The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: crusader rabbit on September 06, 2017, 07:31:43 AM
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From everything I am seeing, it looks as if Irma is going to hit Florida, hard. Latest projections and spaghetti models from this morning (0800 EDST) had Irma turning north at the tip of the state, then progressing upward through the center of the state.
THESE MODELS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Over the past couple of days, the models have moved east from the western side of the state. I expect them to move further east. While this gives me greater faith that my home on Florida's west coast may actually survive the next week, the people from the Keys to Jacksonville are in deep kim-chee.
Miami floods when there's a heavy rain. It will certainly sustain major damage from Irma and may become little more than a memory.
It is increasingly difficult for people to evacuate the state. The Interstates are jammed going north. Gas stations are running out of fuel or actually have run out. It is a panic situation all around. There is no bottled water in the markets (Publix shelves were stripped of everything that even looked like bottled water. Home Depot was empty as well.) It's impossible to buy a generator. Plywood is unavailable. Dintymoore Beef Stew and Hormel Chile are nothing more than memories.
My own home and Haz's place are at high points on the Pinellas Peninsula with elevations over 40 feet above sea level. That means we won't see any damage from potential storm surge. So, if the winds don't destroy our houses, we should weather this storm.
Nonetheless, please keep us in your prayers, my friends.
Crusader Rabbit
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Hang tough Crusader, and good luck! Keep us informed when you can.
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Please, above all else, stay safe (and dry). My prayers are with you and all in the path of this storm.
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On the list, CR! Give our best wishes to Haz!
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I'm about 35mi north of Pinellas in Pasco county... 34ft and 2' above ground level, couple miles inland from the Gulf... like CR commented, if it stays east we'll most likely be ok... will board up depending on the final track... stay safe
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You're on the list too, Les!
Good luck...be well and safe.
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Have you heard about people selling cases of bottled water for $100 and some places selling gasoline for $10 a gallon? That's what happened with Harvey and it could be even worse with Irma.
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Prayers and best wishes to you guys.
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JumboFrank... the State of Florida prosecutes documented cases of price gouging....IIRC $2500 per incident
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St. Martin, St. Bart, Barbuda, and the British and US Virgin Islands all took direct hits. I'm guessing it will be days before we actually find out how bad. All lines of communication are down. Thus far all we've seen is a few seconds of cell phone video. My guess is there are going to be many deaths from this monster. (8 already confirmed on St. Martin).
It was reported on Fox News last night, the governor of the Virgin Islands has issued an order to confiscate citizens weapons. Much like Ray Nagin did in New Orleans after Katrina. The NRA is already bringing suit against the government there. It is a U.S. Territory. Tucker Carlson talked directly to the governor there, and he tried to back pedal out of it for 2 straight minutes. He didn't sound too convincing. Everyone is going to be watching, and asking citizens who live there questions. So we'll see how all of this pans out. Nothing like taking something that's already bad, and doing something stupid to make it even worse.
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Have you heard about people selling cases of bottled water for $100 and some places selling gasoline for $10 a gallon? That's what happened with Harvey and it could be even worse with Irma.
Some puke on Amazon was selling a case of water for $99.99. It's amazingly wrong and heartless.
Still no water available in local Publix or Walmarts. Tap water is certainly good to drink--at least at the moment. We've filled Tupperware containers and stuck them in the freezer--just in case.
This morning's spaghetti model report still shows Irma hitting Miami at full force then stays just offshore until the Georgia border. (MyFoxHurricane.com) It could hit the Carolinas. On the way up to Georgia, its going to do a lot of damage all along the eastern coast of Florida. The only good news in all of this is that Jose looks to stay offshore and die a lonely death in the North Atlantic.
Crusader Rabbit
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Could you send some of that rain to Montana? We need it bad!
I have a buddy that lives in Daytona Beach, right by the water no less. After Andrew, he rebuilt with a concrete house, some wicked durable windows, etc. Have not been able to reach him to see what they are doing for plans currently.
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Crusader... if you can access the drain to your hot water heater... a short section of garden hose is convenient to use
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The wife just said current update has it potentially shifting west over the center of Florida and hitting father west through Georgia than yesterday's prediction.
The darn thing is following us, as we were just on Amelia Island and headed home this morning. Traffic was moderate on I-95 when we crossed over, and was fairly light on US 1 northbound and US 82 westbound (most of that was campers like us), but I expect that to change over the next 48 hours.
