What did you do when the power went off? How did you occupy your time during the hurricane? Share your experiences from Ike here!
"We're going to Mount Doom, Frodo!"
"Shun the Eye of Mordor! Shuuuuun! Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnah!"
"IT'S SO ANGRY!!!"
"It's SUNDAY!!! IT'S CLOSED!!!"
"This Brain Bleach moment brought to you by the letter Z!"
We stood on our third floor balcony and watched transformers blowing up all over town Friday night, lit the oil lamps and waited for our power to go off (it did about a half hour later). Off to bed with the wind starting howl outside.
Saturday, we wandered around the apartment complex looking at the damage (trees, fences, etc.). Got the fence that fell on Lawrence's car hood off.
Sunday, took the chain saw and went to help a friend cut limbs in his backyard, then checked in on another friend and the house in the Heights we're trying to buy (all OK).
Monday, went up to Spring to check on Lawrence's little sister, since we hadn't been able to get through to her on the phone. They're fine. Lawrence went to work for a bit after that and I sat out on the balcony and read.
We've been enjoying the cool weather, spending every evening outside with tealight lanterns lighting up the balcony. Have hot food courtesy of Lawrence's camp stove. The apartment looks awesome at night with a half-dozen oil lamps and many candles lit. Pictures will be posted once we have power, since I can't download them at work or upload to my Mac site.
We had it so easy that I'm ashamed. When the power went out about 6:00am (in Katy), we started the generator, plugged in the window A/C, and sat around in comfort all day. Power came back on that night about 7:30pm. Only excitement was when I set the Coleman stove on fire -- it was a roiling ball of fire, a real impressive sight!
We've since loaned out our two generators and window A/C's so I feel a little better.
We lost a fence, but none of the trees that I expected we'd lose. We have a couple of 100 foot pines in front of our house -- at peak of storm, they were bent over so far that the upper branches were touching the ground ... but they'd spring right back up when the wind would drop.
Spent most of Friday night watching Season 1 of "Heroes" until the power went out around 12:30 Friday night. The rest of the night was spent trying to get some sleep moving between the rooms in the apartment trying to figure out which is the coolest with three animals sleeping next to you.
Saturday was spent driving around to beat the heat. Saw a lot of damage to people's homes and trees down. The hubby and I survived on chips and salsa that first day as I couldn't find any propane for the camp stove and I thought that I had some in storage but alas I did not.
Sunday, after trying to sleep through the heat my hubby decided that it was time to visit his cousin in San Antonio so we packed up the cats and our dog and headed out. Spent the rest of Sunday, all of Monday and half of Tuesday clean and cool at his cousins. Had to come back Tuesday as we both had to work.
And I just got a call from the hubby... WE HAVE POWER!!!!
I woke up at about 1:00am Saturday when the storm started coming in here. I was up all night, watching the weather/news channels until the power went out at about 4:00am. I had wallets, keys, shoes and a mattress set up in our hallway, ready for a tornado. I had a plan darn it, lol! At one point, I stepped out onto our back porch and noticed that all the deer that bed down on the back of our property were out in the cleared area during the storm. I figured they would have stayed in their hidey holes.
Sunday, we went in search of a generator in Brenham, no luck. Got some ice from the little cafe/store in Chappel Hill. We listened to the radio ALL day. It was like looking at an accident... you just can't turn your head away. Our six year old (Captain NoBeard) started getting stir crazy so we talked about what people did before there were things like electricity, television, video games, etc., and read some books and made up stories of our own and worked on his spelling words for the week. (Such a mean mommy) :)
Monday... we got lucky and found a generator! Yay!!! Now we could WATCH the bad accident instead of just listening to it on the radio ;) Wow, what a mess. By this time my son is about to drive me batty. "Go outside and pick up sticks!" I say, lol. Captain NoBeard practiced his spelling words again and didn't even complain... hhhmmm...I wonder what he's done???
Tuesday... had low water pressure but I was able to boil some water (gas stove) and wash the dishes.... I forgot how much I love my dishwasher :) Captain NoBeard and I worked on his spelling words. There I go... abusing the little bugger again. "This is the worst day of my life!" he says. The power was back on at about 3:30 YAY!!!
