Blowin' in the wind
We got some remnants of Hurricane Ike on Sunday -- not the rain we usually get from hurricanes, but hurricane force winds. They were amazing! I was outside on my porch with a customer (from the SK Birthday sale) for much of it and it was fantastic to see and hear. I've never been in a hurricane (I'm very happy for that), but it was quite a thrill to be able to experience hurricane force winds (even if they were relatively mild for a hurricane). And having the sun out during the whole thing was wild -- I kept expecting a storm, but it never came. We barely got a drizzle, and even that came after the winds left.
The winds took down a bunch of tree limbs, trees, and power lines, so over a million people in Ohio were without power. Hundreds of thousands still have no electricity, and power isn't expected to be fully restored until the end of the weekend or possibly early next week. My electricity was out for over three days (approx. 76 hours), but since I expected not to get it back until Friday or Saturday, I'm thrilled it was only off that long.
Several people were killed during the storm -- one guy was electrocuted working on a generator and several, including the father of an OSU student missing since 2006, were killed by falling trees. The latter guy's death seems particularly sad because first he lost his wife to cancer, then a month later his son went missing (and is presumed dead), now he is killed by a falling tree limb. Out of the whole family there is one 26-year-old son left. I cannot imagine what he is going through now.
The power outage wasn't all that bad for me. I'm used to living in mostly or all electric houses with septic systems and well or cistern water (which use electric pumps). But now I live in a house with city sewer and water and have a gas stove and gas water heater. So unlike the past times I've been through long power outages I had a toilet that flushed, running water (both cold and hot) and a usable stove. We bought ice and packed perishables in coolers, so I didn't lose much there (what I did lose was mostly stuff that should have been tossed anyway). Makes this power outage thing a piece of cake, especially since we didn't have to deal with actual hurricane conditions (the weather has been gorgeous the past few days) or massive damage. Plus I had loads of candles and batteries and a standard corded land line phone (and a cell phone), so although evenings were quiet and dark they were really kind of nice too. I did miss being able to get online, but not as much as I expected to -- knowing a whole lot of other people are much worse off made it much easier.
And I talked to many of my neighbors for the first time ever.
Overall not a bad few days.
Oh, I did get a storm injury. In between gusts, I was out picking up pears knocked off the trees when another gust hit. I was just scurrying away from the tree when a fence post that was leaning against the deck blew over and hit me on back of my calf. So I have a nifty bruise and a seven to eight inch long and two inch wide scrape on the back of my leg. That will teach me not to go outside in that kind of wind again. The pears are pretty damned tasty though.
(I took pics of my leg -- I'll have to post one soon. Just what you always wanted to see -- my not-very-nice-looking-leg looking even worse. Will the thrills never end? :-) )
And the SK Birthday art sale has been extended (partly because his birthday fell on the weekend and partly because I'm still so scattered from the windstorm and power outage) until Sept. 21. Go buy something. :-D
The winds took down a bunch of tree limbs, trees, and power lines, so over a million people in Ohio were without power. Hundreds of thousands still have no electricity, and power isn't expected to be fully restored until the end of the weekend or possibly early next week. My electricity was out for over three days (approx. 76 hours), but since I expected not to get it back until Friday or Saturday, I'm thrilled it was only off that long.
Several people were killed during the storm -- one guy was electrocuted working on a generator and several, including the father of an OSU student missing since 2006, were killed by falling trees. The latter guy's death seems particularly sad because first he lost his wife to cancer, then a month later his son went missing (and is presumed dead), now he is killed by a falling tree limb. Out of the whole family there is one 26-year-old son left. I cannot imagine what he is going through now.
The power outage wasn't all that bad for me. I'm used to living in mostly or all electric houses with septic systems and well or cistern water (which use electric pumps). But now I live in a house with city sewer and water and have a gas stove and gas water heater. So unlike the past times I've been through long power outages I had a toilet that flushed, running water (both cold and hot) and a usable stove. We bought ice and packed perishables in coolers, so I didn't lose much there (what I did lose was mostly stuff that should have been tossed anyway). Makes this power outage thing a piece of cake, especially since we didn't have to deal with actual hurricane conditions (the weather has been gorgeous the past few days) or massive damage. Plus I had loads of candles and batteries and a standard corded land line phone (and a cell phone), so although evenings were quiet and dark they were really kind of nice too. I did miss being able to get online, but not as much as I expected to -- knowing a whole lot of other people are much worse off made it much easier.
And I talked to many of my neighbors for the first time ever.
Overall not a bad few days.
Oh, I did get a storm injury. In between gusts, I was out picking up pears knocked off the trees when another gust hit. I was just scurrying away from the tree when a fence post that was leaning against the deck blew over and hit me on back of my calf. So I have a nifty bruise and a seven to eight inch long and two inch wide scrape on the back of my leg. That will teach me not to go outside in that kind of wind again. The pears are pretty damned tasty though.
(I took pics of my leg -- I'll have to post one soon. Just what you always wanted to see -- my not-very-nice-looking-leg looking even worse. Will the thrills never end? :-) )
And the SK Birthday art sale has been extended (partly because his birthday fell on the weekend and partly because I'm still so scattered from the windstorm and power outage) until Sept. 21. Go buy something. :-D
posted by eek at 5:32 AM
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