Our town of Tifton is right on I-75 and ran out of gas two days ago, but has been re-supplied mostly. All the motel rooms in the area are booked.
Gas is running $2.69 for regular and bottled water is still $2.30 per case. We have 13,000 gallons in the pool to use for toilet flushing is the power goes out.
CR, Haz, and Les (as well as our other Fl brothers) we'll continue to pray for you guys.
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I'm surprised the price gouging isn't worse. Coming home Wednesday I saw station after station selling gas for $2.65/gallon. I expected the price to get lower as I traveled south for 2 hours but forgot to see what it was here. I waited until Thursday to gas up on the other side of town where gas is usually around 5-10 cents cheaper. It was $2.75/gallon and must have gone up about 15 cents in one day. I got 40 cents off per gallon by using my shopper's card from the grocery store. I got almost 27 gallons and it would have been maybe $4 cheaper the day before. Oh well.
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Crusader... if you can access the drain to your hot water heater... a short section of garden hose is convenient to use
This! Make sure that before there is a breach of the infrastructure you shut off the valves to secure the tank, and DO NOT OPEN THE SUPPLY SIDE. Also wise to isolate your plumbing as close to the water main as possible. If you have or have access to the tool, shut off your curb stop
Another prepper move is to fill your bathtub with fresh water prior to contamination. I know, I know, this is the wallow CR uses in rut, but it is still better than nothing ;)
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Couple of things.
You can fill your bathtub with water to be used for sanitary purposes. Soap residue makes it unfit for drinking.
Might be too late to get these now, but they make bathtub liners so they can be filled and used for drinking water.
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You can fill your bathtub with water to be used for sanitary purposes. Soap residue makes it unfit for drinking. Might be too late to get these now, but they make bathtub liners so they can be filled and used for drinking water.
http://www.h2ofilters.com/waemdrwast.html?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAjw_8jNBRB-EiwA96Yp1us9F_44n17v-e_f7ytjAxAni1JZ2i6t6VzinY5Ae8GJAQlrjpVIERoCA9oQAvD_BwE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkdZ2ag7KGU
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If you fill a bathtub or any containers with water be sure to use only cold water. You don't want to drink the stuff that collects in a water heater. It's fine to wash with but I would only drink it as a last resort. Hopefully you guys in flood prone areas have water filters so you can drink water from the water heater and other questionable sources.
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Couple of things.
You can fill your bathtub with water to be used for sanitary purposes. Soap residue makes it unfit for drinking.
Might be too late to get these now, but they make bathtub liners so they can be filled and used for drinking water.
My assumption was that he would clean the tub first. Bleach diluted one cup in water to make a one gallon solution (8oz + 120oz) will clean and disinfect.
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I fill a 33 gal plastic trash can in my tub with potable water but use it to flush and bathe with... it still gives me access to the shower drain, that the filled tub does not... I use a dedicated garden sprayer (no insecticide/herbicide) to provide water pressure to shower with... painted black, it allows a warm shower if power is off... stay safe Florida
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to disinfect drinking water with bleach... 8 drops per gallon for clear water, let stand 30min, and be sure to slosh the solution over the mouth of the container
for bulk storage... 2ml will give you this 8 drop/gallon concentration in 20L (5 gal) of water
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to disinfect drinking water with bleach... 8 drops per gallon for clear water, let stand 30min, and be sure to slosh the solution over the mouth of the container
for bulk storage... 2ml will give you this 8 drop/gallon concentration in 20L (5 gal) of water
Les, maybe you can help with a question I have. I am using Water Bricks to store water long term. I fill them with tap water and wonder how long the water will stay "fresh" with the lids tight? And what treatment should be used when they are needed to be opened...even if "just to be on the safe side"?
Water Bricks 3.5 gallons each. Buy 10 from Overstocked for $162 plus shipping
https://www.overstock.com/Emergency-Preparedness/Stackable-Portable/28110/subcat.html?featuredproduct=10398688&featuredoption=15930262&cid=202290&kid=9553000357392&track=pspla&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=17501122-000-000&gclid=CjwKCAjw_8jNBRB-EiwA96Yp1pCHqwxhQG34-82FlbzY_YgnRe6zzXt5Pbh0096inu_R4RNTvSsamxoCFJAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=COC47cOwltYCFYcMgQodxd8PLg
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to disinfect drinking water with bleach... 8 drops per gallon for clear water, let stand 30min, and be sure to slosh the solution over the mouth of the container
for bulk storage... 2ml will give you this 8 drop/gallon concentration in 20L (5 gal) of water
Be sure to use regular bleach only, and not scented, Splash-Less, etc. Here's some of the information from the Clorox web page on treating water with bleach. I recommend everyone read the whole page.
