Western Washington Wind Warnings

[Bumpkin]

During the storm yesterday I was driving past Bridlewood Circle, and just past Moxie's home a huge tree came down. I could hear it, but not see it, and was praying that it wasn't going to land on my Suburban. Just as unfortunate it looked like it landed on someone's barn.

Winds tonight are suppose to be worse. So make sure your horse's are safe. This wind will pick up objects and blow them into things.

[Kimberlee]

I will keep you guys in Jingles... After last years wind storms, there arn't many trees for my mom to worry about. But, of course they just got done fixing from fences from that fiasco, so of course a tree is going fall down somewhere, LOL!!!

[hoopoe]

This storm potentially equals the Inauguration Day Storm.

Bridle Trails ( adjacent to Bridlewood Circle) had well over 1000 trees down, many of them 75 - 100 years old. Some homes on bridlewood circle had power lines down well over 10 days. I saw electric crews from Canada working on them.

After all the rain last month, tree toss is a guarantee.

Jay lives out 24/7 and has a nice run in far away from trees. Our barn foreman is good about bringing him and his girlfriend in if he feels the weather is too rough

Suggest people with well pumps stock up on water. Check your batteries generators etc.

The street in front of my place was carpeted in downed branches yesterday.

I think I will park my car at work in a different place than the usual spot by the woods.

I have to drive in to Seattle this afternoon for a dentist appointment. With the football game starting at 5pm ( bet it will be a ground game, little passing Go Seahawks, Go Shawn Alexander) and the probable close of the floating bridges due to high winds, the traffic will be regular good times!

:mad:

[findeight]

And today, back here in the Northeast....it's 65F:cool:

We already lost a bunch of trees to 2 windstorms this fall and it was about 60f COLDER last Thurday morning.

But good luck to you and tie those trash cans down.

[Kimberlee]

This storm potentially equals the Inauguration Day Storm.

:mad:

That storm sucked. We were out of power for 5 days. Soup off the stove for five days is not fun:(

[Kimberlee]

OK - mom's fence is safe for the moment... She is not sure about tonight though.

[Calvincrowe]

Yeah, they are even warning us that we'll have 60 mph gusts, from the SW, which is an unusual direction for the SW WA area. It usually leads to downed trees, since they aren't used to winds from the opposite direction.

Last weekend, those of us on the west end of the Columbia River Gorge got to experience--I am not exaggerating, they measured them!---75-90 MPH gusts, with sustained winds of 50 MPH. My house made some amazing noises, we lost a tree in our front field, and part of our roof shingles blew off. Our gate into the paddocks by the barn got bent, too. Our new neighbors have one of those heavy wrought iron gates that open electronically, and they were stuck because they lost the lines from our power pole to theirs (I have to laugh, they had no idea what they were getting along with their "fabulous view"...ha! welcome to the Gorge Winds!)

We have giant, 100+ year old White Oaks lining our western property line. These grand old ladies and gentlemen never seem to be affected, and I hope it stays that way. I love those guys!

[jparkes]

Over here on the eastern side of the state we're expecting strong winds to show up this evening and overnight with gusts to 60mph. I hate it when the winds blow all night long, I can't get a bit of sleep.

[Bumpkin]

I have to move Rocky the horse van today, he sits right where we have lost two ski boats in different years to SW winds.
We were without power for days during the Inaguration Storm, and a few other storms since then.

132nd along Bridle Trails was closed for awhile yesterday due to winds, and those are suppose to be nothing compared to what is suppose to hit this evening.

Hoopoe, maybe you should reschedule the dentist, in fact they may appreciate it, if they want to go home early too.

[Darkstar]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003476748_windy14m.html

Here is an update on what the weather is suppossed to look like.


Yuck. I'm flying back from school in a couple days, and all I have heard is how bad the weather has been the last couple weeks.

Best of luck to everyone in the area, and I hope all the ponies stay safe, and dry.

[Bumpkin]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/weather1566/1.html

I cannot let Mr Bumpkin see these photos, he has a fit everytime the wind blows since we have so many tall trees.
Got the Mini's battened down.

[hb]

It's supposed to be stronger than yesterday? I couldn't sleep at all Tuesday night it was so loud. Hopefully this will be the end of it for awhile?

[Bumpkin]

Oh yesterday was a gentle breeze compared to what they are calling for today/tonight.

[Slewdledo]

Darn. We had no power all day yesterday. Can't wait for no power tonight. :(

[hb]

Is it safer to leave the horses in or out in a storm like this? If they're in and a tree falls on the barn that's bad, but if they're out they could get hit by debris.

I shouldn't worry so much.

[Calvincrowe]

HB- I'll put mine in.. we have a large oak right by the barn that I worry about, but they'd be standing out in those paddocks anyway, so the barn might shield them a bit.

It is raining so hard this morning! My class is very restless..of course tomorrow is the last day before winter break, so they are wanting to PARTY. I just hope we don't miss any more school--let's hope it isn't as bad as predicted.

[easyklc]

Ahh the joys of western WA...
I love a good crazy storm, but this wind business is scary. There were trees down all over the roads heading out to the barn Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to tonight at all. The horses go in at night fortunately. Maple Valley seems to always get hit with wicked winds.

