Blast, happy to hear that you & yours made it through OK.

Some good inof that you posted, thanks.

Bill

Hi Blast,

Glad to hear all is well with you and your family. I am enjoying reading about your adventure.

Mike

Ditto. Blast it's great to have you back! Thanks for sharing!!

I meant "some heaps of 2x4s are impact damage [includes waves such as flowing storm surge] but there are many very old weekend cabins on Galveston Bay that weren't much to start with."

I grew up in the Galveston Bay area near Seabrook/El Lago and rode out Alicia, a comparable storm, in Nassau Bay.

Glad you are well and back online.

Are you serious about the tigers ?

Humor aside, tigers aren't the only things to worry about. Snakes can be a big problem, as can fire ants.

I understand alligators were spotted further south on the coast after Ike.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post this, I've been very busy. Okay, the following is stuff I either didn't do and should have, or did wrong.

1. I didn't buy ice before the storm. I rearranged the freezers and filled up all our tupperware with water and froze it. This wasn't enough. I should have filled every cooler and empty spot in our freezers with bags of ice or dry ice.

2. I didn't seal the food well enough against the water from the melted ice. I should have either put the food in big ziploc bags or sealed the ice in heavy-duty garbage bag. I had to throw out a lot of food just because it became water-logged.

3. I didn't fill spare gas cans with gasoline. Both vehicles were topped off, but I had three 5-gal gas cans sitting empty. I figured since I didn't have a generator I didn't need the extra gas (and associated extra risks). Had I had the extra gas I could have helped supply my neighbor's generator with gas. Sidenote: a few days after the storm the company I work for began giving each employee 5 free gallons of gas each day.

4. I didn't put our extension cords in an easy to access location. Again I figured since I didn't have a generator I didn't need the extension cords. However, I could have run cords from my central battery system to other rooms.

5. While I had plenty of tarps and nails in case of roof damage, I didn't have long wood strips to help hold the tarps on the roof. Luckily, I didn't need the tarps.

6. I made my plywood shutters too heavy to install by myself.

7. I hadn't written the shutter's window location on each shutter, I just numbered them and wrote the location on a piece of paper. I then misplaced the paper sometime in the last few years.

8. After the hurricane I spent the day cleaning the yard rather than optimizing keeping my food properly cooled or cooking it.

9. A lot of the food I did cook still ended up going bad because I didn't have enough ice to keep it cool.

10. The first day I didn't realize how quickly it would get dark inside my house while still light outside.

11. After our power came on I took out the batteries from all our flashlights and radios to prevent corrosion damage from leaking batteries. Then while I was in Denver the power went out again, leaving DW/DWs without light until she was able to find the flashlight and reinsert the batteries.

12. Hauled large logs while wearing sandals. Luckily I didn't drop any on my feet.

Mistakes I saw others make:
1. One friend dumped out all their water after the storm ended then discovered their water was shut off.

2. Neighbor was walking around barefoot and stepped on a nail. He ended up having to spend all day waiting in an emergency room.

3. Too many incidents of horrible chainsaw safety.

4. People racing down unlit, debris-filled neighborhood streets at high speeds.

5. People drove across other people's lawns to get around fallen trees.

Feel free to ask for details on any of these.

-Blast

There are lots of hurricane prep lists out there. Here is a list of things I was really glad I had that are normally included on these lists:

1.Xantrex Powerpack 400 Plus. I was able to run a fan and a CFL lamp for 10+ hours using this battery/inverter powerpack then recharge it using my car or the neighbor's generator.

2. 12-volt fan plugged into powerpack. This kept me cool.

3. Limb cutter. This cutting tool reduced big branches into tiny bits quickly, safely, and easily.


4. Aluminum foil, bbq grill and griddle. Give me a barbecue grill and a griddle and I'll figure out how to cook just about anything. Add the aluminum foil and I can cook anything.

5. LED lamp and rechargable spotlight. The lamp lit up a room using six LEDs and three AA batteries. The spotlight was able to light up my neighbor's place four houses down.


6. Walkie-talkies. House to house communications gave safety and comfort.

7. 7gal and 2.5gal Aquatainers. I could move the big one easily, but DW could only use the smaller one.


-Blast

Interesting overview, Blast!

If your meat isn't spoiled, just freeze-burned or soaking in water, ask around your neighborhood if any dog owners feed raw. They would probably welcome the meat, you wouldn't have to put up with it sitting around and rotting, nor pay an extra garbage fee (if you've got a lot). Maybe check with your neighbors now, and you'll know which way to jump if you hit trouble.

Sue

Blast,

That's a pretty short list of things that didn't get done or went wrong. Congratulations on finding your errors the less endangering way!!

If the DW & DD's had been home, you would've been able to keep them reasonably comfortable and very safe!!!

As they say in the Guard, BZ!