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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2873909, member: 56859&quot;]Thanks to everyone who has sent private messages expressing concern over my absence.&nbsp; I feel loved <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Things are not good but hour by hour progress is being made.&nbsp; I live in the US Virgin Islands.&nbsp; Hurricane Irma laid waste to the island with 185 mph sustained winds gusting to 225 mph.&nbsp; Unless you have a concrete monolithic dome all bets are off for supposed &quot;hurricane-rated construction&quot;.&nbsp; My home sustained modest but not fatal structural damage in Irma and had a substantial amount of water intrusion.&nbsp; I&#039;d gotten most of the waterlogged stuff out when hurricane Maria arose seemingly out of the blue.&nbsp; I fled two days before Maria and wasn&#039;t able to get back for two weeks.</p><p><br /></p><p>The islands were already crippled by Irma-- widespread structural damage (including the hospital, which was evacuated and which remains minimally functional)-- I don&#039;t think we could have stood a minor tropical storm.&nbsp; Maria was also a Catagory 5 when she struck.&nbsp; It was horrible.&nbsp; Her eye traversed St. Croix, the one US Virgin Island which was relatively spared by Irma.&nbsp; St. Thomas and St. John also had hurricane-force winds but worst of all was the torrents of rain and flooding.&nbsp; Lowlands were submerged.&nbsp; Mudslides, rockslides, and landslides made some roads impassable.&nbsp; A mudslide at the beginning of my dead-end street caused a muddy river to churn towards and into my condo.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I returned two weeks later there was still a pool of water in the master bedroom.&nbsp; I lost at least half of my possessions, maybe more.&nbsp; Mold is of course everywhere.&nbsp; I&#039;m going through things as fast as I can and that isn&#039;t very fast and I have to wear a very cumbersome respirator (all that mold!!) and rain boots.&nbsp; Hot hot hot.&nbsp; It&#039;s like an oven in there-- a steam oven.&nbsp; Not fun at all.&nbsp; I&#039;m also working, although only a few days a week.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most of the island (I&#039;m on St. Thomas) is without electricity.&nbsp; Some people have generators but few have the type which can withstand running weeks/months on end, and getting fuel is tough.&nbsp; I don&#039;t have a generator but one is on the way.&nbsp; It might be here in a month.&nbsp; I hope I can get a couple of 100 lb propane tanks delivered by then.</p><p><br /></p><p>My home isn&#039;t habitable but I&#039;m optimistic that it can be made livable again.&nbsp; I&#039;ve been sleeping at the office which thankfully has a robust generator.&nbsp; Ahhh, air conditioning!&nbsp; Running water!!&nbsp; A refrigerator!&nbsp; I needed to move out of the office though but there isn&#039;t much to choose from.&nbsp; Everything is damaged, nothing has power or water.&nbsp; I&#039;m renting an apartment below the house of someone I know.&nbsp; They run a small generator for a few hours in the morning and in the evening so during those hours the pump runs the cistern.&nbsp; The water isn&#039;t drinkable, probably iffy for bathing, but it&#039;s something.&nbsp; I&#039;m getting pretty tired of granola bars and crackers.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh, right.&nbsp; This is a coin forum.&nbsp; I do have a coin to show <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>As Irma approached I was awaiting a wonderful provincial of Julia Domna.&nbsp; It was a nail-biter.&nbsp; Tracking showed it was on island the day before Irma, but most businesses were closed in preparation.&nbsp; Our office was open until noon-ish and that was pushing it.&nbsp; It was coming by FedEx and usually they deliver late in the afternoon.&nbsp; If it wasn&#039;t delivered it might be lost in the hurricane.&nbsp; Actually, most of the post offices were destroyed so that was a legitimate concern!</p><p><br /></p><p>FedEx delivered it in the late morning!&nbsp; I forgot all about it until a few days ago because I had a few other things on my mind.&nbsp; I&#039;d stuck it in my work bag.&nbsp; Obviously I&#039;m unable to shoot my usual images at the moment, so here&#039;s an edited version of the auction picture:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]687571[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>CILICIA, Seleucia ad Calycadnum.&nbsp; Julia Domna</b></p><p>AE 22 mm, 7.3 gm</p><p>Obv: IOVΛIA ΔOM CЄBACT; draped bust right</p><p>Rev: CЄΛЄVKЄΩN KΛAVKA; Europa, holding billowing veil, riding bull right being guided by a flying Eros; below, Triton with crab headdress, holding rudder and dolphin</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; SNG BN 984; SNG Levante 742</p><p><i>Ex Dr. P. Vogl collection; ex Bankhaus Aufhäuser (sold 18.09.1992, with dealer&#039;s ticket)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>My coin books are all packed up (I think most of them survived the storms, yay!) so I haven&#039;t checked references.&nbsp; I love this little coin.&nbsp; What an exuberant reverse!&nbsp; Europa, bull, Triton with a dolphin... <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>All of my coins made it through the storms <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>Feel free to pile on whatever you&#039;d like.&nbsp; I can&#039;t access CoinTalk regularly at this time-- cell signal is spotty at the place I&#039;m staying and I only have internet access at the office.&nbsp; I&#039;ll check in when I can though.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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