"ONLY use Clorox® Regular-Bleach or new Concentrated® Clorox® Regular-Bleach. DO NOT use the Scented bleaches, High Efficiency bleach, Splash-Less bleach, Clorox® Ultimate Care Bleach, or the Clorox® Bleach Pen Gel."
https://www.clorox.com/dr-laundry/disaster-preparedness-purifying-water/
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Solus.... I change my stored water out at the beginning of hurricane season each year (June for me), so mine is no more than a year old... I add the 2 milliliter of unscented Clorox for each of the 20 liter (5 gal containers) at the time they are filled, and not when used... I did not write down where I got the test strips, but found some with low part per million test range... around 3ppm is recommended to sufficiently kill the critters... I have a Sawyer .1 micron 5 gallon bucket system just in case
I would think that as long as the available chlorine is 2 to 3 ppm, it could be stored for a couple of years... my thinking is that the chlorine in the water will help inhibit any growth in the container to some extent
the 2ml comes from 5 gal x 8 drops = 40drops.... typically 20 drops per ml, so 2ml give me the 8 drop concentration
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....I add the 2 milliliter of unscented Clorox for each of the 20 liter (5 gal containers) at the time they are filled, and not when used...
Isn't there a product specifically made for the treatment of stored drinking water? I would think there would be, as opposed to using a laundry product that wasn't manufactured for human consumption. During times like this there would certainly be a market for it up and down the Gulf Coast. From Brownsville to Key West.
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Yes there are specific chemicals for this. But they all are either sodium hypochlorite (which is bleach) or iodine. Instead of showing NACIO they list ingredients in their elemental concentration in the water solution they put them in as sodium, oxygen, chlorine.
I'd rather drink a little bleach (think swimming pool oops) than iodine....but I have both.
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And keep in mind that chlorine has been used in municipal water for decades.
I vote for rum, 40 proof or higher, like the oldie time sailors did! Build a still...
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Isn't there a product specifically made for the treatment of stored drinking water? I would think there would be, as opposed to using a laundry product that wasn't manufactured for human consumption. During times like this there would certainly be a market for it up and down the Gulf Coast. From Brownsville to Key West.
Plain old bleach is the chemical. The only difference between plain bleach and the sodium hypochlorite used commercially is the concentration, and often that isn't even different.
A cool thing about bleach is that when you add it to water and let it work, which doesn't take long, you can then throw an aerator in the water and get rid of the chlorine taste and smell.
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Or use a charcoal filter to get rid of it.
A lot of the special "deck cleaning" and outdoor "industrial" cleaners at the big home stores are sodium hypochlorite. The thing to watch for is the concentration...the name brand bleaches are usually 4-5% and you can get the no-names a lot cheaper with some up to 6% or higher concentration. Some of the liquid pool cleaners are a much higher concentration and that's what I use to clean decks and concrete....a bargain compared to "fit for purpose (to clean out your wallet)" industrial cleaners.
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Potable Aqua brand water purification tablets are available at sporting goods stores all over the country. Their main product is PA Iodine tablets which are made for short term use. After your water is treated with PA tablets, and after waiting the appropriate amount of time, you can add PA+ tablets to remove the Iodine taste. Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin C, is also supposed to remove Iodine taste and is the main ingredient in Kool-Aid powder so you can try that too. Chlorine like they use in city water is better for long term use than Iodine. Potable Aqua also sells it as Chlorine Dioxide tablets. The active ingredients are actually Sodium Chlorite and Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate. Basically it's the same as Sodium Hypochlorite household bleach since it's the Chlorine that does the job of disinfection. Potable Aqua also sells Chlorine test strips to check if you have enough Chlorine in your water. They have just about everything you need to purify water. http://www.potableaqua.com/products/
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Many people have to be very careful with their iodine intake. If it gets unbalanced, it can screw up their thyroid big time.
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What's the latest, Crusader?
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current forecast track doesn't look good for Pinellas and Pasco Counties....
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Many people have to be very careful with their iodine intake. If it gets unbalanced, it can screw up their thyroid big time.
