotten power back, so they allowed me to go back in the kennel. It was a bit sad seeing all those dogs in their cages. I found Gypsy and she was clearly agitated. She didn't seem to recognize me either. She barked and snarled a bit. I'm sure the storm and the lack of power bothered her as much as us humans, so I'm not holding it against her. There was one bright spot. Two of the women that have seen me interact with Gypsy walked by as I was there, one of them gave me a small treat to give to her, and she took it without any anxiety, but as soon as she finished eating it was back to the snarled lip and barking. My hope for the visit, is that it would light a fire under their feet so that they would get back to me about that in home meeting with The Truff. Only time will tell if it worked. Still haven't heard from them. I do realize that they are probably very busy getting everything back in order, and a very large tree was down into one of their play pens for the dogs.

     I got internet back today, just in time to have a package arrive so that I could celebrate the power of the internet. I don't think I've talked about Rick & Morty here yet. I have discovered Rick & Morty, and I am now a giant fan. I've heard people talk about it before, but never grasped onto what they were saying, so I never tried to look for it. A few months ago, there was a lot of buzz going around about it, and it turns out that the new season had begun. I stumbled across a marathon of past episodes leading up to the season premier. I watched and I was hooked. It was time to add to my Funko Pop collection, and the first one arrived today. it was Morty and here he is.

     The way I describe Rick & Morty is a very crass version of Doctor Who. It is hilarious, and if you want to laugh your tail off, then give it a try.

     After that showed up, I went out and trimmed back more of a bush that had been decimated in the storm. It was hot, the bush had thorns, and it pretty much sucked on all levels, but it needed to be done. The grocery store was next. With the house at full power, it was time to put the fuel back into it. Food was needed, and the local Publix didn't let me down. They were still understocked, but they had all of the important things. The power is back, the food is in the fridge, and another hurricane has come and went. This is Florida, we do this sometimes, a couple of times a year. This was the most damaging one I've been through in my history. I know other storms have been deadlier and more costly, but this was bad. Not as bad as originally thought it would be, and I'm very thankful for that, but it was bad. I checked the radar at one point in the middle of the night, and the entire state was covered by Irma. From tip to tail. For comparison. if you used a quarter to represent Irma, Jose which was more of a normal size storm, it would be a dress shirt button. I looked at both of them on the map, and Jose was five times smaller than Irma. The storm was massive and it was lucky that weather currents and landmass worked against it to weaken it considerably by the time it reached us. 

     The rebuild and clean up as begun, but Florida is open for business. Peace in and goodnight.

Irma Is Knocking On The Back Door.

     It's 6 o'clock in the morning. I woke up early to watch Moto GP while the power is still on. Irma has shifted far to the west and the eye is going to go over St. Petersburg, Florida now. That puts me out of the major impact zone, but not completely out of danger. I am on the Northeast corner of the storm, and that is the deadliest part of any hurricane. That is where all the cyclonic energy is. That means tornados. Since the storm is going to be on the other side of the state, it shouldn't be as bad here, but I am currently under a tornado warning for the next several hours. Right now that is mostly south of me. I went outside just before sitting down to write this, and I'm getting light rain and winds. I'd put wind gusts at maybe 20 mph right now. That will change later today.

     Once the storm gets around the lower edge of the state and the feeder bands start to reach out to this area, the winds and rain will increase. I'm expecting winds in the 60 to 70 mph range, which is nothing like we were going to get if the storm went along the original expected path. I still expect to lose power at some point today. With sustained winds of at least 50 mph, the power lines won't hold up for long.

     I did get out and ride a little bit and made not 1 but 2 videos for you to watch. I kept them as brief as I could, and you can get a little look at what is going on in this area ahead of the storm.



