Smarties Bar & Grill #76

They were actually okay most of the time very little barking. I had my 22 lb dog and then I had my landlords 4 lb elderly Chihuahua that's like 18 years old. He's been out of state before the storm was even thought about hitting us here and I was just terrified that the stress of it would have killed the poor thing but she seems to be okay. I had her in a small crate like you might put a cat in, and I covered it with a t-shirt so she probably felt pretty secure.

Sadly a disaster like this produces many homeless animals because their owners weren't very responsible to begin with. Had a beautiful and rambunctious female pitbull following me around my house this morning but I had to run her off because I have enough animals of my own.

She had a collar on but no identifying marks so hopefully someone finds her.

 

I'm so ready for my relief to get here and a half an hour because I have not slept worth a damn in the last 72 hours. And I have stayed up all night at work without sleeping at all because a minivan seat can only recline so far and it's hard to keep an eye on the place if I'm sleeping

I have a feeling I will get a good solid 6 to 8 hours soon.

 

For those interest in helping a group of volunteers do search and rescue, disaster supplies, the United Cajun Navy is always looking for help.

United Cajun Navy

Cajun Navy groups jump into action after Hurricane Ian slams Florida | Hurricane Center | nola.com
BRPROUD | United Cajun Navy sends resources to Florida

Do your research before donating.

 

Well I got a solid 5.... First time in over 72 hours.
This entire ordeal is exhausting both physically and mentally.

 

72 hours is about right. When my husband went into hurricanes for 20 years, he’d be up for about 72 hours, in the humidity and heat, eating mostly peanut butter.

He would come home, shower, eat a nice meal, drink a couple of beers and sleep for 15 hours. Exhausting.

 

Took the afternoon off due to hurricane so drinks are on Ian

Just windy rainy blah ugh here.

 

In Florida the 11th hour shift to the east changed the calculus dramatically. I know someone who lives more or less at the original ground zero on the panhandle. They moved inland to Orlando. The storm then shifted away from where she lived toward Orlando. They were still okay as of yesterday but apparently it was nothing where she lives due to the trajectory changing.

 

from a wonderful friend

 

Death toll 21 people.

 

So far.

 

Katrina is a minimum of 1,800, with 2-3K more suspected.

That news is encouraging. There’s money over there, so a much larger % of the population could evacuate without money worries.

 

I hope everyone is all right. These storms can be devastating.

 

Power was off 4 hours today right after I woke up from a nap so I couldn't go back to sleep and snooze through it. Nice reminder that while I could probably survive the collapse of civilization why the hell would I want to.

 

Hallelujah. We finally have the stores full size backup generator operational that can run everything.

So no more sitting in my van in the dark all night. The store is open but cash only and no gas. We had gas today and it lasted for 2 hours with a line a mile long and that was even with a $45 limit.

I have not got any gas since before the storm but I will finally get some tonight because we don't let our tanks run completely empty before we turn them off so we have gas for employees and first responders.

Of course I'm going to wait until about 3:30 a.m. so nobody sees me and pitches a fit.

There's a 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew in effect but you wouldn't know it by seeing everyone driving around wasting the gas they b**** about not having

 

Governor DeSantis showed up today to tour some of the areas by boat with our Sheriff Potter.

I rode my motorcycle down there this afternoon too and I thought there was a hell of a lot of activity. This is the staging area or supplies is being shipped to the people who are now trapped by The River and also the area where people trapped by The River are being ferried back and forth if they need to go to town.

 

I was in the store one night by myself as usual when sheriff Potter came in by himself at 3:00 a.m. in full dress uniform. I thought it must have been a hell of a thing to get the sheriff out of bed at that time.

He got a cup of coffee and I charged him the dollar. Hey my job is not to give away free stuff and with the salary he makes I'm sure a dollar for a cup of coffee didn't make him or break him! Lol. The sheriff is a Democrat by the way. But that did not mean that he acted childish and refuse to show the governor around.

He has been a good sheriff and I would consider actually voting for a Democrat for the first Time of My Life the next time he runs

 

I got a picture of one of the *******s that makes the news. Me and my friend were down there yesterday afternoon and they were setting up but they weren't filming yet. I asked that poor pretty girl that got standing out there in the flood water in waders.... If she wasn't scared to be standing out there like that?

And the guy with the silver hair messing with the equipment was a rather arrogant bastard that demanded that we be quiet that he couldn't hear his equipment.

Bitch.... Your ass is here making a spectacle of our lives. I started to tell him well it's too bad you didn't set your equipment up a little further down that way now isn't it?

At least don't have that poor girl going to stand out in the flood water until you get ready to film.

So contrived and scripted..... Like yes we have to have her stand in the water so people understand that it's flooding...

 

This is the same area where the governor had a news conference the other day. I also posted a picture of this same area from about 4 days ago and you can really see how quickly the water is going down. That's going to be a mess.

One of the MRE distribution locations. If you look to the left of the picture you can see the spray from an airboat that just Departed.

 

Coming home on a two-lane blacktop from work this morning at 40 miles an hour and it was still dark.

Saw an animal on the other side of the road and it was a possum. So what is the possum do? Runs directly out in front of my bike.

I did not have time to break or swerve so I simply held my line. I felt at least the front tire hit the poor thing but there was nothing I could do except hold my line. Trying to swerve at the last minute is a good way to go down when you hit something.

 

Sorry to hear RIP Petey Possum.

Possums are just like squirrels in that respect. It's like they are kamikazes on a mission....

 

I have a theory about the abundant jackrabbits that run into the road here... It is a demonstratable fact that if you try to miss them.. you will hit them, on the other hand , if you just brace, changing neither speed or vector, in anyway, you will miss them. I believe it is because of a jackrabbit game of seeing how many axles they can cross... the big one in front is usually easy, .. going between the front wheels and back wheels is for maximum points.

Last animal I hit was an javalina.. about a stocky 60 lb animal.. I started to swerve around it, but that way ly serious damage careening down a raven... so I squared up and hit it head on... I stopped to go back and remove the carcass off the road (it was in a curve) and heard a hissing coming from the point of impact (I feared radiator damage) .. I was able to make it down the road to Cibolo Ranch gate where there is a cell signal, the only one for 25 miles in either direction and called for help. One of the tusk had pierced the front tire!

 

That idea of a game is actually somewhat true, I've been told. The animal sees you as a very big predator bearing down on it and then freezes until the very last minute in the expectation that you will not be able to turn fast enough to catch it. Unfortunately, it is right, but the one thing it can't understand is that you weren't after it in the first place

Should you elude any damage to yourself and the animal I have the perfect drink to celebrate that fortuity once you are safe at home. You get a 12 oz tumbler and you put precisely 3/4 inch of vodka in the bottom.

Then you fill it up with vodka.

 

There are several two lane, One Way streets through town. One of which runs in front of the store.

I saw an obviously out of the area person pull into the store tonight coming up the one way and I informed him that he had just come up a one way the wrong way. He asked me in a very smart ass way, if I was going to call the police....

I told him no I'm not but suit yourself and learn the hard way..... What an absolute moron.

Dumbass was going the wrong way on a curve of the highway where people come around there at 45 or 50 miles an hour.

 

You have to wonder why he was so defensive about going up a one way street. He should have thanked you.