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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 5, 2014 4:08:39 GMT -9
Power's out due to an oak branch on the line across & just up the street from us. Our favourite tree in our backyard has been just about split in half when the big branch we hung the swing on came down. Aside from that sad loss, no property damage as of yet. It's actually rather exhiliarating... I'm a little bit air elemental, at heart... Not knowing of a reliable forecaster in my own country, I'm relying on the NOAA - we in Fredericton are a couple of hours northeast of Calais, ME. Looks like we can expect another eight hours of high winds by the weather notice, but I'll see if I can get the radar readings up to track the path... I think we'll be fine, house is solid, roof was reshingled a few years ago. Looks like we'll have to finish off the rest of the ie cream cake in the freezer, though!
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Post by migibb on Jul 5, 2014 4:16:47 GMT -9
Batten down the hatches and get that cream cake eaten! Hope everyone - and everything - comes out the other side unscathed!!!
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Post by cowboyleland on Jul 5, 2014 6:19:56 GMT -9
Fingers crossed for you. Sorry about your swing.
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 5, 2014 10:54:16 GMT -9
Stay safe Anne. This Winter here in New Zealand we've been getting tropical storm systems moving down the east coast not far from us one after another so I know what you mean about it being exhilarating. We didn't have ice cream though because I'm lactose intolerant, but one time we did have chocolate which I think is better
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 5, 2014 17:12:24 GMT -9
We are still ok, but still dark, and soon my cellphone battery will be drained. On the plus side, I'm mapmaking and mythmaking; worldbuilding by candlelight...
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Post by okumarts on Jul 5, 2014 17:45:21 GMT -9
Take care and stay well Anne! Try using the car to recharge the battery if you have an attachment that allows for such hijinks.
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Post by emergencyoverride on Jul 5, 2014 17:56:23 GMT -9
Stay safe and I hope the power is back on soonish! Although some of my best old school world building was done in an ice storm by candlelight.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Jul 5, 2014 19:05:15 GMT -9
Many years ago(1982), there was a devastating hurricane in Hawaii. i was there, house sitting for a friend in her penthouse apartment on top of the King Kamiamia Hotel the tallest building in Honolulu at the time. I had my kids with me and I went around and taped all the windows. It was exhilarating and scary (my first hurricane), and the next morning, the beach, which had been 3 blocks away was right outside the hotel! The power was out for three days, which when you live on the 44th floor was not fun! All-in-all it was interesting to see the full power and fury of nature up close and personal! Be careful, stay safe, and enjoy the ice cream! That's a real plus! Let us know how you make out. You are in our thoughts, as always!
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 6, 2014 15:22:21 GMT -9
Thanks all! Power's still out for most residents of our little city, but hardware stores, grocery stores , and at least some fast food restaurants are open, and gas stations have their pumps going. We bought a chainsaw when the borrowed one didn't work, and cut down & up the large limb off our beautiful maple. We polished off what we could of the ice cream (it was pretty soft), and grabbed some pizza for supper to break the peanut butter sandwich streak. On the plus side, well have some more sun in our shady backyard, and some nice wood for artists to carve, or my dad to turn.
As for last night, I was inspired by Billiam Babble, and made my own mapa mundi on a paper plate
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 6, 2014 15:30:06 GMT -9
It was, perhaps, overly derived from my recollection Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea, but it did serve to inspire, and collate, some ideas I've been having for a setting. After drawing the map, and making a rough, labelled copy of it, I then proceeded to write 15 (!!!!!) pages on those ideas. I burnt through our last straight candle - tonight if I want more than one candlelight, I'll have to mix scents
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Post by dungeonmistress on Jul 6, 2014 20:05:17 GMT -9
Glad to hear you came through alright and that you are making lemonade out of the lemons you were handed.
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 7, 2014 8:08:17 GMT -9
The fire department arrived a half hour ago to cordon off the danger zone across the street, and the power company is working about a block and a half around the corner, so here's hoping we'll have power tonight...
