Who in Wa. got hammered last night?

[Galen]

Man, worst wind storn since 93'. Here in Mason Co. may not get power back for a couple days. Was leaving for Bachelor tommorow, though we may just leave tonight! It's amazing how your life can come to a standstill when you dont have electricity. But hey, I still have battery backup on the laptop, and dialup,lol! :lol:

[Sinecure]

We just got out of Seattle. It was pretty bumpy taking off. On Weds when I arrived we had to go around once before landing. We were nearly on the ground and the pilot hit full throttle, lifted the nose and went around. I enjoyed it but I may have been the only one on the plane who thought it was cool. The second time he landed on one wheel first, then set the other down. He did a very impressive job, considering the wind strength, direction and gustiness.

[AndyYT316]

Sinecure, were you on a flight where the plane was all over the place?! I saw on the news the other night that a plane was trying to land and it was so windy that it was all over the place! The wings were going up and down and stuff and then the pilot pulled up and took off again. It was crazy!

[Art]

Ran calls from 6 to 2am and then we were so far behind we set up the DOC and dispatched ourselves. Lots of stupidity out there. People just dont know when to go inside and wait it out. You would think that people would understand that we know that trees are falling down and power lines are arcing but they had to call and tell us about every single one. Basically been up for 48 but thats nothing compared to what the utility guys have coming bless their hearts.

[Galen]

Bryan: Daaammmnnn!!!!! Glad you didn't lose anything "important"!

Art: You guys are awesome, along with the road crews and power guys. During events like these, you guys are all out pulling long hours in the worst of conditions, while wankers like us twiddle our thumbs and complain about missing an episode of DR. Phil :lol:

Everyone else: when you see your local FD on the corner trying to drum up money-FEED THE BOOT!!!

[Art]

Thanks Galen. I am happy to do it but after a long night it is aesy to get a little punchy. Right now the util guys are getting hammered (but the pay aint bad) and we are getting cought up on the paperwork and equipment. It is pretty bizzare to see people out and about during this kind of event and wonder what the hell they are doing driving around, or the people on the street in their PJ' Swith a cell fone calling to tell us there are branches in the road? My back fence got tatered by a trampoline from a house 200 yards away and the people denied it was theirs, but their kids blew their cover cause my neighbor got to them first. At least they got it out of our yard. Lots of crazy stuff like the families heating their apartments with BBQs and getting 30 people sick...... The list goes on. Just glad its ofer and my snowboards are safe..... :D

[C5 Golfer]

Art , I was wondering about how busy you were.

I was very lucky , I had a big pine tree blow down between my house and my new BMW - about 1 foot away from the X5 and 2 feet away from the house. Dodged a bullet there. Kristy did not have power and either do I so we loaded up and headed tp Whistler for a week of bliss. Wonderful snow here.. lots of it and the new chair opened at Whistler - Sympony - and rode the bowls with the Prior 179 4X4. taking the day off to day to catch up on email and a little work but will ride it hard tomorrow morning. I expect when I return to basically throw away everything in the fridge.

Al

[Art]

Save the beer!!!!!!!!!!! Glad to hear you survived. Enjoy Whistler. I was going to go to CM but the storm changed my mind. Probably wont go till after XMas now. Go rent one of those Prior Metal boards!

[NateW]

I lost power for about a day and a half, I think I was one of the lucky ones as there were dark neighborhoods and streetlights in all directions for quite a while after.

I also lost a small section of fence, but thankfully all of my trees are still standing.... My parents lost ten trees (10!) on their three-quarter acre lot. I'll be helping them clean up this week. Their whole neighborhood was hit pretty hard, there's lots of tall evergreens out there, and now lots of smashed roofs and decks.

No carbon monoxide poisoning here, but my fuel light went on as I pulled into work Thursday AM and I thought, "no big deal, I have enough to get through the day, I'll fill up tomorrow morning." I heard there was a storm coming, but didn't really pay attention to the magnitude... :) Tomorrow morning there were no open gas stations for miles. Parts of Seattle still had gas (and no lines!) but I wasn't sure I could make it that far.

My folks picked me up and took me to their place Friday so my parrots could stay warm (no power there either, but they have an old-school gas fireplace.) I borrowed a car and drove my birds and myself to Seattle to sleep at my GF's place, and came back home with a couple gallons of gas. That got me to a gas station with a 5-minute line on Saturday. It was $3.10/gallon and I was grateful to pay every cent.

Lesson learned:

1) It's good to have friends and family.

2) I ain't letting my car go below a half tank 'til April. :)

[Mike T]

Driving up to Sun Peaks last Thursday SUCKED. We filled up in Bellingham on the way back and tried to stop at N. Bend for a snack but there was no power (yesterday) - fortunately didn't need more gas till Yakima.

As an aside - for getting from Northern WA to Central OR - 405->90->82->97 worked brilliantly for minimizing getting stuck in Seattle traffic! Wouldn't want to do it during a storm though.