This would help me tremendously – IOTW Report

This would help me tremendously

Friday, 8 September 2017, 2:00 BFH Uncategorized 50

This is going to sound odd, or self-serving, but it would actually be therapeutic.

I, like millions of Floridians, are sort of trapped by this hurricane because we don’t know which direction to go because both coasts are still in play.

Uncle Al has generously offered his place on the west coast, and I have reciprocated with my place on the east coast. But neither of us know which direction to run. My bet is that Al’s place will be safer. If we get definitive word sometime tomorrow that the left side of the dangle is safer I might take off. I’ll have to have a bunch of filled gas cans before I go, though. Due north is out of the question. I’m hearing from people that it took 14 hours to get out of Florida, and every hour you started thinking about finding a gas station to fill back up. The last thing you want to have happen is to be stuck out in your car during a Cat 4.

So, what am I getting at?

If the power goes out (what am I saying???) – WHEN the power goes out I will have NOTHING to do. (I’ve come to realize that, sadly, my life is tied to electricity and the internet.)

BUT, I would be able to paint. So, if you were ever thinking of having a portrait, pet, or otherwise, done for Christmas, now is the time to request it. You have about until 2PM et Friday to get in your request.

This would be a very good deed and could very well keep me from going insane.

 

50 Comments on This would help me tremendously

  1. Things we do when we got’s no powa:

    Run a generator and watch videos (after the rain).

    Light the battery led lanterns and build lego stuffs.

    Light off the AM emergency radio to see updates.

    Read books and do school work.

    Listen to the wind and look out the door on the opposite side. Our house starts howling at 100 knots, kinda weird sounding.

    Painting is good as long as you have a good LED camping lantern. My friends in the PI actually use the Amazonian sold solar powered LED yard flood lights as an effective long term night light in the house.
    Last storm, next morning, I packed the daily usables in a cooler, bought about 80lbs of ice, 1/2 in the large cooler, and 1/2 in trash bags and placed in the top of the fridge (inside of course). We were without power about 30 hours that time.

    Now I have a 7K LPG generator, easy peasy to fire up. You can get a duel fuel generator from Home Despot delivered to your local store. If you use LPG or Natural gas bottles, you can store the generator when not in use in your house, without gas fumes, and it’s humidified. Remember that.

    Don’t forget, you will need a recharge plan for your cellular items. I’ve got about 70K of MaH in storage devices in the house.

    After that, most malls have generators as backup. USE THEM for A/C, battery charging for your electronic devices, and just fresh food you ain’t made.

    Depending upon the density of the population in your area, most people won’t realize what is available in the mom and pop stores. Almost all have ICE.

    Good luck Sir Fur!!!

  3. I recently needed a recharge of my internal Human batteries. During a recent, pretty violent Tstorm, I stood outside and screamed into the wind as the rain pounded me. I did this for around 1 hour. Afterwards, I came inside where the wife had the AC on, and I needed to spend the next 20 mins in a hot shower to warm up.
    Other than the fact that the AC froze me, the experience was awesome and inspiring.
    Maybe that will help your creative side a bit.

  4. BUG IN.

    Even route 70 (or 60, up my way) will be clogged.
    Got extra jerry cans for gas?
    https://www.amazon.com/Liter-5-Gallon-Metal-Jerry-Military/dp/B00ADLHN3S
    Looks like it may go THROUGH the State (i.e. neither Atlantic nor Gulf coast), in which case, it “loses steam” quickly once on land.

    Just have to see. My 2 go-to sites:
    https://my.sfwmd.gov/sfwmd/common/images/weather/plots/storm_11
    and Klystrom 9 radar (go to “Tropical”…good for timing)

    Feel free to contact me if I can be of help.

  7. The wife’s 35 mile commute yesterday took 2 hours, using all back roads.
    I-95 was bleeding snowbirds yesterday, traffic in my little country town was horrendous.
    Filled the freezer with water bottles, (2) 50 gal drums for flush water, batteries, truck full of gas, ready.
    If you haven’t already left, it’s too damn late.

  8. Damn, Not a lot of options at this point. Prayers for you, AL and everyone else there. Right now, all I can think of is future preparations to deal with situations like this.

    Find the nearest airport and leave? Future – Develop friendships with people that have private planes or get one yourself?

    I have a gasoline generator. Can run 8 hrs straight with a, 4,ooo watt draw, on a 5 gallon tank. Not very long when you think about it. But, if gas is available, a 5 gallon spare can will do and the basics can be run with a 2,ooo watt draw or less making the gas go farther.