The only good thing about falling limbs is that we pile them up and school over them come spring. :winkgrin:

Be safe everyone! Bring your horses inside if possible, granted there aren't any large trees nearby that could fall on the barn. If kept out I prefer the larger pastures with some shelter, but no trees and solid fencing. Our electric tape just gets blown right off. So, I generally request the no climb wire fenced paddocks for turn out.

[nightsong]

Is it safer to leave the horses in or out in a storm like this? If they're in and a tree falls on the barn that's bad, but if they're out they could get hit by debris.

I shouldn't worry so much.

Horses are pretty savvy. They survived for millennia in the wild, and are MUCH closer to wild animals than we "civilized" humans are. If they're out they can (and WILL!!!) get uot of the way.

[DairyQueen2049]

I thought *Tounge firmly in cheek* that this was continuation of the Fart Button Thread.....:D

Hmmm - guess not.

(donning flame suit)

[hb]

Horses are pretty savvy. They survived for millennia in the wild, and are MUCH closer to wild animals than we "civilized" humans are. If they're out they can (and WILL!!!) get uot of the way.


Actually, talking it over with a couple of friends, I'm bringing her in tonight.

She's in a paddock without a lot of room to get out of the way, and every time the wind blows much we end up with at least one section of corrugate roofing blowing around our property. There are a couple of old empty non-maintained barns on the neighboring properties and the roofs are coming off one piece at a time. I'd hate to see her cornered with a section of metal coming her way!

This is making me think I may approach one neighbor and volunteer to take the bent pieces off of his roof next summer. It's just an accident waiting to happen.

[jparkes]

Does anybody else think we've been having more of these wind storms this year? I just don't remember this many in the past few years. And the rain, will someone please turn the faucet off! We're not used to this much wet stuff over here!

No sleep for me tonight. Best of luck to all of you on the west side, I believe you all are going to get the worse of it. Hope your power won't go out, or stay out long.

[Heinz 57]

Calvincrowe, I am surely glad I had to move back down to Salem a bit ago. Not that I didn't enjoy Washougal, it was actually quite the contrary - I especially enjoyed having the Little Washougal River running around my property. My "barn" had one stall, but it was open ended to the pasture - nowhere for me to lock my boy in. During that great thunderstorm we had this summer, he started running around like a madman - but thankfully he's somewhat sane and when he sees me coming with halter in hand, runs straight to the gate - I had to take him inside the shop (the other half of the barn.. just a big bay area with gravel, the giant bay doors were ripped off but we had lights in there so at least I could see. We had to hang out in there for about two hours, while the storms clashed overhead. Horsie didn't mind so much after about 20 minutes, because the shop was where I kept the hay :) and at that time I was buying the grass/alfalfa mix from Stauffers... good stuff. I'd drive up there now just to get it if I could board somewhere where I could provide my own hay.


Anyway... I miss it up there, but I'm glad my boy is able to be inside right now for this storm. I would've gone temporarily crazy with worry if he'd had to be out alone while I was at work in the storms like these. I especially miss my shoer! Can't find 'em down here like Scott.

[fanfayre]

Slightly north of you, we're starting to feel our 3rd big storm in 5 days. The winds are aready strong and COLD, and big white flakes are falling. I'm typing as quickly as I can because the power could go out (again) at any moment. We've had more hours of power outages since 3pm Monday than in all the 16 years I've been back in BC put together. Needless to say, riding has not been happening (although it's apparently on this evening). My horse hates wind in arenas, so should be fun. I'm actually breaking down and hooking up the trailer to literally go around the corner instead of riding over.
To all: stay safe, stay DRY, and we'll all check in when it's over!

[Coreene]

I thought *Tounge firmly in cheek* that this was continuation of the Fart Button Thread.....:D

Hmmm - guess not.

(donning flame suit)
Amen sister, I thought the same! :lol: I am very sorry to hear about the windstorm though, they are so scary.

[cardicorgi]

The wind knocked over a chip truck on the Astoria bridge, so it's closed now - as are a number of the parks on the Clackamas River. Doesn't look good for the search effort on Mt. Hood either.

I hope everyone's horses go through this without injury!

[JoZ]

I'm in the path of this latest insult.

Our barn is paneled in... TIN. Yes, sheets of tin. The noisiest substance known to mankind. Most of it is in decent repair but there are places where corners are loose and can catch a nice updraft. Also the barn is gigantic... I'd guess it might be 30 feet tall? Lots of echo.

I ran out to the barn this afternoon to pick up a big floodlight I bought in the fall, but alas it fell prey to the flooding of early November... it's ruined. Never used, and ruined! I guess I'll be making a battery run for the small flashlights. So far though, we have power AND cable.

I might've written this before -- over the summer we heard an almanac prediction for a "short but violent" winter here in Western WA. You may know that winters here are generally known not for their violence but for their LENGTH... interminable grey sogginess. My friends and I smugly said "Bring it on! As long as it's short, we can deal with violent!!"

Can I take that back now?

[CrUsHpOnY]

THis morning they were saying possible gusts up to 80 mph...now they are saying 65 thank god!!!!! Hopefully the monster is staying safe and warm in her stall!!! And hopefully everyone has power tomorrow!

[Bumpkin]

My Mini run in shed has sprung a leak, and it looks like Niagra Falls coming off my roof. Poor guys, the mare has hogged the dry side, leaving poor Mr Thelwell to fend for himself.