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 8, 2014 21:52:11 GMT -9
Whoops - forgot to formally announce that we were powered back up at about 4:30pm local time on July 7th. Then we went grocery shopping to replace the contents of fridge and freezer. We'll be holding off on buying any ice cream for a little bit, though...
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Post by okumarts on Jul 8, 2014 22:04:53 GMT -9
Great news!
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Post by Brave Adventures on Jul 8, 2014 22:05:03 GMT -9
Wow! I'm glad you survived your hurricane experience in one piece! Typhoon Neoguri (Korean for raccoon) is heading towards us here in Japan. It's supposed to arrive on Friday morning, and I think everyone is hoping for a day off. Otherwise, I might have to swim to work.
Ryan
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 8, 2014 22:51:42 GMT -9
Well, by the time it hit us inland it was a tropical storm, or post-tropical even, but it was the worst that we've _ever_ endured. Power's not supposed to be on for everyone in the region until the weekend - that's a full week or more for some.
My "city" of Fredericton, New Brunswick, population around 85,000 if we are feeling generous had this on their fire department feed on Monday:
#FFD responded to 4 Structure fires, 29 Fire Alarms, 2 Gas leaks, 289 Tree/Line down, 1 Water rescue, 11 Misc, 2 CO alarms, 37 Medicals, 1 Trapped in Elevator in the past 72hrs.
We live within spitting distance, so my 4 year old got to hear his favourite sound, the sirens, plenty...
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 9, 2014 5:46:36 GMT -9
We've had two days of being lashed by a Tropical Storm. The Met Service had severe weather warnings out in good time so we were well prepared. During our Winter we get these all the time with the storm systems playing follow the leader as they move down from the tropics and along the east coast of New Zealand. The small rural town where I live is tucked in against the westerly side of the Coromandel Ranges so we tend to be more sheltered from the weather as compared to other places along the east coast. Apparently Auckland (NZ's largest city) has been well and truly pasted by the storms, whereas we suffered very little damage. The sound of the wind and the lash of the rain last night was impressive enough and kept me from sleeping, - so I wouldn't like to think what it was like in more exposed locations.
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 10, 2014 8:36:35 GMT -9
I must say we are blessed where we are. Aside from the regular spring floods (which shouldn't really surprise anyone, except those of us on the hill), the odd ice storm, and fairly regular snowstorms (thankfully in the winter ), we are fairly weather-safe. Earthquakes are only felt lightly, and only on the floodplain. This is the worst storm we've had in our recorded history (in terms of damage) yet not a single fatality here, nor critical injuries. The sheer number of trees and branches lost is pretty astounding, and that we've needed help coming in from both Quebec and Maine. It's a matter of discomfort and annoyance and expense - the last of which some can afford more than others...
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 10, 2014 19:40:24 GMT -9
I must say we are blessed where we are. Aside from the regular spring floods (which shouldn't really surprise anyone, except those of us on the hill), the odd ice storm, and fairly regular snowstorms (thankfully in the winter ), we are fairly weather-safe. Earthquakes are only felt lightly, and only on the floodplain. This is the worst storm we've had in our recorded history (in terms of damage) yet not a single fatality here, nor critical injuries. The sheer number of trees and branches lost is pretty astounding, and that we've needed help coming in from both Quebec and Maine. It's a matter of discomfort and annoyance and expense - the last of which some can afford more than others... That's interesting Anne, because here in our little town we've noticed an increasing severity in these Tropical Storms and Tropical Cyclones we get hit with each Winter. My daughter has a friend from her university days who now works for the Met Service so she gets to hear about overall weather trends that are heading our way and the reasons why. We don't get snow here, - well our local mountain, Mt. Te Aroha, will sometimes get a dusting on the very top of it which might last for half a day or so and makes everyone get their cameras out and point and oooh and aaah at the mountain. We do get some fairly impressive frosts and river mists though and black ice can be a problem on the roads. Being on the edge of a river plain as we are flooding is always a concern and the local museum has plenty of historic photos of flooding in the town. These days we have the river stop bank system which goes a long way towards preventing all but the very worst floods. Last Winter the local council had to close roads and put up the flood gates, but so far it hasn't happened this year.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Jul 30, 2014 17:49:30 GMT -9
Does anyone really still doubt that Global Warming is real?