Today.... internet service restored YAY!!! I've been like a mad woman doing all of my usual business online, etc. I just mistreated Captain NoBeard again and tested him on his spelling words (evil grin) tee hee. He wrote all his words correctly. YAY!!! The teacher will be proud of him! I know I am. "Okay hun, you can play your Star Wars video game." I say ;D
Day 1: Power went out while I was trying to go to sleep, didn't care until the heat rose since the AC didn't work anymore. Wished I had a Generator
Day 2: Woke up, did a quick check of the house and property to make sure no damage and headed out to check on other friends. Wished I had a Generator
Day 3: Woke up to a flooded living room, swept the water out the back door the way it came in, dried the floor, broke out the Coleman Automatic Drip Coffee Maker and Coleman Camp Stove, made coffee, caffeine is God, go worship. Went over and cooked food over at neighbors house on the grill to avoid losing the food in our freezer because of no power. Wished I had a Generator
Day 4: Woke up to silence as still no power, got up, made coffee called in to work and found out my office was closed so I had another day off. Went to Advanced Auto Parts and bought a Marine Battery to use in conjunction with a 750 Watt Power Invertor which I hoped would be enough to power my refrigerator, nope, but it does work the television, VCR, and PS2 (which doubles as a DVD player). Went over and cooked food over at neighbors house on the grill to avoid losing the rest of the food in our freezer because of still not having power. Still Wished I had a Generator
Day 5: Woke up, called work, we were open, so I dressed and went to the office. WOW, AC what a concept. Felt sad as my wife did not have it at home, but remembered how cool it is outside, didn't feel so bad anymore. Wife braved the crowds and found us Ice, and food and stuff at Kroger, I found gas and filled the car on the way home with only a 20 minute wait in line. Cooked at neighbors house again because we still have no power. Still wishing I had a Generator.
Day 6: Woke up, came to work, wife went to FEMA POD and got Ice, Water, and Food to help us further. Will most likely be cooking dinner at neighbors house again tonight. Still wishing I had a Generator
Have some before and after pics. 1 is an all time classic. ;D Ike pics (http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j143/Jaggedred/Hurricane%20Ike/)
Day 1 woke up to howling winds and debris hitting the roof. Power went out around 4:30am. When things calmed down a bit we went to my parents house because they have a generator and gas grill.
Day 2 sent the wife and kids to the in-laws for comfort whilst the dog and I stayed to watch the house. (Back and forth to my parents each day for cold drinks and hot food.) Also drove to College Station for gas and extra food.
Day 3 started cleaning up and realized that the government and media only care(d) about Galveston. Montgomery County and surrounding communities mean nothing to them.
Day 4 Went to Huntsville for gas to keep the generator running. More cleanup and yelling at Entergy.
Day 5 Helped my parents around there house....power came on whilst we were eating dinner. The lights scared me.
Overall everything went ok, but the gov was NOT prepared. Only minor damage to the roof. Happy to be back on the grid.
Boy all this sure makes me glad I don't live in Texas and I know Toki8 will agree (He grew up in Corpus Cristi). We never have to worry about huge massive hurricanes tearing up and destroying whole towns. We might have a tornado on occasion but our tornando's don't do 1/10 the damage hurricanes do or even Texas tornando's do. Granded we get big huge wet snow storms, they only make driving tough.
My heart goes out to all you in Texas that had damage or know someone who did.
I'll stay in Colorado :) But your all welcome to join us up here where the summers are hot (not overly humid) Spring and Falls are beautiful but short and can be cold and the winters, not as bad as people say or imagine them to be.
We drove to Spring friday morning and spent the day with our friends, hanging out, watching movies and news, being shocked at the amount of flooding before a drop of rain fell. The wind kicked up that evening and satellite went out that night.
Woke up early Saturday, listening to strange groans, thuds and cracks. Finally got up and saw that most of the fences were down and there was no electric but no major damage to our friends house. We called my father in law and found out he had no flooding or damage and hoped that our house was alright since its only a few blocks from him. That was the last contact with the outside world we had until Sunday afternoon when we were on our way home. Spent Saturday hanging out, grilling and keeping the kids occupied.
Woke up Sunday to no water. We all decided it was time to go somewhere else. Our friends went to visit family in Austin and we went home. Found out last night that they were still in Austin and returning home today. They still have no electric or water.
We got home to find our house in good order, with water, but no electric. We still have an order to boil water, but seeing that we have an electric stove, we are drinking bottled water. Thankfully, we discovered that we have a gas water heater, so we do have hot showers!
Tuesday afternoon our friends with 4 kids called asking for help since they had no home to go to. Then the mass craziness began...
We survived it OK, been on generator power from Sat morning till last night (9/17), sure glad we had that generator! I fixed some roof damage, need a new fence, otherwise no worries.
For those of you who have generators, please be kind to your neighbors and turn it off at night before bed, unless you need it for medical reasons of course. Our neighbor leaves his running day and night, right outside our windows. I haven't slept decently in days and the fumes come right in our house.... :P
Quote from: Trillium on September 18, 2008, 01:58:52 PM
For those of you who have generators, please be kind to your neighbors and turn it off at night before bed, unless you need it for medical reasons of course. Our neighbor leaves his running day and night, right outside our windows. I haven't slept decently in days and the fumes come right in our house.... :P
AMEN sister... I have a neighbor that runs his generator 24/7, the ignorant bastard that he is, and IF I am lucky, it is silent for the few minutes it takes for him to put more gas in it. I need a good nights sleep.
Saturday night we took a big long walk around the in-law's housing area and were shocked at what we saw. There were at least three houses who had generators running at midnight just to power their outside lights. I know it's supposed to ward off thieves and what not, but running a generator just for your outside lights the night after a hurricane is a bit much.
I just got a call that we have electric!!! YAY!!!
