The “Uh Oh, Irma Punched Out BFH’s Lights” Open Thread – IOTW Report

The “Uh Oh, Irma Punched Out BFH’s Lights” Open Thread

Monday, 11 September 2017, 22:45 BFH Uncategorized 124

UPDATE! –  I’m back!!!!!

I’ll update in a bit. Playing cards with Uncle Al and he’s drinking Rye…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This will remain sticky as an open thread until we get back.

Posts will occasionally pop up underneath, even by me and MJA, even though we should both be out of power, but this will stay at the top. Use it to post breaking news, breaking legs, or breaking wind.

124 Comments on The “Uh Oh, Irma Punched Out BFH’s Lights” Open Thread

  6. friends in Sarasota lost power around ten this am. Family in Ocala still has power.
    Many disappointed reporters on the east coast, and that’s good.
    Reporters on the west coast are going to stay out in the storm until one of them gets killed by blowing or falling debris.

  7. TIPS FOR “LIGHTS KNOCKED OUT BY IRMA”

    1) DO NOT drop wine glass while walking barefoot in the dark.
    2) DO NOT tip a burning candle…hot wax burns (and removed hair/skin!)
    3) DO take the lantern or candle with you to the bathroom (avoid unpleasant mess!)
    4) DO NOT bring the BBQ indoors to cook that now-room temp steak or chicken (just eat those Fruit Loops by the handful)
    5) AA batteries found in the ‘junk drawer’ are probably dead (just hum the tunes you might remember and be sure to accompany with ‘air guitar’)
    6) DO take the candle/lantern when searching the fridge/cupboards for a snack (avoids those messy spills while being barefoot)
    7) DO NOT take a shower/bath during lightning/ thunderstorm (use ‘baby wipes’ to clean up–no baby? That’s a problem, isn’t it?)
    8) DO use a battery-powered charger for your phone (forgot to pick up one? Well, you’re SOL then, aren’t you?)
    9) DO NOT answer the phone when Mom calls for the tenth time to check on you (save the battery for the girlfriend/boyfriend–MUCH MORE IMPORTANT)
    10) DO NOT go outdoors until the hurricane has past and DO NOT be ‘fooled’ by the quiet of the EYE (we want you ALL safe and sound!)

    I hope these little tips help; if not….

  14. barky your tutorial was lacking. I made a power cable for my 2000 amp Generac that I can plug into a socket that will power that circuit as long as the main breaker is switched off, but you have to know basic electric logic.

  15. TO Petrus

    Yeah, and meanwhile…Naples to Cape Coral get HAMMERED,
    but media is still showing *dramatic* damage in MeeJammy (the pussies!).

    We’re hoping the path stays due North,
    which would put it somewhere around
    Lakeland and Orlando by midnight.
    But, being on land, it – hope hope hope – should lose LOTS of strength by then….which would be reeeeallly good for us (Pinellas), since we were assumed to be “ground zero” since yesterday (can’t drink your way out of that).

  16. I read it here: http://www.tampaelectric.com/company/mediacenter/article/index.cfm?article=912

    Expected high winds and potential storm surge may force Tampa Electric to shut down some equipment ahead of the storm. Tampa Electric is committed to keeping equipment running as long as safely possible before and after the storm. However, if the weather requires it, shutting down equipment could result in power outages before the storm reaches its peak.

  22. FUR, BEST THOUGHTS TO YOU AND YOURS!! ENJOYING A MARGARITA (PITCHER) OUTSIDE IN 80 DEGREE TEMP, WIND ABOUT 8 KNOTS OR SO, NO CLOUD IN SIGHT, FEELING BAD FOR ALL THOSE WHO AREN’T ME TONIGHT!!

    IT WAS A BIT SWEATY IN THE GYM TODAY, DANG IT!!

  23. My son is about 30 miles east of Ft. Myers – no power, and his lanai just blew down… it encloses the pool. It is a rental – but he did all he could to hurricane proof it. We have begged him to stay inside and I hope he listens.

  24. Meaning the house is a rental – not just the lanai. It was a well built thing too. He had texted just a few minutes before that the wind was nearly sucking the cover from the (in-ground) pool – only he said “liner”. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake as I had thought!

