Coming windstorm

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10-17-2007, 06:00 PM
salsabike

Coming windstorm

Funny, I am not at all a delicate flower or easily frightened. But I am so glad Chris is home for this upcoming windstorm. I have to say that the Dec. 14 windstorm was genuinely scary, living in the basement, no insulation in the roof, two elderly ill cats, ill mom back east, and Chris out at sea and incommunicado. I mean, we were fine, in the end. But, boy, that last gust that shook the house right down to the basement, just before the power went off...huddling under three quilts with the cats in pitch blackness...I used to find our windstorms entertaining, and I'm sure I will again, sometime.

Boy, is this OT. Sorry, admins.

Let me bring it back ON T. Didn't ride today because it was definitely getting breezy. Kind of a crazy, pre-storm weather day here.

Mimi, will you commute on the bike tomorrow?
10-17-2007, 06:20 PM
teigyr

I can relate.

Funny story about the storm last year. I lived in this old house and was in the process of moving out. We got married last November and while I (and the cats) were in Sean's house, we still had the "dirty work" to do in closing out the old house. The house had rats and was dirty and we really had procrastinated. We got out the stuff we wanted then had huge piles of stuff to go to the Goodwill and the dump.

We finally HAD to be out by the end of November because I refused to pay rent anymore. We had a weekend scheduled to do all sorts of nasty things like clean out the fridge and clean carpets and all of that. Since I had been gone, there was more rat activity too.

We got to the house, this was after the storm, and there was police tape over the driveway and TWO trees crashed into the roof.

Our first thought? To high-five each other and say "woohoo, we're not cleaning the carpets!". The house was knocked off the foundation and the front door wouldn't close even. We did walk in there just to see how it was and one whole side of the house was gone. Scary stuff and at least I no longer lived there.

So I am mixed about the wind. Mostly it scares me but good CAN come of it :D
10-17-2007, 06:30 PM
mimitabby

Salsa, no, i have a big yellow stripe up my back. I haven't ridden to work at all this week. Raleighdon on the other hand, is in Lake Forest Park tonight and plans to ride home... (sigh)
he may not ride tomorrow; (but he really wants to)
I'm not quite as nervous as you; but not interested in riding in heavy winds; not one little tiny bit.
10-17-2007, 06:31 PM
mimitabby

omigoodness, Teigyr, WHAT A STORY! I love it!!!
10-17-2007, 06:37 PM
salsabike

God, Teigyr, what a great story. Nice to know luck flows in the right direction sometimes!
10-17-2007, 06:46 PM
boy in a kilt

I've been watching the weather forecasts for a couple of days now and trying to get my site prepped for the rain that is supposed to go with the storm. We just put in something like 10 acres of plastic sheeting so now I'm envisioning all these 40'x200' kites all over the place.

To make matters more interesting, the General Contractor just put in a new tower crane. It's not tall enough to hit my trailer if it falls over so if it does so, it's just a bit of a show.
10-17-2007, 07:01 PM
Zen

Since being blown over while racing a thunderstorm I've had a phobia of the slightest breeze.

I don't like wind.
10-17-2007, 07:08 PM
Running Mommy

YIPES!!!!
Ya'll stay safe! And to think I was complaining about it being 20 sustained gusting to 24 yesterday! :o
10-17-2007, 08:15 PM
salsabike

Quote:

Originally Posted by boy in a kilt

I've been watching the weather forecasts for a couple of days now and trying to get my site prepped for the rain that is supposed to go with the storm. We just put in something like 10 acres of plastic sheeting so now I'm envisioning all these 40'x200' kites all over the place.

To make matters more interesting, the General Contractor just put in a new tower crane. It's not tall enough to hit my trailer if it falls over so if it does so, it's just a bit of a show.

What are you doing on this site?
10-17-2007, 08:17 PM
boy in a kilt

I work at the Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Plant site on SR-9 in Woodinville. I'm the Project Engineer (read: assistant project manager) and Erosion Control guy.
10-17-2007, 08:34 PM
Eden

Funny enough my husband intends to ride tomorrow just because the last time there was a storm he was just about stuck on the eastside..... He figures even if he has to walk his bike across the bridge its better than being in standstill traffic.....

We must be in a particularly sheltered area. Last year we didn't have any downed trees near us, we never lost our power (well we do live about 1/2 block from the substation) and I don't think there was any damage on our street either - it didn't eve seem that windy.
10-17-2007, 08:39 PM
KnottedYet

Wind storm? Is there gonna be a windstorm?

I have Presto logs and half-a-jillion tea candles, so I think we're ok. Assuming busses work like they're supposed to so. If the power goes out, we won't have internet!!! We won't have a microwave!

We'll have to eat cold spam. And Clif bars. By candlelight.
10-17-2007, 10:05 PM
boy in a kilt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eden

Funny enough my husband intends to ride tomorrow just because the last time there was a storm he was just about stuck on the eastside..... He figures even if he has to walk his bike across the bridge its better than being in standstill traffic.....

We must be in a particularly sheltered area. Last year we didn't have any downed trees near us, we never lost our power (well we do live about 1/2 block from the substation) and I don't think there was any damage on our street either - it didn't eve seem that windy.

We didn't either. Just up the road, out for a week. Just down the road, better, but still lost lights for a little while. My job site a few miles from the apartment, out. Also no cell phone over on that side of the ridge.

I remember when the snow storm hit last winter. I was on my way back from a meeting in Tukwila when it showed up. My supervisor and I drove like hell to make it back to mukilteo before things got really crazy.

At least one time this year, I want to go to work on my snowshoes. I drive well on snow but the idea seems terribly funny.
10-18-2007, 12:06 AM
salsabike

Quote:

Originally Posted by boy in a kilt

I work at the Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Plant site on SR-9 in Woodinville. I'm the Project Engineer (read: assistant project manager) and Erosion Control guy.

Then you're heading into the challenging season...at least you won't be bored at work.
10-18-2007, 08:38 AM
Grog

The wind speeds are starting to pick up here in Vancouver but I don't expect it to be as bad as last year, at least not today.

I live in Douglas-fir country and both my apartment and office are surrounded by 50-meter giants. They shed branches in the heavy winds, and two BIG ones fell across the street near my office last year. I was watching the others with a suspicious eye while sitting in my office, thinking that a few of them would crash directly on my building (really: a shed) if they were to fall.

Maybe I'll be working at the library today!

My dear partner also had a big tree crash on his car when he was in undergrad. Thankfully the car was in the parking lot and he was in class.

I just hope my sweetie does not decide to go for a ride after work. It's really a flying-branch festival during windstorms, I would not want him to be out on the road..... :S
10-18-2007, 04:56 PM
mimitabby

I got home and found that i have power. What i didn't have was a garbage can. for some reason, we always have wind storms on garbage collection day; and our cans blow away.
Three of us on the block could not find our cans; but when one neighbor went all the way up the block and found HIS, i followed suit and found my own. What a relief!
and that is the extent so far of the damage I have suffered from this storm. A lot of people are without power though.
10-18-2007, 07:39 PM
kelownagirl

My friends left at 2pm and their car broke down in a blizzard on the Coquihalla. They are getting it towed to Merritt and then somehow they still have to get to Vancouver.... Poor girls...
10-18-2007, 07:45 PM
teigyr

It's strange because I am looking out over the airfield. I can only tell the wind gusts from when the planes go sideways when they take off and from the flags on the tugs outside. I go home at 8:30, it'll be interesting to see if there are branches or leaves down in the yard :D
10-18-2007, 07:46 PM
teigyr

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelownagirl

My friends left at 2pm and their car broke down in a blizzard on the Coquihalla. They are getting it towed to Merritt and then somehow they still have to get to Merritt. Poor girls...

Scary! And an adventure. But still...at least they got a tow truck. I hope they didn't have to be anywhere anytime soon and at least they are ok.
10-18-2007, 09:48 PM
boy in a kilt

SGTiger called me at work to tell me the lights were out. Bought fire logs, ice (to keep stuff in fridge semi-cold) and beer.

We were just getting into being in the dark and dammit, the lights went on.
10-19-2007, 07:32 AM
Susan126

Survived yesterday's windstorm. Got home and I still had power but we did lose power at school yesterday. We had 6th graders in the library checking out books at 1:50 and all the power went out. All our computers went down except for my library station. The kids of course started screaming. The teacher and I had to yell a bit to get their attention and them settled down. Our generator lights came on. It was chaotic at dismissal at 2:20! But we all survived. My middle school is old and we are building a new one. It's scheduled to open fall 2010 (but we know how that goes!). We have water leaking into our building after rain and constant power loss. Oh it will be so nice when our new building is finished!

Glad everyone else came through okay!

:)
10-19-2007, 08:02 AM
mimitabby

they started screaming? because it was dark? Oh, how pathetic.
I wonder how you can stand to deal with kids like this :confused: :confused:
10-20-2007, 08:16 AM
Susan126

Yes they were screaming. But I think more because it was "fun" LOL KIDS!
Sad news . . . my beautiful plum tree succumbed to the wind. Yesterday when hubby pulled into the drive he came through the door and yelled for me to come outside. Our plum tree on the side of the house was lying on it's side with it's roots sticking out. :( I loved that tree. Our ground here on top of the hill in Bonnye Lake is like concrete. There is maybe 1 or 1 1/2 feet of top soil and then you hit this solid rock concrete. Poor thing. It's roots tried to go down deep to anchor itself but it just could not penetrate the rock. Instead it spread out across the top 1 feet of soil in my yard. It covered quite an area too. Also it still had all it's leaves. I think if the leaves would have fallen off before the wind storm it would have survived. I am so sad. We are goint to the Prairie Ridge Transfer Station (dump) this morning to recycle our tree.

My tree was not the only plum tree to concede to the wind. Two others also did in my neighborhood. :(
10-20-2007, 12:01 PM
East Hill

The neighbour's willow tree wound up flat across the lawn extending into the road. They had to cut it up and remove it. I was shocked--the cottonwoods did the usual shedding of large branches, but nothing more--and here the poor willow bit the dust. It's been there longer than I've been on the Hill, too (and I've been here since 1987).

East Hill