Are you ready for Danny?

OK, so they named a tropical storm soon to be himicane Danny. My wife Di lived in Florida for 12 years and has been through a good many of these so here are our thoughts.

First of all, time to load up on beer now. If a big one hits you can't work, can't cache, the stores are down...you get the picture.

Di says start hording canned tuna. Very nutricious, doesn't need to be cold, goes great with beer. In Florida fights break out over Charlie in the can and peanut butter.

DVD's. Get a bunch. You'll make yourself crazy watching Jim Santori standing at the end of the Rockland Breakwater or Portland head Light with his zipper blown open! The guy is begging to be hit with a bait tote from a grounded lobster boat. Don't encourgage him. Get a good movie like "The Perfect Storm" or Debbie Does Danny!

Underwear and socks. Load up now. You heard the expression " Got my socks blown off", this is what and when that happens. Haines makes storm-proof and load-leveling underwear for those willing to pay the price for quality u-trows.

Water. Highly over-rated, necessary for coffee and nothing else. You know what fish do in water....just get a few bottles. Don't fill up your tub like "they" say. You going to drink water out of your tub you sick and crazed person?

Final thoughts. While I'm proud they named a himicane after me, I don't want it to do a lot of damage...but sheesh, a few knocked over trees and a couple of shingles blown off here and there, scattered power outages would make me proud they named this thing after me!:D

OMG - LMAO! Dan are you bringing your keyboard to Eustis??? If this is an example - I can't wait!

Now - load up on something to drink - mine is Chillable Red, Di's is - I have heard - Merlot - well, you get it.

Tuna - I love tuna. Peanut Butter - yuck! I like a ton of canned stuff and grew up with a WW2 MOM - so just open my cabinets and you have dinner.

DVD's - ok as long as we have power we are all set. We have ton we have gotten as gifts which we never had time to watch. Now one of those movies I want to find to borrrow is that Island Men one - of whatever brought about the real life attack in Monhegan.

Now, I alway buy new undies before a trip so we are all set on the provision for this year.

Water for coffee - heck, how do you make it??? I boil mine - why do you use bottled water for coffee. Boil it and all the bugs are dead! I bathe with the tubbie water, wash dishes and if I have recently disinfected and cleaned the tub before filling - well - you get it......you boil it don't you LOL! Oh - now I get what you were saying.......no! Don't drink it!

So you don't want to change your name to HurricaneDan? Do remember they allow you to change your cacher ID once in your Geocaching Career!

Folks - do stay safe out there and if you loose your power, shingles or have problems with limbs - remember Dan was there. Maybe he can give you a hand! It may be more in the form of clapping to coach you along.

Actually this post was all in fun - Seriously - if anyone has a problem from the storm - reach out to your caching friends nearby - I am sure any of us would help in any way possible!!

When you're in the business of fixing stuff, you cheer these things on. The year of the ice storm was a great year!

Not for me, I was without power for almost 10 days where I was. It was cool though,we got to cook on our woodstove,drew water from the lake for everything including the toilet, used candles for everything at night and got really close as a family playing games by candlelight every night.

I was 23 days and in the last 625 CMP customers to get power back. That's the deal when you're the only year round resident at the end of a 2 mile long private road! Tested my sense of humor in a big way! Now I have a 20k stand-alone genset and can sell power back to CMP!:)

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Originally Posted by dubord207

I was 23 days and in the last 625 CMP customers to get power back. That's the deal when you're the only year round resident at the end of a 2 mile long private road! Tested my sense of humor in a big way! Now I have a 20k stand-alone genset and can sell power back to CMP!:)

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Sheesh! If I were 20 years younger, I would DEFINITELY invest in a home wind power unit. Since I live on a north-west facing hill, and almost always have a breeze (at a minimum), I believe we could easily achieve the claimed 10-year payback by selling excess power to CMP. (Actually, even sooner with the current Federal 30% tax credit for residential wind power systems from Obama's "stimulus package".)