That's one reason iodine tablets are only good for short term use. If you already have thyroid problems iodine can make it worse by lowering your thyroid levels, but if you don't have thyroid problems you'll probably be okay. Even if you do have side effects your body should eventually sort itself out after you quit drinking it. Chlorine is a lot better. I've been drinking chlorinated water my whole life and never had any problems related to the chlorine.
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Another friend posted and I thought was important to share. USAA members
If your zone is MANDATORY evacuated and you have homeowners or renters insurance through USAA, call them and let them know. They will pay for your gas, food and hotel to evacuate. It's called prohibited usage for emergencies under renters/owners insurance. They will cover lodging for up to two weeks.1-800-531-8722
Please copy and paste the status to share with your family and friends
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Having experienced TS Dottie in 76, stuck on the third deck of my barracks in Key West was pretty bad.
I would never live in Florida but for those of you that are, I hope and pray for your safety. Keep your heads down. This is a nasty bitch!
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This is pure speculation on my part. But after this is all over with, and insurance companies have paid out on claims they are contractually bound to. I'm guessing they are going to be through writing policies on homes in these hurricane prone areas. Especially in places that are going to be facing total destruction, like the Keys.
Insuring a home in the Keys, especially a high dollar one, (which most all of them are), is a bit like insuring a 22 year old drunk driver with 8 convictions, and 5 accidents. Why would they even bother? It's simply not worth the risk for them. Regardless of what they charge. Between Houston, Florida, and the Caribbean, they are going to be looking at close to, if not over $1 Trillion in total cost. And Florida homeowners policies are already over twice what the rest of the nation pays. Not to mention what this is going to do to the property values there. Even after it's cleaned up. As if the sinkhole issue wasn't bad enough.
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After Andrew in 92, my home owners policy in CT jumped about 25% in cost. I inquired as to why from my agent and was told due to their high liability in Florida they'd incurred considerable losses and needed to recoup those losses.
I told them I didn't live in Florida! Reduce my premiums or you're fired! They went down somewhat but I fired them anyway...
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I heard yesterday that along with the 80% that did not have flood insurance in Houston, about 50% of Floridians don't either! I wonder if it's because underwriters won't cover them?
Around here, you can't get a mortgage if you live in a flood plain if you don't buy flood coverage!
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....Around here, you can't get a mortgage if you live in a flood plain if you don't buy flood coverage!
Before all of this Irma stuff started, I heard in Florida new homeowners cannot obtain a mortgage unless they can provide proof of homeowners insurance. This becomes a "Catch 22" of sorts. Because the insurance premiums are so high, it effects their ability to close a mortgage. Add in all of this, and it is only going to become worse.... Much worse. I'm guessing a lot of retired people who are covered and are going to be facing heavy losses, will simply take the money and run. I certainly wouldn't blame them.
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I get the allure of warm weather, beaches, golf, fishing, et al..
One year in FL was enough for me... we're pretty much catastrophe free in the north! My homeowners is less than 300 bucks.
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After Andrew in 92, my home owners policy in CT jumped about 25% in cost. I inquired as to why from my agent and was told due to their high liability in Florida they'd incurred considerable losses and needed to recoup those losses.
I told them I didn't live in Florida! Reduce my premiums or you're fired! They went down somewhat but I fired them anyway...
After two big ones this month, we will all take a hit next year. The reinsurance companies will up their rates.
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I wonder if there is a way to insure outside normal insurance? Something like the faith based health care that is working so well.
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Well, it's the morning after. How are you guys doing? I hope everyone is OK. The Keys look to be devastated. With Big Pine Key and Cudjoe Key taking what appear to be direct, 140+ MPH hits. And most everything there is just a few feet above the water. It worries me there are no pictures or live reports coming in from there yet. Not a good sign.
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Those islands are canals and piled up coral a few feet above sea level. The east shore of Cudjoe is mostly motor homes and campers! Venture Park I think. I suspect there ain't much left.
Spent a good deal of time there.
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Those islands are canals and piled up coral a few feet above sea level. The east shore of Cudjoe is mostly motor homes and campers! Venture Park I think. I suspect there ain't much left.