Have almost all the vehicles moved out on the roadside away from the trees on the property.

[hb]

Made it home and got barn chores done and so far the power is still on. This wind is wild. I can't believe it's supposed to get worse. We're having thunder and lighting down here too. I'm sitting her on the couch with the dogs and cats watching the lights flicker and listening to branches land on the roof. I hope the poplars lining my property have deep roots!

The wind was so strong this afternoon that it blew rain in between the sliding barn doors and the side of the barn and soaked the bales of hay closest to the wall. I've NEVER had the rain blow in so far. Spent half an hour moving all the hay around, of course it was the bottom bales that got wettest.

[Amchara]

I hate the wind. I am taking care of a farm with seven horses on it, and a well. No power= water gets drunk down, and then I put a trough in the back of the truck and fill it at my house, drive it back down and syphon it.

I know this storm will not happen forever and will be over in a couple of days. Why do I worry?

I need the power. I need the internet for homework stuff to turn in so it looks I have been doing something on my transcript for senior stuff.

[Hi Jump]

We have lost three big spruce last storm and here on our farm we have been prone to losing power, which means our water pump, heat etc. As of late afternoon all my horses are in clean dry stalls, extra water buckets lined up, all the waterers outside are filled. I even brought my yearlings in from an outlying small barn because I was so worried about them being worried. I am pretty much battened down and ready for this and I am really thinking hard about those that are not so well equipped. I too am really sad about the search for the climbing party on Mt. Hood. I am wishing you all well through this storm. Best of luck!

Synergy Sport Horses
Home to Cotopaxi (Holsteiner ) and Raffaello (Hanoverian)
http://www.synergysporthorses.net

[Mtn trails]

I canceled my lesson for tonight because of the weather and so far not too many problems. I'm really amazed we haven't lost power yet because we usually do if there's a wind more than 10 miles an hour up here on the hill. We have a jenny but still sucks. I filled up all the horse water barrels and tanks so if we do at least they should be fine. We lost power with the snow and was out for 3 days and I'm so not looking forward to another 3 days.

[Slewdledo]

We still have power! It's flickered more times than I can count but hasn't gone out yet!

[Kestrel]

There are power lines down on the North end of Bridle Trails (East of the Hunt Club) that have set downed branches on fire. The fire dept is there and waiting for the power co. I'm on the South end of the park and our lights have blinked off and back on a couple of times. Mr. Kestrel just left to get more gas for the generator - I hope he doesn't run over any downed lines. It was pouring rain by the bucket earlier and some low spots are flooded where I've never seen standing water.

I-5 Southbound is closed between Seattle and Portland but there will be a detour.

Of course my house is surrounded with 100 year old fir trees and some of them are suffering from root blight so they will probably be down in the a.m. I just hope they aren't in bed with me.

[Slewdledo]

I-5 is CLOSED?! Oh, my God! I was just driving a couple miles up the road and had to detour because the road I take to get there was flooded. So I turned around and drove along the waterfront. The waves are HUGE but the wind is blowing the opposite direction, so you see these giant, continuous waves that don't crest OR crash onto the beach. They just slide in.

My grandparents live IN Seattle and lost their cable TV.

[Emryss]

I was supposed to visit my grandma in McMinnville,OR this weekend. She called my sister and I up and told us that we were not to come, period. Apparently roads are flooded out and she's worried about us.

So, tickets have been changed but I sure would have liked to go to her church social...

Stay dry, folks!

[JoZ]

Well, I've been reduced to a dial-up connection, but that is because the router is in my landlord's house, and he turns it off when the lights start flickering. Grrrr! I have files to download for work -- I just started and got the message that would take 3 hours and 47 minutes to download! I don't think so. How to get around this? Rats!

Otherwise we're fine, there was a period of incredibly heavy rain, like I've never experienced (totally soaked within feet of the door), and there are loud gusts of wind, but everything is holding together so far. Power is on but as I said, it flickers from time to time.

[horsepoor]

We lost power while at the barn tonight, and finished doing what needed to be done by flashlight. Long as the horses had hay, they were doing okay - a few gusts made the metal roof make crazy sounds and that had them jumping, but nothing too scary. At least one large tree went down out back as we heard it go, and there was an amazing light show of transformers blowing all over -- I suspect that the power might take awhile to restore given the number of flashes we were seeing.

The drive home included two stops to move tree branches from the road, and I was fully convinced there would be no power at home - but here I am on the computer, listening to the wind blow. Hopefully things at the barn calmed down after we left and all will be well in the morning.

[Kestrel]

Some poor lady nearly (or maybe did :(, yet to be seen) drown in her basement.Most of North Bellevue is without power right now, but we have underground utilities so we're o.k. until the substation goes down.I think we'll be sleeping on the ground floor tonight instead of in our bedroom up among the trees.

I'm glad that my horse is in a barn away from trees right now.

Hang on tight, everyone! Don't float or blow away.

[TheJenners]

Everything is battened down right now. But it sucks. Bringing in one of the boarders' horses was an exercise in patience. "Yes, Annie, you want in, but you can't go in naked by yourself...you MUST let me put this halter on you first..."

Power on as of 1120pm. We're off to bed. Glad I'm hearing impaired, wind won't keep me up ;). But DH is the duty officer for the next three days, so if anything screws up on base or with one of the guys/gals in the squadron, he gets the call. Joy o joy.

