Last September 12th Hurricane Ike payed us a visit,

texanwitch

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Fri Sep-11-09 11:33 PM
Original message

Last September 12th Hurricane Ike payed us a visit,

So many people lost power over a large area.

All I can say, don't take ice for granted.

It was interesting two weeks but I rather be sitting here now playing on the computer.

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kentauros

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Fri Sep-11-09 11:43 PM
Response to Original message

1. I'd rather be playing on the computer, too...

when it works right ;)
(Playing around in Corel Painter just now and it refused to save my work, no matter which saving method I used; had to lose whatever it was I was making.)

Alos, on the ice: freeze bottles of water (preferably the ones you fill yourself) and keep those in the freezer and fridge as a kind of poor-man's thermal mass. You'll keep things cold longer and have cold water to drink as the ice melts in the bottle :D

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texanwitch

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Fri Sep-11-09 11:50 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. I did that.

Also turned the freezer control all the way to the coolest setting at least two days before the hurricane.

I had several jugs of dewberry juice frozen, that stayed frozen for a several days.

I kept a journal after Ike, it is interesting reading it now.

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AllenVanAllen

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Fri Sep-11-09 11:57 PM
Response to Original message

3. How long were you guys without power?

Edited on Fri Sep-11-09 11:58 PM by AllenVanAllen

I got it back after 8 days. I tell you what, that cool front that blew in saved our asses for most of the week.

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:01 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. We were out of power for two weeks.

We had some generators but gas was hard to find.

I had to drive 60 miles before I found a gas station to fill up the gas cans.

Most of us on the block just did withou power.

That cool front was nice.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:10 AM
Response to Reply #4

6. Almost all of my neighbors had generators

and they were having to wait 4 hours in line for gas. By the end of the week my entire neighborhood was thick with generator exhaust fumes. x( It was rather difficult keeping up with our ice needs though.

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:51 AM
Response to Reply #6

13. We mae our own ice in butter bowls in the little freezer.

We used the generators for things like that.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:58 AM
Response to Reply #13

17. Our neighbor gave us line from his generator,

and we used it for a fan and aquarium pump. We didn't loose any fish, like we did after Rita. They owe their little fish lives to him.

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:05 AM
Response to Reply #6

19. That is the one thing bad about generators.

We didn't run all the generators at one time except for ac unit in one house.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:02 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. Actually, I was without power for just under a day on Saturday,

then another 12 hours or so on Sunday. We live on a power right-of-way and though we got power back fast, the rest of the neighborhood somehow was without it for more than two weeks. I guess some of the lines were down for them, but ours were restored faster.

However, I was unable to go to work for about three weeks due to power being out for the NW side.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:14 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. It's great you got it back so soon.

I didn't get any work done myself tying to stay cool and cleaning up took up most of my time.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:29 AM
Response to Reply #7

8. Did you also try to stay off the roads?

;)

I saw one accident at Fountain View and 59. One lane was clear on the right while everyone else stopped for the non-working lights. This idiot in a Mercedes flies through the clear lane and smacks the rear of someone crossing in front of us. Spun them around, taking their right rear wheel off while Mercedes looked like he was going to keep going. He did finally stop, though he didn't seem all that upset about it...

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:33 AM
Response to Reply #8

9. Driving was fun.

Took you life in your hands.

No power no signal lights, no streets light at night.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:42 AM
Response to Reply #9

11. I didn't get out at night.

The full moon was really cool with no light pollution. :)

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:47 AM
Response to Reply #11

12. The full moon was nice.

It sure was easier to see the stars.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:40 AM
Response to Reply #8

10. Maybe he had great insurance?

Edited on Sat Sep-12-09 12:41 AM by AllenVanAllen

I got out only when I had too. When I did I was really surprised how well traffic moved in my community with all of the signals out. I didn't see one major slow-down or wreck. Everyone was a little more patient to one another too. I was really impressed. We all had a shared traumatic experience and people were a little kinder to each other.

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:54 AM
Response to Reply #10

14. Shopping in stores that had no power was fun.

Looking for things to buy that didn't need to be kept cold.

I found this great pancake mix, no eggs or milk needed just add water.