Quote from: PurpleDragon on September 19, 2008, 08:11:44 AM
AMEN sister... I have a neighbor that runs his generator 24/7, the ignorant bastard that he is, and IF I am lucky, it is silent for the few minutes it takes for him to put more gas in it. I need a good nights sleep.
How did these folks find the gas to run it 24/7? My dad and I had trouble finding enough to run theirs the required amount to keep the food from ruining.
While I don't live in Houston, I'm hearing from friends who do, people in the Woodlands, and even further afield. What a lot of people haven't heard is that even up in Kentucky, power is still out from Ike. Parts of KY had 87 mph winds there, too. One of the computer sites that my hubby is main contact for lost power and backups and had to be shut down by onsite IT.
While the southern Tx Coast took the brunt, Ike raked the USA pretty darn good.
Hang in there, everyone, people are working on it!!! It's just frustrating as heck when it doesn't seem to move fast enough, but the numbers and swath of destruction really is HUGE...
Capt. Marga
Quote from: Fenster on September 19, 2008, 06:01:52 PM
How did these folks find the gas to run it 24/7? My dad and I had trouble finding enough to run theirs the required amount to keep the food from ruining.
If there's no ... or very little ... electric load, then they'll run a really long time on very little gas.
I ran mine with heavy load for about 12 hours (4 gallon tank -- supposed to run only 10 hours with a full load). Power came back on, so I shut it off. Started it the next day to run the remaining little bit of gas out of it (didn't want to store it with gas) -- and it ran for 10 more hours! I finally just shut it off ... never did use up all the gas.
Quote from: Fenster on September 19, 2008, 06:01:52 PM
[How did these folks find the gas to run it 24/7? My dad and I had trouble finding enough to run theirs the required amount to keep the food from ruining.
We were able to get gas in Brenham. We ran our generator with only the fridge and tv hooked up. Then when there was water pressure, we hooked up the water heater. We bought a tankless water heater last year and it has been great. Saves on the use of propane (we have the silver bullet) by not having to constantly heat stored water. I highly recommend a tankless water heater to anyone who is pondering the idea!
While I understand the noise factor with generators, it is a life saver when you don't want to toss out all of the food in your fridge and freezer. Escpecially since the cost of food has skyrocketed. Even beans are more expensive now! I would roughly estimate there is probably $300-$500 worth of food in my fridge right now. All those little jars in the door and meats in the freezer can add up quickly.
Quote from: captmarga on September 20, 2008, 12:01:11 AM
While I don't live in Houston, I'm hearing from friends who do, people in the Woodlands, and even further afield. What a lot of people haven't heard is that even up in Kentucky, power is still out from Ike. Parts of KY had 87 mph winds there, too. One of the computer sites that my hubby is main contact for lost power and backups and had to be shut down by onsite IT.
While the southern Tx Coast took the brunt, Ike raked the USA pretty darn good.
Hang in there, everyone, people are working on it!!! It's just frustrating as heck when it doesn't seem to move fast enough, but the numbers and swath of destruction really is HUGE...
Capt. Marga
The media in Southeast Texas didn't even cover anything outside of Galveston and Houston. Everyone in my area (Montgomery/Conroe) was wanting information and could find nothing. I guess us and the rest of the country weren't "newsworthy".
Same went for those of us in between Galv. & Houston. It has been difficult to get information on Texas City, La marque and league city. It was extremely frustrating in the first few days.
No gas, no generator. We've yet to get power (i'm at my parents house) and we've been living like kings for the past few days camping on the front lawn with all of our pirate flags and renny gear tasting the first batches of loki. I think I might just be happy if the whole world lost power.... heck all of my friends would go to TRF
Quote from: captmarga on September 20, 2008, 12:01:11 AM
The media in Southeast Texas didn't even cover anything outside of Galveston and Houston. Everyone in my area (Montgomery/Conroe) was wanting information and could find nothing. I guess us and the rest of the country weren't "newsworthy".
That's pretty much how the folks in Louisiana have felt since Gustav. If you can't show a picture of a flooded house with someone sitting on the roof, the media considers it's not news.
Ya, the media didn't cover, or really talk about 100K pulse people here in Arkansas that lost power, or the 6 tornado's that tore through the state. Oh ya and the forgot about the old bastard who's tree fell into his house and killed him in his own bed. Yep if they aren't floating away on there roof tops or looting it's not news. Just a blurb, some were one page 6 in the B section of the paper.
Thanks for the nod, Pascal. The recover time of disasters this large are long. Just accept it and be patient. We still have thousands waiting on power here in La from Gustav. Thousands compared to the initial outages is very minor, thankfully. Houses still smashed in. Debris still lined up along the streets (of those able to collect it). We are getting the barrage of "watch out for un-insured roofers' and scam warnings now. A little noise at night from a generator, having to rise and set with the sun, sweating all day, eating canned food. None of that will kill us. I hope everyone is safe and healthy and can make it to faire come Hurricane or high water!
Yay! I'm back on the map.