    I will be getting one of these in the next two years.

    http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power

    Powered by natural gas. I have never had gas service go down no matter what weather or disaster happens.

    That’s why I insist on gas water heater, gas stove, and kept that old gas heater in the bathroom when I re-modeled. I stay warm and can take hot showers, every day, every Winter even if the electricity goes down for days.

    During last weeks gas shortage here, running my biz was threatened. No gassy = no worky. Two trucks that can easily go through 1/2 tank each in a day. A 5 gallon spare doesn’t really cut it and none were to be found anyway. So I eyeballed a new spray tank sitting on my property I bought this Summer to build a new spray rig.

    Now I have a 4o gallon spare. I filled my son’s truck up with it the first day. There were no stations that had gas near him that day. He would have been sitting two days if I hadn’t done this.

    This is something you have to find way in advance. Lowe’s can get whatever size you want pretty cheaply if you pick it up from them once they get it in.

    I’ve always wanted to build a steel-beamed house that could withstand hurricane force winds. Steel covers for the openings, etc. Put it up on steel stilt to avoid flooding. Have the generators on either propane or natural gas. Maybe put a decorative skin on it, for looks, that can blow away if assaulted.

    With a deck on the roof for cooking out, viewing the land around you or sniping zombies. I guess all three at once is doable.

    Hey, it doubles as a Zombie-proof house too!

  13. Oh, PS, I can highly recommend a BFH pet portrait! He painted our two pups and we love, love, love his work. My kids now argue over who will get the portraits when mom and dad kick the bucket. In front of me, they argue this! Hey, kids, I’m still here!!!

  19. If you’re particularly inspired, how about a collagé of what you think the iotw characters look like or a symbolic representation? That should be interesting. Could be a contest to see who closely resembles your vision (self-perceived reporting of course)!

  20. Some Amazon Kindles include free 3G capabilities for free and draw little power. That can let you browse the web or send emails in a pinch as well as maintaining a reading library.

    Like others have said, not that it does any good now, but dual source generators start in the mid-200s these days. Propane and gas. Battery storage devices like car jumpers can keep your phone charged for a couple of days. Same with solar handheld battery chargers. They start in the teens to $60 and I keep one with me all the time.

    I keep old Sansa mp3 players. No itunes obligations and combine it with an Oontz portable speaker and you can have days worth of music or radio. And can be recharged through the aforementioned battery packs.

    I know Yetis or Orcas are expensive but being able to keep ice for a few days helps a lot.

    Having a rocket stove or gas grill, some way to boil water can keep the macaroni or canned goods hot if things go tits up for a few days or longer.

  21. If you’re particularly inspired, how about a collagé of what you imagine the iowt characters look like or a symbolic representation based on their comment history?
    Could be a contest to see who closely resembles your vision (self perceived reporting of course)!

  23. Why do you wait so long to make up your mind?
    I lived in Lee county, Fl. Back in the 80’s.
    When they say huge hurricane I fly to New York.
    Then I watch and wait. You want to be far away so you can
    decide your next move.
    Your first thought was, I’m staying.

  25. I think you are only due for tropical storm weather Fur.
    My prediction is landfall on the Georgia coast, just North of Jacksonville and South of South Carolina.

    My alternate prediction is a Treasure Coast/Space Coast hit.
    If it does, try and recover some loot from the 1715 Fleet.

    Of course, I did predict Atlanta to win the Superbowl last December.
    So, there is the possibility I am wrong.

  29. Can everyone here at IOTW say a prayer for Fur, his Mom, and all others who will be going through this horrendous storm? It’s too late to leave, ya big dummy.
    Just be smart enough to make sure you have food and water.
    Pray for Fur and Uncle Al and all of the rest of Florida.
    Once you get through this, Fur, I’m going to come down to Florida and smack you in the head. You can work on my puppy portrait after that. Ya knucklehead New Yorker.

  31. Well, California isn’t looking so bad after all. I’ve heard it many times over, GET OUT OF CALIFORNIA!!! You’re going to die! You’re going to fall into the ocean! Well, the west coast doesn’t experience hurricanes of any kind of magnitude. We call horrendous storms “Pineapple Expresses.” I’ve only had 1 evacuation notice given in all my 60+ years of living here and that was just a warning due to a fire. How you all do it is beyond me. I doubt I could put up with the stress of what’s coming and the aftermath of what it did. No place is safe, so do the best you can and good luck! Sorry fur I don’t have any pets, we travel too much to one any. Your work is beautiful.

