Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[frankp01]

On 7/30/2020 at 5:11 AM, Etta1213 said:

I can't help wondering why we don't just have open season on alligator hunting.

 

Florida is, essentially, one huge swamp. While alligators scare me to death, we are the ones who have invaded their territory. My mother was a native Floridian, so I grew up hearing her tales of alligator misdeeds (neighborhood dogs going missing, etc.)  Central Florida was mostly farms and ranches, at the time.

[vettprincess]

7 hours ago, frankp01 said:

 

Florida is, essentially, one huge swamp. While alligators scare me to death, we are the ones who have invaded their territory. My mother was a native Floridian, so I grew up hearing her tales of alligator misdeeds (neighborhood dogs going missing, etc.)  Central Florida was mostly farms and ranches, at the time.

Not been saying anything but have to now.This is just people taking over their area. Like the bears in Yellowstone.

And the South American rainforest. And wolves in usa and alaska. Then animals stand no chance with humans taking over.

Polar bears with no ice to stand on cause of global warming. A while ago it was proven that a species a day was becoming extinct in the rainforest. For hundreds of years we have invaded the animals territories all over the world. They need to be protected not eliminated. Whereas many ........need to be gone......

 

[Etta1213]

I would gladly accept the risk of environmental imbalance to rid the US of alligators,  rattlers, copperheads, etc.

[LewiLewi]

Florida is now at risk of Hurricane Isaias. We have just put up our storm shutters and the wind is starting to blow. