Forecasters predict a near- or above-normal 2018 Atlantic hurricane season

I hope I'm set for power outages this year, with solar "generators." Really all I want is internet. Maybe plug in my freezer. For that hurricane last year, I evacuated, with 50 snakes, a tortoise, a pigeon and two dogs.

I drove to Lehigh Acres to visit a friend and to see his corns. I couldn't believe the sea of blue tarps on many of the roofs. I guess there aren't enough roofers in the area. It's even worse in the Keys, as the few homes for workers were destroyed, and many left the area.

Originally Posted by Nanci

I hope I'm set for power outages this year, with solar "generators." Really all I want is internet. Maybe plug in my freezer. For that hurricane last year, I evacuated, with 50 snakes, a tortoise, a pigeon and two dogs.

When we had the power go out here a couple of years ago, I found the thing I wished for the most was some battery powered fans. It was just murder trying to sleep. Couldn't open up the windows or all that hot humid air outside would just come into the house, making things feel much worse.

Since then I have bought four (4) of them, just in case. Just need to make sure I always have plenty of batteries stashed away too.

Originally Posted by Rich Z

When we had the power go out here a couple of years ago, I found the thing I wished for the most was some battery powered fans. It was just murder trying to sleep. Couldn't open up the windows or all that hot humid air outside would just come into the house, making things feel much worse.

Since then I have bought four (4) of them, just in case. Just need to make sure I always have plenty of batteries stashed away too.

I have seen fans for boats that run on 12 volts. Usually they plug into a cigarette type receptacle, but you can add alligator clips to the wires and run them off any 12 volt battery. If you have a riding mower or lawn tractor take the battery into the house prior to a storm and it will power the fan for quite a while. Same with a Corvette battery, but you would probably take the one out of Connie's truck. LOL.

I wouldn't be real keen on bringing lead/acid batteries into the house. The fans run on D-cell batteries and run for quite a long time, so as long as I keep a good stock of the D batteries, things will be fine.

Worse comes to worse we can always relocate to the old ex-reptile building. It has the Onan generator tied into it, along with AC units in all the rooms. We would just have to set up cots (hopefully they haven't dry rotted apart by now) and we would be good.

The freezer is in that building, and the propane tank I have should run the generator for about 2 weeks when filled. We also have a propane grill for cooking, so we should be OK as long as a tree doesn't knock everything out here by landing on that building and/or the house.

But if a serious storm takes bead on us, we will just bail out of the area entirely. Now that we don't have animals to worry about, we wouldn't have that hanging over our heads in that decision making process.

When we stayed in Ft Lauderdale the power went out just before dark. It's surprising how fast a house gets too warm. I gave up trying to sleep. The next day I had to drive home with toothpicks holding my eyes open.

I have a fan on my boat, and it's coming in the house, battery and all. Or I'll have to sleep on the sailboat.

My neighbor has a nice generator that her dad installed. She hasn't used it yet, so I checked it out. I was surprised that her dad failed to install one of those safety lockouts on the electrical panel. I told her those lockouts keep you from switching to generator power until the main breaker is off. Hope her husband installs one.

I did call my brother and asked if he moved to the new house on Big Pine. He said the Key deer are ravishing anything that grows in the yard, except weeds. He is installing a 6 foot fence around the yard. I asked if he saw any snakes yet, and he said there a lot of corns there. He said they are brightly colored. Looks like I may have to go herping soon.

The wife and I have been talking about taking a trip to the Keys sometime. Matter of fact, right before Irma wiped out everything, we had been planning on circumnavigating the state so she could check out all the lighthouses along the way. She got a passbook where she can have it stamped for each lighthouse she visits. Maybe some of the abandoned lighthouses in the keys just aren't there any longer after that hurricane.

Anyway, about the corns, sounds worth a trip to check it out. Hopefully you won't get the "Well, you should have been here last week when they were all over the place."

I've got a 20K Onan generator attached to the old reptile building. Professionally installed, and kicks on automatically when a power outage is detected.

Used to be that any minor thunderstorm coming through here would knock out the power about an hour after it passed through. The locals used to refer to the local power company as "Florida Flicker and Flash".

I always wanted to go visit the lighthouse on Dry Tortugas. My brother and his friends chartered a large fishing boat to take them out for 3 days. The captain warned them that he doesn't come back until the 3rd day, so bring your motion sickness pills. But they were all seasoned fishermen, so ignored the warning. I couldn't go at the last minute, and I'm glad I didn't. Due to the weather the gulf turned nasty and everyone except my brother was green around the gills. They were so sick they had to sleep on the deck so they could yell " ralpphhh" over the side.

Make sure you don't go to the Keys during lobster season. It's a madhouse at that time. I will see if my brother will catch a few of the snakes when I'm heading down. He also said there's some multicolored geckos in his yard. I'm curious to see what they are, but I'll bet after Irma a lot of pet reptiles were set free by the storm.

FPL sent everyone a letter asking you to report any trees or brush growing tall enough to interfere with the power lines. I reported two oak trees growing through the lines and actually causing sparks during strong winds. Also vines were growing up the poles and hitting the wires. That was a year ago and nothing was done. I called again 4 weeks ago and they thanked me and said a crew would be out. So far no crew.

Heck, I have called Talquin Electric about trees laying across our power lines, and they never sent anyone out. I had to wind up cutting the trees myself. The only time I have actually had them come out for a call of this nature was when a power line got actually shorted out from rubbing against a tree for years. The power was actually out, so I guess that got their attention.

I don't know why they don't just run the power lines underground. It would solve SO many headaches with downed power lines, especially from storms. Surely they have the capability to do that? Likely they just like to have us go without power every now and again, just so we learn how much we appreciate having power, and don't complain too much when the bill comes in every month.

In my area FPL came through and erected new, taller power poles. It wasn't more than a year later that the county widened the road and FPL moved all the poles. Looks like somebody wanted job security.