If you look at the homes and estates for sale on Zillow in Cudjoe, Summerland, and Big Pine Key. There are some beautiful and unbelievably expensive properties there. I'm sure most have been destroyed, or severely damaged. I can't imagine some of the losses those people are going to take. There is no harbor, or breakwater protection from the open ocean. And with the damage done to the only road in and out. Who knows how long it will take them to get materials in to rebuild. It's not the easiest place to get to. Especially with so much damage and flooding up and down the state.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/pmf,pf_pt/2-_beds/136000-_price/494-_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/24.701847,-81.398993,24.629776,-81.552801_rect/12_zm/
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This Rabbit escaped to North Carolina and Bunny and I are safe and sound. Hazcat stayed and reports almost no damage other than clean-up. My home has almost no damage except for branches and leaves in the yard. Irma did blow the tarp off my motorcycle, but I can recover from that.
Thanks to all for your prayers.
Crusader Rabbit
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Glad to hear you and your possessions made it through unscathed!
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Great to hear Mr. Rabbit!
Have a safe journey home.
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GREAT RABBIT!!!...
Whew....was hanging on this one....I'll chip in for a new tarp too...
WooooooHooooo
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Great to hear about the cat and rabbit. Waiting to hear on our kids place in Bonita Springs. It's just a get away home, but still concerned.
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If you look at the homes and estates for sale on Zillow in Cudjoe, Summerland, and Big Pine Key. There are some beautiful and unbelievably expensive properties there. I'm sure most have been destroyed, or severely damaged. I can't imagine some of the losses those people are going to take. There is no harbor, or breakwater protection from the open ocean. And with the damage done to the only road in and out. Who knows how long it will take them to get materials in to rebuild. It's not the easiest place to get to. Especially with so much damage and flooding up and down the state.
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/pmf,pf_pt/2-_beds/136000-_price/494-_mp/globalrelevanceex_sort/24.701847,-81.398993,24.629776,-81.552801_rect/12_zm/
One of those houses in Summerland Key is listed for $13,900,000. I wonder how it fared. If my house was a total loss it would be chump change compared to what even a little damage to that house would cost.
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One of those houses in Summerland Key is listed for $13,900,000. I wonder how it fared. If my house was a total loss it would be chump change compared to what even a little damage to that house would cost.
I would imagine it's heavily damaged. Especially sticking out on a point like that. Very few of those homes have any seawall type of protection from the water. There was at least a 6' storm surge in the Keys. With 140+ MPH winds. Many first floor residences were completely inundated. I think the biggest problem for a lot of these people, isn't going to be rebuilding. It is going to be the difficultly they'll face in securing building materials. Between Texas, all of Florida, along with the Caribbean, there isn't going to be enough to go around.
Drywall, carpet, flooring, cabinets, vanities, paneling, will all be in short supply. And will cost a premium. Not to mention roofing supplies and lumber of any kind. A lot of pool homes in Florida have those screened in enclosures over them for insects and mosquitoes. You can bet most every one will need replacement. Those things look anything but solidly constructed. Everyone will need everything at the same time. There will be shortages galore. Not to mention rip off artists, and lots of quick and dirty shoddy construction to go along with it.
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Word from the daughter. Last night is no damage. Not even a branch down. Neighbor across the street had branches down and interior water damage.
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Not perfect, Mike, but I'd settle for that. =)))
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Word from the daughter. Last night is no damage. Not even a branch down. Neighbor across the street had branches down and interior water damage.
Great news!
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I am so glad the storm gulped some dry air. If that thing had been what it was thought to be.....
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I am so glad the storm gulped some dry air. If that thing had been what it was thought to be.....
Yep.
Glad CR, Haz, and Mike's folks fared well..... Hope Les did as well.
It hit with way less brutality than originally forecast in southern Georgia.
Our church opened a Good Samaritan shelter during the storm, with fifty or so folks that came in. We worked there until around 11 PM Sunday and went home (2 miles away) for some shut-eye. We went back early Monday morning before the worst of it hit to prepare and serve breakfast and rode it out there.
There was not as much damage to homes as anticipated, and power outage was the main problem. The church had partial outage until around noon today. We were without power at the house for around 36 hours (got it back at 6 PM yesterday, thankfully not long enough for our three freezers to start thawing deer meat). I've lived on this property for nearly fifty years and this was the longest span of power loss that I can remember. There are still some folks without power.
I can see a generator purchase in the near future (at least large enough to power the camper and freezers).
We have a lot pf pecan tree limbs down (some of considerable size) on our property, but none on any buildings (thankfully).
