michael, the storm, not the angel.

[rockriver]

good morning. (actually mid of nighttime)
the storm came and caused damage.
now, just strong winds.

anybody else in the path? or care to admit it! opsec..
well, we are in flagabama, so that's said and done.

several relatives are in the path. so far, all relatives that are under the "cone" that we've talked to have lost electric.
generator ran for several hours, then i cut it off about 9. and back on now 1:30 am. not sure how long the freezers can go. trying to remember how much fuel it burns... stopped to google.... answer is "a lot" if the tank hasn't leaked any, that means i've got xxx hours left. it has spit and sputtered some... ?hmm. fuel filter ? or plugs?

maybe a good way to share info would be to say, "here's what my associates did"

some trees down, tree debris everywhere. need some daylight to check.
an associate is in an assisted living facility. facility called. " voluntary evacuation" so we raced to get them and returned in the rain and light wind, before the dangerous stuff happened.

hmm. i'm going to need to share some electricity today... a few old folks nearby... got to check on them. hopefully, their families are responding.. i saw a lot of electric company trucks traveling and stationary as i went to assisted living place. we are going to need them...

normal internet is down.
i forgot that we had hotspot on phone.. this thing is slow...
i'm spoiled. miss my hvac.
a member of family has medical device...needs electricity

trying to remember how sharp the chain saw is.
what about the barn? the equipment... supplies?

will i need the insurance company to help? i hope not..
i need to increase my limits for barn and house... a little late to think about that now.
going to be some lessons learned in the next few days.
for me and i suspect, a whole bunch of others too.

rr

[Wiregrass]

good morning. (actually mid of nighttime)
the storm came and caused damage.
now, just strong winds.

anybody else in the path? or care to admit it! opsec..
well, we are in flagabama, so that's said and done.

several relatives are in the path. so far, all relatives that are under the "cone" that we've talked to have lost electric.
generator ran for several hours, then i cut it off about 9. and back on now 1:30 am. not sure how long the freezers can go. trying to remember how much fuel it burns... stopped to google.... answer is "a lot" if the tank hasn't leaked any, that means i've got xxx hours left. it has spit and sputtered some... ?hmm. fuel filter ? or plugs?

maybe a good way to share info would be to say, "here's what my associates did"

some trees down, tree debris everywhere. need some daylight to check.
an associate is in an assisted living facility. facility called. " voluntary evacuation" so we raced to get them and returned in the rain and light wind, before the dangerous stuff happened.

hmm. i'm going to need to share some electricity today... a few old folks nearby... got to check on them. hopefully, their families are responding.. i saw a lot of electric company trucks traveling and stationary as i went to assisted living place. we are going to need them...

normal internet is down.
i forgot that we had hotspot on phone.. this thing is slow...
i'm spoiled. miss my hvac.
a member of family has medical device...needs electricity

trying to remember how sharp the chain saw is.
what about the barn? the equipment... supplies?

will i need the insurance company to help? i hope not..
i need to increase my limits for barn and house... a little late to think about that now.
going to be some lessons learned in the next few days.
for me and i suspect, a whole bunch of others too.

rr

Good to hear y'all made it through ok. Thankfully, my area didn't get hit as hard as I was expecting. I have no damage to my house and my power didn't go out. I'm thanking God for His mercy and praying for those affected by the storm.

[Bill Foster]

Has anyone heard from Lowdown?

[rockriver]

bill, good question...no. haven't heard ... if he lives in area where i think he does, he is in the direct path.
it took me all of yesterday to dig (cut!) a path through the downed trees so that we could get a vehicle out!... i suspect he's in a similar situation.

my front loader is not a good debris hauler... better than dragging limbs by hand, but a grapple would work so much better... another item on the "list"

water water everywhere.... working in 4 to 6 inches of water/mud not fun... makes me appreciate boots. another item for the list!

ok, i'm electicially challenged. scared of the stuff.
well is not near the house.. but i can get a generator to it.
so, anyone care to describe process of cutting wiring and making a plug that could be plugged into the generator to get some water flowing....
breaker at box for well is a double... two 20 fuses... i assume this means it is a 220 circuit.

