Hurricane headed my way
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I'm fine. No damage.
In Pinellas and Pasco, people with no power, storm surge flooding, homes damaged or destroyed.
It's very random.
The only thing I can tell for sure is don't buy on the water because that is almost an invitation to a flood.
Thanks for asking.
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Glad you’re ok @Daniel !!
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Blessedly we have gotten 3" of badly needed rain from Hellene. Wonderful.
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Link to videoErwin, Tennessee. I've been on that Interstate a number of times and have stayed in that hotel on the south end of town that appears near the end of the video. I'm glad I wasn't there yesterday.
Last I heard, my daughter and her husband are still without power and a number of roads in western North Carolina are closed. I've seen some alarming photos of storm scenes from that region.
Big Al
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Yep what I’m seeing from western NC is very distressing.
In the town where I used to live (not in NC but close) many of my friends are without power, they said trees are down everywhere and one friend had a tree come down on her son’s room — while he was sleeping. He wasn’t hurt thankfully! but their whole house is compromised now because of that plus the water damage that came after
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Wow.
I can't read it because I don't have/ don't want a subscription but The Tampa Bay Times (it should be called The Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco Times) had a headline saying this was the worst hurricane impact for Tampa Bay in a century, followed by, "It's been 103 years since the famous 1921 direct hit." Of course, they mean the storm that hit Tampa in 1921.
Tampa Bay is a body of water-- so stupid.
Anyway, I guess it was worse than I thought.
I got lucky.
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We had a full day of rain and got an inch or two. That was a plus, not a minus. The further west you went, the worse the rain/wind/flooding.
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Happy to hear you are doing well Daniel.
My Uncle's place in Hernando Beach got hit. It's the worst storm he has experienced since moving there over 10 years ago.
His text to me last night...
No power yet so using generator on/off to keep house fridge cold & use pressure washer to clean up. Also using Boat fridge & freezers for food in ground floor freezer. We had storm surge lapping at the threshold to front door & about 2’ in all of lower level. We are fine & very grateful because so many others are far far worse. Had to rescue John next door as water came in his house 3-4 feet & will likely be condemned. Same thing for Scott & Kerri who has 5’ in their house & will now live in their boat. Will bring our cars back from Spring Hill tomorrow. Boats are fine & back at docks. Pool & yard are a wreck & we’re definitely re-thinking the use of mulch 🥴 On the bright side we’re finally getting rid of junk in the garage!!! Dumpster arrives tomorrow.
Will send pics soon - too tired now to do it now…and an update from last night.
We are really tired putting in 12-15 hrs a day. Cleaning up a helluva mess. Our upper level is un scathed. The garage, workout room and yard looks like someone took a hardware store and dumped the whole thing into our lower level then threw mud, mulch and wet cardboard chunks all through it, then took a giant mixer and turned it on high speed. Our yard, driveway and porches now have about 6” of mulch seaweed, kids toys, telephone poles or dock posts strewn about, tree branches, and broken bits of docks, lost lumber, storage chests, and just about anything that floats.
Oh and let’s not forget a bunch of oil from somewhere that has now stained several large spots on our driveway. On the bright side a really nice grey kayak drifted into our demolished banana garden! With all that said, We feel lucky because many of our neighbors will likely have their homes condemned and will need to move out. There were boats strewn all over the streets, large chunks of debris that bashed through garage doors and even peoples front doors, docks ripped apart, and bars and restaurants damaged beyond repair.
Pretty lousy week for them. We can still come upstairs and relax after cleaning up all day. After only two days our electricity came on (about two hours ago). Ah life is good! Hope to see you soon -
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@Mark so sorry to hear about your uncle’s situation, what a nightmare!
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Mark, that sounds like the apocalypse. I'm glad your uncle and his house survived.
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Apparently, western NC is destroyed.
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I can't even get my head around all the damage there. It's just awful.
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Cannot imagine the mental effect of seeing one's home destroyed while wondering how to get food for your children.
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I think the fear is you have a home one day and if you're lucky enough to have your life you're trying to survive in a disaster zone the next and you have nothing.
It's strange how a person matures and their point of view changes.
I won't ever think of storms the same way after witnessing Katrina and the storm didn't cause that catastrophe. It was the failure of the levee system.
Hurricanes in Tampa when I was in my HS and college days meant you went to hurricane parties. We went to clubs in Ybor city during hurricanes many times.
Hurricane parties were a Florida tradition. Maybe people have become wise to the foolish of that.
I certainly have.
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NC is far worse but our area and State really got flooded and torn apart by wind. What a horrible storm.
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I tend to think death counts are low after disasters.
I bet a lot of people are missing any won't be counted.
