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riding the stor...

riding the storm out....

8/30/2008 8:33:12 PM

paul

1024 posts

riding the storm out....
(N/A) Modified By paul on 8/31/2008 9:27:26 AM)

waiting for the fallout...

Every time we get a big storm heading our way, that REO Speedwagon song is stuck in my head until it's over.

So, Gustav is predicted to hit Louisiana sometime Monday, it's picked up speed and intensity, we've pretty much taking this one seriously now. We're in Baton Rouge, little over a hundred miles inland. If it hits as predicted, we'll be on the northeast side of the storm, where the winds and rain are strongest.

After Katrina hit us, we have made some serious preparation, slowly acquiring a large generator, several window units, and an assortment of extension cords made up to backflow a few circuits in the house. We're usually command center for my wife's family in New Orleans. For Katrina, they had evacuated early, stayed with us, then we lost power for 3 days. After having a house full of releatives with no power, we decided to be much more prepared in the future...

stay tuned for more updates...

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

8/31/2008 5:10:01 AM

azor

56 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A)

you and the family stay safe....you'll be in our prayers :)

8/31/2008 7:25:50 AM

Bill48045

12 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(Canada)

Be safe Paul. Gustav doesn't look like something to mess around with. I've been thinking of you and your family.

Bill

8/31/2008 8:12:34 AM

Kinguni

2106 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(Canada)

Hopefully being 100 miles inland cushions the hit, and the current track takes him over land longer than that, but we all know that can change. Looks like they're forecasting 85mph wind gusts right now. Stay safe Paul, and try to keep that internet connection up!

8/31/2008 8:40:27 AM

Jack Shaftoe

271 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

Best of luck Paul, please be careful.

"I think we're on the verge of a major climate shift. The government has to start making long term preparations now."
"Jack, all you have is a theory."
"Well then give me the mainframe and let me prove it!!!"

8/31/2008 2:32:54 PM

dyverdon

8 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A)

Good luck and God Bless, neighbor!

You and your family stay safe.

8/31/2008 6:05:49 PM

Sat_Man

1343 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

Good luck, Paul! I know what you are going through. My daughter and granddaughter live in Gulfport, MS. When Katrina hit she lived in Kiln, MS and only moved inland 40 miles to a friends house to ride out the storm. They lost part of the roof and a tree fell on one of the bedrooms. Luckily there wasn't anyone in the bedroom at the time. When they returned home she had only lost her roof. We were going crazy trying to contact her and it took a week to finally find out they were fine. That was a long week!

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues

8/31/2008 6:32:24 PM

paul

1024 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A) Modified By paul on 8/31/2008 8:34:14 PM)

man, that must have been the longest week of your life, glad it worked out!

update for the day- Gustav hasn't changed much, still bearing down on us at about the same track. So I went to the warehouse, gathered up some things like extension cords, dolly etc. Then spent the rest of the day picking up everything around the yard, getting the generator out, draining the gas and cleaning out the carb. Darn thing maybe has an hour run time in 2.5 years, but it's running fine now. I did forget to get a 220 twist connector to use the 220 circuit, but we'll manage without it. That's if we lose power...

I did slip the battery back in the laptop, and have it on a small UPS, hope I don't lose my uptime...

I wonder how many crunchers I can run off the generator....

I have a 1300VA UPS on the modem and router, that should hold up for a while. It's in the back of the house, so it may have to run off the UPS for a while.

Looks like they evacuated 1.9 million people from Louisiana, should be the biggest evacuation ever. Went pretty smooth, from what I can tell, they've really made a lot of changes sinc ethe last big storm, and it shows.

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

8/31/2008 8:53:05 PM

paul

1024 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A)

first of the feeder bands are hitting Baton Rouge right now, we're a bit left of center here- http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/Current.aspx?location=USLA0338&animate=true

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

9/1/2008 6:13:17 AM

paul myers

8 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

Paul, It looks like the storm will be splitting the differance between us. Their saying the eye should cross I10 just to the west of Lafayette. Unfortunatly that keeps you on the bad side of the storm. It looks like the worst winds from the storm will hit us late evening today and will be 50~60 mph with gusts to 89~95 mph.

Good luck Paul, I think you will need it more than us.

PS: You are in our prayer circle!

9/1/2008 8:01:43 AM

Kinguni

2106 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(Canada)

Got you under watch too Paul. Stay safe!

9/1/2008 8:19:33 AM

Greeri

102 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

10:04am] <@paul_l> cable better not go out
[10:04am] <@paul_l> no internet would suck
[10:04am] <+Fish> It may not be as wicked as Katrina, but the news channels are milking it for all its worth
[10:04am] <@Greeri_> dial up baby
[10:05am] <@perryjay> Cable's still working?
[10:05am] <@paul_l> yeah it's pretty solid
[10:05am] <@paul_l> never went out in katrina
[10:06am] <@perryjay> Will wonders never cease?!!
[10:09am] paul_l «~noone@ip72-207-216-222.br.br.cox.net» has Quit iRC (Ping timeout for paul_l[ip72-207-216-222.br.br.cox.net]11)

DOH!!!