I live north of Houston on the Montgomery Co. county line. Our power went out Saturday at about 2 am. All in all, there were not a lot of damages. We lost one tree in our yard and the top of our foreplace stovepipe got knocked off. We drove around a bit Saturday afternoon to assess the damages and see if we could find anywhere cooler. There were trees everywhere and it looked like a traffic cone massacre. We tried to stay at the house with no electricity but Saturday night the baby started to get sick from the heat, so Sunday I took the kids to my parents' house in Waco. My husband stayed behind to work. His workplace had generators, so at least he had AC and food.
Our electricity just came back on yesterday evening (9-20). Those nearby who have Reliant still have no electricity.
I have Entergy and they are doing an excellent job, considering that they were still doing Gustav repairs when Ike hit. If you see a power company worker, you should make sure they know they are appreciated. They are working very hard and doing the best they can.
Those of you who still don't have lights, I hope they get back on soon.
Still no power. When we left for Serendipity Haven on Friday afternoon, HALF the complex had power back, including those nasty security floodlights that shine right onto my balcony and in the windows. Figured by the time we got back last night, our half would have it too. Nope! Not so much fun since the cool weather moved out.
09:28 hrs, 22 September, 2008: No power still at Casa De Dragon. We've now been without power since Friday September 12 and it is getting HORRID, no air movement in the house, unable to open windows for fears of the 4 legged beasties jumping ship, or the 6 legged or 8 legged beasties stowing away.
We are allegedly going to have power back today, but I'll believe it when I see and feel it when the air conditioner kicks on at home. I haven't had a "good" nights sleep since the night we lost power, and it is really causing some irritability to start to mount within the home among us all. (~sing~ We've got cabin fever, we've got cabin fever).
[Note from Reliant employee] We have nothing to do with any power outages. Please direct outrage to Centerpoint Energy. Billing outrage can still be directed to us. ;) [/Note fromReliant Employee]
My heart goes out to you all still without power. We went through that a few years back here. Five days of no power...no fun.
Yes, we do ( I did certainly) forget about all the folks elsewhere that ended up in the storms (Ike...Gustav...). Paths that are not even reported. It's hard to get news from any of the regular sources. I had no idea things were so bad in Oklahoma and still in LA.
We just got power back in the past few hours. The water is now safe to drink and the curfew has been shortened to 11pm - 5 am. I have had the tree removed from my house and salvaged what I could. The roof has been temporarily repaired to prevent further water damage and the sheetrock and carpet have been torn out.
I don't have an ETA on when my cable will be fixed (sending this from my office where cable was restored yesterday). The boss doesn't like us visiting forums so it may still be a while until I can check in again. :(
I'm still going to TRF dangnubbit. :)
Got power back today, was a great feeling to turn the corner and see lights on in the complex. I live in a 15 building complex and had four people running generators within 50 feet of my bedroom window. The fumes were sickening and the noise deafening. One brilliant individual even managed to set fire to his garage when he spilled gas on the hot generator. I live in NW Harris County and I definitely second the opinion of others who spoke about the news blackout up here, could not even find out if our water was safe to drink. Oh well, now I have a better understanding for Dickens' writings and his message about deprivation. I am also thankful I did not have to experience some of the horrors that happened out on Bolivar. I can not even imagine what those folks went through riding out that hurricane trapped on a roof.
Alive and well in East Texas, had no power for 6 days but we did have hot water so I pimped it out for extra ice and food from relief workers. (small town) As soon as power came on I left for Houston to help family members who have SEVERE damage to their homes. Back at home now, kids started school today, yeah!
Can't wait for TRF, wonder what effect Ike will have attendance.
Day 12, still no power here yet.. Centerpoint site "claimed" that my zip code would have power back YESTERDAY, those lying bastards.
I'm so thankful we have Texas New Mexico! We didn't expect power until sometime this week but got it back on Friday.
Another lesson learned: I'm also very glad we have our phone thru AT&T/SWB and not Comcast. We never lost service and my poor parents are still without phone/cable/internet because they went with the comcast bundle. We may not have cable right now but at least we have phone and internet!
And we are buying a gas stove sometime in the next year...not being able to cook anything sucked!!
I think it paid off living very close to a fire/sheriff station since they are high on the priority list for power.
Got the newest report from Centerpoint since I work in the energy industry....they are up to 73% with power. Not the news those w/o power want, but the more they get restored the better chance yours will be on sooner than later.
the issue is that their site has been reporting since last week that my zip code would have power back by "End of Monday 9/22" and we STILL don't have power today..
Quote from: PurpleDragon on September 23, 2008, 12:49:08 PM
the issue is that their site has been reporting since last week that my zip code would have power back by "End of Monday 9/22" and we STILL don't have power today..
Does anyone in your neighborhood have power? If so call them to make sure they know you are out....which I'm sure you've done.
They need to not report by zip codes as they may not know the exact borders of that area. The system needs to be overhauled for sure.
nobody in my neighborhood has power at all.
Quote from: PurpleDragon on September 23, 2008, 01:05:49 PM
nobody in my neighborhood has power at all.