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The good fortune the Tampa area received, was paid back in spades by those living in the Jacksonville / Middleburg / Palatka area. That area in and around the St. Johns River has seen some of the worst flooding in the last 170 years. And remember, that was over 400 miles, and 24 hours from where it made it's original landfall in the Keys.
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power back on Wed evening (3 days out)...nice to sleep with the A/C on again...the two generators worked well, loaned the small inverter generator to a friend to keep his 3 upright refrigerators and freezer at temp
get a good LED headlamp (preferably AA) with a center top strap ... get a good single AA LED task light and keep it in your pocket... buy good equipment... the AA Eneloops in-use got time on the charger daily when I ran the genset in the morning... worked well as well as the two small Coleman area lights... I switched to AAs after the 2004 hurricane season
all my emergency lighting is AA Eneloops... they are less likely to leak... I just ordered a 4 station Nitecore charger to supplement the 2 station Nitecore I currently use
[/quote]
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Does anyone know if the area in and around Middleburg, (Southwest of Jacksonville), has flooded?
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Also, to add to the list Les has, get a $15 re-chargeable battery pack to charge cell phones. We picked up one last week at wallymart.
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Got back and actually reviewed the situation on Thursday at 1300 hours. No power at my house for about 5 days, so the refrigerator was a biology experiment. I cleaned it out. Had a length of fence blow down and maybe away since I can't find it. Got power today (Friday) and that's when I discovered I had missed a single raw chicken breast in the back of the freezer. Amazing how much stink can be generated by a single breast. All in all though, Bunny and I are lucky Rabbits.
Haz has had no power for about the same length of time, but the guy across the street had power restored on Wednesday and ran an extension cord for our Cat. Not enough to power the house, but it saved the stuff in the frige. Haz had pre-packed the freezer when we first heard about Irma. He filled containers with water that froze solid before power went out. It was enough to maintain freezing temps until he got the extension cord, so all is good there. He didn't have Duke Energy power as of 7 PM, but the promise is by midnight tonight.
We had no food or the ability to cook any so we tried to find a restaurant for lunch. Local Hooters lost all food. Applebees was closed. Closest Publix was closed but we couldn't cook anything anyway. Finally found a Flippers Pizza and enjoyed a pie. It was missing a few ingredients, but tasted fine anyway.
AC has been on since about 1600 and it's going to feel good to get some sleep in the cool.
Thanks to all for their kind thoughts and prayers. We really dodged a bullet--with the Good Lord's help.
Crusader Rabbit
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I wouldn't say I'm prepared for emergencies but I have some basic things covered for other reasons.
The bottom half of my chest freezer is filled with gallon milk jugs full of water. The fuller the freezer is the more efficiently it works as long as you have some spaces for air to circulate. It's jam packed right now because I bought so much frozen food yesterday but it's usually not that full. I never hear it run because it's so quiet but I don't think it cycles on and off very much. The power went out for several hours earlier this year or sometime last year and I never opened the freezer door at all. When the power came back on everything was still frozen solid. That was the longest my power ever went out but it could go out longer in the winter because of ice storms. I wouldn't worry about the freezer as much then as when it's 90 degrees. If you put jugs of water in your freezer like I did don't fill them all the way to the top. Give them about 3 inches of expansion room. Experiment a little to get them as full as you want without splitting open. I have pieces of plywood on top of some so I have a flat surface to stack everything on.
I recently gave a small heater I bought for camping but haven't used in several years to a friend. It runs off disposable propane tanks. I still have a propane cook stove brand new in the box. It looks like a steel bowl that screws onto the top of a propane bottle. I much prefer the short, fat 16.4 ounce bottles to the tall skinny ones since they're more stable and they hold more, but you can use either one. I thought the skinny ones were 16 ounces but when I looked online they're only 14.1 ounces. The prices of the 14.1 ounce and 16.4 ounce bottles used to be the same or very close. I stocked up several years ago when they were on sale for I believe half price and haven't bought one since. I still have about 8 or 10 of them in the basement. My propane stove puts out 10,000 BTUs which is more than double the maximum that the heater puts out. I'll use it to stay warm if I have to. I can also cook outdoors on a pair of pocket sized stoves I have and army surplus trioxane fuel tabs. Esbit hexamine tabs work great too. They both have nearly infinite shelf lives but trioxane tabs look weird when they get old. Clear crystals form on them but they still burn good and don't make any smoke.
