Start of Storm Season

June 3, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I’m hoping we have a similar storm season as last year with no tropicals impacting Ward Manor’s Area of Operations. My instincts are saying we have a busy year after a quiet year. In general, Ward Manor is doing okay for storm preps. In as much as we have the basics for food and water and power, and I might have to supplement if we have refugees like we did last time. We have the portable ACs, the additional mounting hardware for our window screens, and the air mattresses for everyone.

Ward Manor likes our local weatherman Dennis Phillips’ attitude towards storms.

And this is a good list of preps to do when it looks like the storm is coming.

  1. Charge any device that provides light. Laptops, tablets, cameras, video cameras, and old phones. Old cell phones can still used for dialing 911. Charge external battery backups. (Glow sticks also provide light for a few hours. Stand them upright in a glass or jar to make a lantern.)
  2. Wash all trash cans, big and small, and fill them with water for flushing toilets. Line outdoor trash cans with trash bags, fill them with water and store them in the garage. Add bleach to sterilize.
  3. Fill every tub and sink with water. Cover sinks with Saran Wrap to keep it from collecting dust. Fill the washing machine and leave the lid up to store water.
  4. Fill old empty water bottles and other containers with water and keep them near sinks for washing hands.
  5. Fill every Tupperware with water and store it in the freezer. These will help keep food cold longer and serve as a backup water supply.
  6. Fill drinking cups with water and cover with Saran Wrap. Store as many as possible in the fridge. You can store the rest on the counter and use it before opening any water bottles. Ice is impossible to find after the storm.
  7. Reserve fridge space for storing tap water and keep the sealed water bottles on the counter.
  8. Cook any meats in advance and other perishable foods. You can freeze cooked food. Hard boil eggs for snacks for the first day without power.
  9. Be well hydrated before the storm hits and avoid salty foods that make you dehydrated.
  10. Wash all dirty clothes and bed sheets. Anything dirty will smell without the A/C, you may need the items, and with no A/C, you’ll be sweating a lot. You’re going to want clean sheets.
  11. Toss out any expired food, clean cat litter boxes, and empty all trash cans in the house, including bathrooms. Remove anything that will cause an odor when the A/C is off. If you don’t have a trash day pickup before the storm, find a dumpster.
  12. Bring in any yard decor, secure anything that will fly around, secure gates, bring in hoses, potted plants, etc. Bring in patio furniture and grills.
  13. Clean your environment so you have clear, easy escape routes. Even if that means temporarily moving furniture to one area.
  14. Scrub all bathrooms so you are starting with a clean odor-free environment. Store water-filled trash cans next to each toilet for flushing.
  15. Place everything you own that is important and necessary in a backpack or small file box that is easy to grab. Include your wallet with ID, phone, hand sanitizer, snacks, etc. Get plastic sleeves for important documents.
  16. Make sure you have cash on hand.
  17. Stock up on pet food and fill up bowls of water for pets.
  18. Refill any medications. Most insurance companies allow for 2 emergency refills per year.
  19. Fill your propane tanks. You can heat soup cans, boil water, make coffee, and other stuff besides just grilling meat. Get an extra, if possible.
  20. Drop your A/C in advance and lower temperatures in your fridges.
  21. Gather all candles, flashlights, lighters, matches, batteries, and other items and keep them accessible.
  22. Clean all counters in advance. Start with a clean surface. Buy Clorox Wipes for cleaning when there is no power. Mop your floors and vacuum. If power is out for 10 days, you’ll have to live in the mess you started with.
  23. Pick your emergency safe place such as a closet under the stairs. Store the items you’ll need in that location for the brunt of the storm. Make a hand fan for when the power is out.
  24. Shower just before the storm is scheduled to hit.
  25. Keep baby wipes next to each toilet. Don’t flush them. It’s not the time to risk clogging your toilet!
  26. Run your dishwasher, don’t risk having dirty smelly dishes and you need every container for water! Remember you’ll need clean water for brushing your teeth, washing yourself, and cleaning your hands.
  27. Put a small suitcase in your car in case you decide to evacuate. Also, put at least one jug of water in your car. It will still be there if you don’t evacuate! Remember to pack for pets as well.
  28. Check on all family members, set up emergency backup plans, and check on elderly neighbors.
  29. Remember, pets are family too. Take them with you!
  30. Before the storm, unplug all electronics. There will be power surges during and after the storm.
  31. Gas up your car and have a spare gas container for your generator or your car when you run out.
  32. Use plastic cups and paper plates. You need water to wash dishes….
  33. Also if you run out of water tap your hot water heater it can have up to 30 gallons stored in there.
  34. Put water in balloons and store it in the freezer.
  35. If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown Flush it down!

