We're doing fine. I'm glad that I finally got around to finishing the upstairs Fabric Shield Storm Panels. I had to put in the mounting studs on a high ladder and banged up my legs pretty well through my jeans, but we felt a lot better with the upstairs not so prone to blow in and away.
We had a little seepage around the transom window and the other front ones facing the East., but handled that with beach towels and a wringer.
My generator ran the whole 37.5 hours without power except for brief stops to refuel and top off the oil. That thing does use oil and the 10W-30 Mobile 1 for my wife's car doesn't last as long as the required 30-weight. I bought two gallons of 30-wt when I got to Walmart, among other things.
We were comfy cool with the A/C running the whole time, but the generator uses about 1.3-1.4 gallons an hour at about $4 an hour... but better than the heat and humidity. This was our longest time without power in over 20 years here. I've really gotten some good use out of that generator. We turn the air off or warmer to heat up the water or use the range. I wired the generator into the service panel with a homemade interlock to prevent the main being on at the same time the gen's on. That was my first concern when setting the generator up and connecting it to the electric panel.
Ou only real loss was the 21-year old backyard fence... pretty rotten and pieced together. The wind and tree limbs took out even some of the sturdier 4x4's and panels. I had planned to replace it this Fall, anyhow.
The whole house is a mess with all of the stuff I moved around and piled in the foyer while trying to find the stuff to mount those panels... only had the upper ones cut and grommeted, as well as the one for the screened rear porch... the first made as a test, since it was the least likely to be needed. 14 grommets per panel taking a lot of pounding with a hammer onto the tool supplied with the kit!
We've done well, though... plenty of water, food, gas(for a while), guns, and ammo... the latter not needed... so far.
I have "industrial-strength" braces for the garage door that faces the East. The door is steel, but with only one horizontal brace, and wouldn't hold up to winds above 70 mph, I don't think.
It has been sunny and nice the last few days.
My neighbor across the street just had the last two oaks taken down after one of them "cradled" the right side of his house. The left one dropped a large limb through his upstairs during Matthew last October. He's had lightning strikes and wind dropping those big oaks onto his house over the years. Sandy soil and a lot of rain, with short root systems, I guess... depends on the type of tree.
The St John's River Mill Cove is only 135 yards away and the high water got over the docks and "sea wall" and extended up to 30 feet into the yards, damaging or destroying most of the private docks.
Wynn
Hurricane Irma in Jacksonville with wyntrout.
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