Irene's Thread

[Denim Deb]

I did find a couple of downed trees, but they're small (tall but thin) and invasive so good riddance.

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/treeheaven.shtml by any chance?

I've been out. I HAD to get out, so I went to the farm and fed my horses, the cats, and checked on my chickens. I didn't feed the rest of the horses because it was still raining, and there's some minis in w/CL's horses that don't get fed. I would have had to have chased them out of there, and didn't feel like it. I drove around some after I left there. And, there's flooding in some areas. The lake near me is over it's banks, and onto the road. The stream that crosses the road near me is flooded and the house right next to it is in water. It's amazing in a way. That house is less than 1/4 mile from me, and I don't have any standing water in my yard.

 

[freemotion]

Right now it is still just rain for us, not much wind yet. We got soaked. I tried to put a raincoat over the does' backs as I led them up and only Peach cooperated. So I toweled them off when I was done. It is pretty wet out there, but that's it so far.

Just seems like a long rain storm without any lightening. So far.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's about all that we had. There was wind, but nothing like what we were expecting. The predictions were worse than the facts.

 

[Damummis]

Just rain here for now. I did go out and do morning chores even though I prepared them last night. No rain or wind while I was out. Eerily calm and hot. Animals want out, bad. It is suppose to be an all day event. I don't expect it to be any worse than a Nor'easter. Only difference is the roots of trees aren't frozen in and they are full leafed out. Ooh, now there was a bit of a puff. Wind is starting to pick up a bit. This island is covered with trees. Too many trees.....

I am going to go take a shower before the power goes out.....

 

[Wannabefree]

Fox News just showed a nut in Jersey swimming down the street!

 

[TanksHill]

It really seems Irene lost steam. Thank goodness. Good to hear everyone is hanging on.

Has anyone heard from Lori???

G

 

[Denim Deb]

Fox News just showed a nut in Jersey swimming down the street!

How'd they find me that fast?

 

[THEFAN]

It is now 10:06 and just raining. Had a couple nice down pours so far. Took a nap from 8-9:30 this morning after braekfast. Now I'm energized for what ever is coming. Just thinking how glad I am that I cut all my tall trees down around my house this summer. Glad I did that this year.

 

[valmom]

We have reached the mega-rain stage. It is literally pouring buckets! We are having off and on wind gusts- if they get worse, the trees really will just come up by the roots. We are on ledge that is, at most, 3 feet down (I know because we had to jack hammer to get the well line below frost- and that is up where the ledge is farthest down). So there really isn't much for trees to hang on to when it is soggy.

 

[i_am2bz]

IRENE REPORT FROM NORTH CAROLINA

Thought I would report how we weathered the storm here, as the local news said we're in one of the more heavily-damaged inland counties...

First, the only damage to our property was a section of fencing knocked down. Lots & lots of small branches & such. A neighbor told us there were trees across the road farther down. Can't say how much rain we got, it was sporadic. Scarily windy, tho.

Our power was down from 5:30am to 10:00pm Saturday.

LESSONS LEARNED:
* Don't assume the power will go out when you think it will. (Mother Nature is a fickle b!itch.) BIL's power went down 90 minutes before ours did, & he's only 2 blocks from us. I had intended to fill a big stock-pot with water to wash with, & to take one last hot shower, but didn't b/c I assumed we wouldn't lose power until later in the day. Hahaha. :/ (on the bright side, considering at one point the Governor said a half-million people in the state were w/o power, ours was up in less than 24 hours)

Some of our preps had never been used before in a "real world" situation (just tested after purchase). My take:

*Generator:
Ran a few times to keep the chest freezer & fridge going. Lesson learned: a gallon tank will take about 2.5 hours to run out while just running the freezer; add on the 32" TV & DVR & coffee maker...make that 1.5 hours.

*Butane stove:
VERY pleased to have hot meals 3 times that day, & especially being able to use it in the house (burns clean, doesn't need to be vented). BIL was stuck eating tuna & cold cuts b/c the wind kept blowing out his grill.

*Rechargeable batteries charged the previous week with solar charger for battery-powered lantern:
I used it sparingly, but was pleased that I was able to charge the batteries from completely dead with just the little solar charger. May have to get another one.

*400w "power pack" (basically big rechargeable battery): okay. Granted, we used it a lot that day to listen to the attached radio. But when we brought it into the bedroom to run the box fan, it ran out in about an hour. Probably should've tried a smaller fan. VERY happy the power came back on at 10pm!!

DOWNERS:
*Boredom.
*Sponge baths.
*DH gets VERY grouchy when he's bored & hot.
I felt like I was transported back to the '40s...sitting in the living room just listening to the radio. DH refused to play cards or Yah-zee. I read A LOT.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT/SHOCK:
7am. Power has been out 1.5 hours. Raining, scary windy out. I'm setting up the butane stove, planning a way to make coffee without turning on the generator yet.

Conversation:
DH: You know, looks like I'm going to have to go to the store...
Me:
DH: Well, I don't have any milk for my coffee.
Me: ...and another thing, where the f&*# do you think you're going to get milk when power is out in half the f^&%$(# state????
DH: Oh. Yeah.
(Obviously I keep him around for his looks. )

All in all, things could have gone a LOT worse. I thought it was a really great experience in testing things out if TS really HTF. We learned a lot, good & bad. Would be very interested to hear how others fare in a similar situation.