I was just about to say we're having a common evening thunderstorm and the powner went out but it came back on as soon as I finished my second paragraph. Hurray.
Isn't it kind of sad that Biltmore is on top of a mountain and was impervious to the storm but Asheville drowned?
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Link to videoI want to be more like her!
(Other than the part about being able to leave and not leaving, but I should be this calm on a normal day!)
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Another storm has a high probability forecast (70% last I checked) of becoming at least a tropical storm and the making landfall on Florida's coast with one computer model predicting it hitting Tampa.
The last I checked it was predicted to have torrential rain but not relatively high wind.
I need to check again today but I'm more concerned about wind than rain. The municipal drainage system where I live at least is very good.
I just this morning cleaned up from the hurricane. I spent about 2 hours weeding, spraying down the house and carport, and then spraying down the porch side wall, and finally the porch with Dawn.
About 1/2 an hour of this time was spent meticulously cleaning the grate that covers the air conditioner intake. I had already vacuumed every under the grate.
The bottom metal directly under the grate was rusted and dirt had been blowing into the system. You can see daylight down there. I thought they had replaced that part.
RM cut a piece of some kind of heavy matting material for framing art to fit. We're tapping wood slats over that with the kind of tape you're supposed to use and we're going to cover over the rusted piece of metal and it will be seamless.
He already bought the right filter and we're going to put it in. It doesn't have a filter and hasn't for some time because he first ordered the wrong size and had to return them and order again.
He threw the old one away during this process. I don't blame him because it must have been worthless.
I'm the one who suggested we tackle this today.
We don't need to and have no reason to screw down the grate. I looked in there a couple weeks ago. I missed the rusted metal but the amount of dust was phenomenal and the grate was terrible.
I cleaned every single rectangle of it with a butter knife from both sides, sprayed degreaser on both sides, ran a cleaning rag through every rectangle, moved it to the carport, covered it with Dawn, , sprayed one side with a garden hose, flipped it over and sprayed the other side, and finally dried it in the sun.
I put it back as soon as I could so neither of would step in the hole.
I showed RM my fancy double lock, and told him about leaving the key in during the day.
He wanted one for the back door but I didn't agree for privacy reasons. I don't want him or anyone else coming and going next to my room and the bathroom.
I told him all his potted plants running in a line outside the porch parallel to the wall are going away.
He doesn't and I don't have any interest in constantly dragging them away from the wall and weeding between them.
Then maintenance will trim clean to the wall.
I told him my handyman and I shook hands on a price for the rock beds. They will be professionally done for $150.
There aren't enough rocks and I want new ones. I agreed that he can choose them.
I agreed to trim the weeds one time and he's bringing me brimh me sheers. I'm going to do it when it gets cool.
I'm still never weeding them again and haven't promised to trim them again.
All the rain has made them as tall as they can grow. They're past my knees. I did the work I did already and so for now I'm willing to make the weeds not detract from it.
We're almost done taping in the new bottom of the intake space. It will take us about 20 or 30 minutes to finish taping and put the new filter in.
My small Amazon order of 24 navy wash clothes and my bottle of free and clear laundry detergent I got for $4 with a $5 courtesy credit came today.
I'm washing the chemicals out of them now and should have enough time to dry them outside before sunset.
I've been using slightly different but both white wash clothes for the bathroom and as rags. It was a confusing system. Today every white wash cloth will be a rag for indoor cleaning. It's going to be much easier.
One of the reasons I did this is to get by with as few paper towels as possible. My mother didn't use them. They were considered a luxury. I however love paper towels.
I'm only using them in the bathroom at this point. They're hard to find but I bought 3 Sparkle brand triple rolls for around $7. I recommend them. This is the first time I've seen them for sale on Amazon or anywhere else and the triple rolls are a lot better than the double rolls.
I'd better end this now because my timer has already gone off to remind me to run the machine again.
Last time was a rinse. Now I'm going to run it on the long cycle with detergent, vinegar, and Fels Neptha. I shave off a reasonable number of pieces with a knife.
Did I mention I happen to be good at cleaning?
RM is doing a very good job too especially considering he has two broken ribs.
He cleaned his room and did as good a job as I would have done.
He's been known to let his room become a mess. I think he'd be the first one to admit it.
I clean the bathroom because I want to clean it the way I want it done.
He still doesn't like to do dishes. Once I put all his dishes in a yard bag and put it in.the back yard.
Then I had to take responsibility for doing that and it took me weeks to clean that disgusting mess and rescue those dishes.
Most of them were decades old Pyrex and could not be put in the dumpster. I won't make that mistake again.
Our weather will be much cooler by the end of this October. I keep reminding myself of it.
I hope everyone is having a good weekend.