I have a few addendums:

  1. Charge all those rechargeable batteries and phone charger packs.
  2. Get some of those five gallon buckets from the home improvement stores for water storage. Easier to move than trash cans full of water.
  3. Avoid fire indoors – including candles. It’s way too easy for fire to jump because of accidents.
  4. Test all of your battery-powered radios and flashlights ahead of time to make sure they’re working. This includes the flashlights on your weapons.
  5. Have go-bags for all residents with basic food, water, clothing, documents, and cash.
  6. If you are inclined, make sure your weapons are cleaned and in good operation.

Video Collection

June 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

A trio of videos that came across my transom and felt the need to share.

First, Hasbro is continuing their marketing push for the 40th anniversary of Transformers: The Movie with a revamped soundtrack. And they released the updated version of “The Touch.” Honestly, it’s not bad, but I prefer the original.

Second is a very funny song for my D&D/Pathfinder friends.

You have that friend that’s gone on to do some very nifty things? Yeah, Ben McSweeney is that friend for me. Here’s a good talk with Ben and his boss, Brandon Sanderson.

Ward Manor Happenings – 05.28.26

May 28, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Grandniece Happenings – The Wife’s Niece needed to test for a certification last weekend, so we let the Grandniece sleep over Friday night. The little girl loves running around the house, going into my office to play with some of my less-collectible collectibles, and other activities. Last weekend, we introduced her to Candy Land, which she enjoyed. And which led The Wife and I to look on Amazon for other classic board games in her age range, such as Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, and Trouble. We also took her down to the neighborhood pool. Now, I like swimming. I like swimming in a pool. What I hate is the slathering of sunscreen in hopes I will avoid the dreaded burns. The Grandniece enjoyed the pool, but I was certainly feeling it the next day.

Movie Happenings – I posted my “mildly useful review” yesterday, but this is more ranting. I understand the old part of starting the previews at the movie start time, particularly before assigned seating, online ticket orders, and purchasing snacks on an app. These days, I don’t know why they need to spend a half-hour showing me previews and commercials to the point I almost forget what movie I’m there to see.

Still, this continued my streak of seeing every Star Wars film in the theater in the first run.

Houseguest Happenings – Mom has departed for the Great White North to escape the Florida summer and to visit her family. So, of course, her house decided to give her a going away gift in the form of a blown compressor on the HVAC. They’re borrowing one of the portable AC’s we have, but The Brother decided to decamp from Mom’s place and take up temporary residence at Ward Manor.

Home Office Happenings – The Wife wants to redo her office now that we’ve decompressed a lot of her craft stuff out to the loft space. One of the big items is making it so her personal laptop and her work laptop run on the same set of monitors and peripherals. We also have one of those wide curved monitors we meant to use for another project. The Wife spent some time this week “test driving” the curved monitor to make sure she liked working on it. The Brother was nice enough to do some research on KVM switches. The plan is to give The Wife the full “control room” feel of big monitor in the center flanked by secondary monitors. I’m trying to convince her to use the laptop monitors as additional “low use” monitors, but she’s not convinced. We shall see what the final configuration is.

Derek’s Mildly Useful Reviews – The Mandalorian and Grogu

May 27, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Last weekend, The Wife, BIL, and me went to go see the new Star Wars film. Of course, there was the slew of social media posts about how bad this Star Wars film was going to be, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The TLDR is that I enjoyed myself. It was definitely a damn good action flick with decent fight choreography with comedy interspersed to relieve the tension. Plenty of Easter eggs for those of us who have followed the movies and television series. I’m sure there were some that even slipped past me.

It really felt like the Disney folks took the next season of The Mandalorian and condensed it down to 140 minutes. Which meant certain parts felt draggy where if we had full episodes, it would be more satisfying.

I will admit that I am not a great movie critic, but I know what I like. And I liked The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Promise to the Magic Heart – Chapter 31

May 25, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The Great Northern Kingdom was always a land shaped by its environment—a kingdom of frost and desolation, forged in the image of its bleak tundra. Its dukes, stern and uncompromising, embodied a chilling practicality, veering dangerously close to outright cruelty. But this was a cruelty with purpose: the rigors of the taiga, they believed, demanded a certain severity. And so, as their disciplined armies surged out of the frozen woods into the endless steppe, they brought with them an order that many, weary of chaos, grudgingly accepted. For the feuding towns and scattered bands of the steppe, the Great Northern Kingdom’s rigid hierarchy must have seemed a welcome antidote to the violence of anarchy. Yet peace, as history so often teaches us, rarely comes without a price. Insurgencies flared from time to time—idealistic cries for freedom in a land where survival itself often drowned out such lofty notions. But the kingdom’s unyielding rulers proved adept at quashing rebellion, their iron grip tightening each time danger loomed on the horizon. It was during these uneasy moments of reasserted dominance that the kingdom was at its most vulnerable. Power, after all, is never more precarious than when it appears most secure. It was against this backdrop of fragile stability that a shadowy figure emerged—Lord Tyrell Shafford, a man of obscure origins and even more obscure motives. A minor noble from the kingdom’s lower peoples, Shafford seemed an unlikely candidate for upheaval. And yet, as the annals of history remind us, revolutions are often fueled by such unassuming figures. How Shafford assembled his band of conspirators remains a mystery. What we do know is that, one fateful night, he and his allies breached the impenetrable Keep Diwen and carried out an audacious massacre—eliminating the King of the Eastern Reaches, nearly all the archdukes, and their families. The audacity of the act would have been astonishing enough; its consequences, however, were catastrophic. With the kingdom’s leadership decimated, its populace turned not to introspection but to civil war. Whatever secrets Shafford held, they died with him—or rather, were buried beneath the chaos he unleashed. The Great Northern Kingdom, it seemed, had not been conquered from without but shattered from within. – Marcus Regelli, writing in “Reflections of Modern Times”