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Post by squirmydad on Jul 30, 2014 17:56:21 GMT -9
I am growing corn in my front yard. In Alaska.
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 30, 2014 18:09:36 GMT -9
I am growing corn in my front yard. In Alaska. There is some doubt as to whether or not the local First Nations could do that here, pre-contact. And I'm at latitude 46!
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Post by wildagreenbough on Jul 30, 2014 18:17:21 GMT -9
Does anyone really still doubt that Global Warming is real? Living as I do in a long narrow country in the immensity of large oceans I can tell you that us Kiwis got the memo about Global Warming really early.
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Post by Vermin King on Jul 31, 2014 5:11:15 GMT -9
They just are approaching it wrong. I remember when a volcano erupted in the Ring of Fire, and they said that 10 times as many hydrocarbons were released in the eruption than mankind had released from the start of the Industrial Revolution. Deforestation is more of the issue. And not just the rain forest. On the other hand, Meteorologists have been talking solar cycles since the global warming folks found a new way to tax people, but the global warming folks wouldn't listen. Now they are starting to listen, by referring to 'climate change' not 'global warming'. We need to be responsible, but we also need to use common sense, and as always 'Follow the Money'.
I find it funny how in the late 70's they were predicting global cooling due to hydrocarbons, then it became the ozone hole, then it became global warming, and now climate change. It's all about control and money. And remember, any time Warren Buffett is talking about how bad the pipeline from Canada to Texas is for the environment, you have to remember that it is his Burlington Northern trains carrying the oil now. Follow the Money.
Back to Solar Cycles, through Infra-Red Telescopy or something like that, they have been keeping track of the temp on Mars. When the Earth has high temps, so does Mars. Low on Earth, low on Mars. As we are entering the cooler part of the cycle, things will return more closely to normal. Polar Ice is already improving. Now glacier ice decreases are another matter. They seem to be continuing to decline. I don't think scientists really have that good of an idea how glaciers work.
Be responsible, plant a tree or two, limit your own personal footprint on the planet, but some of the 'science' out there is still subject to interpretation and revision.
Eric, this surely isn't the first time you have grown corn, is it? I've seen photos of produce from the Alaska State Fair, I think, and that Midnight Sun helps you all have some outstanding produce. My mom's cousin in Alaska always grew corn, but I'm not sure how close to the coast he lived.
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Post by dungeonmistress on Jul 31, 2014 7:28:59 GMT -9
It's not just any one thing that has created the Global Warming crisis we are in right now. Deforestation, air pollution, hydrocarbons (both man-made and nature released), the stripping of natural resources, water pollution, Solar cycles, and the list goes on. However, if man hadn't fouled up this planet so badly, yes, we would still be heading for another ice age and there would still be global warming...BUT...over that last 20 years, instead of 6°F+ increase in average temperature, it would be barely a 1/2°F increase, and we wouldn't yet know what a super-storm was like. Instead of looking at the next ice age beginning in our children's lifetime (or maybe even our own, if we don't do something soon), it would be something that would occur many generations into the future.
So, it's not so much whether this climatological disaster (for us, anyway) is going to happen, it's when. Because of our ignorance and stupidity that we have accelerated the natural timetable by orders of magnitude. Instead of having an eon to address this issue, we have a generation , maybe less, not to solve the problem, it's far too late for that, but to figure out how to survive it, and if we're really smart and really lucky maybe we can lessen the severity of it by a few degrees.
Bet you're sorry you guys got me started on this one. Our planet and what we have so callously done to it, is one of my great passions. So, I'll step off my soapbox now and go hyperventilate in private.
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