The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game October 23, 2005, 09:03:00 PM Well, this thing isn't going to be a direct hit, but it's going to be close.. so I figured I'd goof around while we wait for it to hit. We'll probably get winds from 30-70 mph for the better part of the next 24 hours.. and for an hour or so tomorrow, it may get to 70-80.. but it's still a hell of a lot better than Charley was. (150 mph)So I figure everyone's seen plenty of maps of the Gulf Coast recently.. but for the three or four people who might be interested and can't tell where I am in all this, I made a map:I guess we're ready for it. Got a lot of the potential projectiles out of the yard, but there's not much point to it.. our house is surrounded by a dense stand of pine and palm trees on three sides. For every potential projectile I pick up off the lawn, there's a hundred in the woods around us. Moved the cars that can move under their own power out to the most open spot in the yard, where only one tree can possibly clobber them. (but then, it has to be at least 60-80 feet tall, so it can hit anything in the yard) Got a beer in one hand, and a glass of Early Times in the other.. :D although, to be honest, I can't bring myself to have too much tonight for some reason. Just enough to take the edge off.Suppose I'll post more as the mood hits. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #1 – October 23, 2005, 09:18:34 PM Good luck, man. Stay away from the windows. :DEarly Times rocks. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #2 – October 23, 2005, 09:20:21 PM The real is that the bedroom window behind me is 40 years old. We replaced all but four windows a few years ago. This is one of them. All I can say is I hope things aren't too eventful overnight. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #3 – October 23, 2005, 09:37:20 PM Ah..Single-pane? Big ol' shards when broken?Cover it in tape! :) Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #4 – October 23, 2005, 09:41:01 PM I taped them up heavily (and I mean more than half the glass was covered, not just your basic "X" you see on a lot of windows here) last year. Still haven't got rid of all the duct tape residue from last year. Not going to worry about it (too much) this year.There's a screen on the inside.. and in the case of the bedroom window, a pull-down blind. Hopefully that'll minimize flying debris somewhat IF the window lets go. If not, well, I guess that means I'll be getting all new stuff. :p Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #5 – October 23, 2005, 10:11:56 PM A screen on the inside? You guys in the south must do it differently. Our screens are on the outside, so you can open the window from the inside and the screen keeps the killer death mosquitos out.We're gonna have some Wilma fun here on Tuesday/Wednesday. Wilma is supposed to absorb Alpha tomorrow and then come straight over Nova Scotia. It won't be as bad as Florida gets it, but the rain will likely do the most damage - we have been getting major rainstorm after major rainstorm, including 4" today. The rivers just can't hold any more water...One thing is certain - after Juan, people around here take storms more seriously. You could not buy a D-sized battery or 1-pound propane cylinder in this province when Ophelia hit a month ago...My map: Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #6 – October 23, 2005, 10:25:21 PM No, our newer windows have outside screens. The window in question is 40 years old. (they're "jalousie" type windows.. multiple panes that all crank outward together to about a 45 degree angle away from the frame)I would not be surprised if Wilma is a category 3 at landfall.. it's gone up 10 mph in wind speed since this morning.. and it's crossing the same area of water that made Charley explode from a hurricane this speed to a monster. (something like +30 mph overnight/morning) Even so, the eye will probably pass at least 50 miles south of me. I still think we'll mainly get tropical storm-force winds (unless we get a tornado) and a lot of rain here at the house. Rain's already here.All I can say is, I hope I don't hear that howling sound again from the wind. Hearing ~150 mph wind interact with things in your yard is eerie, to put it mildly. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #7 – October 23, 2005, 11:48:42 PM I had to open my big mouth. It's a 3 now.. 115.We're in the zone of tropical storm-force winds.. but so far it hasn't been terribly windy.Not sure how much sleep I'll get tonight.. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #8 – October 24, 2005, 12:26:53 AM Take Care Sir.....and get a big lamp....and a couple of cans of tuna...That make me remembers when i was living in Sinaloa, a bunch Hurricanes from June to October.... Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #9 – October 24, 2005, 12:43:19 AM Bathtub's full of water for flushing. Have three large empty cat litter buckets outside under a drain spout for the same. Prepaid cell phone is charged up and has about 200 minutes. All our home phones are corded phones, so none will fail if the power goes out. Just got my new credit card yesterday, fortunately.. so funds won't be a big issue. Have a couple of LED flashlights in my pockets, and da woman has one nearby as well. Have several other flashlights and candles scattered around the house. Washing what laundry I can do now before the power goes out. (already had one nearby transformer explosion and flicker) Gotta test the generator and gather up the extension cords. We have a small battery operated TV/radio around here somewhere, that we can hook up to the satellite receiver. (something I hooked to the generator after Charley) With that little TV not drawing much power, it should allow us to keep the refridgerator and window A/C running on the generator without overtaxing it. (5600w continuous) If all that fails, I still have a decent power inverter out in the car.. assuming it hasn't been ruined by moisture in the trunk. (although that dried up well over a week ago) Biggest problem will be gas. We didn't get any in cans. I'll have to put a battery in the two cars that can't move and pump out their gas tanks, if we're unable to get out for gas tomorrow afternoon. Takes about 10 gallons a day to keep that generator fed, and it only has about 4 gallons in it now. Fortunately, all three of the driveable cars in the yard have at least 3/4 tank each. I can mitigate things somewhat by cranking up the temperatures on the fridge/freezer and the window A/C here in the bedroom, though. Worst case scenario, the house becomes temporarily uninhabitable and we're forced to go to my workplace and rent a room. I get a huge discount, we have rooms reserved for employees, we allow pets, and there's a pretty big propane-powered generator. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #10 – October 24, 2005, 02:16:33 AM My parents are up here in Ohio right now. There planning on flying back late tomorrow though, they may reschedual. Sucky thing is my freind was planning a visit up here and she was flying up tuesday so it looks like she may not make it.... Good luck to you. Hope for the best. We all will. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #11 – October 24, 2005, 04:04:06 AM The shiznit's about to hit the fan here, and with the eyewall being so big on this storm, (and with the path it's taking) it looks like we may get hurricane winds for a few hours here in my area.I got about 90 minutes of "sleep".. laying there listening to the wind and rain fluctuate, mainly.. but it was better than nothing. Now it's her turn.I get the feeling I'll be driving 20-30 miles each way for gas (for the generator) later today, once the storm has mostly passed. Doubt anyone will be open today here in Charlotte County.Amusingly, (to me, anyway) as long as the generator functions properly and the phone line doesn't go dead, I should be able to get online here even after the power goes out.The worst part about this, so far, has been that it's dark right now. Every noise outside is five times more unnerving. Even our cats are acting strangely over some of it. I put on all the outside lights, closed off every window blind I could, and it's still unsettling when some random wind-generated noise happens. At least with Charley, it happened in the middle of the day.. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #12 – October 24, 2005, 11:40:53 AM Creepy, ain't it? Kind of exciting at the same time though. Definitely serves to break the monotony for a while. Good luck to you man. Quote Selected
The Hurricane Wilma Play-Along-At-Home Game Reply #13 – October 24, 2005, 02:44:50 PM Lucked out again. Zero damage. You can't even tell a hurricane just passed nearby except for three things:1) A lot of yard debris2) Nearby street and real estate signs are knocked down3) Still somewhat windy (I'd say 20 mph gusts)It's 74 and sunny now. Don't know how much rain we got, since the rain gauge only measures up to 5 inches. I know we got hurricane winds close by, from reading the NOAA maps.. but you couldn't really tell here.Managed to get some sleep this morning once I realized that the winds were blowing in a direction that would make fallen trees on the house and cars very unlikely.Four hurricanes (one direct hit, 3 very near misses) in 14 months, zero damage. I should play the lotto more. :p Quote Selected
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