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javasaurus) wrote2003-09-22 07:14 pm
javasaurus) wrote2003-09-22 07:14 pm
Isabel 2003
For the most part, we got by very lucky. Our power went out as soon as the storm got close, 3:30pm on Thursday. But we have gas stove, so we could cook, and gas water heater, so the water stayed warm. We don't cook much, so we suffered minimal spoilage (we hauled several pounds of meat to my parents' place -- they didn't lose power at all!).
We had a load of whites in the laundry when the power went out, so they soaked in bleach for 24 hours before we carted them to my parents' place to rinse the bleach and soap out.
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blueeowyn and I spent several hours staring at each other by candlelight, playing rummicube, mancala, and canasta, and singing songs. We also cleaned bathrooms.
Friday morning, we noticed that our house's ridge vent was half-stripped away, and was dangling down the back side of the house. We called the insurance company, and left a message. Couldn't do much about it during the weekend (Ren Fest, ya know), so I called the insurance company again this morning, and talked to a real live person. They suggested taking pictures and covering the resulting hole to prevent rain damage.
Hmmm....two story house, no ladder. Can't even get into the attic without a ladder. So I went to Sears, bought a tarp, four 50' lengths of nylon rope, and four tent pegs, and some string. The idea is to attach the nylon rope to each corner of the tarp, throw the string over the house, and use the string to pull the rope/tarp combo up to the roof. I attached the string to a roll of tape, and tried to throw the tape over the house. Tape was too light, and wouldn't fly all the way over. I suspect the neighborhood kids thought I was daft. I also suspect they may be right.
So I look for a good rock. A chunk of wood. A brick. Can't find anything with good throwing potential. Must remember to buy a baseball for just such circumstances. I decide to use a half-liter bottle of Aquafina. Attach string, and it flies over with no problem. Made a bit of a splat on the back patio, though. Attach other end of string to nylon ropes, and go to back of house to pull string. String gets caught on bent remains of ridge vent and snaps. Grrr...
Reattach string to now half-full bottle of water and start again. String snaps again. Hurumph.
Bottle is empty, so I get second bottle of water. This one is a little 10oz Aquafina bottle. I attach string, and toss it over the house. Oops, angled a bit, nearly hit neighbor's house. Try again, and over it goes. I attach string to nylon ropes, and go to back of house. Where is the string and bottle? Can't find them. Realize that 10oz bottle is in gutter. Go to front of house and try to pull string from that side to retrieve bottle. *snap* goes the string again. I go into house, find twine (a bit stronger than the string). I also get another bottle of water. This one is a 12oz Poland Springs. Over the house (after a few tries--my arm is getting tired by now) goes the water with twine in tow. Go to back of house to verify that bottle landed. Poland Springs seems to use a better bottle than Aquafina. No splat! Return to front of house. Attach nylon ropes, wave to the kids who think I'm an idiot, and go to back of house to pull again. I can feel the tension as tarp gets into the air, but the twine isn't breaking. I see the nylon ropes crest the top of the roof, and wham! it's stuck. Grumble grumble.
Put brick on twine to keep it from getting pulled back over house. Go to front of house, and see tarp is caught on gutter. So go in house, upstairs, and try to open window which is (of course) painted shut. I can see tarp, and gutter, but I can't open #$#@ing window. So I go downstairs to the garage, and find chisel. Upstairs. Use chisel to poke eyes out. No, wait, to break paint seal and open window. But where is the tarp? I go outside to front of house, and see that wind has whipped tarp to side of house. Back of house, release brick from twine and let tarp fall to ground.
Front of house, pull tarp back to where it belongs (stepping on three snap-dragons and snapping part of rose bush -- sorry, BE!). Back of house, start pulling again. Tarp again sticks to gutter. Brick goes back on twine. In house, upstairs, front window, push part of tarp off of gutter, and pull part into house so it won't get blown by wind again. Downstairs, outside, back yard, brick off twine, pull, nylon rope makes it all the way down the roof, and a few feet more before *snap* the twine finally breaks. Since tarp is half in house, it doesn't pull kit-n-kaboodle all down to front yard. But the nylon rope is dangling in front of back windows.
In house, search for better string-like something, find thin nylon twine. Upstairs, window at back of house, painted shut, chisel, open, attach nylon twine to nylon ropes, drop other end of nylon twine to back yard.
*takes breath* Down stairs, outside, back yard, take drink from bottle (still attached to piece of twine), and pull nylon twine. Yea! I get hold of nylon ropes, and am able to stake them t the ground. Also stake down two nylon ropes in front yard. House looks a little big-toppish with four ropes from roof to ground. I attached plastic bags to the ropes near eye-level so people would (hopefully) see them and not run into them and trip.
I've got pictures of the damage (which is not too extensive) and the finished product. After they're developed, maybe BE can scan them in for display. When the wind blows, it whips under the tarp and makes a loud flap-flap noise in the master bedroom. Maybe I'll sleep on the couch tonight.
*snort* Tomorrow, parents on my street will wonder why their kids are throwing bottles of water over their houses...
