Lola at the Coffee House

@BillW,

BillW wrote:

Then, to finish his talk off, he said, the F5 tornados are less than 2% of all tornados that occur. Most occur in sparsely populated areas and finally, the ones that hit populated areas, the chance of them hitting you is very, very small. Of course, the chance of one hitting me is much, much larger than it hitting you.

I'm sure you've heard of the 50-50-90 rule, Bill. What it says, in regard to tornadoes, is that if there's a 50-50 chance that a major twister will pass you by, there's a 90 percent probability that it won't.

1 Reply

@vonny,

Quote:

I was asked yesterday can I work more hours.

It is because timber is cheap and easy to build with. That's why most garden sheds are of timber here rather than something more substantial.

They are cheap houses by our standards and thus money is freed up to buy other things. The people who sell the other things are thus easily seen to be in favour of what are really large and stylish dog-kennels. They are nailed together from what I have seen of the suburban estate construction methods.

It has always amazed me how many timber houses there are in the US. I don't think planning permission is granted for them in the UK although I have seen more timber cladding recently on the upper storey of what are known as "affordable housing units".

With cheap houses on cheap land it is obvious there will be a boom in consumer goods demand compared to our system. It has nothing to do with Americans being more intelligent than us.

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@BillW,

My Venice home was built in 1913 and set on a cripple wall .. I designed and had reviewed/ok'd by a structural engineer a redo that involved front porch removal (not the porch roofing) and rebuild including a new foundation under the front house wall, with plates etc., and another one in back.
We did a big remod, re interior circulation and moved the kitchen while keeping the nature of the house (a beach CA bungalow) but did most of the work ourselves except that I had a good contractor do the pours. I don't have the numbers right now, but the total was reasonable. The house shot up in value and we felt better.

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BUMP!!!

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@Lustig Andrei,

Just Sunday a tornado went directly over my house and set down 2 miles away. The storm had already traveled about 15 miles. In another 30 miles, it would turn into a killer. The Moore tornado spawned about 5 minutes after the storm clouds developed and turned violent just a few minutes later. I understand what you say, very definately.

There have been myths that my home town does not get hit by tornados because of Indian burial grounds. That worked for 45 years. Now, we have had tornados 4 out of the last 5 years, sometimes multiple.

But statistically, the same degree of probablility exists for me to get hit as last week, last year - ten years ago!

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@spendius,

I am sorry about my mistake in my last post.

I was replying to vonny's post--

Quote:

Forgive me if this is a totally stupid question, but I'm curious about the houses in Oklahoma - are they built of wood instead of brick and if so, why? I didn't see any bricks in the debris left after the tornado, and wondered if there was some specific reason why this is so!

I must not have copied that properly and what was in my mouse for edgar's thread got printed due to my carelessness.

So this is what it should have been--

Quote:

Forgive me if this is a totally stupid question, but I'm curious about the houses in Oklahoma - are they built of wood instead of brick and if so, why? I didn't see any bricks in the debris left after the tornado, and wondered if there was some specific reason why this is so!

It is because timber is cheap and easy to build with. That's why most garden sheds are of timber here rather than something more substantial.

They are cheap houses by our standards and thus money is freed up to buy other things. The people who sell the other things are thus easily seen to be in favour of what are really large and stylish dog-kennels. They are nailed together from what I have seen of the suburban estate construction methods.

It has always amazed me how many timber houses there are in the US. I don't think planning permission is granted for them in the UK although I have seen more timber cladding recently on the upper storey of what are known as "affordable housing units".

With cheap houses on cheap land it is obvious there will be a boom in consumer goods demand compared to our system. It has nothing to do with Americans being more intelligent than us.

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:
I was asked yesterday can I work more hours.

It is because timber is cheap and easy to build with. That's why most garden sheds are of timber here rather than something more substantial.

They are cheap houses by our standards and thus money is freed up to buy other things. The people who sell the other things are thus easily seen to be in favour of what are really large and stylish dog-kennels. They are nailed together from what I have seen of the suburban estate construction methods.

It has always amazed me how many timber houses there are in the US. I don't think planning permission is granted for them in the UK although I have seen more timber cladding recently on the upper storey of what are known as "affordable housing units".

With cheap houses on cheap land it is obvious there will be a boom in consumer goods demand compared to our system. It has nothing to do with Americans being more intelligent than us.

Quite a few years back, I worked unloading a moving van for a family fresh in Dallas from back east somewhere. I was quite amused watching them search the place for a cellar.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

wood or masonry would not have made a diff with the Moore twister. It was a 5 with winds of 300 mph. They arrived at that determination by looking at the scope of damage. Masonry buildings were swept away and bricks were sent flying for miles

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@farmerman,

We once watched a tornado forming near the airport at Pryor Ok. It was rolling sideways like a big grey jelly roll. It began its turn downward toward the ground just a few miles east of the John Deere plant I was at.

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@farmerman,

We once watched a tornado forming near the airport at Pryor Ok. It was rolling sideways like a big grey jelly roll. It began its turn downward toward the ground just a few miles east of the John Deere plant I was at.

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My area gets tornadoes, but generally they are not really big. A county or two north of here gets the brunt of bad weather.

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Talking about houses....

I saw one, in today's NY Times, I think I would have snapped up had I won that Powerball jackpot. What an exotic weekend get-away place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/greathomesanddestinations/real-estate-in-morocco.html?hp

It's a restored 19th century home in Marrakesh, and it's on the market for only $1,3 million, completely furnished.
I absolutely adore all of that tile-work, and elaborate detailing, and I can picture myself relaxing in that beautiful garden, and sleeping in that gorgeous ground floor bedroom.

Just take a look at this place
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/05/23/greathomesanddestinations/20130522-GH-IHH.html?ref=greathomesanddestinations#1

Gotta keep buying lottery tickets. Wink

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@firefly,

Is that a stage and a bandstand in the kitchen?

1 Reply

@farmerman,

Quote:

Is that a stage and a bandstand in the kitchen?

I didn't see that, farmerman.

But, one thing I would change is the bright green color of the bathroom. I don't think I could face that first thing in the morning, particularly before I've had my coffee.

Speaking of coffee, Wassau, could I have some, with some apple crumb cake, please

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@firefly,

I had a rhubarb muffin at the coffeehouse this AM. The baker/owner was handing em out so his customers could try this new idea.

GAAAGGHHHHHH. I forgot that I hate rhubarb too. I think I can taste Oxalic acid cause whenever we clean mineral specimens at the museum , we use Oxalic acid to remove any iron staining. After about 10 minutes of use I get this rank taste in my mouth from the acid that others in the lab don't notice.

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@firefly,

Hard place to keep clean.. Very Happy

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

That's the sort of comment my mother would have made. Smile

If I could afford the house, I could afford to let someone else worry about cleaning it. Wink

Actually, those tile floors look relatively easy to keep clean--and would be very dog-friendly. House-breaking my puppy is going very slowly.

1 Reply

@firefly,

yeh, we are showing our "Americanness" where help is mostly frowned upon unless we give the help a fancy title.

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@farmerman,

Quote:

yeh, we are showing our "Americanness" where help is mostly frowned upon unless we give the help a fancy title.

Or a cutesy one, like Merry Maids.

I'm fond of that one. It conjures up images of Disney-created happy people, singing and dancing as they clean--like Snow White, tidying up the Dwarfs abode.

1 Reply

@firefly,

I could no more live in that than I could live in a mud hut. It's dreadful.

You have a real itch to be a Big Cheese don't you?

1 Reply

Lola at the Coffee House

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