Heads need to roll.
Quote from: PurpleDragon on September 23, 2008, 01:05:49 PM
nobody in my neighborhood has power at all.
Call them anyway, tell them you think you saw lights a street over, just be nice they will probably take your name and address. I did this and got power just a day or two later.
Scol
Here we are on September 24, 2008 13 days after the first bands started making landfall and I still have no power at the house. Now, Centerpoint Energy stated they would have my power up by Monday September 22, however it is not until sometime on Tuesday September 23 that they update their site and now it says I won't have power until Sunday September 28. I am NOT a happy Dragon right now. >:(
Hugs, Vandor! We're with you - watching half of our apartment complex with power, and unless it came on since we left for work, not having it. We're on the "by Thursday" list, but I'll believe it when I see it. After Thursday, I start calling.
Paid a visit to friends in Shore Acres yesterday. Now, there's another disasater story. I think most of the community flooded from the surge and all along the main road in, people's lives are tossed in trash heaps by their driveways. Our friends got 3 feet of water in the house. Carpet is gone, lower 4 feet of sheetrock is gone, most of their furniture is on that trash pile - not to mention books, clothes, etc. that they couldn't take when they left. I have his swords - planning to clean them back up and get all the rust off.
Quote from: Var Greyshadow on September 24, 2008, 12:26:30 PM
Hugs, Vandor! We're with you - watching half of our apartment complex with power, and unless it came on since we left for work, not having it. We're on the "by Thursday" list, but I'll believe it when I see it. After Thursday, I start calling.
Paid a visit to friends in Shore Acres yesterday. Now, there's another disasater story. I think most of the community flooded from the surge and all along the main road in, people's lives are tossed in trash heaps by their driveways. Our friends got 3 feet of water in the house. Carpet is gone, lower 4 feet of sheetrock is gone, most of their furniture is on that trash pile - not to mention books, clothes, etc. that they couldn't take when they left. I have his swords - planning to clean them back up and get all the rust off.
Var, any news on your boat? Did she make it thru?
The boat - we drove past "the barn" before going to our friends' house on Tuesday. It looked like there hadn't even been a storm, so I'd say my boat is fine. She was snug in her rack in a big dry stack facility on Clear Lake.
Still no power - this is getting old now. However, last night around midnight a CenterPoint truck pulled up under my window and the guy was looking at the pole with our security lights and the one behind it. Maybe today they'll come and work on it!
Day 14, still no power for Dragon... truly starting to become perturbed at this point. I don't mind not having the convenience of electricity when camping at Faire, but dangnubbit, I want it at home.
Now, for something a little "light"...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
You know you're from the Gulf Coast when....
1. You have FEMA's number on your speed dialer.
2. You have more than 100 'C' and 'D' batteries in your kitchen drawer.
3. Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti O's.
4. You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.
5. When describing your gutted house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and an open air feel to it.
6. Your SSN isn't a secret, it's written in Sharpie on your arms.
7. You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
8. You are delighted to pay $3.50 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
9. The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.
10. You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
11. You own more than three large coolers.
12. You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
13. You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking It'll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back
14. You have 2-liter coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer.
15. Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.
16. You catch a 13-pound red fish - in your house.
17. You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's insurance policy.
18. You consider a vacation to stunning Tupelo, Mississippi.
19. At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.
20. You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.
21. There is a roll of tar paper in your garage.
22. You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel.
23. Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.
24. Ice is a valid topic of conversation.
25. Your drive-thru meal consists of MRE's and bottled water.
26. Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.
27. You spend more time on your roof than in your living room.
28. You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.
29. A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.
30. You don't worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.
31. Your child's first words are "hunker down!"
32. Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean its Christmas.
33. Toilet Paper is elevated to coin of the realm at the shelters.
34. You know the difference between the good side of a storm and the bad side.
35. Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
36. You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.
37. Your garage smells like gasoline.
38. You're more concerned about someone stealing your generator than your car.
39. You get excited when you see a bucket truck in your neighborhood.
40. You get really excited when you see the cable guy.
41. Adults chase power company trucks with greater enthusiasm than a 6 year old flagging down an ice cream truck.
42. You can create memorable meals wit h a can of SPAM and one gas burner.
43. Waiting in line at Starbucks for 2 hours to get a cup of coffee seems perfectly reasonable.
Following your lead Karl,
Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season is Like Christmas
10. Decorating the house (boarding up windows, putting up shutters).
9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (camping gear, flash lights).
8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
7. Regular TV shows pre- empted for "specials".
6. Family coming to stay with you, or mandatory evacuation requires you to visit them.
5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.
4. Buying food you don' t normally buy ... and in large quantities.
3. Days off from work.
2. Candles.
1. And the number one reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas ...
At some point you know you' re going to have a tree in your house!
Oh, those are goood. A few more, courtesy of a friend:
Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill.
Your car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you asked the people in line who helped push it).
He who has the biggest generator wins.
Flood plain drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong.
People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for.