There are some other things I bought for camping that I can use in emergencies. I have a dual tube fluorescent lantern that I use when camping that runs on 2 6 volt lantern batteries. I only use one tube since it's about the same brightness as two, and I save the second tube as a spare that's already in place. The batteries are cheap and last for years, and if I get desperate I can get more off the flashing lights on top of orange barrels in construction zones. We have construction 9 months out of the year so they should be easy to find. I also taped aluminum foil around half of the lantern so all the light shines out the front. It looks brighter and I can carry it without the light shining back in my eyes.
There are other things for camping that are good in emergencies but for me the main things are enough heat to keep me alive and light so I can see what I'm doing. I also have some small LED flashlights from Harbor Freight. I got them all free with coupons but had to buy something to use the coupon for most of them. I have them in my house and truck and in a bag that I carry in the cargo box of my ATV.
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More good news, Mr. Rabbit! Stay safe..
Looks like Jose is going to give us a little blow on Monday/Tuesday. Nothing to worry about up here unless he turns due north at the last minute. Preparedness is something I'm comfortable with. Like Frank, we Northerners have a different list of priorities. Water and shelter are the common issues we all face.
I keep a a good deal of water handy, fill the tub to flush the crapper, gas grill to cook on if we lose power for any length of time. During Bob back in 91, we had a condo park cookoff with all the food we were going to lose during the 10 days of no power. Fed more than our neighborhood and made some good friends!
I can always make fire, fix a boo boo, protect my stuff, build a lean too, stay somewhat warm with the pack I carry in both vehicles... even carry a small forest ax.
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Speaking of vehicles, I have an air mattress in the back of my truck. My truck is a long bed, 8 feet long, and I keep the air mattress in there inflated at all times, unless I need to haul something. There's plenty of room between it and the tailgate to put over a dozen bags of groceries and it keeps them from sliding around. On top of the air mattress is a large duffel bag. Inside are my sleeping bag and insulated blanket that I use when camping. If my truck breaks down in the winter I can stay warm until help arrives. I also have a plastic tote in the truck all the time full of gear like a bow saw, tarps, bungee cords, and jumper cables. I've helped a lot of people jump start their cars but never my own. The air mattress keeps the box from sliding around. I have a first aid kit, flashlight, and toolkit in the cab too. I don't have any food or water in the truck but really should have a couple of bottles of water. I have a shovel that started out as a military surplus entrenching tool, and a hammer I made from a Vietnam tomahawk in the back too. Both have steel pipe handles welded on and could be deadly weapons. I use the hammer to set up my tent. I needed a hammer in the truck more than a tomahawk since I already keep a full size ax in there. If I had a passenger car I would carry most of those things in the trunk. You never know when you might need them.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170917/dbbf8745e037cfb77d4046fccd0bd772.jpg)
Surfs up from Jose in southern Maine!
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We have family in your area so we knew that you escaped the worst of it. Thank God.
You all are very important people.
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I'm really glad all of the "family" in Florida and along the east coast made it in as good a shape as you did.
This thread has also been a good review on preps. I'm in the throes of getting a generator and have a line on the Lister cold start diesels. Les's observation about lights with standard (AA in this case) batteries was good and that Nitecore charger is an excellent choice (got one). A 100 or 200 watt solar panel with an AC inverter would be good to feed the Nitecore with...I should try to find a good one if anyone here is please share the information.
Maybe we should start a new thread in the "Best Defense Survival" Topic just for equipment updates and ideas?
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Rastus... on of my lessons learned was that a power strip to run all of the chargers off a single outlet was desirable, rather than having them scattered about...picked up a power strip, spare chain for my saw, and a 100' extension cord... you never have too many 5gal buckets...other than that the preps worked... had only one night with objectionable heat to sleep in, and the tent fan motor turning my ceiling fan made it bearable...as a courtesy, I did not run the generator after 10pm... we dodged one this time, with wind speeds just shy of 80mph here in New Port Richey
would like to see a weather/short term emergency topic... I have lots of suggestions ...stay safe
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Still in rough format and am working on getting the UK and European 3 day forecast plotted as well.
Here are my plots on how well the NHC did, or didn't do. Of course their biggest error was the week before it hit when they said it would go up the east coast, which it didn't.