[Lowdown3]

We are o.k. Had some crazy wind, lots of small stuff to clean up.

Commercial power failed at 11:30 Wed night, came back on this morning. We had been on the grid pre storm to cool the house down really good. I was in bed when regular power failed and just said screw it we will change power over in the morning. We cleaned up a good bit yesterday morning, checked on folks and then I napped most of the day LOL! Praise the Lord no damage here.

I think RR got the bulk of the rain, we hardly got any.

[Mannlicher]

I was in Miami, and got nothing. My Gainesville home had little wind, no rain to speak of. Georgia Boy lost 6 trees, and they were without power for 20 hours. No damage to their home.
I am praying for friends that were in the path. Panama City, Mexico beach look worse than Homestead sidnafrer Andrew.

[rockriver]

congrats ld.

i was doing an update when a neighbor called... i'd loaned her a generator and explained how to get water from the creek to use for toilet flushing. then it dawned on my young brain that getting water from the creek would be real tough because of her health and age etc.. so, i'd placed 3 5 gallon buckets of creek water on her porch.
her kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes.

the great news... she called while i was typing the update... she had city water!! i'd cut mine off as i tried to rig a system to get gen to send well water to house...did not complete the effort... i couldn't confirm immediately... but at 9:45 this evening Yahoo... got me some chlorinated city water coming down the pipes....
and the second good news... it doesn't look like any uprooted trees took out water line... whew..

bride and i rode into local village.... not many lights on... saw a few, which helps i.d. who has a gen. and still awake. we had a discussion on security and security response possibilities...

a small diner had no lights but lots of cars... we pulled in... sign said... fish, chicken, and a list of veggies. but, closing at dark... we knew most of diners. had some good laughs and heard storm stories. diner cooking with gas and with a small genset... but no gen for lights!

with water on in our even smaller village, maybe we've seen the turnaround. we'll see. so far no significant problem with the shouters or other ner do wells.

folks were driving careful... less vehicles on the road than usual..
we did have some trucks with big light bars and blinking lights. about 6 of them. heavy duty pickups and vans and airport bus type vehicles... tailgating folks, very aggressive... then when folks would get out of their way... the group didn't zoom on off down the road. their actions did not speak well for the state DOT label on each vehicle. there was no reason for their bad driving that i could see, except to "show out" that they had "power"

lots of folks are helping neighbors... several farmers are using their big tractors with loaders to help clear roadways and area... all this while their cotton sits wet in the field and their pecans have been blown off trees... they will suffer big loss this year. hmm. i wonder what gov't will do for the farmers.
we'll have to wait and see.

i took shower tonight in our camper. we've been conserving that water. others are dipping in their pools, sponge bathing, driving 70 miles to a motel to get showers for family and clean up a little. helps us appreciate the usual lifestyle!

[rockriver]

a few comments
another yahoo. and thank you Lord.
electric came on last evening and is still on. water comes and goes every day as the city locates leaks. but been on all day today.

finally got a generator hooked to well so that we can have water! but by now neighbors have city water too so they don't need to borrow a shower... we were all getting a little stinky.

a neighbor down the road owns a large pool... Used to be a community pool. people know it is there and are stopping asking for water... mostly friendly requests, but a few folks were beginning to get antsy.

there have been some minor injuries. cuts from tree branches. etc... the potential seriousness of this is sobering.

all neighboring cities, quickly declared a curfew. that was a good idea.

chain saws are in high demand... as are chains and bars.... they are going dull/bent fast...
what do you do when a saw gets jammed in a large limb/tree? how do you keep that from happening.. when you don't run one of these things regularly, old skills come back, but a little slower than they should.
how many sharp chains do you have "on hand" or oil, or gas?
how much gasoline for chain saw and generator
or propane...

a fellow hooked up his pto gen to something, and monkeyed with the wiring... .
when he turned it on the gen was working fine, 240 volts. lights lit green for 60
switched on breaker for power and generator jumped about 2 feet in air...

some folks are on internet hollering about their horrible mess.... 2 trees are down in yard, and lots of debris..
a local insurance agent is telling folks. "my computer is down and i can't report your claim to the ins. company till my computer comes back on." his wife is on the computer at house talking about what a great day of family time they had over the weekend. a bunch of folks will be changing their insurance agent at renewal... dang straight they ought to be doing that... horrible lack of service...

[protus]

Hurricanes are a blast...... yeah right lol.
Glad everyone is ok.
Wife asked it I thought LD was ok, I good her...honey...out of all my buddies...he ain't one I have to worry about. Took a second before she remembered some things and agreed .

RR.
Your freezers and fridges have cooling/defrost cycles.
Fridges more so. They avg 3-6 hours in duration.
On most fridges you can physically advance the defrost timer.
This now skips the defrost more.
What this means is you won't be running your gen to power an appliance that is not cooling. Sure the lights,fan,icemaker will work but the compressor is not running.
This will save gas/load on the gen.
As for hvac ,make a dedicated sleep room lol . Pick your smallest room,stick a unit in the window or portable in, sleep in there. Use battery powered fans to help stay cool once your gen is off to last till the AM.

Just some fast hacks.

[wwdnet]

Post-Hurricane Thoughts

a few comments
another yahoo. and thank you Lord.
electric came on last evening and is still on. water comes and goes every day as the city locates leaks. but been on all day today.

finally got a generator hooked to well so that we can have water! but by now neighbors have city water too so they don't need to borrow a shower... we were all getting a little stinky.

a neighbor down the road owns a large pool... Used to be a community pool. people know it is there and are stopping asking for water... mostly friendly requests, but a few folks were beginning to get antsy.

there have been some minor injuries. cuts from tree branches. etc... the potential seriousness of this is sobering.

all neighboring cities, quickly declared a curfew. that was a good idea.

chain saws are in high demand... as are chains and bars.... they are going dull/bent fast...
what do you do when a saw gets jammed in a large limb/tree? how do you keep that from happening.. when you don't run one of these things regularly, old skills come back, but a little slower than they should.
how many sharp chains do you have "on hand" or oil, or gas?
how much gasoline for chain saw and generator
or propane...

a fellow hooked up his pto gen to something, and monkeyed with the wiring... .
when he turned it on the gen was working fine, 240 volts. lights lit green for 60
switched on breaker for power and generator jumped about 2 feet in air...

some folks are on internet hollering about their horrible mess.... 2 trees are down in yard, and lots of debris..
a local insurance agent is telling folks. "my computer is down and i can't report your claim to the ins. company till my computer comes back on." his wife is on the computer at house talking about what a great day of family time they had over the weekend. a bunch of folks will be changing their insurance agent at renewal... dang straight they ought to be doing that... horrible lack of service...

Couldn't log into the forum for a couple of days; my password just wouldn't work but maybe was on the other end.

I stay on my husband during hurricane season to make sure he checks out our emergency equipment; we've both been through hurricanes with damage so we've been lucky this year to have missed Florence and Michael. You probably already learned your lessons but I'll say this anyway:

1. Every month, without fail, check/run your generator(s) and chain saw(s), fill up any empty gas cans used to mow etc. Keep vehicle tanks filled; we have an extra 30 gal. of gas between the 2 vehicles that could be used to power the gens if we run out of what's stored. Make sure you have a siphon hose and know how to siphon! We keep 25-30 gal. in cans. The chainsaw doesn't use a lot, but my big gen will use 10-12 gal/day under constant 24-hour use (I can't stay awake that long anyway). Cut a piece of firewood with the chainsaw just to stay in practice if you don't regularly have anything to cut down/up.
2. Keep an extra chainsaw blade and invest in a sharpener. Learn to use it.
3. If you don't have an electrician friend, make a friend who's an electrician (I married one). Calculate how much power you need to run the necessities in your house and make sure you have enough generating (running watts) power to cover whatever that is. Don't forget that it takes extra to start up electrical devices. We have two gens with a total of 11KW running power, enough to run everything here including the central air. If you have a single gen that will run the basics, run wiring (ours is underground) and get the plugs and disconnects in place so you can feed into your house. Write down the instructions for switching over so someone else could power up if you're not at home. There is only one safe sequence for shutting down grid power and switching over to gen power and you only get one chance to do it right.
4. If you have a gas grill, keep at least two 20-lb tanks on hand in case it becomes your main cooking appliance. We have a gas grill, two camping stoves, and a propane hibachi. Keep fuel for everything on hand. (I normally have about 12 small propane canisters on hand to run the hibachi, then use them for the propane heater in winter.) If you have a charcoal grill, keep an extra bag or two on hand just in case. I have a separate set of old pans I keep that I can use on the grill.
5. A full freezer will stay cold longer than a partially full one. Keep filled with ice packs or bagged ice cubes to take up any extra space. Both the fridge and freezer should stay safely cold for 8-24 hours depending on how well-insulated (age-dependent?). If running on gen power, switch every 4 or 5 hours between the fridge and freezer.
6. If you have central air, invest in a 115V window unit. Run it for a few minutes every month to make sure it still works. It will save your life during an extended power outage because there is nothing more dangerous than a wife who's had it with the ridiculous heat that accompanies a hurricane. My 5K BTU unit will cool a single bedroom nicely, or the great room enough to prevent me from melting if the power's out, and uses a lot less gen power than the central air.
7. If you have a well with an electric pump, you can run it off the gen if you know how to add a temporary plug to the wiring; otherwise, a pitcher pump works fine for a shallow well. I have a new one that sits on the fireplace hearth as a useful decoration. If all you have is city water, buy a bunch of gallon jugs of water (the clear ones) at Walmart. At $1 each, it's a good investment. The translucent jugs (milk jug type) will leak in time.
8. I happen to like MREs as long as I have heaters for them; otherwise I'll just eat the crackers. Freeze-dried is great but you need water and hot is better than cold. Rice and beans need even more water, so keep some Spam, tuna, pilot crackers, condiment packs (from fast-food excursions), and unopened jars of peanut butter and jelly on hand for quick eats. If you don't use them this hurricane season, donate to your local food bank before the expiration dates and replace with new. I have enough food for a small army but I keep replacing anything I use because you just never know.
9. If you don't have a cooler and you don't have a whole-house capable generator, get a cooler to keep frequently-used cold foods in. That will prevent having to open up the fridge every hour.

After losing the entire contents of my 19 cf freezer during my first FL hurricane, I tightened up. Sorry I didn't get in sooner to check on everyone. I really did try....and I'm glad everyone is (apparently) okay.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

...and have plenty of sunscreen and bug spray as you will be outside more. Also, have plenty of first aid supplies for you and neighbors. Having some spare gloves for neighbors can go a long way....

[wwdnet]

Great advice! My husband's employer lets employees take gloves home for safety, so we always have extras. Bug spray in the BIG containers always on hand. I get a lot of free med supplies as part of my retirement insurance and I make sure we have lots of everything because you never know....

[wwdnet]

While I was out and about this morning, someone on the radio was asking people what they would do if they won the Mega Millions jackpot. One caller said he would keep $100M and take $400M to build (not build/sell) houses in the Panhandle. It occurred to me that people like George Soros and Tom Steyer donate millions to elect socialist Democrats but are invisible when they could do something actually useful. It certainly defines their priorities...

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

.... It occurred to me that people like George Soros and Tom Steyer donate millions to elect socialist Democrats but are invisible when they could do something actually useful. It certainly defines their priorities...

I thought the other day that all the PACs and political campaigns that are running ads should donate 10% of that money to the people in SC and the panhandle so they could use if for rebuilding. Then I woke up......

[Lowdown3]

Stasi Abrams would love to donate money from the state funds, to help white farmers in S. Georgia, I'm sure she will do that right after she pays her $50K in back taxes....