When I look at the smiles on all the children's faces, I just know they're about to jab me with something.

9/1/2008 9:07:46 AM

paul

1024 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A)

Made it back, but still haven't seen the worst of Gustav...

> Successfully joined #team_starfire on Monday at 10:51am
«Q in #OC at [10:51am]» [granpa_paul] 0% Trans Fat
[10:51am] <@nutcase> he is back!
[10:51am] * @YoTa hides
[10:51am] <@perryjay> Welcome back Paul
[10:51am] <@paul_l> thanks
[10:52am] <@paul_l> just did the final hookups for the generator when the power came back on
[10:52am] <@perryjay> of course
[10:52am] <@YoTa> made you get up for nothing :P
[10:53am] <@Greeri> you had to skip your nap?
[10:53am] <@paul_l> yep
[10:53am] <@perryjay> bummer
[10:53am] <@Greeri> ack!
[10:54am] <@perryjay> No nap, he's gonna be grumpy
[10:54am] <@nutcase> grumpy_paul?
[10:56am] <@nutcase> I am easy to figure out, I am always grumpy..
[10:56am] <@paul_l> i mean i had ran an extension to the router/modem UPS, fired up the laptop, and every thing
[10:56am] <@Greeri> i will take an extra nap for ya
[10:56am] <@paul_l> was fixing to lay down and start mirc back up
[10:57am] <@paul_l> then i had to unplug everything turn the breakers back on
[10:58am] <@paul_l> but it's ready to go when the real storm hits any minute
[10:58am] <@Greeri> still track as almost a direct hit for ya?
[10:58am] <@perryjay> From what they are saying you shouldn't get much
[10:59am] <@perryjay> Low end tropical force winds for the next 12 hours
[10:59am] <@perryjay> 40-50mph
[11:01am] <@dapoohda> keep your powder dry
[11:02am] <@paul_l> Greeri, they have been predicting this same track for a couple days, hitting directly below BTR, and moving W NW
[11:03am] <@Greeri> it's very unusual they track one that close that long
[11:03am] <@paul_l> we were to miss it by 60 miles , but being on the bad side, getting much of the winds and rain
[11:03am] <@perryjay> They are saying now it will be down near Lafayette
[11:04am] <@paul_l> right as it hit land it took a west jog

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

9/1/2008 10:16:10 AM

Drunkula

8 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(N/A)

Be sure to stock up on lots of beer!

There are 10 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary - and those that don't.

9/1/2008 12:00:57 PM

paul myers

8 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

Thanks Ron

9/1/2008 9:21:32 PM

paul

1024 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States)

Storm has passed, we're fine, yard is trashed, no satellite, no cable, no power, a good half of the fence is down. I think I have enough fence left next to the house to throw up some temporary fencing, to give the dogs a short yard, at least.
Lawn goose is standing tall and proud, we did lose a bunch of shingles, though.

I'm on dialup... generator has been filled 3 times, looks like i'll have to go hunting and gathering in the morn for more gas,

Here's some videos I made of the back yard before the worst of Gustav hit- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-336323224605380605&hl=en I didn't go out after that, since objects were flying through the air...

Looks like a lot of cleanup tomorrow...

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

9/4/2008 8:10:52 PM

paul

1024 posts

Re: riding the storm out....
(United States) Modified By paul on 9/5/2008 3:08:12 PM)

one day you wake up and your whole world is changed..

Day 4 of the aftermath of Gustav. Most of my morning is spent driving to the burbs to fill my gas cans for the generator. Baton Rouge is still mostly without power, they've turned on the grid around major hospitals and a few major streets. cable companies are powering up nodes, dunno when ours will come online, though. Have no idea when power is to be restored to our neighborhood.

Tuesday I couldn't find any gas, so I came home and pulled the fuel neck off the van and siphoned out 10 gallons of gas. In the rain... Caught a cold that has now settled into my chest, might be coming down with bronchitis.. There are some gas stations opening up, but lines are several hours long. The generator we have is a 6300/7000W peak Chinese made unit, it's taking some abuse. The first 3 days we had just 2 110 circuits, but I found the 220 twistlock connector that was included, made up a pigtail for 2 more 110V circuits. We're set pretty good, closed off the bedrooms half of the house, using 2 window units to cool the front half of the house. I've spread the load across all 4 circuits so that we have lights, tv, microwave, chargers, fridge and upright freezer, I can run the washer and dryer one at a time, but the dishwasher doesn't like the current it's getting, keeps turning itself off. I learned UPS's don't like to be run off generators, something about the sine wave...

Today I put up a temporary fence across half the back yard so the dogs came come and go. It's been a real pain keeping them inside and taking them out on a leash every few hours, glad that's over. There's a dead possum in the back yard, too gross for me to pick up with a shovel. :(

Co-owner, the Group of 10 ~~100~~ ~~200~~ 300

9/5/2008 5:03:49 AM

azor

56 posts