asianflava wrote:Whew I made it back to Austin! Was supposed to leave Palm Bay (I can actually say Palm Bay and people will know where it is) on Sat but we got stuck there. Managed to get my flight today (Tues) and get home.
We started getting the high winds Sat AM and it kept going till Mon PM. My parents had power on Sat but lost it Sun AM. Had land lines but lost them Mon. Lost water since there is now power for the well pump. Cell phones kept saying "Searching for Network". We had plenty of water and the artesian well but that is pretty stinky water (used it to flush toilets). Luckily, my Dad's office has power so they are hanging out there.
My parents house came out fine, they lost a few trees and some soffit vents but otherwise it was fine. My mom's greenhouse was a wreck but it looks rebuildable. Maybe I'll post some pics when I get everything sorted out. I've been in a few Hurricanes but this one was agonizing because it took so long.
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I agree.
Ok,
Now that things have quieted down here today. I'll try and fill you in on a few things.
First off. My dad gave me an old generator a couple of months ago. She leaks oil. She uses oil. She uses gas. But she was a life saver this time.
Power went out here Sat at 4:00pm We listen to the radio for a while. We even thought about going down to the place where the lady on CNN was and then thought na. We better stay here.
All went well. I fell asleep around 12:00 and Cheryl came to bed around 1:00 after the eye hit below use.
Got up the next morning and got the generator out and placed it on the front porch. Got the little 5.00 coffee pot we got a couple of years ago at Wal-mart when my parents were here at Thanksgiving.
Got the generator running and had 2 cups of coffee. Was great. Later on that day. I hooked the generator to the well pump and we were able to flush the toilets. All looking good.
I've learned that this one isn't quite big enough for us in this type of situation so we will be getting a bigger one for both use up on the property and here when we have an emergency like we just had.
I will keep this one for a spare but it won't last very much longer without replacing the motor. It sure did save us.
Had coffee On Monday and Tuesday. and ran the pump Monday so we could take a shower. All worked great.
House did fine. I did learn a lot about all this. Next time I'll use a 5500 watt generator and hook it to the dry breaker. Shut off the power to the house and backfeed form the generator to the house.
Will be able to run the Frig, fans, some lights, TV. and a small 5000btu A/C that I'm going to install in the wall of our bedroom. This sleeping with no A/C in Fl. don't cut it.
That about gets up to date.
Bufordt
"RUSH" The Man, The Legend, The Way Of Life.