      I introduce you to my new helmet in this one, as well as show you Elie's helmet. I found something out about Elie's helmet after filming this. I was looking at it so that I could clean it up, and I noticed something very unusual. As you could see in the video, she took a shot directly on the chin from the hood of the truck, but what you can't see in the video, is that that shot bent the helmet out of shape. It actually bent the chin bar over about a half inch. I noticed it when I dropped the internal visor and saw that it was off center from the nose guard. If there was any doubt in your mind at all, that that helmet saved her life, I hope that that little piece of information changes your mind. If you ride, think very seriously about wearing a helmet, and not just a half shell or open face, but a full face helmet. It just could save your life as well.

     Before I get into the next video, I just wanted to share some good shots of the new helmet. I still haven't ridden in it yet and I will get that video put together and up as soon as I can, but I did try it on, and it feels great. The helmet is an AGV K5 S Hero. It fits snug but not tight, which is what you want.There is no movement while it is buckled down. About the buckle, it is long, which I really appreciate. My other helmet straps seem short to me, and because of that they are difficult to get on at times. The AGV has an internal visor, but it may be difficult to use. It seems very stiff right now. Maybe that will loosen up with time, but it may be an issue when I have gloves on, to get that visor in place to block the sun. I'll have better information on that after I've ridden in it. I'll do a whole review with footage of me riding in it.

      Sharp looking helmet right? I'm really looking forward to riding in it. This is going to be my daily rider. Now on to the next video.



     That was yesterday. Not a whole lot to see there, but it will give you an idea on how things are going. I'm going to be getting footage as I can during the storm, and then after. I'll post that as soon as I have power again. Yes, I'm going to lose power, it's just a matter of time. I may be doing updates on Instagram. If I do, I will be limiting them so that I don't use too much of my battery. I have a power bank that should charge my phone about 3 times,  plus that JBL speaker that I got is a power bank as well. I'm not sure how many charges I can get out of that, but I have it fully charged and ready to go when I need it.

     I doubt that I will have power by Tuesday, so this is probably going to be the last post for possibly a week, maybe longer, it depends on how the power company prioritizes this area for power. Since nothing important is on this grid, it will be one of the last ones that they get to. I'll post something as soon as I can, even if it's not on the normal schedule. until then, peace in and goodnight.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation.

     Cheesy title right? Well, it was kind of a summer vacation, and like most vacations it was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances. I know I planned to get back on the ol' social media train in another 4 or 5 days, but there is a very good reason I am back tonight. I may not be able to write this in the near future. I am distinctly in Irma's path, and I really have no idea when I will have power and the internet to be able to post. The storm is hitting Sunday night, so I'm sure I will lose power before then, but if I don't, you can expect a Sunday Night Post.

     There is another reason as well. I missed doing this. I had no trouble not going on any social media outlets, but this, I had trouble not doing. There was a lot going on in the brief time I took off. There are Elie updates, there are Gypsy updates, there is some information about my family that live in Houston and were there for Harvey, there is even a Saki update.

     Let's just jump in with the Elie and Saki updates. There is good news, you don't have to read these,  because on Monday I made a video telling you everything about that, and for good measure I added in a little info about the music I will now be using on the YouTube channel. Without further adieu, here is said update.



     Saki looks pretty good right? Ok I have a few pictures for you that go along with this. The first one is the ramp I made for Elie so that she can get in and out of her house in her wheelchair.

     I'm pretty proud of that little ramp. This is something that I love doing, but never get much of a chance to do. When I was a kid, my dad taught me a ton of woodworking things, and I've never had much of a chance to take advantage of those lessons. Sure, when I was a kid, I made a bunch of ramps for my bike, out of discarded boards and things, but that was just hammer and nails. I had a plan in my head for what this should be, so I went out and bought a new circular saw, and got to work. You can't tell from he picture, but the ramp slides onto a little ledge, and the boards underneath are angle cut to support the wood in multiple areas to avoid bowing. It doesn't look like much, but it withstood me jumping up and down on it. I could have taken a little more time on the grip tape, to make it look a little more uniform and just better, but this is more about function and less about appeal. I do have one worry thought now. The wood is weather treated, so this storm coming up could do that little ramp in. If so, I'll just build another one of them. It will give me a good reason to use that new circular saw.