If I win the Megabucks, I'll buy it anyway! LOL!

MORE HINTS FOR SURVIVAL.....

Vienna sausages and canned baked beans....music in cans!

I rub sticks together for heat!

Sterno....cook with it......heat it up and run it through a cheesecloth and you have a emergency martini!

Keep your mouth closed when facing a high wind.....If not, your ears might whistle!!

And most of all....Don't bend over with your butt facing a high wind!........This causes bad breath!!
I have a gas grill and corn fed squirrels!

I have an emergency plan just in case............go to Dan's:D:D:D

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Originally Posted by shuman road searchers

I have an emergency plan just in case............go to Dan's:D:D:D

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Oh, you mean dubord207s...........LOL That's a cool plan - I think can find coords which are pretty close LOL;)!

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Originally Posted by WhereRWe?

Sheesh! If I were 20 years younger, I would DEFINITELY invest in a home wind power unit. Since I live on a north-west facing hill, and almost always have a breeze (at a minimum), I believe we could easily achieve the claimed 10-year payback by selling excess power to CMP. (Actually, even sooner with the current Federal 30% tax credit for residential wind power systems from Obama's "stimulus package".)

If I win the Megabucks, I'll buy it anyway! LOL!

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Hey you got it ,spend it ,you can't take it with yah.:D

I've noticed there's often a good breeze in the vicinity of Bruce, especially if the topic is right! :D

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Originally Posted by dubord207

I was 23 days and in the last 625 CMP customers to get power back. That's the deal when you're the only year round resident at the end of a 2 mile long private road! Tested my sense of humor in a big way! Now I have a 20k stand-alone genset and can sell power back to CMP!:)

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And I thought 14 days was long . . . quite understandable as to why you would get a generator.

Personally, a power loss this time of year isn't that big a deal . . . much more of an issue when there is a heating issue.

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Originally Posted by firefighterjake

And I thought 14 days was long . . . quite understandable as to why you would get a generator.

Personally, a power loss this time of year isn't that big a deal . . . much more of an issue when there is a heating issue.

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Like I said.....Rub two sticks together!

24 hour stores like Walmart are a wonderful resource :) Having lived in Florida until we moved up here, I can't begin tell you how many times we went to Walmart during hurricane aftermaths to cool off. They get sooo packed on hot nights when everyone has no electricity and needs a place with AC.

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Originally Posted by benandtina

24 hour stores like Walmart are a wonderful resource :) ......

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Actually......because of the economy.....you're hard pressed to find a store open past midnight anymore.

If you're willing to take the chance in waiting ...you can get a new generator Much cheaper during a State of Emergency. I'm told they can't make a profit during those times.

I discovered that at a Yamaha dealer down Topsham way last year. They sold all theirs and were getting more from other dealers. It was such a deal that I now have two and will need to sell my tri-fuel when I get around to it.

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Originally Posted by Mapachi

Like I said.....Rub two sticks together!

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:) . . . or you can always rub a few other things together for heat. :D:rolleyes:;):eek:

Actually, I'm all set these days with my Jotul woodstove . . . in fact I use very little heating oil now . . . but back during the ice storm it was a pretty big deal with the freezing temps. I lucked out however and was able to pick up a small (but adequately sized) generator which had apparently been purchased and returned so it was sold as used . . . even though the muffler still had a sticker on it and there wasn't a trace of gas in the gas tank. After hooking up the oil boiler to run off the generator I snaked a long extension cord to the TV and Play Station since I was a die-hard Lara Croft fanatic at the time and I had my priorities! ;):D

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Originally Posted by benandtina

24 hour stores like Walmart are a wonderful resource :) Having lived in Florida until we moved up here, I can't begin tell you how many times we went to Walmart during hurricane aftermaths to cool off. They get sooo packed on hot nights when everyone has no electricity and needs a place with AC.