Cell phones work when land lines are down, but only as long as the battery remains charged.
If I had a store that sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators...I'd be rich.
Waterfront property can quickly become someone else's fishing hole.
MATH 101: 30 days in month, minus 10 days without power equals 30% higher electric bill??
Heat makes you brutally honest.
A MUST for all blackouts with kids... GLOWSTICKS!
It is a great time to teach the children the fine art of gambling (penny ante poker) card playing.
You can never have too many gas cans.
7 dogs that do not normally live together still do not get along during a hurricane; they have no comprehension of sharing.
5 gallons of sweetened iced tea a day is not enough for 9 teenagers.
Neighbors are much more sociable when your trees are being removed from their houses.
That neighbor who knows how to use a Chainsaw is your new best friend.
What looks acceptable by candlelight in your bathroom will scare you when you look at yourself in the mirror at the office.
Ice is a form of currency.
You run out of things to barbecue after Day 3.
Hair can dry without a blow dryer, but it may not look the way you planned.
Baseball caps go with any post-hurricane ensemble.
You can't train yourself not to flip on light switches when entering a room.
Lukewarm is the new cold.
It's easier to ignore a dirty house when you can't see it.
A new opening phrase when seeing someone: 'Got lights yet?'
Daydreaming consists of thinking about what you will do when the freak'n power comes back on!
And Finally*****
Ike showed many of us who our true friends are!!!!
Like I've said before, sure this is a serious situation we are living in, but we are LIVING, and while our homes may be damaged, our property damaged, we are still alive and well. A little humor is a wonderful thing and sharing a smile can help brighten anyones day.
So, I'm sitting here at the office and my phone rings, it's playing "The Phantom Of The Opera", so I answer as I always do when that song plays "Hello Beautiful", it's the wife, and she is crying on the other end of the phone. "Babe", she says through the tears "WE'VE GOT POWER"!!!!!!!!!! ~does a little happy dance~ I can sleep in air conditioning again tonight after being without power since 11:30 PM on Friday September 12.
Hooray! Now you have to adjust to life with lights again. ;D
Welcome back to civilization.
Huzzah! I hope I'm giving Lawrence that call in about a half an hour.
Damn, Karl, just one more day and you would have qualified for your Rennie Scouts roughin' it badge. Oh, well, better luck next time. ;D
Anyone got the guts to sneak over and flip off his breaker?
The primal rage scream would be quite interesting... I bet I would hear that all the way over here in San Antonio
*I'm not even going to offer rum as an incentive on that one...*
Quote from: captfletcher on September 25, 2008, 09:30:56 PM
Damn, Karl, just one more day and you would have qualified for your Rennie Scouts roughin' it badge. Oh, well, better luck next time. ;D
BUGGER IT ALL.. and that's the ONLY badge I needed to get my promotion to Beagle Scout.
Quote from: x0x_teach_x0x on September 25, 2008, 09:42:11 PM
Anyone got the guts to sneak over and flip off his breaker?
The primal rage scream would be quite interesting... I bet I would hear that all the way over here in San Antonio
*I'm not even going to offer rum as an incentive on that one...*
Then I'd let YOU deal with Pam personally...
Quote from: captfletcher on September 25, 2008, 09:30:56 PM
Damn, Karl, just one more day and you would have qualified for your Rennie Scouts roughin' it badge. Oh, well, better luck next time. ;D
Well, I guess WE qualify for the badge. Still no stinkin' power in my part of the complex. The rest of the blighters got it back a WEEK ago!
Oh my gosh Var I sypathise with you. That happened here a few years ago. The entire town and all neighborhoods around except my block had power. I called (as I had been) for yet another update and was told our grid showed as being online as well. Seems they missed something and the power was on by that evening. I'd call again, if you haven't already and give them the heads up.
Reminds me of when power went out due to a winter storm in west Texas. The city owned power company hooked power back up that night, but missed 2 houses. Mine and the mayor's. (across the alley.)
Well, I guess the thought of calling was enough. I'd planned to this morning. However, around 9:30 Lawrence called to say we had power!!!
Laundry and grocery shopping night! HOT showers!!
Fantastic news!
Being without for a few days is kinda novel, more than that is a pain
After Rita I was without for just over 3 weeks and was beginning to think I would go insane lol
*at least I had my rum*
we hung out at the pool and drank hurricanes all weekend.
Yeah the novelty of kinda camping is gone. I want my friggin lights, tv, internet, frig, dw, ALL OF IT back. Everyone in the house is stressed, short fused and irritable. I need some major Loki this weekend.
Hooray! We got power back this morning. I was getting ready to take my kettle of water out to the camp stove to boil it for coffee, when I noticed that the clock on the oven, which had read 3:04am for the last two weeks, was reading 3:06.
We were doing fine without lights, but I sure missed my AC. Gets mighty toasty in Houston. My son will be disappointed when I put him to bed tonight without his glowstick.
