Dropped two of my big, but dead, ash trees last night and have a two medium sized ones to do and a few smaller ones. Killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. I actually think that the trees have been dead for about two years but with the massive amount of poison that was hanging on them you couldn't tell that they were dead. Not sure what I'm going to do with the wood but I wanted them down to replant good stuff. For some reason it's not real easy to get rid of fire wood in this area so I may just stack the big logs to use for a shooting back stop and let the smaller ones rot and chip the branches. Looks like a lot of chainsaw work today and tomorrow . A man and his toys.........
DW had to go in to work for a short meeting. Once she's home we may go out for a long bike ride if it doesn't decide to rain. She hates riding in the rain. I'll probably go myself if she doesn't want to go. Looking at about 25-30+ miles.
QOTD: How well prepared are you for a disaster, such as natural or fire? how prone would you be to suffer a disaster especially weather related. I was thinking about this the past weekend with Harvey and then several people in my work area losing their homes to fire.
From a weather view point we are not very prone to having a disaster. We live in a very temperate area. To the north and south just a few miles the weather will be far more severe in terms of storms. The one storm that we had with hail and 60 mph winds is something that we rarely see. I sit high enough that if I flood out everyone will need a ark and the little bit of runoff that we would get flows around the house due to the landscaping. Now if the electricity goes out for days we could be hurting. I don't keep enough kerosene for the lanterns to last long and everything in the house is electric. No generator hookup at this time. At the same time the Mennonite school house across the road has a hand pumped well so we would have water.
From a fire view point we wouldn't be too bad. We have a lot of "stuff", but not much in the line of family heirlooms. I should have a bigger safe to lock up some of the more expensive and older guns but the one we have will keep important papers safe and we have a lot of pictures and negatives locked in there. We are adequately insured so if something did happen we would have the financial ability to pick up the pieces. I could do better with having fire extinguishers around the house. We have two small ones but kind of forget where they are at and don't always make sure they are up to date.
I'll run 5 after work. It was raining pretty decently this morning, and I just didn't want to run in it.
QOTD: We would be fine because we have a strong support system of family/friends. I have good insurance for fire, none for flood. We had those floods last year with 30 inches of rain; many people who were not required to have flood insurance were under water. It was, and still is bad, for a lot of people. Many had to walk away and file for bankruptcy, so I am told. It is sad to say, but I think some would have been better off just torching the place before the water rose too high. The reality is this: No matter how well you think you are prepared with money, possessions, supplies, healthy living, etc., life can always humble you without much effort. Ultimately, all we have is each other.
LB2
running under the BigSky
Tiny E and I got screwed out of early morning jaunt- heavy smoke in the Very Unhealthy range
we've now exceeded 1/2 million acres burnt state wide, with no relief from hot temperatures and no precipitation
qotd: we keep several big cases of bottled water on hand (just continually rotate it out)- also have several water filters and purification tabs, I buy my bars (Cliff, etc) in bulk, so we have lots of easy calories on hand, I have numerous battery lanterns, flashlights, headlamps around- along with ample additional batteries and I keep a daypack in each vehicle with enough stuff to get through a couple of days on the fly.
I do need to scan important documents and put them on a thumb drive; I also need a small fireproof safe to store said documents and a few firearms
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
No run today. Just some strength work later at the planet of fitness and my PT exercises. Maybe a dog walk or two as well. Will hold off until this weekend before next run attempt, though I am no worse from the wear from Sunday's trail jaunt.
QOTD: As for wind or fire, we are well insured, and the only stuff I would worry about in the house are my dogs. Flooding, we sit sort of high, though there is an old runoff creek way at the back of my property in the woods. It runs downhill, and we sit well above the lowest point. If I recall hurricane Floyd dumped 8-10" of rain on us very quickly and we had no issues. That creek was running pretty good though. Normally it's dry or a trickle.
In dog beers, I've only had one.
More rain today and rivers, streams, bayous are all overflowing. No run today, but I did stand in waist deep water unloading folks from boats for 6 hours. A lot of evacuees from a local elderly care center.
This is a major road about 1.5 mi from my house. This is water overflow from the raising San Jacinto river / Lake Houston that is another 1.5 miles away.
Qotd: living near the gulf coast there is no choice other than to be prepared.
tbd.
6 this morning.
qotd: Not as prepared as I should be but I could go a few days. Here it would be hail & tornadoes do not a wide spread disaster,
Sandy I was watching rescues all day, NW Houston where one of the damns was overflowing. A long way from being over down there.
Tim
No run today, hanging drywall all morning and the moved last of stuff out if DD#2's apartment. I have a guy who is going to tape and mud the joints, so have to be ready for him. I usually do all the work, but ceiling is 11' 6", and I don't have scaffolding. He's a pro, so will be a better job anyway.
Sandy - wowser, be safe. Any charities that you know we can send donations to? I'm always cautious about the TV charity pledges since you don't know where the money is really going.
QOTD : For snowstorms were always prepared. Not so much for the unexpected stuff.
“Paralysis-to-50k” training plan is underway!
AT, I don't know of any local charities, except maybe JJ Watts (Houston Texans), but I'd go with the Red Cross. Here's an article that may help. https://www.consumerreports.org/charitable-donations/best-ways-to-help-victims-of-hurricane-harvey/
Thanks. I did see JJ Watt's fundraiser.
Hope all is well.