Damn you are going through so much. So sorry to hear this. Yes, probably mold but there are all sorts of nasty things floating in flood water so it could be anything. I'm glad you're feeling better.

Taylor wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 6:25 am Geo: it’s to bad our roads didn’t cross when you were down here, I’ve been here since 2000.

My thought exactly. I'll look you up next time I'm in the area!

Take care of yourself, Taylor. you've been through a lot.

The previous post was not my original intent:
My books! That was my original line of thinking. As some of you may have paid attention to, I have a lot of books, in the neighborhood of 2000... I lost about 20from the storm. Those that werelost were actually sacrificed for the greater good. I used the mass published crap I’ve been given to prop up the sagging shelves that held the important ones above the inundation. Get It... that was always a part of survival, saving the books.
After the fact when all was done the cheap shelves collapsed but the books survived.
So... we’ve heard the expression “dusty old books” . I spent a good part of this past Sunday wiping dust off of old books and stacking them on metal shelves. They were never really organized but now they are...well at this moment I couldn’t pine point any one of them. Irksome comes to mind because just this evening I wanted to grab “A Farewell to Ice” and show a neighbor that man made global warming is real and that Ian is a result of pollution.

Taylor, how many people live in your home? Do you have family in Pine Island? I know you have a generator and running water but if you would like an escape from your situation I'm inviting you and your family to come up and stay here with me in Tampa for a week. Obviously I have AC, power and hot showers. I also have two available bedrooms.

I just watched a bunch of videos on how Pine Island was impacted from Ian and I know it is like a war zone down there. You and I met years ago at that talk at the UU church so please know these are not empty words. People often say, "Let me know if you need anything." This isn't one of those situations.

Ian was coming straight at Tampa Bay and what you are experiencing was supposed to be our nightmare. Clearwater Beach would have been 10+ feet underwater and the entire Tampa Bay area, the most populated area in Florida, would have been impacted for years and years. We keep saying to each other up here, "We really dodged a bullet." Well, the bullet nailed you and I am so sorry.

Think about it. Get back to me. The invite is serious. If you need a break or you are suffering from the stress or lack of infrastructure and just need to recharge your physical and emotional batteries my place is here for you. To get an idea of where I am just Google the Oldsmar Flea Market and plot out the drive up here. It seems to be a 2.5 hour drive north according to my map search.

@Chris; I’m on my own in the house, but I am okay. I trust you and what you’re offering. The utilities have been making amazing progress, there are folks on the island who have restored electricity, water is flowing 24/7.
I’m working through the insurance process and looking for a new SUV.
My sinus infection is mostly cleared up which is good in one way (my health) but bad in another ( after the better part of a week not being able to smell what’s around me I’ve learned smells are very present)
The work load is heavy and will be for the remainder of the year but! I would like to see you again just to chat and share a meal.
When things are stable and more permanent (like the road to the island maybe I could convince you to come down for a barbecue.
You’ve made a generous offer and if needs be I will not hesitate in taking you up on it.

Thank You

Mike Papesh/Taylor

Mike, I'd love to come down for a BBQ. Let's do it when the time is right. And my offer of giving you a place to stay has no expiration date.

Thanks Chris! Lets make a date, let’s set for the new year or early next year, possibly by then I will have home comforts established.
I just cannot say enough about you guys.
I’m sure that I would love a “party” with any BT regulars willing to come and have a good old fashioned get together. It’s an open invitation.
Seriously lets get this group together in person. It would be great.