  27. My neighborhood in Ft. Myers lost power about 9:30 am. Hours before any significant wind. The power grid was most certainly taken off line. Normally it is so downed lines won’t be live and injure anyone

  29. TO GrandeMe

    That’s why there’s something here called
    “Miami Dade Construction Standards”…
    …see also http://www.flash.org/
    It means you can’t get all those delicate details you want when you design (most amateurs’ stuff ends up looking like “Heavy-Baroque-Meets-Concrete-Brutalism”), but it’s still standing afte hurricanes…a small benefit 😉 .

  39. The eye of the hurricane out to be “closest” to PSL – actually just East of Arcadia – in about 15 minutes or so. Let us know what’s the situation when you can, guys…I’m almost at the end of my (1st case of) beer!

  40. Just checked that, Czar. 55mph sustained winds, gusts to 70. I’ll be back until I go to bed, then up stupid early, hoping to see things calmed tf down. Then there’s that bastard out to the east, flirting around.

  41. It was a Big Fat Hurricane. Now it is a new drink, consisting of all four clear liquors, triple sec, some pineapple juice, espresso made out of that catshit coffee bean, a dash of Grand Manure and hash oil.

  42. Good news Fur, I’ve started a crowdfunding thread.
    So far I have a pink Bic lighter (a shortie), a box of damp matches, an Airwick Lentil scented candle that has a good 40% left, and four D-cell batteries that came out of MJA’s um…well…her…um, electric vibrating toothbrush. 🙂

  47. A minor miracle: it’s about 10 before 10pm, and we still have electricity in Pinellas! For the next 3-1/2 hours, it’s expected to be “the worst” of it, with 80mph winds (livable, especially when you think about what *could* have happened with a Cat 4). I just hope the pizza and wine holds out…if not, SOMEBODY CALL TRUMP FOR ME!

  49. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJYQYwLU8AASyFA.jpg

    As you can see by this weather prediction done by the best of our weather specialist the hurricane was going to make land fall some wheres between Port Arthur Texas and,,,, and,, Canada? WTF the orange line hits St.Johns Newfoundland. That’s like 3700 miles of shoreline.
    And you 99% of climate scientist that talk shit about glowbull warming want me to believe you can predict the ocean temperature 10 years from now.

    Enough from all you libtards, stop your crying and temper tantrums and help the rest of us make America great again. Stop blaming Trump and do some real volunteer work helping others.
    Or, get the F*** out!

  51. BFH is here with me at his mom’s place a few block from his own house in the same development. His place lost power; hers didn’t. Go figure!

    But although his mom’s place lost power for only about 20 seconds, we’re still without Comcraps Xfinicky cable TV and ‘net. We’re all in good shape but the reason you’re not seeing real-time BFH posts is that he refuses to pay me anywhere near enough for the password to my tethered smartphone wi-fi hotspot, which I’m using right now to post this.

    So, if you want to set up a GoFundMe page to get BFH back before FPL gets its wires uncrossed, you’ll have to make ME the beneficiary! BWAHAHAHAHA!

    I’m just kidding, natch. He’s enjoying a short (it is to be hoped) break until rejoining the iOTW rat race.

    Please don’t take me seriously. I’m just sorta giddy that all my family and friends came through OK. Thanks for understanding, and thanks to all who have been sending their good thoughts and prayers our way and to all in Irma’s path.

    Oh, and I figure $40 would get me to disclose that password.

  56. I think it’s so cool FUR live near his mother. A strong family connection is the mark of a man. Especially with their parents. Brings the Menderman thing into perfect clarity. Uncle AL, once again, I urge you to pull FUR aside and make a hand gun safe and familiarize him with a pistol. I’m making an assumption he is not. Correct me if I’m wrong.

  60. @Bad_Brad – I honestly don’t know, but I’ll find out. Your suggestion is of course excellent.

    One problem is my own general dislike of public ranges, and I haven’t made that necessary connection with somebody who lives on a big chunk of land out in the sticks and who likes to shoot. I’d be happy to provide the adult beverages for the après bang relaxation time for access to such a place, but no takers so far.

  61. I’ve been watching the coverage on and off most of the day and I swear the reporters are disappointed they don’t see bodies floating around. And if they did, I’m sure they’d prefer the bodies are either dead conservatives (so they can say they got what they deserved for electing Trump) or dead illegal aliens (so they can blameTrump).

  64. Uncle Al,

    Not a fan of public ranges myself. I’m not suggesting you take him shooting. BFH is an analytical sponge. Show him a safe gun, explain the safety aspects, show him how they cycle, explain the proper grip and why. Let nature take it’s course.

  73. You wear zorri in the rain. Not shoes.

    Most electric companies in major storms shut off the power hours before the passing to keep the electrical explosions down. After it passes they test, restore areas, and look for damaged lines.

