Florida Hurricane

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

The hurricane zoomed thru Tallahassee and left everyone powerless. There was
No loss of life but the carnage of trees was huge. It will take days, perhaps weeks, to restore all power as 80% of customers were affected. I used my outdoor handsaw to cut and remove branches from road and yard. Hand tools always win.

[Boatman53]

Glad to hear you you are ok! I was thinking about you today. We are heading home tomorrow to prep the boats for whatever may reach us.
Jim

[frigator]

In 2004 I was living in Jensen Beach Fl and we got hit by a cat 2 hurricane, lost power for two weeks. But I stood in a long line and got a small generator at HD which allowed us to run the fridge, lights, fans, etc.  It took two weeks to get power back. I then sold the generator. 

And then we got hit again with a second hurricane and lost power again for two weeks....My kids were not happy with me selling that generator but who figured you would get hit by two cat 2 hurricanes 30 day apart. After than got a diesel generator and never lost power again...go figure

Glad you hear you are OK but no power is no fun.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Thanks for your messages and concern. Our power was restored at 10:30 last night, after a 48 hour outage. It was a long and hot 48 hours. Both we and our neighbors fared pretty well with no tragedies. It was still a big ordeal and I need some time for my sweat glands to adjust. Next week's shoptime will be interrupted by branch cutting sessions. One of them is too big to drag and will have to be cut into sections. Someone downstream will really enjoy the grass seed that I planted last week.

[Chris Watson]

Wow. Good to hear you are in one piece.
I sympathize with your extended power outage!

At least it was warm when it happened.
When I was a teen, living in rural Kansas I vividly remember a winter where ice had built up on the tree limbs and grew so thick the branches were snapping off from the weight and pulling down power lines all over the place. We had no electricity for 7-10 days in the dead of winter.
I have never been so umcomfortable in my life.
Nothing helped. No amount of blankets made any difference when the ambient air inside is just as freezing as it is outside.

After that experience I frequently think about how the settlers in the Midwest and mountain states ever survived without modern hvac, and insulation.

Power outages are the worst!

[Herebrooks]

Question: What were all the tree surgeons doing during the hurricane? Answer: Looking at catalogs......

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Question: What were all the tree surgeons doing during the hurricane? Answer: Looking at catalogs......

  I am sure they were. The neighborhood is a cacophony of generators and chain saws. The tree guys have work until Christmas. I got off easy with just a few branches down. But I prune trees from my wooded lot once they look dicey. Trees rot here quickly from both ends.

I used my bowsaw to cut up and remove the big branches today and my neighbors are still hauling branches out to the street. The big issue there is a huge pine tree leaner in their yard. The trunk is leaning at about 50 degrees and I am convinced that it will not last another windstorm. It will probably fall some night all by itself. The ground will shake. It looks way too dangerous for the tree guys to tackle. But with all the trees on the ground and the others like this one that need attention, the tree guys have a target rich environment.

[AHill]

My dad was an Air Force meteorologist.  His specialty was tropical weather.  As a dependent, I've been through at least 4 hurricanes/typhoons.  Yours was BIG.  Glad you're OK, and you have power.  Many aren't so lucky.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

So they came after the big pine tree leaner today while the AC guy was here fixing the unit. Luckily for me, it was just a stopped up condensation hose which was fixed with a shopvac. Not so lucky on the other side of the street. They had a truck, a large crane, a small lift and a John Deere loader. I was entertained for over an hour but the pictures just do not do it justice. With all of the excitement out of the way, maybe I can get back in the shop and finish up some projects.

[HomerLee]

Chris wrote:

After that experience I frequently think about how the settlers in the Midwest and mountain states ever survived without modern hvac, and insulation.

Well, I'm an old timer from Missouri and I think the folks were tougher in those days. When we left Missouri in 1942 we had no electricity down in the Ozarks. The fireplace in our house (not a large house) could take four foot long wood. And my older brother walked two miles to school once when it was very cold. When the mailman came by he told my parents it was 17 below zero. As I recall my brother was seven years old at the time. Nowadays Mom and dad would probably be arrested for child abuse.