5 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes

........WE HAVE POWER!

Thanks for all the positive wishes!

guess who?

We have not had power since 9pm Wed night, no structural damage to home, solar panels, or pool enclosure. lost about 100' of fencing, lost many banana and all papaya trees, running the generator about 6 hours a day in two segments, lost Verizon cell coverage at 36 hours, that is back in service now, Frontier fiber is working but i have to power the NID and router to use it only when we run the generator, so just tethering to my cell is easier. running out of gas soon, stations have no power or gas, but the port is back open and fuel trucks are rolling again. gotta tell you, i heard noise Wed night I never want to hear again, like the freight train or jet engine people talk about, 100mph wind. Ventured out at 4AM in search of gas and found an open station about 10 miles away, hopefully 15 gallons will suffice to reach the projected Thursday night when Tampa Electric promises a "majority" of customers will be restored. My wife says she doesn't much enjoy camping out, lol.

Life in the danger zone tour

I'm in North Tampa, the latest track has landfall to the south around Sarasota which would save Tampa Bay from the storm surge, of course that could change at any moment. We expect tropical force winds by noon today, 10/9, and hurricane force by late afternoon.

We haven't had time to clean all the debris from Helene when I lost six fully loaded Papaya and one large banana. The county had no time to begin storm debris pickup, so all the streets are lined with piles of what will become missiles. Milton will take down my remaining Papaya and maybe much much more. I spent a full day putting up Kevlar shutters over all openings in the house, we have a generator at the ready as I expect we will lose power sometime today and will be without for perhaps weeks. I have two networks, Spectrum cable and Frontier fiber to the home, followed by the cell network as long as the cell towers are standing and their generators have fuel, so this will be a test of what survives for how long.

So what is a photographer to do waiting for the apocalypse? Photograph to the last minute like I have since 1970 on the DMZ. To the extent possible, I will be updating a gallery on my site, may even be useful for the insurance, lol.

Depending on conditions, I may ask mnhtnbb to post my October photo entry if I lose all access. Wish us luck!

FWIW, https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/MILTON

Sitting in the waiting room of my radiation oncologist

for my 5th and final external-beam radiation treatment and there is a guy yammering away about everything and nothing, 93 years old (I had not asked), wearing a “Korean War Veteran” hat. Great, something in common, I lean over and ask what was the last year he was in Korea. He says, I was never in Korea. I just pointed at his hat and almost uttered the words WTF? Immediately tuned his yammering out and never looked at him again. My wife says he launched into a Harris hate rant at some point while I was gone. Damn glad I didn’t hear it.

firespike attracts not only hummingbirds

Slow trigger finger

Couple of visitors yesterday

Nearly dark when the Crow arrived for dinner, 1st and last photo of six as the Crow morphed into a pig





2nd visitor needs no intro

Whistleblower who warned about Florida state parks fired by state agency

James Gaddis had just returned home Saturday afternoon when he found a dismissal letter waiting on his townhouse’s doorstep.

The former two-year Florida Department of Environmental Protection employee told the Tampa Bay Times he was the one who leaked information about the state’s plans to build golf courses, 350-room hotels, pickleball courts and more at nine state parks, including two in the Tampa Bay area.

Now, the agency appears to be firing him, according to a copy of the letter shared with the Times.

Gaddis, 41, who was hired by the agency as a cartographer, said his actions weren’t political, and that there were two main reasons he chose to speak out: The rushed secrecy that was behind the park plans, and the vast environmental destruction that would be caused if they were to be completed.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/09/03/florida-state-parks-whistleblower-james-gaddis-leaked-plans/

Closing out my August Moon Shot endeavor, only one this month

I'm goin' down to South Beach
Gonna have myself a time
Friendly faces everywhere
Humble folks without temptation

Goin' down to South Beach
Gonna leave my woes behind
Ample parking, day or night
People spouting, "Howdy, neighbor!"

Headin' on down to South Beach
Gonna see if I can't unwind
So come on down to South Beach
And meet some friends of mine
(My apologies to South Park)

Delta flight to Miami 2024-08-25 08:09, 31,000ft and sadly no contrial



View the collection: https://jamesdevore.smugmug.com/Plane-Moon-Spotting

Camped out in my garage, as one does

I can see the northern flight paths for Tampa International at 2.5 & 3.5 nm. This time of year however, the weather seldom stays clear as it does in winter. First photo is my "consolation prize" this week, which I'm as happy with as the one I was after, represented by the second photo from last year.