Update on my life : So it’s been a month since I last posted, thirty days can make a difference.
Quick notes: I’ve replaced my transportation…didn’t want to but had to, I saved some money on the purchase but spent a little more for the SUV that I wanted. ( Subaru Forester Wilderness). Transportation was a major concern, I could not build my life back peddling a bicycle.
The smell of “cadaver” has diminished substantially, my sinuses are finally starting to get back to normal…though when I venture into a friend’s house to help them cleanup there is a relapse of allergy. Bottom line is that it still smell’s but it’s getting better.
I’ve removed all the contaminated materials, appliances, and water/dirt from the house and most of the property. I’m spending money hand over fist to keep ahead of obvious setbacks.
Insurance companies are Fuckers. They offer less than value and force the customer to cover much more than they can afford. I’ve been essentially self insured. They will not get a penny more from me!.
I figure that I’m going to be putting my place back together over the next year, I can afford it…but it will set me back, it’s okay though…it’s part of being human. I will get on with it. LIFE!.
What else is there?
Some people always have it worse than you. I’m happy for whom I am. I live by the grace of humanity and since we’re all human, my fellows live by the grace of me.
Humanism by the grace of each other is what we have. I have strengthened relationships and dissolved others, it’s the strength of altruism overcoming the tyranny of libertarianism. Community (starting at the local) building bonds with each other and growing in value together.
Public and private partnerships can be established must be established to pull humanity together into the future, banks and insurance companies will not do it. Wall Street will not do it. The world is getting to be horrible for the masses and that’s where the answers are going to come from.
Tomorrow we will be going through another midterm election, my hope is that the Democratic Party wins the day. For America and the world the moderation of center left will be a savings grace…the grace of the people. I’m just hoping.
There is so much heavy shit going on and I think that Kurt Vonnegut would undoubtedly say that there’s a deficit of heavy thinkers. In fact he called the “establishment” the great guessers. I love Vonnegut…I’ve been compared to him by well informed friends…bu I digress.
I’m interested in a development…folks with dirt under their fingernails force a thing to happen and rich folks demand the same. We build a road! Oh! You must build a road for me! I demand a road…lots of roads…roads and bridges and pipelines straight through your sacred lands/countryside.
Are we happy with the conservative movement? Are the defenders of conservatism satisfied with what they wrought?
Let’s deny pollution, let’s deny its effects. I smell it everyday, I see it all around me.
Humanity is a mess, is it any wonder that the earth is as well?
I wanted this to be a story of good news. It’s not.
It’s a story of a lone man trying to put his humanity together…he’s thrown some nasty angles….he carries on.

Good night my loves.

Thanks for the update Taylor. Here are my thoughts on what the USA can do to prevent the next Hurricane Ian catastrophe.

How to Stop the Next Hurricane Ian
As Florida and other states clean up from the devastation of Hurricane Ian, residents wonder how to reduce the impact of the next mega storms.

Researchers in Britain are working on a new technology to do just that, by making clouds in the mid-Atlantic Ocean brighter. The aim is to cool the ocean water where hurricanes form and grow, so when the next storms reach the Gulf of Mexico their strength will be lower. If hurricane landfall is Category One rather than Category Four, the damage will be much less.

Marine Cloud Brightening works by making salty mist from sea water. The salt in the mist makes cloud drops that reflect more sunlight, shading the ocean below. Professor Stephen Salter, an engineer at Edinburgh University in Scotland, has designed ships to release salty mist over the Atlantic to protect the US from hurricanes. Salty mist could prove to be a safe, natural and cheap way to cool the ocean down and reduce damage from future storms.

The key is to start cooling the water long before hurricane season begins, by targeting where storms are born, off the African coast. The US National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency made this map of hurricane tracks. Professor Salter says cooling the water along the main storm track would cut hurricane energy.

You might wonder why this technology has not yet been used. The main reason is the political division over climate change. Some people worry that directly cooling the ocean in this way would take the heat off politicians to switch to renewable energy. That concern has been enough to stop any field work. The great potential of marine cloud brightening to limit harm from climate change means we should implement both direct cooling and cutting CO2 emissions.

Switching to renewable energy won’t cut weather extremes for many decades. We need actions to reduce storm damage right now. Direct cooling with marine cloud brightening can reduce hurricane impact on life and property, while also protecting the natural environment. Meanwhile the slower and more lasting effects of cutting emissions can be addressed.

Brighter clouds can cool the weather straight away and don’t need higher fuel bills to protect the climate. Testing marine cloud brightening in the mid-Atlantic could be the quickest way to cut the risk to Florida from the next hurricane season.

