Oh yeah. Irma.

Can't sugar coat it; this is looking bad. This is a monster storm, strongest on record in the Atlantic. I have been buying supplies, and I think I'd prefer to go sit this out at the house, instead of in this condo. The house got a new roof after the last hurricanes, so I know it's up to code. (This doesn't mean it will not get hit with a tree, but it's at least structurally more trustworthy.) The roof here I believe is original, circa 1986 barrel tile. The board has been "discussing" the re-roof program for a while. I'm upstairs, so if any part of the roof decides to leave I'd rather not be here. The critters and I shall decamp with enough supplies for a couple of days, plus important papers and such. I'll clear the balconies, close the blinds and otherwise batten down the hatches here, but yeah, I'd rather not test the roof personally. It will suck if I lose my new TV and/or the iMac, but yanno, I'll get over that eventually.

So this weekend three adults, one child, three dogs and two cats will probably pack into a 1600 sq. ft. house to ride out a very big hurricane. At a minimum, I expect the house will lose the fence; that's just due to fall over in any random storm. My worst case scenario is the massive oak tree falling through my condo kitchen, or the roof leaving in large pieces, taking my worldly goods with it. Or a tree falling on the house. That's also a very real possibility. I'm already doing the math on tapping my meager retirement account to cover the hurricane deductible, and praying the insurance will come through. That is by no means a given.

This has pretty much pushed all other writing topics from top of mind. I've been badly neglecting this old blog, I hang out on Twitter, mostly reading and retweeting, because it's a sewer, but an interesting one if you follow actual journalists and political figures. I still proceed with caution. But I've found that with all the reading I'm doing about the bullshit, I have less energy to write about it myself.

Right now, I'm just focused on getting to through Monday.