Wraithfodder's Lair

Under the "wow, finally got something done" category, we got some of the damaged pine tree from Hurricane Sandy chopped up (see post at http://wraithfodder.livejournal.com/493940.html for the 'before' photos). Here is what part of yard looks like now!


The stack of logs in the middle is the remains of the pine tree trunk that was splayed out in the yard all winter long. At right is the smaller stack of the remains of the poor dogwood tree. It took me about 10-15 minutes, but I was able to dig out a branch (about 6 feet long), half of which was driven straight into the ground. I found several branches like that, most small but the big one took more time to remove. The tree, alas, remains, as done the big scattered pile of BIG pieces of chopped pine (seen more to the left, between the brown stack of dead pine needle branches and the stacked pile of logs).

But then again, the big logs now serve a purpose. Continue reading!

( Read more...gobble gobble! )

Although somewhere along the way, it got named "Superstorm" Sandy. Tough to tell when, as I had no power for six days. The storm came in on Monday and we lost power probably just about the time I was standing the garage, watching the row of 50-60' tall white plines (hate white pines, hate 'em) wavering back and forth violently and hoping they would NOT fall and hit the house, the car or me. Then the wind died down. Phew. An enormous gust roared in and KER-RACK! the huge pine at the end of the driveway snapped in half, and oh yeah, there went power. Luckily, the next day a neighbor came by and wondered if I need help and came back with chainsaw and cut out a portion so I could get car out. I did manage to get to work on Wednesday, drawn more by power and heat than the desire to work ;) Everything was covered in pine needles, the car, the house, the gutters, the entire yard. I still have to clean up the front yard.


Yes, VIrginia, there is a driveway underneath the wreakage...


Freedom!


But, we got a nifty blue sky out of it.

So, no power, no heat (that was the worst), no internet as a big tree in neighbor's yard uprooted and took out all the power/cable lines. LOTS of trees uprooted. Fortunately for all the falling trees, no one's house nearby got nailed, but there's a ton of useless wood (pine isn't good for much) in big piles in yards.  But we had water, our Y2K candles (they will outlive us, I'm sure), pizzza and I kept the cat warm by going to work and microwaving his Snuggle Safe pad each day so he'd be warm at night.

Sitting here waiting for Frankenstorm to arrive and hope he/she/it doesn't do too much damage. I do expect prolonged power outage just like last year at this time. Beginning to think Halloween is cursed... Not so much worried about rain or flooding, but the winds, and the trees, and hoping nothing falls into the house or squashes my car.

Got water, matches, candles, batteries, flashlights, Triscuit, cat food for the poor cat, who seems to do not much else but sleep these days :( Got enough lactated ringers to hopefully weather the storm. At least that doesn't require heating but... he's liking it less and less each time, so I fear at some point we'll just have to stop and that will be the beginning of the end for him. Hopefully power gets back on, or we get the generator up enough that I can warm up his little bed thing so he can stay warm.

Meanwhile, due to copious amounts of spammy comments clogging my email box, I caved and now only registered LJ users can make comments. Hated doing that, but I see one more Ugg spam arrive, I'll scream.

So if the storm (Hurricane Sally, or Superstorm Sally, whatever) hits, I'll be offline for a while. I hope to get back online eventually via Twitter (aka Wraithfodder there as well) just to let people know I didn't get blown away with the flying monkeys ;)

Ah, survived another hurricane!  Like I said in a previous post, it’s not if you lose power, but when, so…. We prepared.

- Filled the bathtubs with water, along with every pot and the four camping containers for water (two 7.5 and two 5 gallo- n containers).-
- Left out wheelbarrow in garden (no way could it fly away) along with two metal tubs.
- Broke out the Y2K candles. It’s gonna be the next century before we finish ‘em off!
- Got two lanterns at wallyworld (aka Walmart): small yellow LED one, and a larger LED one that takes 4 D cells and can run over 100 hours.
- Already had matches so no problem there
- Munchies. Detailed in other post. ;)

( Read more... )

...tonight, that is, because it's not a matter of if we'll lose power when Hurricane Irene plows through, but when. We always lose power. It never fails.  Heck, we got a light spring rain and some twig fell on a power line and poof, or everybody wakes up and  turns on their big screen tvs and blows the power doohicke on the phone pole. Although it's weakened to a category 1 storm, that's still up to 90 mph gusts. OMG, there goes the driveway. It's gravel. It's gonna turn into Grand Canyon. Drat.