[malarkey]

Power still on in Seattle at 11:36pm, wind picking up big time. They said the big stuff starts around midnight, lasting till about 4am. Hang on!

[classicsporthorses]

Hey, we saw the footage here on the east coast of you PNW. They say the worst winds are still to come-and you have had winds of 80mph already!

We're praying you are all safe!!

[jparkes]

If we lived on the east coast, there would be a name for this storm. Currently in the inland NW we are having sustained winds at 40mph with gusts over 60mph. I have ten horses on pasture and I'm not sure how this hay feeding will go this morning, it may all end up in the next county.

Unfortunately, our winds are not suppose to die down til past noon toady.

[MEP]

Reporting in from Leavenworth. We've had 2 ft of snow over what was already on the ground. Now the wind is really rolling in. I had to shovel a tunnel down to the barn, and tunnels for the donkeys in their paddocks. They don't like deep snow, and since they're minis, well, it's definitely over their legs and they could "belly-out". Sounds like things are starting to blow off the roof. better go now .... :eek:

[Kimberlee]

Well, just tried to call my mom, and no power since the answering machine did not pick up. Not a big surprise. They only have one horse at home now, and several dogs so they should be just fine on water. Not sure if my mom's new phone will ring if it does not have power to it. She got a fancy set-up this summer, and we have not tested it in a power outage yet.

Hope everyone up there is fine, and your power is back on soon.

[Kimberlee]

Yep, mom is out of power... and no her new phone system dosen't work, so she had to get to the phone at the other end of the house, LOL! She has checked on everyone, including their new border collie pup (who slept in the house last night) and everyone is fine. Lots of school closures today though.

[Calvincrowe]

Well, we survived--but more importantly, our 100+year old oaks survived!! No storm damage that can't easily be fixed, but we live on a bluff overlooking the Col. River and are quite used to strong winds, just not from the south. I'm sure the trees were asking themselves--what the heck is this?!

It was creepy watching the transformers light up the sky, but the PUD has done a great job of tree trimming to minimize power outages locally.

Horsepoor--good to know you were around to get things battened down at the barn! I'm sure my girly was far too concerned about her food to care about the wind. Of course, that place has too many things that could blow around for my taste. I just hope the arena did not get smashed by a tree!

I hope everyone is ok, and it looks like it is pretty much over for now, on the West side anyway. It got cold here, and now they are calling for snow showers! Neat!

[Lady Counselor]

Man you guys in the PNW are just getting slammed this year. First the flooding, now this. I hope this is the end of the crappy weather for all of you.

[Mtn trails]

We lost power last night at 8:30. In fact I was on COTH reading the new Parelli thread when the lights went out. There is justice in the world afterall. LOL.

We did fire up the generator for a little while so we had lights but headed to bed around 9:15.

Power came back up at 6:45 this morning when the TV comes on, lights come on, everything back up and running.

[Gunnar]

Take care everyone! You are in my thoughts as you brace for what mother nature is blowing your way!:sadsmile:

[an elf 4 abrant]

NO power for over 1 milion people including me

thankfully power at work so I can do what needs to get done and better yet, get some coffee.

Poor fish tank, I will try but don't hold myuch hope.

Trainer said a tree fell next to arena while she was riding, thank goodness for bombproof horses.

It will be a long weekend.

[didgery]

I struggled last night between leaving the horses out (in electric fencing :() or bringing them in (to a converted carport with nothing but horsefence and tarps on the south side). I brought them in but stayed up virtually all night with awful visions of the neighbor's trailers blowing across the road into Tanner and Blue. I checked on them every few hours and they seemed fine. Tarps are no longer a spook-inducer!

We lost a few branches here and there and few panels off the dog fence, but the horse amenities such as they are are all fine this morning.

We never lost power, which is wonderful . . . I fear for our hedgehog if we ever lose power for Tooo long as he has an electric heat lamp in his cage and it's barely warm enough even WITH our pellet stove on.

[catknsn]

We lost power last night with 3 horses in the arena:

Me, on my very herdbound 24 year old TB mare, the first time I pulled her away from her buddy in 2 months.

Shelly, on a broodmare who's been ridden about twice since she came in from the field, and Shelly has not ridden in 2-1/2 years.

And someone else longeing a horse they got for free because it was so crazy!

Boom, pitch darkness, so dark I could not see the fleabitten gray I was on!

I bailed off and had mine running around me. Shelly's got freaked out in the dark and struck at her. And the woman longeing had a total panic attack.

Reinforcements arrived with flashlights pretty quickly but, boy, the timing could not have been worse! So far, no major damage from the storm...just the canopy over the judge's area by the outdoor arena. Could have been worse!

[sylvan farm]

We survived the storm at NSF with minimal damage. But that's only because we got hammered during the recent snow storm (nearly 2 ft.) followed by a wind storm. That left us without power for 5 days. We had just finished clearing up the downed trees and fixing the road on Tuesday. Now we are without power again and the back-up generator is working keeping the water system running. Rumor has it that it may take more than 5 days for the power to be repaired this time. If true, we'll just have to buy another generator for lights, heat etc. Good news, all the horses including the field horses (they have large sheds) are all fine.

Hope everyone else is well and had minimal damage.