RIN

“Is it just me, or was sneaking in here too easy?” Morelli asked. Rin grunted in agreement. The pair snuck into the edge of the encampment just before dusk. It took them a few hours to find Shafford’s tent before hiding in a small supply tent. Rin pushed his exhausted mind to think over Morelli’s words.

“The last Purist camp didn’t impress me with the quality of their guards. Maybe that’s how they all are,” Rin said. They were so close to Shafford. His tent was only a few meters away. Rin wanted to deal with Shafford and get back to Illana.

“Maybe, but I’m not liking this.”

“Just keep your grapegun handy in case we need to shoot our way out of here,” Rin said with a smile. “I can’t kill them all by myself.”

“Whatever you say, Sergeant,” Morelli said. Rin recognized the tone of a junior not openly disagreeing with a senior. “How are we going to get into Shafford’s tent?” Rin peeked out of the supply tent. He studied the scene for several long minutes.

“There’s a single guard on the tent,” Rin said. “I’ll take him down quietly. You go in with your grapegun. Don’t shoot unless necessary. We’ll snatch Shafford and smuggle him back to the embassy. If we have no other option, we’ll kill Shafford and gun our way out.” Morelli looked skeptical but didn’t object. Wordlessly, the two snaked out of the supply tent.

Rin butt-stroked the guard with his rifle. The guard collapsed with a satisfying thump. Both rangers scanned the area to make sure they were still undetected. Satisfied, Morelli slipped into the tent as Rin dragged the limp body just inside the tent’s main flap. Pulling a few short lengths of rope from his belt, Rin hog tied and gagged the guard. Lanterns hung from the tent’s crossbeams. Just inside the flap was a meeting room with camp chairs placed around a large brazier. Opposite the flap was a thick linen curtain. Behind that was probably the sleeping area. Rin slung his rifle and drew his revolver. He parted the curtain just enough to allow Morelli to slip through before following him. A single candelabra provided faint light, leaving most of the room darkened. Shafford was sitting up in a large bed with a bemused look as Morelli kept his grapegun trained on him.

“Shafford, you stand accused of eighteen counts of murder most foul. You are bound under the Codex Juris to answer the charges. Any resistance by magic or violence will be met with deadly force.” Rin paused as he finished the formal words of the arrest and gave Shafford an evil smile. “Please resist.”

“I win the bet, dearest,” Shafford said to someone in the darkness. Rin spun at the female laughter coming from the shadowed corner.

“I will glad pay after we’ve finished our work,” the woman said in a husky voice, “I will admit he surprised me. The Rin I remembered would never place his duty above his love. He has grown up.” The elven woman stepped into the candlelight. Rin nearly dropped his revolver. Her lithe, athletic form was barely covered by the sheer robe. Her strong beautiful face was marred by the angry, red scar from her left ear around her face and ending in the milky whiteness of her dead left eye.

“That is because you do not understand Mareian rangers,” Shafford said, amused, “They have a deserved reputation for being a determined lot.” He unconsciously stroked the creasing scar on his head.

“I won’t doubt you again on such things, beloved.” Rin finally found his voice.

“Ela? How can you be here? You were killed by the Pursits,” Rin said as his mind raced to catch up with what his eyes were seeing.

“Killed? No, liberated,” Ela said with a malicious smile. “They freed me to take up to my new role.” She held up the black mask in her left hand.

“The Edess Kul,” Rin said Ela let out a hauntingly familiar peal of laughter. The sound shook Rin to his soul.

“Such a wonderful disguise,” Ela said, “Not even my dear brother recognizes me.”

“He thinks you’re dead!” Rin shouted, “He grieved for you. I grieved for you. You were our sister! How could you be working for the Purists? Be in bed with him? He’s a sorcerer and a murderer.” Ela’s face contorted in sudden rage.