We had a load of whites in the laundry when the power went out, so they soaked in bleach for 24 hours before we carted them to my parents' place to rinse the bleach and soap out.
blueeowyn and I spent several hours staring at each other by candlelight, playing rummicube, mancala, and canasta, and singing songs. We also cleaned bathrooms.Friday morning, we noticed that our house's ridge vent was half-stripped away, and was dangling down the back side of the house. We called the insurance company, and left a message. Couldn't do much about it during the weekend (Ren Fest, ya know), so I called the insurance company again this morning, and talked to a real live person. They suggested taking pictures and covering the resulting hole to prevent rain damage.
Hmmm....two story house, no ladder. Can't even get into the attic without a ladder. So I went to Sears, bought a tarp, four 50' lengths of nylon rope, and four tent pegs, and some string. The idea is to attach the nylon rope to each corner of the tarp, throw the string over the house, and use the string to pull the rope/tarp combo up to the roof. I attached the string to a roll of tape, and tried to throw the tape over the house. Tape was too light, and wouldn't fly all the way over. I suspect the neighborhood kids thought I was daft. I also suspect they may be right.
So I look for a good rock. A chunk of wood. A brick. Can't find anything with good throwing potential. Must remember to buy a baseball for just such circumstances. I decide to use a half-liter bottle of Aquafina. Attach string, and it flies over with no problem. Made a bit of a splat on the back patio, though. Attach other end of string to nylon ropes, and go to back of house to pull string. String gets caught on bent remains of ridge vent and snaps. Grrr...
Reattach string to now half-full bottle of water and start again. String snaps again. Hurumph.
Bottle is empty, so I get second bottle of water. This one is a little 10oz Aquafina bottle. I attach string, and toss it over the house. Oops, angled a bit, nearly hit neighbor's house. Try again, and over it goes. I attach string to nylon ropes, and go to back of house. Where is the string and bottle? Can't find them. Realize that 10oz bottle is in gutter. Go to front of house and try to pull string from that side to retrieve bottle. *snap* goes the string again. I go into house, find twine (a bit stronger than the string). I also get another bottle of water. This one is a 12oz Poland Springs. Over the house (after a few tries--my arm is getting tired by now) goes the water with twine in tow. Go to back of house to verify that bottle landed. Poland Springs seems to use a better bottle than Aquafina. No splat! Return to front of house. Attach nylon ropes, wave to the kids who think I'm an idiot, and go to back of house to pull again. I can feel the tension as tarp gets into the air, but the twine isn't breaking. I see the nylon ropes crest the top of the roof, and wham! it's stuck. Grumble grumble.
Put brick on twine to keep it from getting pulled back over house. Go to front of house, and see tarp is caught on gutter. So go in house, upstairs, and try to open window which is (of course) painted shut. I can see tarp, and gutter, but I can't open #$#@ing window. So I go downstairs to the garage, and find chisel. Upstairs. Use chisel to poke eyes out. No, wait, to break paint seal and open window. But where is the tarp? I go outside to front of house, and see that wind has whipped tarp to side of house. Back of house, release brick from twine and let tarp fall to ground.
Front of house, pull tarp back to where it belongs (stepping on three snap-dragons and snapping part of rose bush -- sorry, BE!). Back of house, start pulling again. Tarp again sticks to gutter. Brick goes back on twine. In house, upstairs, front window, push part of tarp off of gutter, and pull part into house so it won't get blown by wind again. Downstairs, outside, back yard, brick off twine, pull, nylon rope makes it all the way down the roof, and a few feet more before *snap* the twine finally breaks. Since tarp is half in house, it doesn't pull kit-n-kaboodle all down to front yard. But the nylon rope is dangling in front of back windows.
In house, search for better string-like something, find thin nylon twine. Upstairs, window at back of house, painted shut, chisel, open, attach nylon twine to nylon ropes, drop other end of nylon twine to back yard.
*takes breath* Down stairs, outside, back yard, take drink from bottle (still attached to piece of twine), and pull nylon twine. Yea! I get hold of nylon ropes, and am able to stake them t the ground. Also stake down two nylon ropes in front yard. House looks a little big-toppish with four ropes from roof to ground. I attached plastic bags to the ropes near eye-level so people would (hopefully) see them and not run into them and trip.
I've got pictures of the damage (which is not too extensive) and the finished product. After they're developed, maybe BE can scan them in for display. When the wind blows, it whips under the tarp and makes a loud flap-flap noise in the master bedroom. Maybe I'll sleep on the couch tonight.
*snort* Tomorrow, parents on my street will wonder why their kids are throwing bottles of water over their houses...
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Y'know... reading the account of which bottles did what, I can just picture the paper some kid could do and hand in for extra credit on the aerodynamic abilities of varying shaped and weighted water botles, and their usefulness for not only carrying things over a building, but amusing the neighbors as well :-)
Hm... did you ever get the stuck one out of the gutter? Or are you enjoying the waterfall view tonight?
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I know, I shouldn't be laughing... But the mental image of you doing this is hilarious...
And I'm getting this mental image of you throwing grapes over the tarp just to amuse the kids... ;)
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