POST HOG!!!
Thanks Brent. I really enjoyed the building of the Lions Gate Bridge video
Me being afraid of heights wouldn't walk on those catwalks, let alone balancing on the main swag cable? .....NO THANKS...
Thanks John. I can just imagine the cruise You and the Misses were on was really fun and hold some great memories
I saw what I was talking about in the picture you provided but then again I knew what I was looking for. Found hundreds of pictures of the Lions Gate Bridge as you said would be on the internet.
Here's a poster that was for sale on a pop-up add on eBay where I saw the kink in the main swag cable. I don't know how eBay knows I like Bridges but for some reason they do...
Here's a closer view but still poor resolution.
You can imagine my confusion with all the load forces pulling on that cable, how they changed its direction and the stress it must have at the angle of transfer. Nowadays they run the main cable straight into where it's anchored.
Then I found this image and it summed everything up with the huge angle bracket and dual cables pulling against the alternate forces.
I bet they don't sell that kind of hardware at the Home Depot
Have a great hump day gentlemen
TF
Good morning
The site is working well today for a change!
It looks like Ed is getting Tared and Feathered this morning...
Happy for ya! That ought to make for some easier snow removal this winter Ed. Nothing better than a nice clean skid of the blade
gmpullman Track fiddler My question to you Kevin? I have wondered through the years, what do they eventually do with all those warped boards that nobody's going to buy? At "my" Home Depot they get a splash of purple paint then tossed on the 80% off pile. Have you had your WHEATIES today? Zephyr Wheaties by Edmund, on Flickr
Track fiddler My question to you Kevin? I have wondered through the years, what do they eventually do with all those warped boards that nobody's going to buy?
At "my" Home Depot they get a splash of purple paint then tossed on the 80% off pile.
Have you had your WHEATIES today?
Zephyr Wheaties by Edmund, on Flickr
I have visitors this morning —
Bituminous by Edmund, on Flickr
Running the snow blower should be a lot easier this winter.
I hope your toaster strudel turns out better than your EGGO experience a few weeks back, Kevin
If we ever have to scrounge for something to eat we will start with the oldest and work our way down:
IMG_4718 by Edmund, on Flickr
Mc Nuggets for everyone
You're in my thoughts today, Kevin. I have friends in New Port Richey. Keeping them in mind, too.
Union Pacific Wheat by Edmund, on Flickr
Amber Waves...
Cheers, Ed
I feel like I'm there with you - as I'm sure many others here do!
From family / area experiences, may I make some suggestions - all of which you are likely very familiar with, but I won't assume......
- Prepare a "bug out" bag/suitcase of meds and important papers & pics. Ziploc bags are lifesavers for keeping things dry. Don't forget cat food!
- If you can, raise up at least one vehicle. Even 6-8 inches on concrete blocks could make a major difference. One of my sons will attest to this and of course that is in hindsight.
- I learned early on to keep cash on hand. When the electric goes out, cash is KING for sure!
- If possible, put valuable household goods (electronics, antiques) on top of tables, etc. It may make a huge difference.
- Also put basic clothes in plastic bags to keep dry. Dry clothes after a flood is a major help!
Hey, I'm sure all the above is second nature to you, but sometimes we just forget when a crisis is near.
Please take care, and know that a lot of folks are wishing you well, and you all are in a lot of prayers!
BE SAFE !!!
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Stay safe, Kevin.
SeeYou190 mobilman44 Sounds like in Florida you all listen to the authorities. Here in Texas, many ignore and do what they think best. I still have power! We are seeing light winds now, probably 15-20 MPH gusts. It is going to get much worse over the next eight hours. I still cannot believe they closed the roads 12 hours ago and ordered everyone to shelter in place. A lot of people could have evacuated. There are way too many people remaining here in the storm's path. They are predicting a 12 foot storm surge in Cape Coral. That would put my house under 4 feet of water, and up to the roof eaves for most of the houses in my neghborhood. That would be tragic if it happens. We are not seeing the National News down here now. Everything is local special broadcasts, so I have no idea what you are seeing. With so few people being allowed to evacuate in front of a category 3-4 storm, this could be tragic. When Irma hit, nearly all of Collier County and Lee County were given evacuation orders well in advance. Will keep on as long as power stays. The cat is absolutely losing her mind. -Kevin
mobilman44 Sounds like in Florida you all listen to the authorities. Here in Texas, many ignore and do what they think best.
