And yet again: Hurricane Wilma

[Zardoz]

...I'm getting quite adept at using my axe...

These first-hand accounts are real eye-openers.

Where do you live, pupik?

 

[Lee]

And Wilma, I'm glad you're dead, and I'm not. **** you, anyhow.

Amen.

 

[Pupik]

These first-hand accounts are real eye-openers.

Where do you live, pupik?

20 minutes north of Omnis, when the traffic lights and laws work...

I took hundreds of pics for insurance and FEMA, although I'm not trying to be too dependent on the latter. But its something, and we filed claims with everyone. We have phone service, though.

 

[Omnis]

Lol, don't get me started with Axes and other lumber tools.

I've been cutting trees up with HEDGE CLIPPERS all week long. Talk about pain in the ass work. We got lucky enough to finally borrow an electric chainsaw, though. So we managed to get through the average-human-thigh-thick brances that have fallen. I have some awesome pics on my uncle's camera of the work we've accomplished. Before and afters, etc. I'm suprised we moved a few of those brances, though. Some on them had to be at least 500 pounds or more. I've even had to jump in a filthy pool to fish the rest of the mango tree out of the deepend. Damn thing was a hot mess.

The gas stations are a serious killer, though. I need to take pics or some film footage of the situation. I fear that things will get a lot more chaotic when it gets hotter over the weekend. Honestly, it still feels like Monday. Thank god we've had cool weather thus far. There was literally a line down sunrise blvd., pupik. I don't know if you've seen it yet. There had to be more than 150 cars waiting. The right lane was totally unusable. Gas stations, however, are only giving as much gas as you can carry by hand. They're not even allowing you to fill up. I get annoyed when I see fancy pants cars with stupid blinged up rims rolling up for water and ice and gas. Maybe less so for ice, but for gas, and especially water, it's ridiculous. Negligence in general, no matter what type of people display it, is pretty lame, especially in a situation like this.

Pupik, perhaps your neighborhood should look into tile roofing. I mean, we have broken tile to clean, but it's a lot more managable than having a confetti-like mess about on the streets. My uncle's neighbor has shingle roofing and it's a complete disaster. Looks like a bunch of dead pixels all over a would-be display of their house.

I'm kind of annoyed that the President didn't say anything during his visit. He spoke to a camera (ie, not a public address), and sounded pretty Bush-ey. But, what can we expect from ol' G-Dub? The whole thing was pretty neat, though. I saw a bunch of blackhawks taking off from the mall and the soccer fields, and I could've sworn I saw Marine 1 and its convoy a little later. Watching Airforce 1 taking off on TV was pretty neat, too. That plane is friggin' huge.

Well, I'll put all the pics up in the world as soon as we get cable back. This 56k is still killing me. Later, and good luck to the rest of you all.

 

[Omnis]

The Marines came into town today. They're putting up tarps and crap on the shopping center across the street which got literally destroyed. My gym is totally rubble. I'll take some pics of it later. There's a sign that says "Operation Blue Roof - US Marines [etc etc.] ------>," so, I suppose blue roof means tarps. I didn't stay to find out exactly what they're doing. Oh well.

I finished cutting some trees with a loose chained chainsaw. The chain got stuck in one of the thick branches. Big mistake. I wound up having to handsaw the entire branch with a bread knife and a handsaw. Took like 2 hours and I busted my ass. Stupid thing.

We're having a tequila/margarita and taco party at my uncle's house. Frankly, though, I really don't want to go. He still doesn't have power but we have power and full water pressure (finally). Still no cable, though. So pics will have to wait.

 

[Zardoz]

...We're having a tequila/margarita and taco party at my uncle's house. Frankly, though, I really don't want to go...

Can't imagine why. Sounds like you could use a couple of stiff drinks about now. I know I would if I was in your position...

 

[DeLoreanBrown]

Wow Omnis does this mean you're now from Savannah ?

 

[Pupik]

Just when ou think things are looking up, they get worse: Our refridgerator bit the dust. So the generator isn't making anything cooler. We managed to get some ice, but it won't stay cold for long in the heat here. The fridge is leaking water everywhere; we're using up all our towels to mop up the mess. Again, my brother's letting us use their power to cool off, have food, recharge batteries in cell phones and power equipment, so it's not all bad. But I hate being a sponge.