The real beginning of the storm should arrive in about 5 hours, when heavy rains, then REALLY heavy rains around 1 a.m., then heavy rains and wind go throughout the night. But, having been through this hurricane stuff before, we knew what to do.

1) mow the lawn. Yes, god, mow the lawn. Otherwise by the time you get back power it will be a foot high and evil squirrels will be living in it.

2) get water and batteries. I got all that last weekend. I know how people panic. And the panic really hit Thursday where not a single D cell batttery was to be seen. I don't really need those, as I have C cells for the radio, and AA for the tiny flashlights. I also picked up (over the course of the summer) several large solar things-you-stick-in-the-ground-next-to-patio lights, and have them charged up. They last about 8 hours of semi decent light, or enough to highlight the halls, and then recharge during the day. As to water, I filled everything I could with water (we have a bunch of bottled water as well) because if power goes, we have a well, we can't get water. I left the wheelbarrow outside to collect water, plus some big metal pails, which will be so heavy the winds won't knock 'em over. Filling up the tubs in a few hours so we have water for toilets (yes, the joy of not having city water).

3) charged up the laptop, just in case, although if power goes, no internet connection. ARGH! charged up rechargeable AAs for walkman. charged up cellphone. Walkman also has radio in it so if power goes, I can listen to that.

4) got an audiobook from library (C.J. Box) and have several C.J. Box novels to read, plus lots of paperbacks.

5) cleaned house. nothing worse than dirt in house and no way to vacuum.

6) got my new car in the garage! Yes, it takes a hurricane for certain people in the family to move all their crap out and get my car in! Now as long as a tree doesn't fall on the garage...

And here are some of my emergency rations: book to read, Cheetoes (crunchy kind, the ONLY type to eat), Y2K (as in Year 2000 we're all going to die and the power will go out forever candles, and of course, nothing happened, so now I have lots of 120 hour candles for power outages), matches, and fresh baked brownies, which I burned a bit and my brother said oh  yeah, I could smell them burning and I said why didn't you say something and he said I like burned brownies. argh.... And birch beer, which looks better than a bottle of sherry. I mean, if the power stays out for a week, then I WILL be drinking the sherry I got for cooking chicken. I've been eating frozen food all week so all that's really left is chicken and some veggies, all barbecuable if necessary and oh yes, half a dozen Ikea sticky buns. Those are definitely emergency rations. Yum!



And that's about it. Hoping that it's not a horrid hurricane, but the local power company sent a notice out, which the towns distributed on their emergency lists, of the potential of power outages for a week, if not longer. The problem is this is the worst time for a hurricane to come. It's not that there's a good time, but if comes later in the fall, the trees are denuded. Right now, they're full of leaves. Not good.

And oh yes, I have two bitty frogs in the window well, I think they dug in, so I gave them a piece of wood in case water gets in. Don't want the little guys to drown. Meanwhile, we have covered several window wells with metal panels, but do expect some water  in the basement, but not a lot. The wet vac is waiting, and I've saved several old phone books to use as 'water dams' just in case.

Wow, just saw footage of Grand Central Station in NYC. Empty! oooh, ooh, great time to wax the floor!

Anybody else in Hurricane Irene's paths?

Volcano links, well, just because… well, they are very fascinating. I wonder if it's because I watched so many prehistoric monster movies as a kid in which there were volcanoes...

This has got to be one of the most stunning images caught of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which erupted in April 2010 and wreaked havoc across Europe.


(C) Lucas Jackson/Reuters

( Rest of links under the cut )

Yes, today was very momentous. Acquired a new pet AND a new car. I mean, wow!

Check under the cut for all the details, plus pictures of the new beauties!

( Read more... )

Local weather channel is talking about severe thunderstorms (warning, as opposed to watch), but now, tornado warnings. Ouch. Fortunately they didn't list my town but then when does the weather pattern respect what the weathermen say?

Meanwhile, the plus of having an old car sitting outside that if that horrible hail does come, well, I guess I can live with the dents... 

Nasty thunderstorms were predicted for today, but around 7:00pm, things didn't look so bad. 



And then after we got out of the store....