In fairness the tracks are only with 20-40 miles of accuracy, and I had to interpolate them, since the forecasts are a 3am, 9am, 3pm, and 9pm while the locations are posted at noon, 6pm, 12am, & 6am.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Hurricane/i-6LcSdXk/0/81721b6a/L/Hurricane%20Irma%20Track-L.png)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Hurricane/i-JKvG87x/0/60210e36/M/Hurricane%20Irma%20Error-M.png)
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It looks like St. Croix and Puerto Rico will be gone as we know them after today. Is there anything left in the Caribbean? These cruise ship companies are going to go out of business. It's going to be years before some of these places return to post Irma / Maria normality. I doubt some ever will.
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It looks like St. Croix and Puerto Rico will be gone as we know them after today. Is there anything left in the Caribbean? These cruise ship companies are going to go out of business. It's going to be years before some of these places return to post Irma / Maria normality. I doubt some ever will.
Yep.
I read that a couple of the smaller islands lost over 90% of their buildings during Irma's tirade.
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They're now saying power is out over the entire island of Puerto Rico. And some areas will not have power for 6 months!
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They're now saying power is out over the entire island of Puerto Rico. And some areas will not have power for 6 months!
Welcome to the Dark Ages P.R.
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They have done such a good job of running their country. Their young and industrious citizens shagged it for the continent. Those who are left are pretty much getting what they think they wanted.
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Welcome to the Dark Ages P.R.
3 million residents with 80 billion in debt!
WTF???
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3 million residents with 80 billion in debt!
WTF???
And they are looking to Uncle Sugar to take care of the problem they built. Let 'em rot!!!!
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And they are looking to Uncle Sugar to take care of the problem they built. Let 'em rot!!!!
Unca Sugar is 20 trillion in the hole, too!
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Unca Sugar is 20 trillion in the hole, too!
This is just my opinion, and worth what it costs; As long as the rest of the world uses the dollar as the worlds Reserve Currency, we can maintain our current standard of living. When the change occurs, our standard of living will drop somewhere close to 35%. Unemployment around 60%. Food prices up, gawd knows how much. Fuel? Fuggedaboudit. Gub'mint? Fed, State, and local AWOL. We'll finally be the 3rd world shithole so many have been working so hard to get to. Fall of Rome anyone?
The guns and ammo some of us have accumulated will come in handy then.
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Unca Sugar is 20 trillion in the hole, too!
<snip> As long as the rest of the world uses the dollar as the worlds Reserve Currency, we can maintain our current standard of living. When the change occurs, our standard of living will drop somewhere close to 35%. Unemployment around 60%. Food prices up, gawd knows how much. Fuel? Fuggedaboudit. Gub'mint? Fed, State, and local AWOL. We'll finally be the 3rd world shithole so many have been working so hard to get to. Fall of Rome anyone?
The guns and ammo some of us have accumulated will come in handy then.
Yes we are 20 trillion in debt. But the rest of the world's countries central banks hold our debt. So long as they do hold our debt they have a vested interest in us doing well. We have a fiat currency...people and countries have faith in it....misplaced I'd say, but still they have it. When they panic that will be it.
However, we do have Trump. If we can hold together and get some of the economic stimulus going (if the damned RINO's cared about the country 1/100th of what they care for themselves) we'll dodge the bullet for maybe another generation or until someone like Hillary is in.
So long as everything else stays the same...which I doubt.
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If we can hold together and get some of the economic stimulus going (if the damned RINO's cared about the country 1/100th of what they care for themselves) we'll dodge the bullet for maybe another generation or until someone like Hillary is in.
Forget about Hillary. You can stick a fork in her, because she's baked to a crisp politically. The guy you really have to worry about down the road is Sanders. His biggest downside is his age. But that doesn't seem to matter to the idiots who support him like he was a Pope. This guy is pure off the rails, bat $h!t crazy. He will economically destroy this country in a single term in office. Perhaps even faster if he was ever able to get in with both a Democratic controlled House and Senate.
I don't think that will happen. But you would never know it, by the way all of these young idiots salivate over this off the rails communist. Along with all of his "free" everything. They HATED Hillary... They LOVE Sanders. Add in that nut case Warren as a V.P., and you have what amounts to a perfect storm of financial disaster.
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It could be worse.
Liawatha Warren would be horrendous...worse than Sanders.
Yes...Hillary is likely done. But there are plenty out there like her just waiting for their chance to fundamentally change America.
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It could be worse. Liawatha Warren would be horrendous...worse than Sanders.
Yes...Hillary is likely done. But there are plenty out there like her just waiting for their chance to fundamentally change America.
Doesn't that just warm your heart??