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Sometimes I wonder what our founding fathers would think of us nowadays, needing to have luxuries like a/c and heat just to get through a single day... :confused::rolleyes:;)

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Originally Posted by WhereRWe?

Sheesh! If I were 20 years younger, I would DEFINITELY invest in a home wind power unit. Since I live on a north-west facing hill, and almost always have a breeze (at a minimum), I believe we could easily achieve the claimed 10-year payback by selling excess power to CMP. (Actually, even sooner with the current Federal 30% tax credit for residential wind power systems from Obama's "stimulus package".)

If I win the Megabucks, I'll buy it anyway! LOL!

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Talk to some folks that own one of these before you invest. I know of some folks that aren't seeing anywhere near the promised power generation despite having an excellent location for one.

I think the better investment for your buck now is going to be solar if you have a good southern exposure. Prices are coming down all the time now and a lot of states are even giving out great rebates as well.

I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells??? :)

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I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells??? :)

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You don't have to chop the ice off. They come with a switch that reverses the battery connection which causes them to to give off sunlight and melt the ice and snow. Very neat, :)

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Originally Posted by pjpreb

Talk to some folks that own one of these before you invest. I know of some folks that aren't seeing anywhere near the promised power generation despite having an excellent location for one.

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I have a buddy that built a gorgeous Log Cabin off-grid. He and his partner installed a generator for cloudy days...a Huge array of solar panels that he doubled in size...and eventually added a wind generator.

He made the same mistake many make w/wind generators. He bought too small and didn't do any anenometer tests before buying/placing it.

In the end....he'd spent more on "green energy" that didn't work.. instead of installing CMP to begin, and adding alternatives for back-up.

He too planned to sell extra back to the power company. My question to him was, what do you do during a power outage when there are men unpredictably working on the lines? And are you sure you'll have any extra to make the effort worthwhile. ;)

I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!

A quick note about Standby Generators.

First, having one of these will take away the anxiety attacks that come when Kevin Mannix starts talking about ice storms or wide-spread power outages. They come equipped with an automatic transfer switch so if the power goes out in less then 30 seconds everything in your home will come back on. It all happens automatically. You don't have to do a things other then listen for it to come on. We have 500 gallons of propane, enough to run the thing for a month and a half.

There is one big issue that I didn't learn about until after the first prolonged outage and that's oil consumption. These motors run rather hot and burn oil. Most will need to add a quart every two or three days. So if you're a snowbird you'll still want to have somebody check the oil level if we have a long outage. First time this happened, I was sick with a cold and it shut off in the middle of the night in February. I wasn't a happy camper but I did have a quart of the synthetic motor oil they use and that did the trick.

Last thought and that is who you choose buy from. I bought from a company that advertizes state wide and have been less then impressed with service. If you'd like the details let me know. The Attorney General's office has a public site where you can see the experience ratings of Maine businesses and the number of unresolved complaints. Worth looking at for any major purchase. My unit cost about 7K installed.

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Originally Posted by Mapachi

I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!

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If these were available, we'd see alot more research going into flux capacitors and Delorean sales would go through the roof....

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Originally Posted by Mapachi

I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!

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I wish Maine had about 4 big ones, that'd make me happy.

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Originally Posted by Mapachi

I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!

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I can build you one. I built one as an experiment a while ago.

You'll have to come up with the fuel on your own. You'll also have to come up with the waste containers.

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Originally Posted by brdad

I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells??? :)

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Sheesh! You should see my (off-road) F-150 plow truck. I bought it from an old farmer a few years ago. During the 1998 ice storm he tried to gently clear the ice off the front windshield - with a hammer. The entire windshield is covered with "stars"! LOL!

I once had a customer in the shop that tried to clean the snow off her car with a METAL RAKE!!! There was still some paint on the hood/roof, but the rust was pushing it off.

Yep, I scratched my car window, scraping ice with a beer can!