I still have power!
We are seeing light winds now, probably 15-20 MPH gusts. It is going to get much worse over the next eight hours.
I still cannot believe they closed the roads 12 hours ago and ordered everyone to shelter in place. A lot of people could have evacuated. There are way too many people remaining here in the storm's path.
They are predicting a 12 foot storm surge in Cape Coral. That would put my house under 4 feet of water, and up to the roof eaves for most of the houses in my neghborhood. That would be tragic if it happens.
We are not seeing the National News down here now. Everything is local special broadcasts, so I have no idea what you are seeing.
With so few people being allowed to evacuate in front of a category 3-4 storm, this could be tragic. When Irma hit, nearly all of Collier County and Lee County were given evacuation orders well in advance.
Will keep on as long as power stays.
The cat is absolutely losing her mind.
-Kevin
Kevin. Prayers for you.
I'm working from home and have the TV on all day. The Weather Channel tracks landfall to occur from the east side of Charlotte Harbor over to Englewood. Since the surge happens the worst on the east side, they are saying bad things are going to happen in Punta Gorda...at the moment. These things wobble. It seems that you might be far enough south to miss the very high forecasted water. 5 to 10 miles matters.
Things always seem to be dramatic and sensationalized. Nevertheless, CAT4 is CAT 4 and the Eye is an Eye
Hurricane status is expected to travel over land all the way to Orlando. You know Florida better than I do, but I can imagine the authorities did not want a lot of evacuation traffic stranded on the roads as the Cat 1 Hurricane passed through Florida on its way to the Atlantic. There doesn't seem to be anywhere to go by car that would not be in the path.
I'm assuming your Home Depot will sell those extra pallets of water quickly once the storm passes. Probably good to still have some at the store for people who may run out during recovery.
- Douglas
The rain and wind have been completely stopped for about five minutes now. It is very cold outside. There is a gray haze in the air that prevents much visibility. This is spooky.
I just dug through the freezer looking for something to eat, since it is all going to go bad anyway... Found some Toaster-Strudel! Score!
Living the dream.
mobilman44Sounds like in Florida you all listen to the authorities. Here in Texas, many ignore and do what they think best.
Top of the page, eh... Maybe the diner is closed for evakuation.
I brought in an animal. If push come to shove, we can eat this.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Kevin,
We wish you well! You have done all you can and now its "hunker down" as they say. I noticed you have water containers for "commode flush". Man, that was a huge deal for us here - filling several 5 gal buckets and storing in the garage.
Sounds like in Florida you all listen to the authorities. Here in Texas, many ignore and do what they think best.
You are right, a fast moving storm is much preferred to a slow one. The winds are bad enough, but the water is the most destructive/dangerous.
I sure wish you well, and hopefully this will all be over with soon.
Take care!!!
SeeYou190Boy am I Post-Hogging it tonight.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Stay Safe, Kevin. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Boy am I Post-Hogging it tonight.
4:00 AM. Still have power and that is good. The winds have gone away and rain is once again light. We still have not seen anything near a Tropical Storm force wind.
Hoping for a good day tomorrow, but it sure looks like it will be a rough ride.
I will update as I can.
The National Weather Service stated we should start seeing Tropical Storm Force winds around 2:00 AM. It is 1:50 AM now, and the clouds are really zipping by. I think they are pretty darned close.
The sky is amazing. It is glowing in a Magenta color in the middle of the night. You can see outside in the sky easily. I have not seen anything like this in a storm. It is eerily beautiful.
I will probably be losing power soon I expect the cut-off within an hour.
I have flashlights and spare batteries. There is also the Milwaukee Rocket Light with 8 fully charged batteries. Plenty of fuel. Freezer full of ice. Charged batteries for the chainsaw. I think I am as ready as I will be.
We are in a mandatory evacuation zone, so we will receive no emergency medical services for at least a day. This was a very poorly led preparation by the officials. I hope the reaction and recovery go much better.
I have a full industrial first aid kit. That will be all we have if something terrible happens.
Not sure if I will be able to check in again tonight.
I just remembered about my storage locker where the displaced items from the house remodel are kept.
Mine is on the bottom floor, and the building is in flood zone A.
Great, something else to worry about.
York1Good luck! Looks like your area is the target.
