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I thought I left hurricanes behind :)


Darlene

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11 years ago I moved from Miami to a little farm in the Blue Ridge mountains. I was happiest about leaving hurricane season behind me, far far away.

 

While I'm no longer on the coast, it appears that Hurricane Florence wants to visit, albeit a much downgraded hurricane by that point. I no longer live in concrete block housing and I have a ton of trees that could mess alot of things up so if you think about it, keep us in your prayers.

 

Sheesh, it's aggravating to think about losing electricity, but there's no better way to prep than living through things like that in the past lol. And maybe, the Lord will place His hand to direct it in another direction (not that I want anyone to go through that kind of thing). THAT would be awesome :)

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I JUST emailed you, girlfriend!  Charge up your solar genny....trim up threatening tree branches.....put fly-a-way things into buildings....  You KNOW this drill!!!!  Better recruit your kids to have a hurricane party at the farm! 

 

Keep us posted and hope it will merely be another dress rehearsal....  And don't push Flo back up to my brother's boats in D.C.  :grinning-smiley-044:

 

MtRider ...already praying for you and yours...including critters!  :hug3: 

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I'll  keep you in my prayers, Dar.  We're in  Georgia; 200 miles from where Flo is due to hit, but we are still battening.  Like you we have lots of trees, and in our area there are frequent power failures from wind as it is. Our sole access road has a history of washing out in past prolonged storms, too, so we are preparing for that as well.  ;I did not realize hurricanes could affect so far inland, but our neighbors assure us we often are 'participants' in such events.  It still beats snow/blizzards/ice storms though.  But then again we have three generators, tested and ready to go, as well as a multitude of preps for bugging in.  If all else fails we adjourn into the motor home, cook on its propane system, run the AC on its generator, and watch the TV on its satellite dish.  I'm more worried about some of our less prepared neighbors - the hard drinker in the low area that might flood; the meth head up the road, and her children.  I don't really want them knocking on our door asking/demanding help and getting fuggly when we decline to rescue them.  Id hate to have to deal with that, but what will be, will be.  We will deal.   Right now we re battening down, pre-positioning things we might need, making sure we have gas for the gennys,  securing the yard stuff....yep we ALL know the drill, I guess.  

Edited by kappydell
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Thanks everyone...I just looked at the news and Flowy is down to 110mph which is a good thing!

 

Kappy, where in GA are you? It's exciting to know that there's another MrsS here in GA!

 

Trim trees MtRider? Which ones? lol j/k...my son trimmed some around the house a few weeks ago but they are a very brittle variety that needs to be totally taken out.

 

As I write this I just realized that water will be my concern...not for me, as much as for all the animals. Sheesh, need to figure out how to hook generator up to well pump that keeps all the automatic waterers going. Hopefully the downgrade in Flowy will be a good sign to all.

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Yeah Darlene...you've got a passle of them, for sure.  LOL  But definitely any near branches that would fly thru your many windows.  I'd hope you wouldn't have to board up...that far inland???  But...what do I know?  :shrug:   I'm a veteran of ONE hurricane...Cat 4 Iniki in Hawaii in 1992.  But it was hitting Kauai at the other end of the island chain.  Even that far away, it was quite impressive with surge and wind.  But....not that much.  H.Iniki was the last hurricane to have a direct hit.  Don't think H. Lane counts since it spun out before it made landfall last month. 

 

MtRider :pray:  for all of you!  Who else is in GA...someone?? :scratchhead:

Edited by Mt_Rider
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Dar Im between Atlanta & Macon, kinda north central, I think.  Closest towns are Milledgeville & Eatonton.  

Edited by kappydell
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Kewl Kappy! I'm up in north Georgia in the Blue Ridge mountains :)

 

Flowy has slowed down and downgraded its intensity. We're still in the cone for rains and I'm sure lower winds, which is fine. Not worried about flooding so I'm feeling optimistic.

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On 9/13/2018 at 4:09 AM, kappydell said:

I'll  keep you in my prayers, Dar.  We're in  Georgia; 200 miles from where Flo is due to hit, but we are still battening.  Like you we have lots of trees, and in our area there are frequent power failures from wind as it is. Our sole access road has a history of washing out in past prolonged storms, too, so we are preparing for that as well.  ;I did not realize hurricanes could affect so far inland, but our neighbors assure us we often are 'participants' in such events.  It still beats snow/blizzards/ice storms though.  But then again we have three generators, tested and ready to go, as well as a multitude of preps for bugging in.  If all else fails we adjourn into the motor home, cook on its propane system, run the AC on its generator, and watch the TV on its satellite dish.  I'm more worried about some of our less prepared neighbors - the hard drinker in the low area that might flood; the meth head up the road, and her children.  I don't really want them knocking on our door asking/demanding help and getting fuggly when we decline to rescue them.  Id hate to have to deal with that, but what will be, will be.  We will deal.   Right now we re battening down, pre-positioning things we might need, making sure we have gas for the gennys,  securing the yard stuff....yep we ALL know the drill, I guess.  

 

Motor homes and travel trailers are awfully good preps!  We can sure get a lot of stuff loaded to leave (should we have to) with a small 5x8 trailer hitched to Miss B and the truck (with a cap) pulling the travel trailer to "whereabouts unknown"...LOL

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Thankfully, it appears that this may be a non-event for our area and thank God Flowy reduced from a Cat 4 to Cat 1. That's still catastrophic for many on the east coast but I'm grateful it wasn't even worse.

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Since things have not hit us hard here we were cleaning up some of the assorted branches & trimmings from our hedgerow clearing.  Yesterday we looked at the bushy and unwieldy saplings we had cut, laying in the ditch, among the all too abundant smilax vines (also known here as "ankle-grabbing-obnoxious vines) and told ourselves "there has got to be a better way to move this stuff out than floundering about in the brush pile".  So, on went the thinking caps as we asked ourselves "how did great grandma & grandpa do this without killing themselves?:  

Well, they skidded out logs, brush, and other things too heavy or awkward to manhandle with horses or mules.  Ok, we don't have a mule, but we DO have  lawn tractor with a hitch...and a good rope....and a good knowledge of knots. Hmmmm.

It sure sped things up to pile up those brushy piles, wrap them in rope, and pull them out, then down the road and over to our burn pile!  Plus the pine boughs swept the road nice and clean from any stray dirt/grass/dead leaves and debris that came out with the branches!  High fives all around and we beat the rain!  I like to think the children that stopped to watch learned a new trick from two old dogs.

 

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Well, we got lucky with Florence, but not our dear friends son who is in the Marine Corps and lives off base near Parris Island.  He was right in the middle of things. 

His commandant would not release anyone to go home and prepare, believing that S Carolina would not be hit all that hard. 

So, by the time he got released to go home and take care of things, Florence had already blown down numerous trees on his place, damaged his roof and gutters, and he was without power about a week (believing that underground power lines would not be affected) and the river was rising fast.  He did not get water in the house, but his property is a shambles.  So his dad called us and asked if Mary (her nickname lately has been 'chainsaw mary') would go up there with him and help clear downed trees?  Of course!  As soon as the roads are passable they will drive up there and get cracking.  So the last two days have been hectic - planning, packing, gathering supplies (when the power went out he lost all his food, so both families dipped into our preps to fill the gap) and staging things so as to be ready to go at a moments notice.  Today we loaded the truck with 3 gas generators (heavy things - took four of us to lift them in), 3 gas chain saws, gas leaf blowers, gasoline, assorted hand tools of the logging sort, clothes, an enormous cooler (we will load just prior to leaving) and basic camping gear, including an indoor one-room air conditioner (just in case he loses power again it can be powered via generator to keep 1 room cool for het recovery and sleeping), a propane camp stove, lights, batteries galore, and all the trimmings!  We are looking on this as an unexpected rotation of our preps.  Dad is rather aggravated that his 30 year old Marine son, raised as a prepper did NOT have any preps in place as a matter of course.  But of course, we still will go help - maybe (we HOPE) this will be a "teachable moment" and he will learn to be ready in the future.  His Dad has had strokes, heart attacks, etc. and Mary will be watching him like a hawk to make sure he eats and gets enough rest, and does NOT over-do.  I will mind the dogs, keep the home fires burning (I'm not very spry for 'combat-chainsaw conditions' and have physical therapy, doctor appointments and lab appointments already set up months in advance) so I will miss all the fun.  Mary says I would have to ride atop the truck since it is packed full anyway, which I declined to do, LOL.  So I guess it means hurricane Florence affected us anyway, just not directly.    

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The younger generation is getting a first-hand look at a real situation.  Likely they will learn....and probably be awed.  :happy0203: 

 

MtRider  .... :lol:  Chainsaw Mary?  Tell her to be careful and set the safety standard for everyone....another important lesson in preps!

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Chainsaw Mary is ultra careful. 

1.  We always have backup people around when felling - one just to watch and yell - loudly! - when the tree first starts to go over because the chainsaw operator cant hear a darn thing and might not see the first movements, giving them a little time to un-ass (as Chainsaw Mary puts it) the area quickly.  Even seconds count here.  That is usually my job along with water intake monitoring, snake watch, and brush dragging.  No backup, no logging.

2.  We are fond believers of using my cane to probe areas before placing feet in places we cant see into (brush piles) in case of critters.  Its hard to coexist with a critter when you step on it.

3.  Chainsaw Mary take a lot of time looking at the tree before making any cuts at all, deciding where to make the felling notch.  Any lean, any breeze, the amount of branching & foliage and it's placement on the tree and any visible twisting to the trunk all factor into which way the tree is likely to fall.  She always tries to work with the tree, rather than against it.  

4.  Chainsaw Mary always makes sure any co workers (me and the dogs, mostly) know when she is ready to make the tree drop, and makes sure they are well clear of ANY felling path the tree MIGHT take, as well as the one she plans to use.  We always confirm both visually and verbally to make sure there is NO misunderstanding.  Some folks think that is overkill, but we don't think so.

5.  Last but not least, Chainsaw Mary ALWAYS makes sure she has an escape path free of debris that might slow her down or impede her fleeing, "just in case".  

 

That's why our friend trusts her to come cut up trees with him under austere conditions - much to the surprise of his sons.  (I suspect he thinks she has more brains than both of them put together, but then again, she has 40 years' experience on them, too...).

 

Right now we are waiting for the waters to recede so the roads are passable.  No sense going too soon and getting stuck hundreds of miles away by flooded roads.  That could happen anyway, but  we are; at least trying to make sure conditions are at least semi-reasonable road-wise.  The waiting is a pain in the posterior though.

 

 

 

 

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Wow....sounds like Chainsaw Mary uses my kind of careful!  Having done almost no chainsawing....some of those precautions are new to me.  Thanks for the detailed description!!!! :thumbs:  I realllllly don't like to work around folks that are not careful.....of self or others.  No wonder she's got a great reputation.  Praying the flood waters recede and the trip is safe and successful.  And the "youngsters" learn a great deal. 

 

MtRider  :pray: 

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Chainsaw Mary says thank you for the kind words, Mt_Rider.  These trees will be easy, they are already down, LOL.  But now you see why she is one of the very few people I will trust to stand behind me on the shooting range or while hunting.  She is just that kind of careful.

Edited by kappydell
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