I have a septic tank, but 5 houses down the road, they have sewers |banghead|

I'm one of the few houses that has a well. The water isn't any good for drinking, too much sulfur, but is used for watering my lawn so all I have to pay for is the electric to run the pump. My water bill is less then half of what many of my neighbors pay.

The grass and plants seem to love it but it does sometimes smell like rotten eggs when the sprinklers are on and you have to be careful that the water doesn't get on anything that you don't want discolored, like your car or house.

It was kind of funny seeing my sprinklers coming on after a hurricane when no one but me had power. :D

What powers the pump? Oh generator, at $3 per gallons, I would let the grass die.

I did turn them off but they are on a timer so they came on as did my outdoor lighting and all the other crap on timers. |banghead|

Damn Rita is category 2 already and heads into the Gulf... it is forecast to become a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. The conditions over the central Gulf are much like they were for Katrina... poor Texans and NO.

Not again... hope this thing will just passed by...

were enough of this and the damage of Katrina is this recovering... not now!

Well - as of 5 this morning its a 3 with only 10 mph to go to a cat4 - and pressure already down to cat 4 levels.

bought another 6200 yesterday - found that you can power a window unit AC with no problem - as long as you dont turn on the coffee pot at the same time - damn coffee pots take 1500kw by themselves - 3 times what my deep freezer takes

stuveltje - thats only the Unix world thats gonna end - and actually its 2038 - although that comet in 2012 might put a damper on the unix world anyway LOL

Simon and I have normally chatted for a bit by this time every morning. He isn't on ICQ so I assume he has at least lost his internet access. I hope he checks in safe and sound some time today.

I warned him about my having to come down there and fish his hairy butt out of the water |angry|

Well - they just announced its strengthened again to a cat 4 - well on its way to a cat 5 now

Mornin' all :)

Only online via s SprintPCS connection for now. The storm wasn't too bad as it went by here yesterday/last night, but it did take out the powerlines for lots of the lower keys. We've been without power since around 5 last night (generator running), and the cable system and the DSL services are still down this morning but cell service came back.

Surfn - the water rose to the level of the walkaround in the boat house, and up to the third step down to the canal. Higher than we've ever seen it come up here, but not high enough to get to the house. So, still hairy but not soggy. :) Plus we didn't get the huge hailstones like your state got the day before.

We should be back online sometime today when the crews get our lines reconnected and energized. Fortunately the servers aren't down here, so everything else should be fine for everyone.

Simon

Simon good to hear that you came through ok. :)

This storm is looking to be another real killer as it heads for landfall someplace. :(

I think its crazy.. end of the world is coming I tell ya!

My eccentric rich neighbor last night said he was sick of all these storms so he was going back to his home in Oklahoma for a few weeks and is leaving today. Maybe he should have looked at the Rita forecast first. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/grap...857.shtml?5day

In other news it looks like it isn't just earth that is getting warm and the poles on Mars are also shrinking. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/newsroom/20050920a.html "for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress."

Neptune is starting to look pretty good…

Great news!! Glad I didn't have to go fishing in KW :D

The world will be fine. It's just the things that live on it that will suffer. Nature has a way of renewing itself by getting rid of the things that cause it problems. If you polite a river, sooner or later, it will clean itself. The earth will do the same thing.

I blame 2257 |couch|

Well - now a Cat 5 with 165 mph winds - and still increasing :(

Quick, move the refugees in the Astrodome to Alaska!

Yea, this one is looking bigger and nastier than Katrina :(

Good luck to those on the Texas coast.

Yeah it looks bigger to me too. :(
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/browsh2.html

Even though NO may not sustain a direct hit they will not be able to handle the additional water and the levees will burst yet again...wonder where all the FEMA people will be when that happens?

Isn't a lot of the oil refineries that weren't damaged from Katrina now in Rita's path? I wonder what this will do to fuel prices now and what this is going to do to our economy in thew long term?

