An Unexpected Weekend
Last weekend (Friday through Monday)was real screwy. The first few days were OK. Saturday (the whole day) was spent building my sectional dipole antenna. It took me a lot longer than I had expected it to take. Sunday is when the real adventure began.
I got up around 11:00am. My dad was going to run out to get some stuff so I came along. I noticed it was a bit breezy, more so than we had experienced the past few days. The first place we went to was Harbor Freight Tools. I would equate this store to Northern Tool (for those of you up north). They have all kinds of gizmos, gadgets, and a bunch of nonsense stuff no one really needs. They also have GREAT deals on (cheap) tools and equipment. I picked up a battery charger to use in conjunction with a battery as a portable power supply for my go-kit. For $10 I couldn't pass it up. I also picked up a yard of felt to make a liner for the Pelican case at Joanne Fabrics - for a whopping $3. This is going to be a good day, right?
Not exactly. The first sign of things to come was the fact that there was debris flying everywhere - insulation from construction sites, bags, leaves, twigs, you name it. If it was able to blow around it did.
If you read my post on EN39 you know I don't like wind too much. Well, this is another excursion of sorts.
I came back to the house to find my Crappie pole (supporting my sectional dipole and feed line) in two pieces laying on the ground. The trees were swaying more than I have ever seen trees move before. The Weather Channel was showing a "high wind warning" bulletin for our area.
Oh, there goes the neighbors fence across the street! Hmm, the fence in the back yard just squashed all the plants!
Then the electricity went out. The electricity has gone out many times before so no big deal, right? Well the wind is still blowing.
I think I will go outside and pick up my antenna, just in case a tree falls and I can't get to it later.
I tell you what - going outside and feeling the wind, hearing the howling sound of the air moving through the trees, wood creaking, fence planks rattling, and standing there rolling up a bunch of wire looking up at all the trees moving overhead was a very uneasy feeling. I was watching all the trees very closely and anticipating the gusts of wind. Just in case I had to drop everything and run I was ready.
Luckily no trees fell... on me. I didn't know this at the time but half of a maple tree on the side of the house was taken out. There was so much noise from all the wind it was impossible to hear the tree come down.
My dad's SUV was parked there all morning. It just so happened he took off in it a few minutes before. We should have all bought lottery tickets!
There was also a limb that fell down in front.
All day Monday was spent cutting up the trees. My dad and I did all of the work up to this point. I chopped up most of the stuff and my dad bundled it up. From what we found out we could set all the debris by the road and the city would pick it up - brush in 4' long bundles and piles of loose leaves. The rest of it was cut up in to logs for future use in the stove.
Before getting to work on the big limb I pulled the limb out with the truck. I hooked a chain around it at the top (a big job in itself - 30-40lbs of chain is a bear to yank up and around a tree on a rope!), added a tow strap for some extra reach, and hooked the whole string to my hitch on the truck. The trick to this was to yank the big limb out on to the driveway, pivoting on the branches that were already down on the pavement, without tearing out the fence. The limb fell in such a way that this was exactly what happened. Once the limb let go at the top it cleared the fence fine on the way down.
From what we know power will not be back on there any time soon. Power coverage is spotty at best. The tie up is all the lines and trees that are down. The trees have to be cleared first and then the work can start on the power lines. With such a widespread area that is affected it could be a week before everyone is back online.
At some point we heard on the news that the whole area had 70mph or higher wind gusts during the event. If I remember correctly - 74mph is the start of category 1 hurricane winds. Although we did not get the rain, storm surge, and flooding along with it I think I can relate to what it would be like going through a weak hurricane.
I got up around 11:00am. My dad was going to run out to get some stuff so I came along. I noticed it was a bit breezy, more so than we had experienced the past few days. The first place we went to was Harbor Freight Tools. I would equate this store to Northern Tool (for those of you up north). They have all kinds of gizmos, gadgets, and a bunch of nonsense stuff no one really needs. They also have GREAT deals on (cheap) tools and equipment. I picked up a battery charger to use in conjunction with a battery as a portable power supply for my go-kit. For $10 I couldn't pass it up. I also picked up a yard of felt to make a liner for the Pelican case at Joanne Fabrics - for a whopping $3. This is going to be a good day, right?
Not exactly. The first sign of things to come was the fact that there was debris flying everywhere - insulation from construction sites, bags, leaves, twigs, you name it. If it was able to blow around it did.
If you read my post on EN39 you know I don't like wind too much. Well, this is another excursion of sorts.
I came back to the house to find my Crappie pole (supporting my sectional dipole and feed line) in two pieces laying on the ground. The trees were swaying more than I have ever seen trees move before. The Weather Channel was showing a "high wind warning" bulletin for our area.
Oh, there goes the neighbors fence across the street! Hmm, the fence in the back yard just squashed all the plants!
Then the electricity went out. The electricity has gone out many times before so no big deal, right? Well the wind is still blowing.
I think I will go outside and pick up my antenna, just in case a tree falls and I can't get to it later.
I tell you what - going outside and feeling the wind, hearing the howling sound of the air moving through the trees, wood creaking, fence planks rattling, and standing there rolling up a bunch of wire looking up at all the trees moving overhead was a very uneasy feeling. I was watching all the trees very closely and anticipating the gusts of wind. Just in case I had to drop everything and run I was ready.
Luckily no trees fell... on me. I didn't know this at the time but half of a maple tree on the side of the house was taken out. There was so much noise from all the wind it was impossible to hear the tree come down.
My dad's SUV was parked there all morning. It just so happened he took off in it a few minutes before. We should have all bought lottery tickets!
There was also a limb that fell down in front.
All day Monday was spent cutting up the trees. My dad and I did all of the work up to this point. I chopped up most of the stuff and my dad bundled it up. From what we found out we could set all the debris by the road and the city would pick it up - brush in 4' long bundles and piles of loose leaves. The rest of it was cut up in to logs for future use in the stove.
Before getting to work on the big limb I pulled the limb out with the truck. I hooked a chain around it at the top (a big job in itself - 30-40lbs of chain is a bear to yank up and around a tree on a rope!), added a tow strap for some extra reach, and hooked the whole string to my hitch on the truck. The trick to this was to yank the big limb out on to the driveway, pivoting on the branches that were already down on the pavement, without tearing out the fence. The limb fell in such a way that this was exactly what happened. Once the limb let go at the top it cleared the fence fine on the way down.
From what we know power will not be back on there any time soon. Power coverage is spotty at best. The tie up is all the lines and trees that are down. The trees have to be cleared first and then the work can start on the power lines. With such a widespread area that is affected it could be a week before everyone is back online.
At some point we heard on the news that the whole area had 70mph or higher wind gusts during the event. If I remember correctly - 74mph is the start of category 1 hurricane winds. Although we did not get the rain, storm surge, and flooding along with it I think I can relate to what it would be like going through a weak hurricane.
posted by Steve at
10:11 PM
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