I just checked the 11:00 update from the National Hurricane Center. They have shifted the projected landfall just slightly, to Charlotte Harbour. That is exactly where Hurricane Charley hit and caused so much damage.
If it does hit, I really hope it speeds up. A slow moving storm is the worst.
BATMANI sure hope they put all those carts inside along with the other stuff they tend to have outside.
I know that many people do not believe this, but we do know what we are doing.
Of course the carts are inside. So are all the rental trucks, sod, mulch, fertilizer, trees, and so on, and so on.
I sure hope they put all those carts inside along with the other stuff they tend to have outside.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Good luck! Looks like your area is the target. I had my share of these in New Orleans. Not something I want to go through again.
Keep us posted!
York1 John
So, right now it is 10:00, the time the store was supposed to close. There is no wind and only a light rain outside. The storm is only moving at 10 MPH.
They sent an evacutation order for 70,000 people at 5:00, then closed the roads 3 hours later... and there is no weather event at all right now. All these people are forced to shelter in place with no hope of emergency services. They never opened the public general sheltering areas.
We still had all this bottled water on hand when they forced us to close the store.
We just got in another new truck of plywood at 6:30.
People were in the store buying these supplies for their homes, and they made us close the store. This makes no sense to me at all. We were providing necessary supplies. I found out they also closed all the WalMarts and Publix Grocery Stores early. I know the WalMart SuperCenter in North Fort Myers received nine trucks of supplies today, and they sold only about 60% of it before being forced to close.
I am so dumbfounded about all of this.
hon30critterGood luck Kevin! Scary stuff!!
Thank you.
I am awaiting the 11:00 update from the National Hurricane Center to see how much it shifts again.
SeeYou190I might need to finally eat some crow if the five-day forecast was correct, for the first time ever.
Good luck Kevin! Scary stuff!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Tonight was an experience at work.
Local news reported that everyone was out of water and other supplies. We had 22 pallets of bottled water on hand.
We were going to stay open until 10:00 as normal, but at 7:00 a Sheriff's deputy came by and said we had to be closed by 8:00 or shelter in place all night in the store.
We closed the store in a hurry and left. It is now 8:15, and there is no wind at all and only a light rain.
The worst is expected to begin overnight. They will shut off the power when sustained wind speeds reach about 30 miles per hour. It might be a while before you hear from me again.
The 5:00 PM update put landfall very near my home. I might need to finally eat some crow if the five-day forecast was correct, for the first time ever.
The rains just picked up. It is coming down heavy right now.
The rains stopped again.
Yesterday they issued mandatory evacuations for flood zones A & B. Today they added zone C after the 5:00 advisory, but they closed the roads at 8:00 PM.
I looked at the map, I have been rezoned to zone B. When did that happen. I have been in zone C since I bought this house. Oh well, too late now.
It looks like no one in the neighborhood has evacuated. Everything looks pretty normal around here.
It is going to be getting very scary in a few hours. I hope I can sleep through the worst of it.
There is a lot of contruction material in my backyard. Mostly concrete, pavers, and stone. I sure hope winds do not get high enough for any of that to become a projectile.
TF, I tried to find photos of that bridge, but was unsuccessful.
This blurry one is from a video file from when we were in the park before the cruise. I have several minutes of video as our cruise ship went under the bridge, but it was raining and the video is almost impossible to view. Sorry about that.
That was a great trip with my daughters. We rode the White Pass and Yukon RR, and had the best time in Dawson City, Yukon. Stayed in an old hotel there and saw a lot of neat things before heading to Fairbanks, AK.
Sometime I'll have to tell about our plane flight to Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska. Six passenger plane in bad weather with our fingernails dug into the armrests.
MisterBeasleySince my three primary forms of exercise were bicycling, downhill skiing and ice hockey, my guess is it wouldn't do much for me.
My Garmin covers a vast number of activities. Check them out online.
Shows sleep duration and the times I was in a light, deep, REM sleep or when I was awake. How much I move in my sleep, pulse Ox and respiration. Last night I slept 5hrs44min. 3.52 light, 1:52REM and 2min awake. Most of my night is usually in REM or deep sleep, last night was not the norm. Respiration was 6BPM and pulse OX was99%. Both the Garmin and my wife say I sleep like a statue and never move all night.
My resting HR ranges between 37 and 43 most weeks. If my resting HR goes above 50 it usually means I have picked up a bug and will be sick in a day or two.
