Ivan! Jeanne! & Karl & Dennis The Menace & Katrina

http://www.noaa.gov/

current storm tracks are on the left side

thank you dahling...you would think living in a coastal area...i would know that ... sometimes i wonder about myself...

hmmm hurricane strength again. at least i have a generator. hmmm, they say it is going to go south of us but northeast side is always worst-we will get 40-60 mph winds with about 5-7 inches rain.

um, I don't mean to alarm you, dragon, but the worst place to be in a (hypothical) hurricane is to the Northwest of it. At least in these parts of the US coast.
The wind can do its damage as the eye of the storm hits wherever it hits, but ahead of it is this. The storm brings in rain on a counterclockwise cycle ahead of it, picking up moisture from the warm ocean and then dumping it as it comes over the land.
You were smart to buy a generator. You may or may not need it this time, but eventually you will. Learn how to use it when you have some leisure time. Because, eventually, living where you live, you will need it.
Take care.

heehee, i got married so i didn't have to learn to use it...

yeah i know the northwest side is generally the worst, you can see it on the radar. it looks like the eye will go directly over the outerbanks. we are about 2.5 to 3 hours north of there. no one around here seems too worried. i have lived here most of my life (7 years in austin, texas-4 for college and 3 for fun) so i am pretty used to it, but this time it is my own house and we have lots of large spindely pine trees (our house for isabel had nothing around it but really small trees).

thanks johnboy! i will be good...i gots my generator and the kegerator will always have power i don't drink but mr. d will be happy.

<chuckle> I live in the way-boonie upper Midwest - and have a propane-fueled whole-house generator (its fueled by the big propane tank that povides heating and cooking gas for the place) which automatically fires up and switches over when the power fails, plus a couple gasoline-fueled portables. All my electronics are on voltage regulated backup power supplys, too; when the power goes out, the house lights flicker, and the electric clock on the cooktop (which uses propane) needs to be reset, but apart from a bunch of beeping from the backup power supplies, the electronics - computers, audio/video, communications stuff - never even know anything happened. The generator is up to full speed within about 30 seconds of startup, then it begins to feed power to the house, and once they're being fed power from the wall outlets, the backup power supplies shut up. The power lines here aren't buried, but we get blizzards, ice storms, flooding, and the occasional major wind event (that's don't-panic-speak for "Tornado" :wink: ). Power outages are not infrequent locally, and sometimes (fortunately not frequently) last for days. The electric utility generally gets the towns up and running pretty quickly, but out here where it can be a mile or so between dwellings, it takes a while longer. 3 or 4 feet of fresh snow can complicate things in wintertime, and spring or summer storms that take out bridges, scatter big trees around and wash away large chunks of road can be another complication.

Sure glad I've got that big generator; I'd hate to hafta watch TV by candle light

dragon - There's a way to hook your generator up to the drier outlet with an adapter. Depending on the size of the generator, you can then run all outlets and appliances (except oven) the same as if the electricity was on.

Is that what you are doing? The generator of course has to be outside due to fumes, but if you can run it to your laundry area...

we bought one that "supposedly" doesn't generate carbon monoxide-yeah, i'll trust that one since it is an odorless and colorless gas! yeah it is the one that plugs into the dryer but little did we know that the plug is 4 prongs and our old house dryer plug is three prongs. mr. d is buying a 4 plug today and going to switch it out (plus replace the dryer cord again because we switched to 3).

they have downgraded a little what we are gonna feel. they are now saying sustained winds 30-50 mph with gusts to 60-65mph, and 5 inches of rain (more locally on the coast-good thing i live about 2 miles from the mouth of the ches. bay and atlantic!). heehee, i guess we will get 5+ inches of rain, i love when they say that. it looks from the path though that they eye will skirt off the coast south of us-it is turning northeast this morning. winds are little stronger at 80mph but only close to the eye wall.

oh, if we hook it up to the dryer, can we run the AC too? i would imagine that would be too much power, but just asking cause i have no idea. my biggest concern is really the fridge (and kegerator i guess). if we can't watch TV so be it-well then again, no internet, i might pass out.

wonder if i will have work tomorrow? well, if i do, bernie is gonna have to go stay at my mom's-he won't do so well home alone during a hurricane.

oh, squinney, are you all feeling any of it yet? we just have some small wind gusts and overcast skies.

Same here.

When we had the big ice storm a few years ago that wiped out electricity for almost a week in December, we hooked the generator up as described above. It did heat the downstairs (thermostat set at 68 which was like a heat wave by then) and we kept the second air unit for the upstairs turned off to preserve gas and "pull" on the generator. The stove top, all outlets, microwave, water heater, etc. (most importantly the coffee pot) all worked. Not sure what size our generator is re: amps and all that stuff, but we browned out if the oven was turned on. so didn't use it.

I don't know any of the technical details of how it was done. Bear isn't at all mechanical so when we saw what our neighbor had done we asked him to do the same for us with our generator.

so for the first time i am actually extremely happy our oven is gas!!! heehee. i am ever so hopeful that mr.d knows how to run the generator. if not, my parents have one and they live about 5 min away...i am sure they can show us. watch, simply because we bought it, we won't lose power.

how's my rory girl...

so at 11am we got upgraded to hurricane watch. i guess we are at risk for hurricane conditions within the next 36 hours. i still just don't think its gonna be that bad...chalk me up as one of the idiots that doesn't heed the warning so i have to be rescued

Katrina , a half hour before hitting New Orleans

holy smokes that is scary. wow. i will try to take some pics of ophelia for you guys

think again, i will be in the house curled up with mr.d and the dog!!!!

Panz, that is one odd picture and scary as well.

here's another

Very imprssive.

dang that is an amazing pic...

WOW

wow, panzade, is that real or cgi?