     The next couple of pictures are of Saki of course. While I was out on that ride I got a few good shots of Saki with that new rear seat cowl. so here they are.

     The first one is that obligatory before and after shot. You get to see what Saki looks like with the pillion seat and with the rear seat cowl. Let me tell you a little about atet cowl. It wasn't just a buy it and slap it on kind of thing. It was a buy it and assemble it kind of thing. I had to put all the dampners on it and bolt the locking bracket on. It wasn't hard to do, but you had to be very careful, so that you didn't scratch it all up while you were doing it. I put soft material underneath it, and gently did everything I had to do. It is an authentic Kawasaki OEM part, so it isn't something that is third party, it was made for my bike. I think it looks really good. As I said in the video, I still have the pillion seat, so I can pop it back on whenever I need to. 

     Something I forgot to mention in the video, also because I didn't record it to add it to the video, is that Elie gave me her helmet. I'm hoping to do another video tomorrow, and I will add footage of her helmet explaining why she gave it to me, and what the damage is to it. You will see why that helmet really did save her life. If you are subscribed to the YouTube channel it will show up in your subscriptions tomorrow. I will try to post a short promo video to Instagram to let you know it is up as well. I still need to make a promo video for that video up there. I think this one is going to be different from the usual clip video. hope to have it up by the time you are reading this. I will try my best to write a Sunday Post and add the new video there, but if I don't have power and internet it will have to wait until all those things are back in my life.

     That brings me to the storm that is knocking on my door. It doesn't look good for me right now. The latest trajectory path has the eye going up through the center of the state. That puts me right on the Northeast side of the storm, which is the worst place to be. That is where all the tornado activity is, and that is right where it is lining up as of 5 o'clock this evening. The next big update comes at 9 tonight, it is 7 o'clock right now. I have a plan, and that plan is to record as much footage during the storm that I can. If everything goes well, I will make a video of all that and the aftermath of the storm as I ride around, and then I will post that as soon as I can. You will see exactly what I see. It could be really great, and it could be something from your nightmares. I'm going admit this right now. I have lived through these storms my whole life. I don't even remember how many I have been through. This one, has me concerned. It is big, and it is powerful. Those are two things you don't want in a storm. I want small and weak, but that isn't going to happen this time. There are still a few more days before it gets here, and that is plenty of time for that trajectory to change. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. I have everything I need: water, canned food, flashlights, power bank to keep my phone charged, and lighter to get the small grills I have. I may go out tomorrow to see if I can find a few more things, but I don't think stores will have much of anything. They didn't have much on Wednesday when I went around, so I'm not expecting much for tomorrow.

     Last but not least, is my family in Houston. They fared pretty well. They all survived the storm. They have quite a bit of flood damage to their homes and other things, but they are going to be ok, and they are already contacting me to see how I'm prepared for Irma. Their turn was last week, so it looks like it's my turn this week. My brother did send me this picture that he took while driving around his neighborhood after Harvey passed through.

     Yes, that is a big old gator swimming through the streets. That is just something you don't see evert day. Well, that is all I have for you tonight. I will try my best to keep you posted about everything going on, but it may only be through Instagram until I get power back on. I'm expecting to lose power on Saturday, that would be in line with when I lost power when Matthew passed by last year. I lost it a day before the storm even arrived. Where I live, we always lose power, it is just a matter of when it will happen. Oh, one last thing. If you haven't done so yet, try to donate to a worthy cause that is helping out the victims of Harvey. A lot of people are still displaced from that storm, and there are even more new problems each day as a result of it. Please do what ever you can, even if it's donating your time to a local organization that is sending things to the Houston area. Every little bit helps out. That could also be your RAK for the month. You would be killing two birds with one stone. I've never liked that saying, but I don't know another one that works.

     Peace in and goodnight.