Monday

Instead of our usual causeway walk, we headed to the community center to get sand bags. 

The city provided the sand, bags, and shovels for any Dunedin resident to come bag and pickup 15 sandbags for free. The residents bagged their own sand and hauled it to their car.

Dump trucks came at a steady rate all day to dump more sand.

We left the house at 9 and got back with our haul at noon. The line was long but well organized. John used the Alexa app on his phone to turn on Toby's "Classical music for pets" that he is used to having on while we are away. (We didn't think we'd be gone that long when we left the house.) Normally, all we have to do is ask Alexa to play his favorite music and he immediately knows we are about to leave for an extended time. He gets on the sofa and settles down.

There were two piles of sand and four lines of cars for the final stretch. We played NYT games while we waited in the cue. We learned that we have to get rid of the sand afterwards because it can grow mold and attract critters if you try to store it. We wondered if you could take it to Honeymoon Island and dump it. I'm sure it's going to need replenishing after this is over. We may even get a new inlet or an old one may open back up. Who knows?

People pitched in to help one another. John got out of the car to help the two single women in front of us, one with a small child in the car. They were really appreciative. 

We took Toby to the community center later in the afternoon for a walk. The lines were just as long, and the workers were still bringing in more sand and bags.

One of our two most vulnerable spots is the sunroom door which is level with the ground. 

If enough rain comes down at once, water may pond in the backyard before flowing around the end of the house to the street. The sand bags may keep the water out of the sunroom.

Our other vulnerable area is the front entrance. The double doors can leak water we discovered when I power wash the alcove. And the tile is one inch above the sidewalk. There's a three inch step up into the house. If the wind drives the rain from the west for a sustained amount of time, water could pile up in the alcove. The sandbags may keep the water out.

Of course, if the winds are strong enough, the sand bags won't matter, but at least we did what we could.

This afternooon's radar image of Ian.

The state politicians failed to solve the home insurance crisis when they had the chance earlier this year. Now, it's going to be a huge problem if there is catastrophic damage, and all the insurance companies flee the state.

Well, at least 50 duly processed asylum seekers awaiting their court hearing got $12,000 flights from Texas to Martha's Vineyard with a stop in Crestview, Florida paid for by the tax payers of Florida. Did you know the airline charter company was a major donor to DeSantis? Meanwhile, problems in the state are being ignored. The governor has 12 million dollars budgeted for more of these attention-getting flights, although I read he canceled a subsequent flight to Delaware after receiving blowback for his Massachusetts' stunt. However, the charter company still got paid for the empty flights.

I read that DeSantis's crew in Texas lured the asylum seekers masquerading as good Samaritans with free food and the promise of free transportation, jobs, and free housing. The immigrants were kept in hotels until they had enough for a plane load, kept away from other migrants and the real "good Samaritans" in Texas who were actually trying to help them.

When the migrants got to Martha's Vineyard, they were given maps marked with an X, showing where they could find assistance. When the migrants got to the location, it was an empty parking lot with no one to greet them or help them. They soon realized that they had been taken advantage of and that the so-called good Samaritans were no better than the the drug dealers in Mexico who had robbed them. In this case, they were used by a politician who wanted to show the Republican base that he could be even more cruel than their previous hero.

 Natural disasters such as hurricanes and human disasters such as insurance scams and porous borders are problems that our governments are supposed to help solve, not score political points off of or enrich people at the expense of those who are suffering and helpless.

I'm proud of my town for helping us with the sand bags. It took a lot of coordination, time, and money to pull off. That's how government is supposed to work. John and I talked while we were waiting in line how if conservatives were in charge in Dunedin, there would be no money; tax cuts would have "starved the beast" and there wouldn't be people or resources. Folks would be on their own.

I spent the afternoon, picking avocados. I picked over 110, all but one that I couldn't quite reach even from the ladder.

Toby watched me pick and gather the fruit.

We are in the process of giving them away to neighbors. We figured they would prefer this personal delivery rather than having the avocados flying through their windows in a few days.

Last walk of the day. It seems everyone is outside getting things ready. We stopped and talked to many people. Toby was pretty well behaved and patient. We've been working on that particular skill.

This morning during coffee time, Toby crawled up on the sofa with his unicorn and cuddled up for a pre-dawn nap.

Miles walked: 6.6

Miles biked: 0