Cool last night, and I’m hoping that continues. But it was sweatier than Satan’s butt crack in Houston. I was soaked to the skin loading the truck.
So yesterday was a bit of a kick in deeznutz… after doing my morning stuff, and just before I was ready to leave the house, I started getting texts about the power being out at the BOL, and there being a bunch of trees down, etc. That changed my plan for the day, and the weekend as it turned out.
Seems the bad weather that passed north of Houston Wed night did a number on the area around the BOL. In particular it dropped some big trees on power lines, and shook chunks of tree out of the sky all over the place. Including the roof of my house, the patio, and other places to be discovered in the light of day today.
Hearing how long the power had been out, I loaded up my truck with all the stuff I’d brought home to deal with the disaster in Houston- fuel, generators, tree cutting stuff… and I headed up. Had to do a stop on the east side of town to pickup stuff that couldn’t be delayed and EVERYONE was driving light idiots. Huge backups and delays throughout the Houston area. Took longer to get to my pickup, took longer to get to the BOL.
I only had about twenty minutes of daylight to get a gennie set up and survey the damage. One quick walk around and I was busy with propane and pull cords. Got ‘er adjusted and running, ran cords to the stuff that is supposed to be cold, and a few convenience items. Fans and starlink being the most critical. Cell booster antenna got knocked by a tree and will be one of the first things I try to put right today.
Then I’ll start looking at where I can cut and remove limbs and debris. Some stuff will need a pro, like the tree that is leaning on the chimney. I’d love to pull it back to vertical, but IDK if that works. Losing it will suck both for structural reasons -it stabilizes the hill, and for practical reasons = it shades the house in the afternoon, saving power on A/C.
Much of what fell was supposed to have been removed some time ago, but we delayed. That should be a lesson- if it needs doin’, do it.
That goes for fixing the generators too. I should have jumped on that. As for solar, it moved up the list, and involved some discussion with the boss. She’s on board with putting some up and getting started on the path.
It’s been a hellova few weeks, but it would have been a lot worse without stuff from the stacks. It’s not over, I think stuff like this is just getting started. Even if you are just getting started, stack something!
nick