    North Face rain jackets, best shit you can buy, EVAH! Then you wear cargo shorts and zorri, and you are good to go.

  81. Irma is moving north now and I hope people in Florida can start to recover soon. Let us remember what happened 16 years ago today and recover that spirit of unity we had then.

  84. Mrs. Uncle, BFH & Co., and my family in Sarasota county are all OK. Nobody has power but BFH’s mom, where I’m staying (-: . Landline and ‘net phones are widely out, but my AT&T mobile service is just fine and my smartphone does tethering, thus this post.

    We’re all just fine, but Irma hit an awful lot of people very hard. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

  85. Happy to hear that everyone made it through the storm AOK.
    😊👍❤️
    Uncle Al-is BFH going old school-mixing up egg tempera (better use the eggs before they go bad since the power is out) and painting by candlelight ?

  87. My wife got a call from her brother who lives half way between Tampa and Orlando and he never lost power his rain gauge had a little over 6 inches in it and winds only 49-60 mph. He said it was only about as bad as one of our typical winter storms in the Pacific North Left.

  90. Hang on, everyone. Praying for all.

    Just checked on that thing swirling in the Atlantic following Irma. It’s Jose. He probably won’t hit Florida, but he might try to cross the border farther north. Dang illegals.

  92. Been worried sick all weekend over all my friends back in Fla. Saddlebunch Key, Naples, Ft Myers, Miami, North Miami, Port St Lucie, Ft Pierce, Merritt Island, Palm City, Tampa. I’m punchdrunk from lack of sleep.

    As of this morning, all of them have reported in okay except for my friend on Merritt Island. He got hit by a damn tornado last night approx 8:30pm.

  95. @ Mansfield
    Trusting your friend on MI is safe. We’re south and yes we were pounded by tornadoes from 11 am yesterday onward. As far as reporting, no serious injuries in the area. Across the intercoastal from us, a mobile home park reported 15 destroyed (no surprise there), but no serious injuries.

    We’ve been without power since 7:30 last evening, but generator cranked up and internet all good.

    We believe we’re still alive, at least Shep hasn’t said otherwise.

    Best wishes to all, could’ve been a lot worse, as our Gov Scott said 27 times, “you can replace things, you can’t replace people”. Apparently he forgot about obama & HRC.

  96. It’s baaaack.
    Ya miss me?
    I have the BEST power company, a co-op.
    Last year, Matthew, it was out less than 48 hours, way more damage.
    Irma, less then 6.
    We had a foot deep, raging whitewater stream coursing through the property.
    Now, it’s a ditch, where it dug its way downhill.
    Hope everybody is as safe as we.

  97. Plain Jane & Engelburka – Your prayers worked! Thank You! Heard from my buddy at 3:26pm. They’re okay but their asses are ragged from chainsawing trees and dragging the chunks to the kerb all day.

  100. Im stuck in Charlotte and refuse to come back to Melbourne until power is restored. The first warm beer tastes great but after that … I cant believe the lousy reporting about I-95 conditions and status of power; would appreciate updates on these subjects.

  102. @Mansfield
    Same same. We were outside before the crack of dawn assessing our workout for today.
    The amount of tornadic activity, coupled with 100 mile gusts we knew we were in for an adventure. We have coconut palms in the backyard that were loaded and didn’t want to chance sleeping in the bedrooms located in the crash track.
    So we slept (rather in supine position, wasn’t much shut eye) away from the danger zone.
    Damned if a tornado didn’t come thru and a huge holly berry tree came crashing down in that area!
    Chain saws, fence repairs, dragging tree limbs, palm fronds, pool clean up and still no power.
    Crazy as it sounds, we love FL, especially Nov-Mar.

  103. I live in a M.H.P. in Bradentown, FL., just north of Sorrysota. 14 out of about 85 homes here were damaged pretty good. Old places, so don’t know if they will be fixed. Some, the people in them really don’t have the cash to do the repairs. Mine is ok for now, except there is a large pine tree on the backside of the place next to me that is leaning at about a 40 degree angle, ind of against another pine. Park manager is having a tree service coming to take it down in small pieces tomorrow, as there are park power lines for the homes involved as well. If it does happen to topple tonight, it’ll take out the place next door & about the back 1/4 of my place, plus taking down the power lines & blowing out a transformer. The Park Manager said I should sleep in the building where the pool table is located, but it would be hard to sleep on a slate bed or a concrete floor, so I’m crashing on the hide-a-bed in the living room at the front of the trailer tonight.

