Guess what? The SHTF! For real!

[The Annoyed Man]

Here in Central Ohio, Ike ripped through with 75+ mph winds yesterday afternoon.  Roofs losing shingles and paper.  Trees down.  Power out for over 20 hours.  Yep, it hit the fan.  NOt as bad as on the coast, but bad enough that I opened up the supplies.  candles, batteries and flashlights.  If the power stays off much longer, we'll be in the survival food, after the refrigerator goes bad.

And my wife said I was wasting time and money building up all these supplies.

For anyone asking, I'm at work now, finishing up some things so I can go home and put on my Mall Ninja costume in case of looters. 

Seriously, it was a hell of a blow.  My nice shed...well, I have one wall left.  Stripped the chimney off of a neighbor's house.  Power may be down for a couple of days, at which point we may all get used to smelling like baby wipes. 

Anyone else get hit by this away from the coast?

[Manedwolf]

Get the meat out of the fridge and fire up the grill. If it didn't blow away, too.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Ike gave me a new trashcan.  I found it in my front yard.  No idea where it came from.

[MechAg94]

Ike makes me really appreciate having a gas water heater and gas stove.  I got no power, but I can cook up eggs for breakfast and take a hot shower. 

I heard someone say a friend of theirs has a natural gas fired home generator.  I need to look into that.

[freakazoid]

Ike gave me a new trashcan.  I found it in my front yard.  No idea where it came from.

All hail the all powerful and merciful Ike. It punishes the wicked and rewards the good... with trashcans.

  

[mtnbkr]

Ike gave me a new trashcan.  I found it in my front yard.  No idea where it came from.

All hail the all powerful and merciful Ike. It punishes the wicked and rewards the good... with trashcans.

  

LMAO!!!

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

Sorry man, I've been there, but power off for less than a day is NOT SHTF. 

We had two week-long black-outs a couple of years ago.  Those were NOT SHTF.  Now, if the use of generators exacerbates the Ike-related fuel shortage appreciably, that could get a little more serious.  But given the temperate weather, even that might not be so bad. 

[Manedwolf]

Ike gave me a new trashcan.  I found it in my front yard.  No idea where it came from.

Wilma gave my parents a huge wooden lawn swing, a nearly new paddle boat and a plastic swan. They floated up against the bank of the lake.

The boat was claimed, though, since it belonged to someone on the other side of the lake.

[Manedwolf]

I heard someone say a friend of theirs has a natural gas fired home generator.  I need to look into that.

Generac. Looks like a big AC compressor. Honda gas turbine. Very quiet, too. They automatically cycle on and off every few weeks to keep in good shape, and do automatic switchover.

[Ex-MA Hole]

Ike makes me really appreciate having a gas water heater and gas stove.  I got no power, but I can cook up eggs for breakfast and take a hot shower. 

I heard someone say a friend of theirs has a natural gas fired home generator.  I need to look into that.

I'm partial to gasoline powered ones...easier to refill in the event they run out due to lengthy outages.......

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Ike?  Bah. Sunny and beautiful here in San Diego.  Excuse me, while I go enjoy the weather and my astronomical rent.  Also I need to go enjoy some near four dollar gas. 

[Manedwolf]

Ike?  Bah. Sunny and beautiful here in San Diego.  Excuse me, while I go enjoy the weather and my astronomical rent.  Also I need to go enjoy some near four dollar gas. 

Yeah, well, you get the fires and earthquakes.

All I get here is snow, and that's just annoying because it keeps you indoors. It stopped being a disaster back when they invented big plows.

[ilbob]

I acquired an extra recycling bin in a windstorm once. just appeared on my lawn.

Here in Northern Illinois we have gotten a lot of rain from Ike. But not much else.

[roo_ster]

Dallas must be in a near-perfect zone to avoid catastrophic weather.

Tornadoes come in off the plains and Ft Worth takes it in the face.

Hurricanes from the Gulf, & Houston gets kicked in the jimmy.

Meanwhile, Dallas gets a nice, steady rain from Ike and my lawn is happy.

