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09 August, 2012

Ernesto Was Confused to the End

Like I said before Ernesto just never seemed to be able to make up his mind what he wanted to be. It's gone further. Whatever caused his wishy-washy behavior transferred to the news department of Belize's Channel 7 with this story:
Mr. Editor... We Have A Problem
Here's a bit more detail:
HURRICANE ERNESTO SPARES MEXICO, SLAMS BELIZE

Hurricane Ernesto has spared Belize - the category one storm is expected
to make landfall at Mahahual on the Southeastern Coast of Mexico - about
43 miles northeast of Chetumal in the next few hours with winds of 85
miles per hour.

Only mi...

(http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=23127)

I don't know... Another Dewey beats Truman episode, I guess.

Anyway, the storm, such as it was, whatever it was, has come and gone. For us, it was a great opportunity to try out our pool house as our hurricane shelter. It passed with flying colors. There were only a couple minor problems - both taken care of with a mop.

The first one, our bathroom outside door definitely needs some weather stripping around it. We knew that going in. Heck, you can see daylight all around the door. We haven't looked at it as a problem before. The bathroom floor gets wet every time we have the pool in use.

The second one, our two little A/C units that are mounted in the wall in each bedroom, allow water to drip in - but only if the wind is really howling and with a good rainfall. I think I'll be able to solve that problem too. Not sure just yet how. Some sort of covering we put up at the same time as the window plywood.

Speaking of the plywood, that all worked like a charm for both houses. The pool house especially, since that was where we were camped out, along with the three doggies and April.

In short, other than the leakage problem, the pool house worked great. We found out that, even with no current and consequently, no ceiling fans, and with the windows secured fairly tightly with the plywood, we were still able to get fresh air circulation in the place, simply by opening the sliding glass doors which are behind the big roll-down door. Definitely need candles or lanterns inside when everything is buttoned up. It's dark, dark, dark in there without them.

We thought we had a problem yesterday morning after the storm. I was going to make coffee and our coffee maker, being electric, of course was out of commission, we thought.

We boiled some water on the stove and thought we'd have to hold the grounds basket down to keep the spring for the coffee cheater thing (that stops the coffee flow when you remove the pot) in place. It was nice to find out that the weight of the water in the basket allowed it to function in its normal way. So we had coffee. I'll tell you, those kitchen engineers think of everything, don't they?

The two downsides to the pool house are - no TV and no Internet. 'Course, when we're without current, it's moot issue. Thankfully, Dianna has a Kindle Fire, which she loves, and I have an iPod which I love as well. We both spent hours reading. What luxury! I actually enjoy reading on my iPod. The smallness really is no hindrance whatsoever. And, bonus. I found out I can recharge the iPod off of the battery in my laptop when we have no current. Read on!

So, let's see... What else? We sustained no damage to any structures or even plants. Rainfall for Ernesto came out, according to the Winjama Weather Station, to be about 2.4 inches for yesterday - at one point, the rain was coming down at an hourly rate of 12.14 inches, impressive if it had continued for very long. There is a lot of standing water all over the area. Mosquitoes are going to love it for a while - as do the frogs. For some reason, my rain gauge is working again.

Our highest winds were 45 knots on Tuesday, the day Ernesto arrived, no big deal there either. We lost current (electricity for you folks up north) somewhere around 8:30 to 9:00 PM on Tuesday. It didn't return till about 10:00 AM on Wednesday. We lost it for several more periods after that, but only for a few minutes at a time.

All in all, a nice practice for the main event. I'd be happy if this is all we get for the season - at least till I get the leaks fixed.

2 comments:

Tracey said...

Hi,
I've really been enjoying your blog. I am an American considering doing the move. I am not sure how many years down the road...Could you write about how much new construction you see around the area? How available secure homes with gates are? Please keep up this great blog. It seems that a part of me is already there.
I am very glad Ernesto spared the area.
Thanks!
Tracey

Dave Rider said...

Hi Tracey,

Thanks for the nice comment. I'm glad you like the blog. I'll be glad to do just as you asked. Might take me a day or two. Part of our time right now is making both houses more livable instead of in storm configuration (so to speak) and, of course, we're keeping an eye on Tropical Depression 7, which, right now, appears to be running a similar course to Ernesto.

Again, thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Dave