What a Storm

Tom · December 31, 2002, 05:36:17 PM

Tonight, New Year's Eve, was supposed to be bonfire night. The weather man told us that it was going to rain and storm but I didn't believe him. Gael did though and called those that she thought might show up and cancelled the fire.

We watched on TV as the storm front moved into Florida in the panhandle, Pensacola, Tallahassee, the I-75 division line in the middle of the state and finally it hit us. High winds and heavy rains made it look like we were going to have a tornado. The power went out and luckily was brought back on in about half an hour. It's raining cats and dogs out there right now and I believe that all the out door New Years celebrations have been canceled.

She feels sorry for me, I guess, 'cause she's in the kitchen making a peach cobbler and says she has a gallon of vanilla ice cream too. Every cloud has a silver lining, I'm told.

jwood · December 31, 2002, 06:07:56 PM

EVENIN TOM...YOUR RIGHT ABOUT THIS STORM..ITS A FROG STRANGLER..GOT A SMALL BOAT TIED TO THE FRONT PORCH IN CASE THE RIVER DECIDES TO COME OVER ITS BANKS TONIGHT..WE WERE JUST STARTIN TO DRY UP FROM THE CHRISTMAS EVE RAIN..LOOKS AS IF THERES MORE HEADED YOUR WAY..COBBLER AND ICE CREAM SOUNDS GOOD..BY THE WAY I LOOKED AT YOUR SITE LAST NIGHT ...REAL NICE... STAY DRY AN HAVE A GOOD NEW YEAR

Fla._Deadheader · December 31, 2002, 06:10:17 PM

Still waitin for that sucker to get down here. Which way is it headed ?/ Need to get back to the river as soon as this cold spell is over. 37 degrees in Ocala last week ?????

:

Tom · December 31, 2002, 06:20:32 PM

Thanks jwood. I've got Jeff to thank for the web page. He's done a jam up job, hasn't he. Sure is nice knowing a fellow that can do work like that.

I hope you don't have to use your boat. Steinhatchee and Suwanee basins flood real easy. I've got a swamp in my back yard on a tidal creek but it takes a pretty good hurricane to push the water to the house. This rain saturates everything though. I have been trying to get a dry enough period to work on the driveway for three months now. If I work on it wet then I end up with a 2000 foot long bog hole.

The storm was headed east, Dead-header. It looked like it reached as far south as maybe Daytona. The weather folks are talking about a whole lot of rain tomorrow. You might want to wait some of this rascal out before you attempt to pull anymore logs, you might get wet. :D

Fla._Deadheader · January 01, 2003, 04:50:57 AM

Tom, DanG, jwood and anybody else I Don'T know of, Ya'll OK??? All we got was rain and thunder noise. Rain SHOULD quit in a couple of hours. Ennybody need HELP ??????

L. Wakefield · January 01, 2003, 07:24:58 AM

QuoteEVENIN TOM...YOUR RIGHT ABOUT THIS STORM..ITS A FROG STRANGLER..GOT A SMALL BOAT TIED TO THE FRONT PORCH IN CASE THE RIVER DECIDES TO COME OVER ITS BANKS TONIGHT..WE WERE JUST STARTIN TO DRY UP FROM THE CHRISTMAS EVE RAIN..LOOKS AS IF THERES MORE HEADED YOUR WAY..COBBLER AND ICE CREAM SOUNDS GOOD..BY THE WAY I LOOKED AT YOUR SITE LAST NIGHT ...REAL NICE... STAY DRY AN HAVE A GOOD NEW YEAR

Now THAT'S good thinking with the boat. I sure hope you don't have to use it, but.. it would be great if more folks thought ahad like you are. lw

jwood · January 01, 2003, 08:10:45 AM

GOOD MORNIN..WE DIDNT GET NEAR THE RAIN THAT THE WEATHER MAN SAID WAS HEADED THIS WAY 8)..
ONLY HAVE ABOUT 3 INCHES IN THE YARD AND THAT SHOULD RUN OFF SOON ...BEST OF ALL THE RIVER IS STILL SEVERAL FEET INSIDE THE BANKS.. 8) 8) ..
FLA D H I GUESS YOU'LL BE GETTIN BACK IN THE WATER IF THE WEATHER STAYS NICE..SAFE DIVIN
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU

Tom · January 01, 2003, 08:20:01 AM

We made it also. Wind was pretty horrific but we awoke to sun this morning. There is supposed to be more coming this afternoon but I think that was supposed to be the worse of it.

Thank's for the concern, Harold. You must have just gotten the tail of the thing. I noticed that it ran all the way down past miami and wondered if Sebastion was getting hit as hard as we were. Glad you weren't. I am going to go out back into the swamp and see if I lost any trees last night. That'll be fun. I always look forward to a close examination because the place is so pretty.

2003 doesn't seem to be any different than 2002 so far, eh? :D

Bro. Noble · January 01, 2003, 10:57:05 AM

Tom,

So far the people around here seem a lot grouchier than they did last year. >:(

Noble

Jeff · January 01, 2003, 05:52:43 PM

Around where? Home? Maybe you should put pants on when you answer the door from now on. No wonder the reverends wife is grouchy.

Bro. Noble · January 01, 2003, 08:05:42 PM

I should have been a little clearer------was refering to my kids who stayed up too late last night.

I feel just fine and am ready to face the new year. I went to bed about 8:30 and was up to check the weather outside in time to read Jeff's post just after 11:00 our time.

Hope everyone has a good 2003.

Noble

whitepe · January 02, 2003, 11:16:05 AM

Noble,
But how many times did you get up to go to the bathroom? :D
(I resemble that remark)
PU-PEW

DanG · January 02, 2003, 12:17:40 PM

Checkin' in with a DanG weather report. The storm blew through here in the afternoon and evening. Rain stopped in time for us to light up a soggy pile of wood, and create a sort of a lil' bonfire. Got to bed 'bout 2 a.m. and up again at 7. Went up the road to my buddy's place to pick up his backhoe, so I could load some logs onto the mill. Had folks coming about noon to saw up some oak. Backhoe was dead! Hydraulics to the front bucket were completely gone. Plan B; had to hurry and put the finishing touches on the loading arch on my trailer. Took about an hour to get that done, and load the needed paraphenalia from the shop to make the 100 yd trip to the mill area. Truck did fine for the 1st 15 feet, and quit cold. Wuz NOT gonna start again. Went to the house for coffee and cogitation, and noticed that the dogs had knocked the sewer pipe loose, and it was spilling out under the porch. >:( Did a quick fix, and shoveled some dirt over the small spill. Finally got my coffee and returned to mulling over my log-loading problem. Decided I would have to use the tractor to pull the logs up on the trailer, after pulling the truck out of the way. Went back to do so, and decided to give the truck one more try. It started up, and ran ok, so I returned from plan C, to plan B. I'm sure that whatever the problem was will come back to haunt me. :-/ I got over to the mill and found that the storm had blown the cover off, and the engine had been exposed to the 2+ inches of rain. The exhaust was full of water, and everything was soaked. I cleaned her up as well as I could, but it wouldn't start. After several minutes of cranking, and doing some more exploring, I found that the cap on the fuel tank was cracked, and the gas was full of water. ??? I changed to a new tank, and loosened the fuel line to pump the water out of the fuel filter, then had to pull the plugs to dry the water from them. Finally got the mill running, but I was way behind schedule, and still had to try out the loader for the first time. Customers were here, by then, and its a good thing they are kinfolk, and the job was a freebie. We backed up to a log and hooked up to it. The cable just pulled the arch forward without moving the log. :-[ What am I doing wrong, Harold? Went on to plan D, and hung a chain hoist to the arch, popped the log up there, and rolled it onto the mill. So far, this last part is the ONLY thing that has gone according to plan. Ended up with about 100 bf of nice oak 1x4's, plus some stickers and other small stuff. I don't remember many days with so many challenges to overcome. Maybe I just got all the bad luck for the year out of the way, up front. ;D

Tom · January 02, 2003, 02:25:49 PM

I have those days on occassion, DanG. When I do I drink a lot of coffee because my patience level tends to be low and easily worn. After the mill got running I would feel a lot better but the evening would be spent worrying about why the truck didn't run. Don't you hate it when something is acts up but isn't broke? :-/ :P

Bibbyman · January 02, 2003, 03:08:45 PM

Our storm came last night and is just now clearing up. I was out on the tractor all morning bladin' about 6" of the stuff off our drive.