[zahc]

Very true. At this point I'm a big fan of hurricanes. These past three days since Ike we've had the best weather all year.

[seeker_two]

Dallas must be in a near-perfect zone to avoid catastrophic weather.

Your city gov't does more damage than any hurricane.... 

[Bigjake]

Up here in N central Ohio, We got crazy winds as well.  Gust up to 70 mph, which is big for around here.  Lots of downed trees, some power outages, no big deal really.   

I did happen to look out the kitchen window at about 5pm in time to see a couple of my more unfortunate chickens trying to skitter back to the door of the coop, only to be blown by wind gust back into the fence.  Had to go out and rescue their dumb asses before they were gone with the wind.

Also, as a guy who heats using firewood, this windstorm was fortunate in that dept too!

[Hutch]

Also, as a guy who heats using firewood, this windstorm was fortunate in that dept too!

Why, you could almost say it was a windfall! I'm up too early...

[HankB]

TV weathermen were predicting dire consequences from Ike for Austin.

Their "100%" rain chance resulted in ZERO local rainfall.

Highest wind gust was in the 20mph range . . . the nearest "tropical storm force" winds (39mph gust)  were well east of the city.

TV Weatherman - best job in the world. Just paraphrase the National Weather Service, have an intern do your maps, collect a six-figure salary (extra from speaking engagements) . . . and competence is neither required nor expected.

[AZRedhawk44]

The first rule about SHTF is:

If you can brag about SHTF on the intarwebz, then S has not HTF.

[roo_ster]

Dallas must be in a near-perfect zone to avoid catastrophic weather.

Your city gov't does more damage than any hurricane.... 

True, true.

Luckily I live directly north of Dallas in Richardson so am not ruled by those clowns.

[MechAg94]

Ike makes me really appreciate having a gas water heater and gas stove.  I got no power, but I can cook up eggs for breakfast and take a hot shower. 

I heard someone say a friend of theirs has a natural gas fired home generator.  I need to look into that.

I'm partial to gasoline powered ones...easier to refill in the event they run out due to lengthy outages.......

I understand where you are coming from, but when you see the lines for gasoline and how everyone is trying to get it, it makes you reconsider. 

Propane is a good option also as you can keep propane around and not worry about it going bad.  You can't do that with gas.  I only mention natural gas as I already have gas appliances.  I would have to see if it would require a new regulator or other upgrades.  All the options will cost money I am sure.  A/C is great, but having a working refrigerator/ice maker and a few lights would have made the power outage a bit more pleasant and easier to deal with.

[crt360]

TV weathermen were predicting dire consequences from Ike for Austin.

Their "100%" rain chance resulted in ZERO local rainfall.

Highest wind gust was in the 20mph range . . . the nearest "tropical storm force" winds (39mph gust)  were well east of the city.

TV Weatherman - best job in the world. Just paraphrase the National Weather Service, have an intern do your maps, collect a six-figure salary (extra from speaking engagements) . . . and competence is neither required nor expected.

Yeah, they made it sound like Ike was going to hit Corpus and plow right up through Austin.  The UT game was postponed.  I went out to the marina to prepare the boat as best I could, moved stuff out of the yard that was going to blow away in the 70 mph winds . . . and nothing happened.  I can't complain about dodging a hurricane, but they sure hyped it.

[Perd Hapley]

Up here in Saint Louis, we got a sustained, TORRENTIAL downpour for over twelve hours on Sunday.  We also had (still have) some flooding.  The rivers are supposed to be getting higher over the next couple of days.

We also had a very, very heavy rain a couple of weeks ago. 

Yet you folks in Dallas and Austin got nothin' but a little rain?

So confused. 

[crt360]

Up here in Saint Louis, we got a sustained, TORRENTIAL downpour for over twelve hours on Sunday.  We also had (still have) some flooding.  The rivers are supposed to be getting higher over the next couple of days.

We also had a very, very heavy rain a couple of weeks ago. 

Yet you folks in Dallas and Austin got nothin' but a little rain?

So confused. 

God is pleased with us.   

Maybe you shouldn't have bagged on the LO||RD bookends.