BTW, for those of you that haven't heard, Steve Sanville has relocated his h/j training business to North Star. We are pleased to have him and wish him the best.

[Hi Jump]

Holy smokes, 200,000 without power here and ours didn't even flicker and we are on top of a hill just a few miles off the ocean and get hammered by the winds. I think the previous storms took out a lot of trees and branches and I had only a gutter on the barn to put back up today.

Remember we had an absolutely blissful spring, summer and well into fall. Do you think we are finished paying for that this winter?

Synergy Sport Horses
Home to water repellant flying warmbloods.
http://www.synergysporthorses.net

[CrUsHpOnY]

Well i just got my power back! where i live is a mess...and of course my school was about the only one open...i was terrified driving in, i had to drive under about 4 or 5 trees being held up by power lines and 2 of the roads were completely blocked...the other i was driving over fallen power lines the entire way. no traffic lights were working and there was a crash in one of the intersections. 4 trees about 2 ft in diameter were across our drive way...and a tree fell on my friends house...but...

The good news is is that all the horses are safe and sound...they stayed inside today and may have to tomorrow (the turnouts are a mess) and it was clear they had all been pacing in circles in there stalls. i took my girl out for a long walk in the outdoor (the safest place) and let her stretch her legs...then did grain...so the ponies were happy. looks like tomorrow we may help our trainer hall hay because they hay people didn't come...so keep us western washington peoples in your prayers and all the jungles we can get!

[hoopoe]

My power came back on during the night so only 30 hours without.

The temps have fallen about 20 degrees so now it is freezing, I am so thankful that the heat is back on.

My fish tank seems OK. Getting cold and dark like that will likely start some breeding behavior, we will see.

I have been sick sick sick and have not gone to the barn yet. I will go out today and drop off the feed supply. I have not had any news one way or another from the barn, though no phone = no contact. I am sure if anything dire happened trainer would drive over to my place.

I hope it does not snow tonight, so far just cold.

hikers still missing on Mt Hood. :(

[TheJenners]

As far as I know, we still don't have power. :( I'm in town at some friends' house, took a shower so I don't smell like a barn before going to work and of course had the time to check COTH.

We had serious wind. Lost power about 2am Friday, I hear sustained in the 50s with gusts over 80mph. Only real casualty was an arena light snapped off...which is going to suck fixing. No power in our rural area ("rural" yeah right) yet, but hopefully soon. Cell towers lost power too, so we were pretty stuck until early this morning. The Navy base got its power, so should be soon...

[Bumpkin]

We got hit pretty hard, and spent the night in the Suburban up at Safeway.
No electric yet.
Mr Bumpkin is letting me post then back to reading COTHs.
I will be missing out on the barn party tonight, major bummer.

[hoopoe]

Well the farm did OK with little damage

Arena wall blew in on one quarter of the arena. It is a 3'6" kick wall. Luckily the mirrors are fine. Some flashing pulled up. Should be an easy fix.

A high tension power line came down across the paddocks. Again, thankfullly no fire no harm

Two patriarch trees in the woods next to the arena came down. These trees were where the Piliated Woodpeckers had their nest and attracted the swallows and swifts for night roost. Goodby grand old trees.

and since the temps dropped, everything is a bit frozen.

[Slewdledo]

The power JUST came back on 1/2 an hour ago. It went out late Thursday.

On Friday I went out to see my girl at the farm. On the whole 70-acre place, five trees came down. Three of them were IN my girl's 3/4 acre paddock and one was just on the other side of the fence. :eek: She's just fine and so's her buddy. The water is still out at the farm, though, as they're on a well.

A tree fell on a house up the street from me. We had power lines in the road and fallen trees suspended ONLY by power lines.

I slept through most of the storm itself but it seemed like it really picked up around midnight, just when I was going to sleep.

What was funny was looking at the map of counties declared "states of emergency." There were 17. Including EVERY surrounding county. But not mine. :lol:

[malarkey]

Was at the barn all day today... Tree is hanging over our arena, suspended by the fence next door. Tree fell next to the house on the property, luckily missing it.

Still no power (at the barn). I never lost power at my house on Queen Anne though. ;-)

Reports from folks who've ventured into the park say it's pretty much a mess, most trails blocked, but there is one skinny trail that is still clear & can take you from Evergreen/Park Place to the power line. Ranger Mary & crew have got their work cut out for them!

[easyklc]

Well, still no power in my neighborhood in Seattle. It went out at about 8:30 pm Thursday. :no: City Light says either Monday, or as late as Thursday--yep, Thursday!! I've been holed up with my three dogs trying to stay warm with no heat. I'm only able to check in at work. It was actually nice to come in after being at home all weekend.

The barn fortunately had no major mishaps. They have no power, but all is well. The horses are all well, and just a few large branches down in the back.

I have to say the wind was quite scary. I have never experienced anything like it. I didn't sleep at all that night. The noise was piercing, and there were so many trees down in my area. The greenbelt behind us was demolished.

I hope everyone else is doing OK.

[hoopoe]

After the Inauguration Day storm it trook Mary quite some time to get a plan of action from the state about cleaning up the park. Since it is designate a natural area, the feeling was ( on the states part) that it should remain as is.

She did not accept that and took matters into her own hands. I cannot remember the original tree count but I am sure it was over 1000 trees down.