  32. Every guy in Florida has his number; which is different from his wife’s number.
    “I’m not leaving until it’s a 3” says the husband
    “We are leaving if it’s a one” says the wife
    My number was 2 but I always said 3 to other guys.
    Knowing my wife will leave at one.
    My sister bought a home in Georgia to run too
    May not work this time.
    I have a buddy who is a helicopter pilot he is ferrying his ride up
    North from Miami.
    Maybe he can drop in and pick you up BFH

  33. LBS, no, it’s predicted to be a Cat 2 up at our latitude (I’m on Gulf Coast, Fur on Atlantic Coast), and going to Ft Myers would not be smart due to 1) traffic and 2) the path seems to be shifting slowly Westward.

  38. Something digital. And animated. I’m picturing gators flying over Columbia. Like the old toasters in the sky. Did they have toasters in the sky screen savers? Or is that something, like Good Government, I’ve been told I remember?

  40. Greetings from Kitty Hawk, NC Fur.
    With the latest track it’s McCain if you do, Hillary if you don’t and Congress either way.
    No sage words, just prayers from the North Side of the Hurricane Coasts.
    The upshot is we’ll probably be headed down that way with associated Church Building and Support groups to return the favors we’ve been given over the years so sit tight, stay safe and may the Good Lord hold you with Mercy and bless you with an opportunity for periodic joy along the way till others have the chance to bless you and yours.

  41. I can just see BFH heading North on his 3 wheel bike that everyone over 50 has in Florida.
    Two easels and some unfinished canvas in the front basket with the paints and brushes.

  43. BFH – you know I used to live just a couple miles from your crib. I went thru Frances & Jean in Aught 4 and Wilma in Aught 5. Direct bullseyes. Plus drivebys by Charley, Ivan, etc.

    Practical Advice – Must Do List:
    *buy shitloads of ice
    *buy shitloads of gasoline and put in gas jugs
    *have a generator. Use a good bicycle lock & chain to firmly secure it to your house. (yes, I had chained mine up and somebody tried to steal it….in the middle of the night….while it was running….and I was inside my house!)
    *buy a manual can opener for your canned goods

    The water and cell service stayed on in PSL when I was there. But electric from FPL? Yeah, right. But you can be damn sure the CEO of FPL has about 20 bucket trucks lined up outside his fucking mansion As I Type This. Landline was out. Cable was out (Comcast). The Punjabs running the gas station at the corner of SW Del Rio and SW Cashmere always seemed to have fuel. Another good one was at the corner of SW Del Rio & SW California. They let me fuel up my boat’s two gas tanks and three auxiliary tanks and 6 five-gallon jugs in addition to my POS Dodge pickup. Approx 150 gallons worth. I became my neighborhood’s personal gas station for the next week each time a storm would hit.

  44. Oh yeah, have a fully-charged cordless drill with phillips-head bit ready to go, along with a supply of self-tapping sheetmetal screws. During the eyes passing for Frances and Jean, I ran outside each time and screwed back together as much shit as I could – soffits, etc. I wore a hardhat with a headlamp mounted on it so i wouldnt bash or cut my melon on damaged shit hanging down (pool enclosure, etc)

    GOOD LUCK!! I hope Irma turns out to be a whiny bitch and not a sea hag

    Mansfield

  46. Come to ND and be completely incognito. All quiet since the protesters left, just a few panhandlers left from last week’s POTUS visit, a little smoke hanging from the MT wildfires but otherwise pleasant weather-wise.

  48. Your art is wonderful and worth every penny (if not more) for the privilege of obtaining commissioned work by you. However, most IOTWRers are more concerned that you and others in Florida riding out this storm are safe. Keeping you in my prayers.
    I get it though. You want to keep busy. Suggestion, although not profitable, work on a painting you’ve had you heart set on creating and just didn’t have time to complete. Stay safe. Can’t wait to hear how you survived Irma.

  50. @ Crash Build – hell yeah, brutha! That’s the spirit! The Holy Spirit!

    We had a choice of either heading East with supplies OR heading West to Houston to “grip & rip” helping folks rebuild OR staying put and putting up a bunch of our Fla friends who evacuated. We chose C) Hurricane Party with evacuees.

    I just hope Irma decides to beat the shit outta that sick Socialist Cuban fuck Raul Castro and kill him and his fellow Communists, weaken and then peacefully irrigate our South Floridian pastures. 🙂

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