In any case, here's a few pics that I uploaded to my site. Sorry about the large sizes, the laptop battery didn't have much juice, and the computer I'm using has no image editing software...So there's a 56K warning ahead:

http://www.formulanone.org/photo/wilma

 

[Omnis]

Wow Omnis does this mean you're now from Savannah ?

Hahaha. No, it doesn't mean that. It means I don't want to be in a hot powerless house with 4 stinky ass dogs and their unair-conditioned dander floating around everywhere. I can have tacos and boose here, if I wanted.

Anyway, Pupik, that REALLY blows. If you have a grill, you'd better fire it up and cook any perishables as soon as possible (before they perish, obviously.).

Keep us updated, if at all possible. I haven't really ventured too far out of plantation. All the gas stations on the borders are too rowdy and the intersections are a killer because they don't treat it like a four-way stop. Morons.

I might go out east to my dad's on las olas to see if they need some help. I don't know the situation, and I haven't been able to call them because we (and, most likely, they) have no cell phone service.

Keep pupik in your thoughts, guys.

edit: A few pics.

http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/3561/dsc050813pv.jpg
http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/6205/dsc051055zy.jpg
http://img500.imageshack.us/img500/601/dsc051383da.jpg

 

[Pupik]

Hahaha. No, it doesn't mean that. It means I don't want to be in a hot powerless house with 4 stinky ass dogs and their unair-conditioned dander floating around everywhere.

Minus two dogs, and that's my house right now. They need a bath!

Anyway, Pupik, that REALLY blows. If you have a grill, you'd better fire it up and cook any perishables as soon as possible (before they perish, obviously.).

We did for the past couple of days, but there's nothing safe left to eat in the fridge. I threw almost all of the food out already, because it was trash day this morning. I saved a loaf of bread, which should keep for 48 hours until the mold attacks it! Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of food available...I'm not starving! There's tons of canned food and dry goods available, as we planned for this to happen. About half my family has power and food, we've got plenty of money, lots of gas, and a wealth of sanity in these trying times. It's sure winding up as an expensive mess to deal with terms of insurance and that feeling of "what the hell do we do next?" is solved by just repairing one thing at a time, as necessary.

Keep us updated, if at all possible. I haven't really ventured too far out of plantation. All the gas stations on the borders are too rowdy and the intersections are a killer because they don't treat it like a four-way stop. Morons.

I've only stayed in the Margate-Coral Springs area, as I haven't the time and patience to wait for hours por gasolina. It's worked so far, and I've still used less than half a tank on each car. I'm going to get gas on the Turnpike at 3am, the hell with the curfew.

Intersections are nuts; people have never heard of the word clockwise, as the first to a 4-way stop lets the car on the left go by just as soon as you come to a stop. Instead, it's a dangerous mix of cars just criss-crossing each other, impatient people who try to slip by, feeling "well, I stopped, now I'm going, so everyone will wait for me". In the few intersections where people seem to follw the rules, I have to admit a 4-way stop is actually more efficient than waiting at a light for 60-90 seconds. But driving at night is quite a scare, as it's hard to see non-existant traffic lights when the roads are unlit. Baiscally, if you aren't familiar with the area, you absolutely should not drive around. You cannot tell when a car will stop for you or if it's about to accelerate away and crash into you.

I might go out east to my dad's on las olas to see if they need some help. I don't know the situation, and I haven't been able to call them because we (and, most likely, they) have no cell phone service.

Yeah, my cell phone's been on sparingly, I've used the car charger when it's low. For example, I let my general manager use my cell phone today, since eveyone else complained that they had just one bar or one notch left on thier battery. It took about 5-10 minutes to make a cell phone call, but now that cell phone batteries are dead in most phones, I'm having no trouble at all!

Keep pupik in your thoughts, guys.

Eeew. You might regress to using GT2, or worse yet, start driving a Lexus.

 

[Omnis]

I found a news crew across the street at the shopping center. I talked to them for a little bit, expressing my views as they asked me. I didn't go on TV, though, because it's past curfew and I was looking a hot mess. I only went over because I saw a thing in the air and went to check it out; Had to check it out and all.

 

[Giancarlo]

I got my power back yesterday. 9 days without it.

Amazing how you can take things for granted sometimes...like warm showers for example...

 

[FoolKiller]

I got my power back yesterday. 9 days without it.

Amazing how you can take things for granted sometimes...like warm showers for example...

Glad to see you made it through OK.

 

[Giancarlo]

Glad to see you made it through OK.

Thanks.