Hey Patrick:
Hang in there. I know you're used to tough weather down there, but it's
never fun. Hopefully you'll have everything back in working order by
tonight.
When I first looked at the title of your email, I was hoping that you were
writing in about an opening to India and Africa during which you logged
137 new stations!
Take care - Kevin S
> Hi everyone,
>
> You are probably asking, what am I doing up at 5AM? Well, I bsically
> have been up al night. Here is the story.
> Well, the weatherman stated that we may have wind gusts 60-65 MPH, so no
> biggie. The wind would come up last night around 8 PM. 8PM came and gone
> and no wind. Showers off and on, but nothing else. Ch 12 Portland did
> not run their news at 10PM, so I waited until 11 PM. I called NOAA and
> the same weather forecast from earlier. At 11PM, Rod Hill cut in on Ch 8
> and said something odd about this storm was happening. Instead of being
> a coastal thing, it had cut across and came up the valley as it was
> getting very windy in Salem. Still nothing here except for a downpour or
> two. I called NOAA and talked to the guy and he was changing the
> forecast and was busy, You are about to get hit hard! and Rod Hill said
> this storm was turning out to be worse than first thought. At about
> 11:30, all heck broke loose. The wind switched from SE to South, like in
> a minute and came up with gusts 60-70 MPH. Within an hour, the gusts
> were more present and were in the range of 80-90 MPH. The whole house
> shook. Of course no one could sleep, and the lights have been on in
> houses all night. I tried to sleep, but I could feel my BP going up
> every time the wind shook the house. I was right, I checked my BP and it
> was 147/99. It has not been that high in several years now. It has come
> down to normal now. I went back to bed and listened to KGO. Ray was on
> talking about his early years in broadcasting and when he met Martin
> Luther King. It was very enjoyable and relaxing. I got up a few times
> trying to see my antennas, but really couldn't. The dishes looked ok. I
> went back to bed again. Then the wind started to slightly die down about
> 3 AM and all of a sudden I heard a vey LOUD hissing. I was half asleep.
> I woke up and I could hear it from the bathroom off the bedroom. I
> walked in to water all over and It looked like a water pipe broke, as
> water was shooting out of the wall behind the toilet. I immediatelly
> threw on my slippers ran out in the winds still gusting about 70 MPH and
> turned off the water. I came in and started to mop up the water. Some
> had run into the heat vent on the far side of the floor. I figured there
> wasn't much I could do about that, but I mopped up the rest. Took
> everything out of the bathroom and then after I dried everything out on
> the floor, I thought, "Wait a minute how could water be coming out of
> the wall? This is a manufactured home and the pipes come up from the
> floor." Remember when I ran out, I was half asleep. So at closer
> looking, I fould the connection where the flexable hose connected to the
> toilet had snapped. The flexable hose is metal but the connection on the
> tubing is plastic! I am glad it did not happen when I wasn't home. The
> whole house would have been flooded. So I turned off the turnout to the
> toilet, when out and turned the water back on and everything is fine, so
> I will go to Fred Meyer or Home Depot today (If they are open, Fred
> Meyer will be) and buy a new hose. An easy fix, but what a pain. Well,
> after all of that, I could not sleep. I put on my clothes and decided to
> check out the antennas in the backyard with a flashlight. This is at
> 4:15 AM. Gusts are still 45-50 MPH. But you know me. I discovered that
> the Eastern beverage lead was pulled down to the ground and very tight.
> I shot the light back to the back trees, but not seeing anything, I
> decided what the heck, I would walk on down in the wind and check it
> out. I got down behind the neighbors house a found my problem. A big
> branch off the Spruce tree and fallen and across the beverage. I came
> in, got my limb cutter and went out and cut the limb in pieces to pull
> the antenna loose, and it popped back up in place pretty much and I came
> back to pull it back to the nail and I found the wire had snapped
> because of the weight of the pull. OK, I came back in, got the cutters
> and fixed the wire. I will solder it later, as it in in the backyard. I
> am beginning to relax and I am getting tired, so I think I will try and
> get some sleep as I want to fix the piping in the bathroom later. But
> what night! I still need to check out all the antennas, but that will
> wait. In checked them on the R8, they seem "ok". I guess I am doing
> pretty good for a man at nearly 61. But people that know me, knows I am
> stubborn. I sometimes throw caution to the wind (Isn't that a play on
> words. hi), but I love doing what I want. I kbnow, I can hear some of
> you saying, He is nuts. Maybe I am a bit, but at least I enjoy my life.
> More later.
>
> 73,
>
> Patrick
>
> Patrick Martin
> KGED QSL Manager
>
>
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