She will have things cleaned up in no time. Biggest problem is widdowmakers, trees suspended in air held up by other trees. Another strong wind can bring them down or the come down without warning ( thus widdowmaker)

Thank goodness non of the new structures at the ring were harmed, They took plenty long time getting built in the first place.

[JoZ]

In Carnation...
No electricity
No water
No heat
Just got landline phone this a.m.
Sporadic cell phone service and...
No internet of course

I work at home but there's a vendor in South Seattle that I visit periodically and today was one of those scheduled visits. Little do they know I might be here all week!

[knz66]

Just got power this morning (monday) It was a whopping 38 degrees in the house when I awoke...

But luckily the only damage we had was to a fence. The barn manager forgot to latch the arena doors and those snapped off, but the barn has had power arrrgggg...

[DocNDabby]

I used to live in Federal Way outside Seattle...so I've followed all of this closely...

YIKES, you guys!:eek:

Sending you all lots of good thoughts and jingles after such a HORRIBLE storm! It sure sounds scary...I think I'd have been up all night with that one myself.

Keep us all posted!;)

[Mtn trails]

The barn where I take my lessons is still without power as of yesterday and about 8 portable outside stalls blew over in the middle of the night Thursday :eek: . Luckily all these horses have paddocks attached so no horses were hurt but they all got out so people were out chasing horses down in the middle of it all. They have to get the insurance company out to assess the damage before they can put the stalls back up so the horses are at a very nice place across the road for the time being. Also lucky they are on city water and not well water where you need electric to run the pump.

[crestline]

How nice to go to work today where it was warm...our power is still out. This is one of the few times I won't cry about my city water bill...at least we've not had water to worry about. The folks with generators were having trouble finding gas over the weekend....I did not envy them at all. The damage I've seen just driving around Kent, Auburn, Enumclaw and up to Bellevue is unreal. I've heard Carnation got hammered...and I"m sure other places are just as bad.

I finally at least SAW a power truck near us today so am really hoping that we're back on tonight....a few of our neighbors that get power feeds from over the hill are on so we hope and hope!!!

Our neighbors car was completely crushed by a huge fir tree...missed their house by a couple feet. We had a poplar tree snap off and take down one fence...at least it wasn't a fence out to the road. We've got holes punched through the roof of our house from branches and one big branch shot clear across the yard where I thought I'd safely parked the car and punched out one of the fog lamps...at least there wasn't body damage with it. My other neighbor had three giant trees go down right next to her new covered arena...one missed it by just a few feet...man they got lucky.

The trees still hanging over the roads hung by powerlines are totally unreal. I can't believe some of those guys will have power for weeks!

I bet it will be days before lots of the rural area PNW'ers are back on a computer.

[talloaks]

It sure sounds like those of you in the PNW have had a horrible experience that continues and continues. Hopefully if you have wood burning stoves or fireplaces you can at least keep warm with all the firewood that has come down. We went through a hurricane here in VA and it took a couple of years to have all the trees cleaned up so it didnt look like a war zone around our home. Fortunately none of the buildings were hit but they trees sure came over taking others in their path. Stay warm, get out the down quilts and snuggle!!

[Seal Harbor]

My power came back on Saturday afternoon. I've some lovely pictures of the damage at the farm. Who knows when they will have power. Line from the public road was taken down by a tree on the private road. They are using a generator to run the pump for the well. At least all the horses have water.

Andrea it was nice seeing you on Saturday evening. Hope you have power soon!

[Bumpkin]

I am still without power at home. I was told approx 5 more days. I saw KOMO doing a show by some of the downed lines up the road on Woodinville Duvall Road.
Olson's lost a huge tree, thank heavens it did not hit anything.
I am slowly typing this in light of the fireplace.

[hoopoe]

Unfortunately since the storm the wind has really died down.

And the pollution index has soared sky high.

The news encouraged people who do not need fireplaces for heat to not burn.

I have heard of people going east of the mountains for gas.

It is just as fast to drive from my neighborhood to eastern washington , about 180 miles round trip, over the pass as it is to hang out in lines that stretch forever once you find a station that is

open

and still has gas.

Bumpkin, time to find a hotel

[TheJenners]

I work at a gas service station at my local feed store, and I've seen the work crews from Idaho and elsewhere coming in. They are all tired, all dirty and I know working hard. We try to be nice to them, because I'm sure they get heckled. A Mountain Power crew came in today, and we asked where they were from...the driver laughed tiredly and said, "Walla Walla."

[excowgirlie]

god bless you all that weathered the storm out in the pnw...I moved to phoenix from bremerton 5 years ago, and I dont have an ounce of regret!(lived in wa for 26 years).. sure it gets a little hot here, but we dont lose power and my horse isnt standing in 4 feet of mud!...talk to me in august though (lol), my story might change...

[Amchara]

At school now.

Estimated 7-10 days before we get power, when our cross road and next road over have power. I have four horses from the farm down the road I am watching at my house, because there is no working water at that farm (well). For the remaining horses I have trucked 100gal trough down and bucketed it.

I'm getting really sick and tired of this. I'm just plain tired running between three houses, ten horses, ten cats, and a dog. No water in some cases, with no hot water in others, same with heat. I'm tired of eating spaghetti. I'm tired of cold mornings.

