15 days later.............

[Greg Richardson]

On December 14th in parts of Washington State we experienced category 2 Hurricane winds. Power was out for 9 days with another 18 hour interruption after getting hit with snow after Christmas.

Keeping my discus from being stressed out was my main concern.
Every time you turn off the generator to put in gas is just another moment of stress for them. At the start after storm we had to drive an hour just to find gas to buy. Leave it to these idiot gas station owners not to have generators.

What is an hour or even two hour drive to save your fish though?
Just happy to have a good generator. Not a big one so after fish room didn't leave much for the house. LOL!
But my kids and Wife knew what the fish needed to survive.

To cut down on power consumption I took off all HOB filters and just ran sponges.

All my discus looking fine and no problems.
Just a lot of work running cords.

Next few posts will show pictures of the consequences of that type of wind.
Lived here for 48 years and never experienced anything like it.
60 MPH winds with a few higher gusts is normal for big storms but nothing like the sustained winds with gusts that sounded like freight train coming over and over for hours.

I was praying hard. Huge trees are all around us.
Only one hit our deck. Rest was huge limbs and hours of cleanup.
You could hear trees coming down all night long and wondered how your neighbors were doing.

[Greg Richardson]

Snapped poles in half.............

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197191365/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197191142/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197191831/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192016/512/null/image.jpg

[Greg Richardson]

More..............

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192416/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192028/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192614/512/null/image.jpg

[Vorian]

Whoa, That looks like what happened here in Fortuna CA last year at this time. Massive Redwoods fallen across 101 and 2 months of chainsaw work all over Humboldt county....

Well glad to hear you made it through and your Discus too ;)

[t_j]

Wow I would have been scared out of my mind. The weather out in the west has been crazy lately. I'm happy to hear that you and your family are ok and no real damage to your home.:o

For got to add those are some really great pictures though:D

[greyhoundfan]

More importantly I'm glad your family made it out safely. My sister lives in Issaquah and she didn't lose any power during the storm. My mom is also out there now for a visit. Great timing.

I feel bad for Frank too bad he lost his fish. I've never met him or bought fish from him but I could tell he was a good guy.

Those pics sure do tell a story. I grew up in HI so we endured a lot of natural disasters and disaster warnings. 7.0 richter earthquakes on the Big Island, Hurricanes Iniki and Iwa and one tsunami warning.

[Greg Richardson]

Two neighbors trucks got hit. This one had a sense of humor.......
http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192827/512/null/image.jpg

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192433/512/null/image.jpg

The day after the storm this was the last picture we took.
One needs peace to look at after the 70 some pictures we took of downed trees.
http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/197192890/512/null/image.jpg

[brewmaster15]

Greg,
The fish are worthless compared to you and your family.. I am glad you all made it thru the storm okay.:) Looks like it was a killer.


-al

ps..happy your fish did as well!:)

[AADiscus]

It's glad to know that no one was hurt in your family and you were able to save your fish as well. I liked the sign on the back of that truck. Sounds like and looks like everyone was real lucky.

ps. something you can do to help with all the cords is mark your heater/filters cords with duct tape and mark heater/filter, etc. I say this because we run 19 tanks. If we lose power for a long time we will move fish into big tanks and all the sponges to those tanks. So that the generator doesn't have to keep up with all tanks. It makes it alot easier in the dark to determine which cord is what and which ones to plug into cords for the generator.

[Kindredspirit]

Greg ~ I am gald all is well now and no devasting losses! As a child we spent some years in Okinawa ~ talk about hurricanes! The sound...the sound was the worse part as I remember it ~ once, our kitchen ceiling came down and our house flooded up to the knees ~

Makes you promise to never complain about your life again:) I am glad that your discus are well and safe too!

Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/8/8_6_29.gif

[Ardan]

Thanks for sharing the pics. it looks like a real mess, especially the down power lines and down trees.

Glad you and your fish are ok

Ardan

[jeep]

This reminds me of the ice storm we had a few years ago. We didn't have the winds but we were without power for I think 18 days in the middle of winter with sub-zero temps and out entire metro area looked like a disaster area. Luckily, I took my 4 discus at the time to someone elses house until power was restored.

I'm glad your family was safe!!

[pcsb23]

Its hard to take in sometimes, the power of mother nature is truly awesome. I'm glad you, your family and your fish are all ok Greg. And you have to love the firewood delivery :)

[Greg Richardson]

Thanks for all the comments. Yes indeed the families safety was priority #1!

Something some of you may not know. As a few of our neighbors got their vehicles crushed and heard about this situation on the news.

If you have a vehicle with only liability insurance and a tree takes it out neither your home nor car insurance will cover it.

Before the storm came I told my Wife our 95 work van will just be parked in same spot as it always has been since so many trees it really doesn't matter where I park it risk is the same. Only had a tree hit it one year and it was a small one so not much damage. Not worth full coverage the rates they charge.

AADiscus. I like that idea of putting discus together to save cords, power, etc. So simple an idea but it escaped me? DUHHHHHHHHHH!!! LOL!
Next time I will.
All my discus on same wc system so it doesn't matter here doing that.

[AmberC]

Wow. I have a friend in P Orchard and she lost power for more than 8 days. I forget what the grand total was now, but she ended up going to her moms because they got power before she did. Its a good thing you have the generator! I have luckily never been in a situation to need one, but I am thinking that it would be a good investment.

And OH MY do I miss Wa. I felt so homesick looking at those pics. :( I really did love it there.

[Greg Richardson]

Amber. Took me a few power outages when we moved to this area of Washington before I got a generator. First one was a joke from HD.
Second one I bought from generator place in Woodinville. Wish I could have afford a bigger one back then but that's life. This Honda generator has been the best investment I ever have made. Basic maintenance and it starts every time. Some day hope to buy a bigger Honda and hook it up to house instead of running cords.

New people who move in I always mention first thing you need to buy a generator if you want to live here.

Some are very stubborn. LOL!

We had a rich lawyer move in next door.
They thought oh they will just go to their other home in Sultan when power goes out. Two years later they bought one. LOL!

May be some day you can make your way back here to Washington.
Move to the country though unless you have a spare 600k sitting around for a money pit in the city with another 100k when the plumbing, electrical, etc. goes out. Prices out of control for old houses here. Glad I'm out here. Yet the lake up the street now a tiny lot going for 215k. What a joke. 80k just a few years ago. If I could make a living in Eastern Washington I'd be out of here in a heart beat. My house price gone up but can't afford to move else ware around here so what good is it? LOL!