View south of our house and mill yard

View down our lane.

Tom · January 02, 2003, 03:11:07 PM

:D That'll make me drink a lot of coffee too. :D

Does it slow you down much Bibbey?

Jeff · January 02, 2003, 03:33:46 PM

No it speeds you up Tom. If all you southern boys keep stealing all our snow ya'll will be talking fast just like we do. ;D
We are BROWN BROWN BROWN. or m-e-b-b-e a-h s-h-o-u-l-d b-e a s-a-y-i-n B--rrr-oww-n. See, its happening! no snow and we get the southern slows. ;)

Tom · January 02, 2003, 03:47:54 PM

Oh-h-h-h--h--h Understand you know. Why didn't you say that before?

Fla._Deadheader · January 02, 2003, 04:30:02 PM

Well, DanG. I had all the answers for ya typed out and ready to post, and the DanG keyboard went Ka-blooey. Throwed me off line. I re-entered the zone and it went nertz again. I then proceeded to beat the snot out of this sucker and then shut it off !!!!!!!! NOW, it's doin what I want it to !!!

  OK. 1st. Did you hang a snatch block of some sort from the arch, to pass yer cable through ??

  2nd. Maybe ya had it too high for the first try ?? I keep mine at about a 45 degree angle or so, from the bed. MAYBE a lil higher, but, not much.

  3rd. Did ya have a "check-chain attached, so the arch won't slam all the way forward ??

  I have another rigged up on a smaller trailer, and it works just like the big trailer ??

  Is yer maiden name, MURPHY ??? :D :D :D

  I have someone riding with me, to the LOGGER school, so, won't be able to stay overnight. Is there any chance we could still meet ??

DanG · January 03, 2003, 07:05:13 AM

Thanx for the advice, Harold. #'s 1 and 3 are covered. #2, however may have been the problem. I had mine set at about 30 degrees. I'll try lowering it some more, next time I get to play with it. Actually the chain hoist works so well, I can load the whole trailer in just a few minutes without working hard, so it ain't a big deal.

You betcha we can get together when you come to town. Sounds like lunch will be our only opportunity. Pickin's are kinda slim on that side of town, but I'll find us a spot, somewhere. I'll give ya my phone # so ya can call when you arrive. 8) 8)

Noble_Ma · January 03, 2003, 07:24:12 AM

No snow your way Jeff? We had about 6" of wet snow yesterday and now we're waiting on another Nor'easter tonight! I love the snow 8) My feeling is if it's winter than there should be snow and lots of it. There's nothing better than snow shoeing in the woods after a fresh snow fall. That's where I'm heading in a few minutes.

johnjbc · January 03, 2003, 11:50:03 AM

So far we only have enough to turn the ground white but they are expecting 6 inches tonight.

L. Wakefield · January 03, 2003, 03:35:19 PM

Yes, we are getting ready for BIG DUMP #2 (OK, I mean snow, not what it sounds like) ;D - they are talking about 10-20 inches, and the wind out to sea will be 40-50kts and out of the north east. A real nor'easta, yessa! As with the last one. I'm on call tonight. Got some of my gear inside and both vehicles primed to go. I like the car better but the truck has 4wd and higher ground clearance. It hasn't started coming down here yet but it's into Maine and the wind was starting to wail as I went down for evening chores. Cows were hanging close to the barn. Just got the oil tank filled, and things are ready for a blow. We didn't lose power last storm.

Until we started watching El Nino closely, I always thought nor'easters were strictly a New England phenomenon- something though up by the powers that be in the North Atlantic, so to speak. But looking at the patterns that have set up this fall/winter, it is very clear how much Pacific influence there is on these storms. I love weather.. lw

johnjbc · January 04, 2003, 08:10:41 AM

Well we got cheated. only got enough to cover the ground. Just not cold enough to make snow.
Headr from my soninlaw that they had 30" in the Utica NY area