I want the fruitbatting power to come back on.

[Mtn trails]

Sunday I was on my way back from Woodinville and the AM/PM in Monroe still has gas, wasn't much of a line either. Most of the stations around me have gas (Lake Stevens) too so come on up and then stop by and you can get warm and I'll put on a big pot of chili.

[talloaks]

I feel so sorry for all of you in the cold and the dark in this miserable weather. Has your governor called it a disaster area?? Haven't heard anything here on the east coast. Sounds like such a mess. I lived in Vancouver for years but don't remember anything like this happening.

[hoopoe]

talloaks

Stanley Park was devistated. :(

It is quite tragic and unfortunately the way nature works

Bumpkin

The am/pm across from Victors coffee shop has gas at great price.

[PNWjumper]

Well we're going on day 6 with no power and no water. I'm about to go through the roof because we have a single tree down on our power grid knocking power out to a couple hundred people. It would take Puget Sound Energy less than 20 minutes to fix it (I've seen them fix worse in less time), but we're not a priority and until today they hadn't dispatched any crews to our area.

I'm out of water for the horses. 4 of the 8 have dry water troughs and I've been having to haul buckets from the other paddocks to get them something to drink which is obviously not a long term solution. I don't know what we'll do if they tell us that we're going to be out for 8 more days (which is the guesstimate at this point).

Does anyone know of any services that bring water trucks to your farm?

[talloaks]

talloaks

Stanley Park was devistated. :(

It is quite tragic and unfortunately the way nature works

.


hoopoe that is terrible!! Lots of old, really old evergreens in that park!!! Wonder if the Lions Gate Suspension bridge is okay, anyone hear???

[Mtn trails]

Well we're going on day 6 with no power and no water. I'm about to go through the roof because we have a single tree down on our power grid knocking power out to a couple hundred people. It would take Puget Sound Energy less than 20 minutes to fix it (I've seen them fix worse in less time), but we're not a priority and until today they hadn't dispatched any crews to our area.

I'm out of water for the horses. 4 of the 8 have dry water troughs and I've been having to haul buckets from the other paddocks to get them something to drink which is obviously not a long term solution. I don't know what we'll do if they tell us that we're going to be out for 8 more days (which is the guesstimate at this point).

Does anyone know of any services that bring water trucks to your farm?

Call the fire department and describe your dilemma; they may be able to bring their water truck to tide you over. People used to call them to fill swimming pools so maybe they'll help you out. If all else fails, I have a 50 gallon drum I can fill and bring over.

[an elf 4 abrant]

Lions Gate Suspension bridge....

had some trees fall on it during last months rain bashing

so far as I know it is still OK. I'm in redmond washington and caught pictures on the CBC last night. You might check the newspaper web site for pictures.

:(

[crestline]

Seal Harbor- great to see you too...You've got to post those farm pictures...they are impressive!!!

As if we needed proof that God has a sense of humor...came home last night and as I rounded the corner to my house I saw power on at the house nextdoor...yippee I thought...then I saw power on in my barn....double yippee I thought...and as I started to cheer I saw hubby and a friend walking up the drive with flashlights from our pitch dark house....ahhh...so close but yet soooooo far!!!!

[Bumpkin]

We got gas at a 76 in Monroe, saw the tanker parked there and parked next to an empty pump, immediately dozens of cars were lined up. Felt like the gas shortages of the 70's. I think I was the only one without gas cans to fill.

Mt Trail's sorry to hear about WF, they have not had very good luck with wind. But they are a good group and team work will get them through this ordeal.

We have my brother's generator tonight, so we can play the small TV and some lights.

[Seal Harbor]

Posting pictures as Andrea requested.

The portables became portable. Sort of.....

[Seal Harbor]

And so did the roof to the shavings shed.

There is still no power. Although there was a power crew working on the the public road before the road to Donida. Maybe sometime this week? I hope so.

I also hope Andrea gets power soon and everyone else who is without power gets the juice turned back on.

[Kestrel]

Mr. Kestrel and I survived. At least 4 trees down, but none on the house or cars. The neighbor's tree fell across the cul de sac, but Mr. Kestrel and his love for oversized power tools took care of that in short order. The power was out for 4 days but we had a generator so at least we had heat, and had gas-heated hot water. Our 'hood has underground utilities along with the next development over but the big feeder lines to the substation were down. The neighbor's gecko came to stay, and Mr. Kestrel set it up with its own generator to keep it warm through the night.

I walked from the South end of Bridle Trails St Park today. We only have a few trees down on the South border trail and the power line is clear. From the power line to the Hunt Club has a bunch down, though. The Hunt Club is fine and has power back.

All three sides of the park had lots of trees and telephone poles down, with wire dangling eveywhere. Bridlewood Circle still didn't have power at 4:00 p.m. today, and it will still be awhile for them.

I'm so greatful that it's above freezing now. I talked to a Power Co worker today, and he was basically asleep on his feet. He said they had had some near misses with guys nearly getting zapped because they're so tired.

I am at my BIL and SIL's house so I could check in here. The cable co thinks we should be back up soon, but then they thought that we were already up.

This too, shall pass. But not nearly soon enough!

[catknsn]

Seal Harbor...OMG.

On the bright side, I doubt you will have much argument from your insurance company after seeing those pictures.