Post Ike was very interesting.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:54 AM
Response to Reply #10

15. I actually had a dental appointment in the second week after.

I had to get gas and ended up paying about 20 cents a gallon more than I was used to paying. Then again, that was at a station on San Felipe and Weslayan (River Oaks area.) I kind of got "lost" as I couldn't remember where my dentist's office was and it hadn't been that long since the last visit

I still noticed people not knowing what to do when they got to the intersections. No wrecks, but plenty of going out of turn or sitting long past their turn, that kind of thing.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:09 AM
Response to Reply #15

21. I wouldn't have wanted to travel inside the 6-10 loop.

I would have canceled. I used to live near there 59 @ Buffalo. I loved how central it was but hated the traffic.

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:14 AM
Response to Reply #21

23. I saw a lot of near accidents.

I sayed home alot.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 05:17 AM
Response to Reply #21

29. Any intersection involving 59 and Westpark is a nightmare,

hurricane or not :o

It turns out when I was "lost" I was on the wrong side of 610. Her office is on Bering, south of San Felipe. Traffic was pretty light that morning, so it wasn't a big deal.

Yes, I'm up again. Slept all of 2.5 hours. So, had something to eat and will do some chores in a bit.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 12:56 AM
Response to Original message

16. Maybe the three of us should get together for a beer/coffee/tea

and chat about "Life After Ike" :D

We seem to be the only three here and now talking about it ;)

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:02 AM
Response to Reply #16

18. That would be fun.

My life was really busy before Ike and then two weeks of slow living.

That was nice.

It wasn't all bad, neighbors became real neigbors.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:08 AM
Response to Reply #18

20. Yeah the neighbors were much better with everyone in the same boat

;)

I'm going to bed as I'm trying to turn my nightowl cycle around. I just had a big pot of valerian tea with a squirt of valerian extract and I'm feeling it now

PM me if y'all want to meet up :D

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:12 AM
Response to Reply #20

22. I know of a great Mexican place near my house, great food, cheap prices.

Yes.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:33 AM
Response to Reply #22

25. Do they have chicken and mole?

If so I'm there. :9

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 05:22 AM
Response to Reply #25

30. I would think so;

Edited on Sat Sep-12-09 05:23 AM by kentauros

most Mexican places do :)

I'm sure I'll be able to find something veggie, too.

That was one good thing about eating, whether without power or not. I remember when Hurricane Alicia tore through here in 1983. Our family lived in Nassau Bay then (across from NASA-JSC) and were without power for a week. Everyone was having BBQ because no one had generators to keep the meats cold long. Had I been a veggie back then (not likely with my family ;)) it would have been easier for cooking.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 05:36 AM
Response to Reply #30

32. I try to eat vegetarian

as much as I can. I know it's better for everybody.

I remember Hurricane Alicia. I lived near the East Loop when Alica came through. We suffered virtually no damage in that one.
Still, I'll never forget the night she came through!

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:28 AM
Response to Reply #16

24. I'm sure I'd exceed the legal limit

Edited on Sat Sep-12-09 01:34 AM by AllenVanAllen

so no travel for me. I do see a meet up some time soon. Doesn't drinking liberally have a Houston chapter?

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texanwitch

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Sat Sep-12-09 01:35 AM
Response to Reply #24

26. Just drink some ice tea.

The food is really good.

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kentauros

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Sat Sep-12-09 05:24 AM
Response to Reply #24

31. There is a chapter here, but you'll have to search the Texas forum.

There's an email contact there. I haven't tried it yet. I'm not much of a drinker when I have to drive.

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Manifestor_of_Light

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Sat Sep-12-09 04:16 AM
Response to Original message

27. It was bad.

Yo here! Number four!!!

I left for east tx after six days -- couldn't stand it.

NOW I have a generator.

Don't miss it a bit. At least I had a gas range -- I heated up a couple of teapots full of water, put them in the bathtub in plastic barf buckets(the rectangular plastic things from the hospital), and took a warm sponge bath. I have a lot of hair on my head and it was NOT fun. Without conditioner my hair gets wild.

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AllenVanAllen

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Sat Sep-12-09 04:34 AM
Response to Reply #27

28. It's great you now have a generator.

Having even a fan makes a huge difference. I feel very fortunate we were only out of power for only 8 days.
We need to set up some solar panels in the backyard!

Your hair didn't look anything like this did it?

Mine did! :P

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txwhitedove

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Sat Sep-12-09 08:19 AM
Response to Original message

33. #5 here, and our power was out for 10 days. My car was hiding under

a fallen tree, unharmed, picture below is after I crawled in through passenger side and backed it out a bit. Had to stop there because of another fallen tree across the driveway. On day 2 we were grateful for neighbor driving down the block and freely assisting everyone with his chainsaw.

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