Governments listen to voters. Most people have not had the information about cloud brightening needed for politicians to sit up and take notice. Insurance companies are also asking how they could cut the massive payouts from future storm damage. With damage from Hurricane Ian estimated to cost more than $100 billion, and more than 100 people tragically killed, it is a massive problem. And many property owners now can’t insure against hurricanes. Larger investment and government agreement are needed to assess how brighter clouds could protect Florida. So far, the technology has only been planned and modelled. Small tests will go ahead in Australia to protect the coral in the Great Barrier Reef and could also happen quickly in US waters.

With Floridians also concerned about possible rising sea level, marine cloud brightening could help slow down the melting of polar glaciers that are adding water to the oceans. As storms get worse each year, we need innovative technologies to help communities cut the loss of property and life. Marine cloud brightening is one of the best options.

First: To everyone…thanks for your support and encouragement.

I would like to free associate an update.

Day to day life is as normal pre-Ian as I think it will get. Most local businesses are up and running again, there are a couple exceptions due to changes in ownership, in and of a result of Ian… wealthy individuals expanding their interests that I can applaud as there’s no change to my circumstances either way.

To be certain though…there are many businesses and people who are still working on putting their interests into some kind of working order and I empathize with them.
Mostly though at this stage there is tremendous opportunity to create something new or different and there’s investment happening in those areas.

There’s no shortage of conversation with people who like me are rebuilding their lives and property, it has given us common cause…both interesting and curious.
Interesting because we still live in a country that is politically divided yet curious because those divisions don’t exist with the same violent rhetoric though the antipathy towards federal government is omnipresent.

Turns out that I had a fairly decent nasal infection hence the constant smell of death, a short term of medication cleared it up and normal smells were…well…normal.

My home repairs are slowly getting done, drywall installation is time consuming as there are no even measurements so standard cuts are not possible so there is considerable work needed to customize each piece of drywall. Then there is the plaster work and painting. None of which I enjoy but cost precludes hired contractors. It’s okay, I just plug along. Pretty much the same thing as with my regular bill paying job. Life is constant and so are repairs.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to my insurance companies, they really did pull through for me, can’t say the same for some other people but I sometimes question what others may be demanding from their carriers, I suspect that some people are attempting to exaggerate their claims and are experiencing a push back from their carriers that they didn’t expect…just a thought.
Turns out for myself that I did an excellent job of documenting my claims before, during and after the storm. I had taken hundreds of photos and more than several videos of the events leading up to, during and afterwards. My adjuster was literally a lifesaver, he put my losses right…a good man.

An event like this brings out the best and worst behaviors that lurk within humanity.
In thinking of this I consider the word ‘hope’. Hope can be a zero sum word. For instance, One can hope that FPSfB’s gets thrown in the hoosegow for his attempt at overthrowing the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another’s, thereby standing to reason that another one will not have their hopes fulfilled of that overthrowing of a free and fair election. (zero sum) You win…I lose. It’s monetary momentum with extreme vagaries of empathetic thinking for the loser. That’s Social Darwinism…libertarianism…uninhibited laissez-faire. (Something that I will write about in another thread)

Years ago Robert began writing about the importance of climate change, he wrote excellently about the realities of global climate change and its impacts, in the subsequent years he has written extensively about potential remediation. It was his contribution to BookTalk.org on the subject, that got me thinking of the idea. There’s been extensive discussion on the topic throughout this board forum ever since. Very good minds contributed.
It’s as I wrote… the thing that drove me to conclude that pollution is the driving force behind global warming and that humans are the only culprit. With that being said I am not very optimistic that pollution induced climate change will be mitigated enough to prevent the extinction of the species that is responsible. I have little hope for the future survival of the human species.

There’s a theme here. Uninhibited laissez faire=pollution=the sixth great extinction.
Variation of a theme. Libertarian Social Darwinism=do enough care about global pollution to prevent the sixth great extinction = zero sum theory of hope.