It looks bad, real bad. :(

The ones that fucked up will be in some plush office out of harms way. The field workers who have worked their asses off will remain close by to start over again.

It all depends how you see the economy. Exxon will still make more then last year's $40 billion profit and Chainey's firm still won't have to account for the missing $1.8 billion. I'm sure if you ask Dubya and his buds they're tell you that everything is fine.

God hates domes stadiums....

:(

I filled my gas tank today... I would recommend the rest of you do the same... the price is going to go up before it comes back down.

Alex

i just looked at a detailed map and Crawford is in for a direct hit..
i'm telling you the Goddess is pissed and she's gunning for George!!

*running out to fill my tank*

Another excuse for Dubya to spend a month on the ranch.

*sigh*

Nevada is starting to seem like a decent place to live.

Wouldn't that be interesting if in fact the ranch got leveled? If it did, I wonder how many weeks he is there next month.

We have been hit by an outer band of this bitch for the last 20 hours, nothing but storms and rain all day, my pool is less then 1/2" from the edge, normally it's 4 to 5" this is the most rain we have had since we lived in FL, last years 2 hurricanes didn’t drop this much on us in 1 day.

Hmmmmm....

Katrina was the 4th most intense hurricane in recorded history.

Rita is 5th.....

Actually - they moved them to Ft Smith to a large center up there

And look how far you are from the hurricane - now look at how much closer New Orleans will be even if the storm stays on its predicted path - and New Orleans can only take on another 3-4 inches of rain before the existing pumps that are running get overwhelmed - and the engineers pulled all of the temporary pumps today since they cant run submerged - thats why I dont think New Orleans will stay dry for very long - 3" isnt much - and all it would take is a little 3 ft storm surge to break the temporary levee system they have

Absolutely true...this isn't looking good for NO at all. Not gonna take much to really fubar that place again.

Just saw the most recent images...Cat 5...and this sucker is huge!

Do kinda wonder how quickly FEMA will get into Crawford...

Its now up to #2 as of the latest pressure - down to 898 which is lower than Andrew and all others except the 1935 Labor Day hurricane which was at 892 mB - and this thing is still growing

Noted that this also now makes it equivalent to a F3 tornado - except its a hell of a lot wider

Ugh...yep, this is one nasty bitch!

Did just hear on the weather channel that it can only maintain cat 5 in ideal conditions. They're 'speculating' that it may weaken to a cat 4 before landfall. Sure hope it weakens for the sake of all those in the path.

One thing I noticed the news channels are doing - they are including another storm in their "rankings" - Gilbert - that never hit the US - and it was the strongest ever recorded - so most news places are saying this is the 3rd strongest - but we kinda assume this is gonna hit the US so its really the 2nd strongest to ever hit - although it continues to strengthen and will be the most intense ever in "recorded" history.
Mr Yum - I sure hope youre correct - although even if it drops to a 3 - with its size it will effect an awful lot of people and destroy a few cities unfortunately

Absolutely true...as a 3 it will be devasting due to its sheer size. Damn thing is huge.

As a 4...which is what he said was most likely, it'll be catastrophic :(

IF it lands as a 5...this could make Katrina look like the little step sister :(

I think the U.S. is feeling the effects of planetary Karma. I just hope that they a do a better job of making people safe for this one than they did for Katrina.

HOLY CRAP GUYS
 

Listen, I'm usually pretty cool, calm and collected but I'm right in the Houston area right now and I wasn't able to leave and won't be able to leave either (long story). The storm winds are predicted to be 100 plus where I am and I'm scared sh*tless! I went to town to get batteries for my Radio (D's) in case the electricity goes and they were sold out EVERYWHERE. Wal Mart, gas stations, Office Depot, you name it. The gas stations are closing the pumps and the ones that are open seem to be price gouging. At least I will have some food and water IF my house doesn't fall apart! Aggggh!

Is anyone else in the line of the hurricane? If so, could you leave, and if not, are you as scared as I am ?
I could use some hugs 2 nite. I will probably be awake all night. ICQ me 20402228 |cry|