News

Hurricane Ian

October 3, 2022

It's been quite a few days here in Venice. I've put together a timeline of what happened below.

Wednesday September 28

After watching the track of the storm Tuesday, we decided around 4am on Wednesday to head over to the Taylor Ranch Hurricane shelter. Marilyn came long too. The Wind was picking up rapidly, and my street was starting to flood, so it was go now or get stranded. 

The shelter was a school campus designed to stand up to Hurricane Winds, not very comfortable. You slept on the floor with any bedding you bought with you. They had a separate room for pets which was pretty noisy, so Marilyn was not particularly happy, but at least she was safe. They provided breakfast and a bag lunch.

Around midday power was lost at home, so I could no longer keep an eye on what was happening there. Here's a few of the last pictures I saw.

Around 1pm winds rose above 45mph, so the shelter went into lock-down mode which meant we had to move to our assigned rooms and stay there. These rooms were actually school classrooms, we had about 20 people in our room. We remained in lockdown for 9 hours while Hurricane Ian came through. Winds reached 140mph in the Venice area.

My Sister, Brother-in-law and Niece meanwhile were sheltering in place in their home in Port Charlottle. My Niece Hailey created a timelapse video of the storm at their location. Very cool Hailey! She gave me permission to post it here.

Thursday September 29

During the night, power completely failed at the Shelter and the rooms became stuffy and hot. Since we were no longer in lock down around 2am, I decided to go and break out Marilyn and bring her over so we could sit outside the room. At this point temperature had dropped into the 70s.

Around 6:30am we packed up the cars and took to the road. We first headed over to my Dad's house. Unfortunately roads in his neighborhood were flooded so we couldn't get there. 

We then headed over to my house. The route over there was a little bit of a maze due to trees down on roads, but we found a way through. My street was flooded. Our neighbor at the end of the street allowed us to park in his front yard.

Because of the flooded street, we walked though the neighbors yards. On the way over, looking at my house, I realized I could no longer see the tall Pine tree on the other side of my house. Where had it fallen? Hoping not on the house! No, somehow it had landed perfectly between my house and the neighbors, only clipping my gutters on the way down.

Later in the afternoon we went back to my Dad's place and were able to reach it. He got lucky too. He only lost some shingles, a few small bushes and trees, and the Lanai screen was shredded by the shingles. No water inside the house even though the neighbors had 6 inches.

Feedback

Thanks for the messages. Unfortunately I had to leave for the shelter early in the morning, so had no time to set up the live stream.

Hurricane Ian

October 1, 2022

A quick note to say thank you for all the messages, and I am alive. I will make a longer post later. My house is intact somehow given then fact that the large pine tree fell. It landed between the houses and only clipped the gutters. I have no power, but generators are working.

Here's a link to some photos and videos...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dsXbMTPah2ykbbt39

Marilyn

August 5, 2022

Here's the new ball of trouble - Marilyn. She's a Mix, some Maine Coon some Tuxedo. She came from a rescue in Sarasota and is around 2.5 years. She makes friends with everyone and is already taking over the house.

Mace Passed Away

July 21, 2022

This morning I had to say goodbye to my best buddy of 15 years - Mace. He had the sweetest and most gentle personality and a wonderful Cat sense of humor. I love him and will miss him immensely. 

2021 Alaska Trip

August 8, 2021

We had a great time in Alaska!

The photos can be found here... https://www.ngcard.net/photos 

The Movie can be found here... https://www.ngcard.net/videos 

Hurricane Dorian

September 3, 2019

Feeling thankful we didn't receive any real effects from Dorian. We're just getting a few outer bands.  Sad for the folks in the Bahamas. 

Website relaunch

August 14, 2019

Welcome to my relaunched web site! It was long overdue and the server I was using needed to be retired. I'm also no longer hosted out of my house, so if the power goes off, the site will remain. This site also uses responsive design, which means it should be usable on mobile devices. Click the menu at the top to navigate. It's a work in progress, so stayed tuned.

2018 Road Trip

July 19, 2018 The Pacific Northwest

My 2018 road trip starts Saturday. I will be flying out to Portland, OR. From there I'll travel south down the Oregon Coast to Yachats, then East and North up to the Columbia River area where I'll also visit Mt. Hood. Then North into Washington State with Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainier National Park, and finishing up in Olympic National Park.

I will be posting photos, videos, 360 photos and 360 videos right here...

http://2018roadtrip.ngcard.net