Here is a go on my recumbent bike, I get the same page for any activity.
Gives body battery and stress levels which are amazing.
The number of calories burned as you go through the day. When I hit dinner time I never ever eat more than I burned and usually 300 less as that gives me wiggle room for the weekend Rum, wine or scotch.
I burn 84 calories an hour doing nothing. I can easily burn 4000 calories on an active day and the wife will put a 1lb rib steak on my plate along with a bottle of red. No harm no foul. Eating calories you don't burn is like spending money you don't have.
Like Ray my steps are counted. 13333 steps is 10km. I can knock that off in an hour and it burns a 1000 calories depending on how steep the terrain is. It also counts stairs and tells you elevation changes on the day.
Here is last week's time spent either on the trail and/or bike.
A Garmin would tell you everything about your body during hockey or on the bike. The GPS will paint a plcture of your every move.
I wish I had one when I skied to tell me how fast I went.
MisterBeasleyYou seem to have the drive and determination to do it right. Congratulations!
Thank you sir! What I find is that the Fitbit actually challenges me to get and keep going. It is sorta like a game with yourself. My personal goal is to never go to bed at night until I have at least 5,000 steps in. It has been a while, but I have put in over 20,000 steps (about 10miles) a few days. Not often, but that comes with a feeling of achievement.
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Ray, your mention of Fitbit reminds me of a conversation I had with my stock analyst some years back. He had just gotten one, and was raving about it and how everyone should get one. Since my three primary forms of exercise were bicycling, downhill skiing and ice hockey, my guess is it wouldn't do much for me. About a year later, I asked him if his Fitbit was now in a dresser drawer and hadn't left for six months. He admitted I was right.
You seem to have the drive and determination to do it right. Congratulations!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Stay safe Kevin,
Been there done that with hurricanes,
I have a frined in Tampa who works for Sheirrffs dept. He is not looking forward to this either.
SeeYou190 York1 I hope Kevin is weathering the storm OK. It sounds like his home with all the wind resistant construction will be OK with the wind, but the storm surge might be another story. I hope he will fill us in on how it goes. As of the 11:00 update from the National Weather Service, we are now under a hurricane/tornado/flash flood/storm surge warning. They have issued mandatory evacuations for flood zones A & B already, as well as all island communities. We are expecting hurricane conditions in 36 hours. The chaos is maddening. I cannot believe how few new residents has any plans at all. My plans are minimal, but they are a plan, and I know what I am going to do. So many new people here have no idea what they are going to do. My house should be fine, I am not in a flood zone, and my house is several feet higher than most others in the neighborhood. I went out last night at 4:00 AM and filled all the vehicles after the 24 hour gas stations got their overnight deliveries. I have plywood, roofing paper, and patch tar on hand if needed. The freezer is full of ice and the refrigerator is full of water. We have plenty of water in buckets to flush the toilets. Junk food is abundant in the cupboards. I am as ready as I will be. I am not looking forward to work today. -Kevin
York1 I hope Kevin is weathering the storm OK. It sounds like his home with all the wind resistant construction will be OK with the wind, but the storm surge might be another story. I hope he will fill us in on how it goes.
As of the 11:00 update from the National Weather Service, we are now under a hurricane/tornado/flash flood/storm surge warning. They have issued mandatory evacuations for flood zones A & B already, as well as all island communities. We are expecting hurricane conditions in 36 hours.
The chaos is maddening. I cannot believe how few new residents has any plans at all. My plans are minimal, but they are a plan, and I know what I am going to do. So many new people here have no idea what they are going to do.
My house should be fine, I am not in a flood zone, and my house is several feet higher than most others in the neighborhood.
I went out last night at 4:00 AM and filled all the vehicles after the 24 hour gas stations got their overnight deliveries. I have plywood, roofing paper, and patch tar on hand if needed. The freezer is full of ice and the refrigerator is full of water.
We have plenty of water in buckets to flush the toilets.
Junk food is abundant in the cupboards.
I am as ready as I will be. I am not looking forward to work today.
NWS is saying landfall between Ft Myers and Tampa. Extra interesting to me because that's where we tend to visit when we go...Englewood. Wondering what the history of the area is as far as receiving direct impact.
Be safe Kevin. Prayers for you and yours.
Bent. The picture of the cruise ship looks amazing. Thanks for posting. Any idea of its name? It looks like a Seabourn company ship.