“You dare call me sister? After you did this to me?” Ela shouted, pointing at her dead eye.

“What did you expect me to do?” Rin shouted back. “You were holding a knife to Illana’s throat.”

“It’s her fault Ral is dead!” Ela said.

“How? Ral betrayed us. He betrayed you. He broke your mind when he forced you to put that arrow in his back. Not Illana.”

“You’re too blinded by that little bitch to see the truth. She’s cursed. We were on the wrong side, and Trennis, and Jevin, and Ral paid the price.” A slow smile spread across Ela’s face. “Now, it’s her turn to pay.”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” Rin said, placing the front sight of his revolver on Ela’s good eye.

“Are you sure you want to do that brother?” Ela asked, twisting the last word with hate. “Kill me and the guards outside will cut you down before you can save your precious Illana.”

“What do you mean about saving Illana?” Rin demanded, his stomach clenching. Ela and Shafford were too calm.

“Why do you think we allowed you to come into our camp?” Ela asked.

“To kill us? No, you would have done that already,” Rin said as he contemplated Ela’s words. “Shafford knew someone was coming for him after the murders. You figured it would be me. You would need something to hold over me so I don’t kill the two of you.” His stomach plummeted in terror. “You have people inside the Crystal Palace.”

“I told you he was bright,” Ela said over Rin’s shoulder to Shafford. “He always picked up my lessons faster than any of the others.” Ela turned her attention back to Rin.

“Before I came in, I sent the signal to them. They should have Illana in their custody. If they don’t see another signal from us in a specified time, they will kill her.”

“So why didn’t they just kill her instead of capturing her?” Morelli asked.

“They need her for Cull’s ritual,” Rin answered. A memory flashed into Rin’s mind. Illana on the stone table waiting to be sacrificed by Cull. She looked so forlorn, just waiting to die. Rin never wanted to see that expression on Illana’s face again.

“Close enough,” Shafford said. “Cull didn’t understand the prophecies as well as he thought.”

“But you do?”

“Yes,” Shafford answered.

“And if your infiltrators kill the princess, doesn’t that ruin your plans?”

“It would be a setback.”

“So, why don’t we just kill you and then go rescue the princess?” Morelli asked.

“You picked a good one for your partner,” Ela said as she gave the younger man a predatory smile. It sent chills down Rin’s spine. He never saw such an evil look on Ela’s face. Not even when she was holding a knife to Illana’s throat.

“This tent is surrounded by our best followers,” Ela said, “If either of you shoot, they come in and kill the both of you. You’ll probably kill us and a lot of them, but you will die. Then, our people will kill her.” Rin barely controlled his rage. He needed to focus. Ela smiled wickedly at Rin’s expression.

“Or we let you leave, and you can try to save your precious princess,” Shafford offered.

“Morelli, lower your weapon,” Rin said after a long moment. He looked hard at the woman he once called sister.

“This isn’t finished Ela. We will stop you.” Rin turned back to Shafford. “How did you know it would be me?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out who managed to give me this?” Shafford asked in response, tracing the pink crease across the top of his head. “Imagine my surprise when I found out it was you? I have so many reasons to enjoy what is about to happen to so-called heroes.” Rin knew there was something behind Shafford’s words, but he didn’t have time to beat it out of the man. Without another word, the two rangers retreated out of the tent and made a mad dash back to the Crystal Palace. Rin prayed he would get back in time.

Ward Manor Happenings – 05.21.26

May 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Passport Happenings – The Wife and I have received our new passports and passport cards. We have some plans in the works that will require them. Plus it’s nice in case The Wife’s work decides to send her to one of their non-US offices. Small chance, but non-zero.

Recovery Happenings – Overall, I’m pleased with my surgery recovery. Not a lot of discomfort, and I know I’m healing up. I just get frustrated when I get winded from doing my normal chores or not being able to stand at my desk like I normally do. And it doesn’t help that I’ve been snacking more. A lot more. Anywhoo, my fatigue was bad enough that The Wife and I cancelled plans to go up and see a musical in Tampa. Fortunately, the Straz was nice enough to refund our tickets. Which is good because Hamilton is coming in the fall, and The Wife would really like to see the show in person again.

Hat Happenings – The bad part of accumulating Stetson hats is where to put them. I had been hanging them on an old hat/coat rack we kept by the front door. Which was, to put it nicely, non-optimal. After going back and forth, The Wife and I decided to put up some hat hangers at the top of the stairs. That would make it easy for me to grab and put away my hats as I come and go. And I have one more spot for a new hat. Which will most likely be acquired during our next anniversary trip to St. Augustine.

Bird Happenings – After several months, the Nanday Parakeets returned to the feeders of Ward Manor. We’ve heard them around the neighborhood. You can’t mistake the parakeets’ screeching call. We also managed to spy some ducklings.