A special "thank-you" to DS (and Aiacha, even thought she wasn't home) who let me come over to wash clothes, including a stinky bucket o' cotton diapers. Mwaaaaaaaa! :-*
My question is this: Do I *have* to go on the big family camping trip this fall? The novelty's worn off, really...
We are very happy to hear that everyone has survived and that everyone seems to be back on the grid now. We were without power until Tuesday night, Sept 16. We were well prepared with ice, propane, water, charcoal and food. I will be looking into a residential standby generator though. We got lucky this year that the cold front came in right after Ike. Next time we may not be so lucky.
Our only damage was to the tree in the backyard. Three big limbs were broke off. Fortunately, they fell straight down and did not come through the roof or the living room window. We had a friend of ours from Clear Lake stay with us. She didn't end up getting her power back until that Friday.
The thought of starting a drinking game on the phrase "Hunker Down" was brought up, but we quickly discovered that we would all be plastered within the first ten minutes of turning the radio on (o: I also learned that Appleton Rum from Jamaica is Freakin Awesome!
The Privateer
Quote from: tigerlilly on September 26, 2008, 03:30:56 PM
Hooray! We got power back this morning. I was getting ready to take my kettle of water out to the camp stove to boil it for coffee, when I noticed that the clock on the oven, which had read 3:04am for the last two weeks, was reading 3:06.
We were doing fine without lights, but I sure missed my AC. Gets mighty toasty in Houston. My son will be disappointed when I put him to bed tonight without his glowstick.
A special "thank-you" to DS (and Aiacha, even thought she wasn't home) who let me come over to wash clothes, including a stinky bucket o' cotton diapers. Mwaaaaaaaa! :-*
My question is this: Do I *have* to go on the big family camping trip this fall? The novelty's worn off, really...
I know what you mean about the glow sticks, lol! And just when all the really cool Halloween colored glow sticks are arriving in the stores ;D
I think I will have to put glowsticks on my hurricane readiness check list, just below 'bake chocolate cake' ;D
A week after the storm.
Where we are (south and west of the eye) was NOT that hard hit. But the damage will take months to repair. Most of the really dangerous stuff is just about done. Got power exactly two weeks after the evacuation. The rest will wait for the insurance adjusters to come survey it. :)
Best storm story – a friend of a friend has a house on Galveston Island. He sent his kids and wife inland, but decided to stay because the storm's track was not all that certain and he was concerned about looters. So he's on the phone to his wife, calmly describing how he has moved to the second floor because water is hip deep on the ground floor of their home, when he interrupts and says "Gotta go, the house is on fire". He swims away from his burning house in the middle of the hurricane. Took him 24 hours to find a TV crew that would loan him a cellphone so he could call his wife and tell her that he lived.
Best story about stupid - the Danbury Volunteer Fire Department has a big generator, and most of them stayed through the storm – so they were all ready to render assistance. But they forgot to put oil in the generator. It ran for 257 hours, and then exploded. Now they are running on a little Honda.
Best story about bad planning – the Danbury water system has a main well, without any backup power, and an emergency well, with a generator. But the emergency well was not plumbed into the City water system. So the entire City has been running for a week on a ethnically-engineered system that involves three inch fire hoses connecting the well to the nearest fire hydrant.
Best story about industry – my friend Butch, who has hydraulics, was been running around town with his BEEG tractors, pulling downed trees off the power lines, so the power crews can make repairs. The City thought that was a good idea and hired him to clean the piles of trees and trash that were accumulating along the streets.
Best little old ladies – we have been a part of two little old lady "rescues". They hate to be rescued – independence is important to them. When we found out Bernice was out of oxygen and needed power to breathe – she was trying to call a list of OTHER elderly people she was worried about. When Annie finally called and asked if we could get some water to her – she was worried about her cats (she's the local cat lady).
Funniest personal moment – when Bernice got power and we had an extra generator, we took it to my exH, who is still my good friend. He had been without power for several days. I forgot it was his birthday. So he and Susie Swivelhips, current girlfriend, were on their way out to dinner. He lingered to learn how to operate the generator. When he got power back a couple of days later, we went over to transfer his house back to the grid. Susie Swivelhips said "You guys are great" in the way that doesn't make it a compliment. I told her we do useful things! (As though I thought it WAS a compliment).
Some great, but not personal moments – The city park was hit hard. Giant pecan trees crumpled like paper, trees 35 to 50 feet tall, 50 or more years old, reduced to heaps. About day two someone decided that the park was a priority, so the kids would have somewhere to go. All day long pickups would arrive. Guys would lower their tail gate and fiddle with their chain saws, and then just join in. No organized effort, just people driving by who decided to help. The park was cleared within a day – all volunteer.
Ickiest moment – apparently a tank full of crude or something very close to it was overrun with the surge waters, and vomited its contents. There are areas of the bayou that are deep in black, sticky, stinky crude. TNRCC (generally known as "train wreck", but actually the Texas Natural Resources Commission) has vacuum pumps trying to get it up. But its up in the weeds on the water line. So getting it off the water, where it can be vacuumed, is the smallest part of the mess.