  106. So glad to recognize all the familiar handles. Hope no one had any overwhelming problems.

    We were out of the reach of Irma’s wrath. I kept up with the storm on the cable news. What pitiful coverage! One reporter spent the whole storm standing in the street in the wind and rain, showing us how the trees near him were blowing around. Another reporter did the same thing in a parking lot.

    Some reporters were actually out driving around before the storm got bad, and they filmed groups of our darkly-skinned friends breaking into athelic shoe stores and carrying away more boxes than they could handle.

    Did the interstates get everyone safely away? The networks dropped that story.

    Hope your power stays on.

    Hate to say that the most informative was CNN and Anderson Cooper. Yeah, I know how we all feel about CNN.

  107. In NE GA we’ve been getting 30+ MPH swirling gusts most of the day (along with a pretty steady wind) and it seems to be picking up a little right now. There are lots of limbs and debris everywhere with several trees uprooted or broken off (thankfully, we’ve only had a couple of inches of rain so most of the trees are broken rather than uprooted). So far so good on the power staying on.

    It’s amazing how durable some of the large hardwoods can be. We have large pecan trees with long, heavy limbs crazily whipping around, but so far not too many breaking.

    As bad as this seems, it is difficult for me to even imagine winds 3 or 4 times the strength of these like much of FL went through last night and today. Godspeed to everyone.

  111. I went swimming in our pool today. The sun was shining and it was a breezy 76 degrees. Pool will be closed up next week.

    You all from the south can rub it in to me during the winter when we get our ice and sleet storms and lake effect snow.

    You all seriously have my prayers.

  113. @ mansfield lovell, confederate general

    Happy your friends are okay. DH and I sure know all about trees down.

    In the 49 years here in our little acre oak and hickory forest, I think 8 of our giant oaks have been hit by lightening. One of them twice AND it’s still doing well a decade plus later. Others came down with the wind after being split down the trunks by lightening. One humongo limb dropped across our driveway just from it’s own limb weight when a tornado went through a mile away.

  114. Sundance has a moving post about the poor people in central FL. I wish there was something practical I could do to help, besides donating money.

    To have very little to begin with and then to have that blown away or washed away. How awful. No food, no water, no home, no nothing. God bless the children and their despairing parents.

  115. Name the 80’s sitcom. Here are the lyrics to the opening:

    “Now, the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum,
    What might be right for you, may not be right for some.
    A man is born, he’s a man of means.
    Then along come two, they got nothing but their jeans.”

    When I was a kid, I always thought the last word was “dreams” not “jeans”. Jeans makes way more sense to me today.

  116. @Bubba’s Brother — In the Atlanta area it’s not been good. Understand that we have had NOTHING like Florida, but we’ve had lots of rain (5-6 inches) with sustained winds around 40 with gusts up to 60+.

    Trees are down everywhere. We had a home in our hood that basically got split in half by a falling tree.

    My niece had a tree fall on her husband’s car. Another crash was heard in the hood about an hour ago.

    Thankfully, my kids are safe as well as their families. We have a ton on tree parts in our back yard and an almost naked maple in the front yard.

    Stay safe. Hope you’ll be good!

  117. @ AA, I agree. I wish there was something practical to do for them, but since I’m too old and cripped to hook up with the Salvation Army (they’ve trained a team or more in the Chicago area already on Saturday), and give $$, the only thing left is prayer.

  118. @jclady – Glad to hear that you made it through without major damage – haven’t seen Thirdtwin post today (he’s in the northern burbs I think) so I hope he pulled through ok as well.

    I’m hoping my house in Lawrenceville is either ok or completely destroyed. I’ll have to get one of my neighbors to take a look for me tomorrow to see if there are any trees on it and if it still looks to be intact.

    I saw a good bit of damage on the Atlanta news stations. I stay with my elderly dad about 80 miles from my house so I didn’t want to leave him by himself, especially since it was his 87th birthday.

  119. People – if you’re wanting to donate money DO NOT GIVE TO THE RED CROSS!!!!!

    Only about .10 of every dollar donated actually goes for help. Salvation Army, Samaritan’s Purse, Atlanta Humane Society (no kill) will see your dollars being more beneficial!

  122. @jclady – Happy early Birthday to your mom. It’s a real blessing still having him here and being able to help him out as much as I can (though he’s not always the most willing or cheerful participant LOL).

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