[malarkey]

I have heard of people going east of the mountains for gas.

It is just as fast to drive from my neighborhood to eastern washington , about 180 miles round trip, over the pass as it is to hang out in lines that stretch forever once you find a station that is open and still has gas.

:-o

Guys, drive to Seattle for gas. We have no lines!

[WeDoItAll]

After having it go out on Thursday afternoon! Nearly ran out of water for the horses, but my local fire department had agreed to come out and fill the stock tanks if it became necessary (it would have tomorrow). Now I hear we're going to have more winds and rain tomorrow afternoon/night -- not as bad, but still -- we haven't recovered yet! Tree top took out our back porch and the roof blew off part of the barn! Hope everyone else is fairing better.

[PNWjumper]

Call the fire department and describe your dilemma; they may be able to bring their water truck to tide you over. People used to call them to fill swimming pools so maybe they'll help you out. If all else fails, I have a 50 gallon drum I can fill and bring over.

Thanks so much for the offer, Mtn Trails! I don't know why it didn't occur to me to call the fire department. We ended up finding a 55 gallon drum to fill and got the horses who were out of water filled for now.

We just got power back on today (Wednesday) and boy am I relieved. I don't care so much about the house/lights/heat as I do about being able to get water to all of the horses! We'll definitely be buying a larger generator SOON so that we don't have this happen again (although this is the first time I've ever seen the power out for so long in 25+ years of living here).

I hope that everyone else is coping and that power is restored everywhere soon.

[TheJenners]

Dunno about you inland guys, but we're getting a titch of wind again today. Gusting to 40 right now. :sigh:

[Mtn trails]

Yep, it's windy here too in Everett. Fingers crossed that no additional power goes out (although I wouldn't mind if the power here at work went down ;) )

[malarkey]

More wind supposed to hit tonight. Might make some of those on-the-edge trees come all the way down.

anyone been in BT St Park yet? How bad is it?

SO just called me, his power just went out again :-/ (he lives in Montlake)

[Tuffytown]

We haven't had much wind here yet in N. snohomish but we fared well in last weeks wind as well, just lost power for 6 hours. Much worse in the previous weeks snow, 15", no power for 2.5 days (I know a lot of people had it worse, even just on the other side of the freeway).

I have a friend in Bridlewood Circle that I have been trying to get via e-mail and have no response yet so I hope all is OK, she has 6 horses at home. My filly is at a training stable on Woodinville Duvall road with no power yet. I was a bit worried as I had not been able to reach the trainer but finally spoke with him today and all is well, running on generators. They had 48 trees across the road and power lines in about a 2 mile stretch.

[Kestrel]

Tuffytown, Bridlewood Circle was without power at 6:00 p.m. yesterday, but they had 4 or 5 trucks there working on it. According to a friend in there, there were no injuries or serious damage. The way in/out was closed for days and they had to use the power line for access.

The park itself isn't as bad as I though it would be, but I haven't been in very far yet.

[Slewdledo]

It is absolutely POURING out there right now. That's going to destabilize the hillsides even more, with trees already uprooted.

That was a very unique front page of the Seattle Times - instructions on NOT poisoning yourself with carbon monoxide in several different languages. That was a nice thing to do.

[Bumpkin]

I think we were among the last to get power.
Just came up an hour ago.
Computer is not back on broadband yet, so kind of slow though.
Nice to cook in the oven and on the range instead of on the wood stove.
Although I will miss the togetherness of our family in the evenings.
:)
Mr Bumpkin bought a big generator yesterday, so now we will never loose our power again.

[2old2nobtr]

Best money Mr. Bumpkin will ever spend. I know, b/c 2 years ago I purchased a very generator and this was the first time since I purchased it that we lost power. Best money I've ever spent. I actually only wanted a generator for heat and the freezer along with the refrig. By the time I actually finished, the only thing that I don't have when I power up the generator is the stove and washer/dryer. I know it sounds excessive, but at one point we were out of power for 8 days when the ice storm hit. So, now no power doesn't effect us. We have plenty of gas stored so no need to run for that and we just sit pretty - offer the neighbors an extension cord and we're happy campers. No bad hair day and lots of hot water. :D

Congrats on the new acquisition. Best money spent. :D

[hoopoe]

Bumpkin


flat out the best chocklit chip cookies I ever ate was made by a guy at work

wood oven
he pan roasted the walnuts and baked the cookies in wood burning oven.

to bad you could not work that out.

[Amchara]

My power came back on today! YAY!

I danced. I was thrilled. We had to throw all of our food out because it was bad. The family dinner here come 12/25 won't be had at home, but at a restaurant.

[Kestrel]

We bought our generator in '93 for the Inaguration Day storm. On day 5, Mr Kestrel went out and bought a Honda. The power came on5 minutes before he got home. We had never used it until this last week.

[Bumpkin]

Kestrel, at least you had one this time, hahaha, and think of the price difference, and savings from 1993.
I truly hope our new/used generator will have a relaxing life like yours.
I know that when Reddungirl moved here, Mr Reddun bought a generator pronto. I think that they have had to use it a few times in the last 2 years.

Hoopoe, that sounds good. I use to have an oven for the Coleman stove, but alas could not find it for this crisis.
I wanted to cook last night's steaks and fries on the wood stove. Mr Bumpkin nixed it.