Personal losses – minimal. We lost the roof to the barn. I'm ready to believe the Navajo legend that the wind is a trickster. The wind picked up the roof of the barn, pulling four inch nails without bending them, crumpled it in a ball like aluminum foil around an onion on the grill, and dropped it on the propane tank. But it also moved a bean can from the top of a nearby post to the bottom of the post, delicately.
We are very lucky, and appreciative.
QuoteBest storm story – a friend of a friend has a house on Galveston Island. He sent his kids and wife inland, but decided to stay because the storm's track was not all that certain and he was concerned about looters. So he's on the phone to his wife, calmly describing how he has moved to the second floor because water is hip deep on the ground floor of their home, when he interrupts and says "Gotta go, the house is on fire". He swims away from his burning house in the middle of the hurricane. Took him 24 hours to find a TV crew that would loan him a cellphone so he could call his wife and tell her that he lived.
I'm pretty sure I heard about that guy on the news. There was a story about this amazing former naval officer who had to do the exact same thing. They said he held on to a light post until it broke, and then he basically had to swim out the rest of the storm, holding on to a piece of drift wood. Its gotta be the same person.
Uhm, there really isn't anything special about my personal experiences. The night of the storm was little rough to sleep through, especially since we lost power really early in the evening, so the only light-comfort was my dinky flashlight. I kept calm music on for my younger sister on her battery-op boombox (and to be honest, it helped me a lot, too). We didn't suffer any damage (save for a few limbs, an acute-angled fence, and some melted ice cream).
The following week was actually really relaxing. My college was closed, and we spent a lot of time with family and friends that had power. We also cooked outside (which was really cool) and slept downstairs with the windows open (the stars were very distinct those first few days), which was pleasant until more people got generators to run all night. We were kickin' it old school without one and just waited until Wednesday to get our power back.
So minus the inconvenience of closed stores, no internet, and those stupid curfews, it was an alright experience.
Due to living in an area told to leave I spent the night before finding somewhere to go.
Then I packed one thing I took was my swords and my ticket the dress I was having made got
put on hold. I got a call Tuesday after the storm to report to work the next day around 8:45 AM got up and drove home
4 AM. To no lights and no way to have any kind of lamp but a lantern. I worked the first two days guiding people to chain saws and
generators in the dark later to other items they lost. When we got on generator at work we had no AC until Friday when they restored the
power. How ever where I work we had what people need. We still have close to 300 generators that did not get sold after truck loads arrived.
After we got power I ordered a gown on-line I hope it gets here. Tonight I called around making sure where I booked our hotel. Took them awhile
but they found it made them give me proof. Due to the fact some hotel still have Ike victims in them.
Now hope the gown gets here tomorrow ;)
Well, since we have 6 lil kids and live 7 streets from the water. We played it safe and left town. We went up to Mo-Ranch in Hunt, Texas and played and had fun from Thursday until Monday. During the after Ike hours... We were getting phone calls from family who had evacuated to Cypress letting us know they were ok. Saturday night/ Sunday morning family started coming back in and giving us reports of how they made out through the storm. We had asked several people to go check on our home, but Kemah bridge was covered with debris and the roads else where leading in were closed according to them. My Dad made it to his house Monday morning and found out that he took 4 1/2 feet of water in his house. To add to it he just got finished remodeling his entire downstairs (new furniture, sheet rock, carpet, paint, etc.) My sisters 2 vehicles, my Mom's new truck, my Dad's motorcycle, and their golf cart all were ruined thanks to the water. It wasn't until later Monday that anyone was able to get out to our home and see if we still had a come. Luckily we only took minor damage. A broken window, storm door torn off, and a small section of structural damage from a tree limb. Most of our damage was the trees around our house. We were unable to get into our house for 2 days because of all the trees that fell and needed to be cleared just to reach the door. But while the power was out we stayed with my in-laws, cuse they had a generator and running water. Finally Friday or Saturday, when Hubby's extremely small paycheck (thanks Ike) came in we bought a generator and came home. After we assembled the generator and hooked it up we had it running for about an hour - hour and half when hubby heard the neighbors a/c unit kick on. So we turned off the generator and low and behold we had power. And in all of this a friend of ours that lives in my parents neighborhood, we found out that his brick house was moved 2 inches off the slab due to the flood. We came out lucky this time. And we are really thankful that we decided to evacuate and play it safe. Seeing the fact that a couple of streets closer to the water took more damage and the roads are damaged extremely.
I left 1 week before Ike for Dublin Ireland on vacation. The day before Ike, my mom and sis left to join me in London. We didn't return until a week and 2 days after the actual hurricane. So during the whole thing we were in London and Paris trying to get on the web and watch the news as much as possible to find out the details. We were also able to text with friends and family members the day of the storm until it actually passed and then we didn't get an update for 3 days! Those were difficult, but we figured we should have a good time and not worry since we had no control.
Apparently we were without power for a week, though we had power by the time we got back. Our fence was down and we had shingles missing which had to be patched, but all else was fine. I totally credit it to God!!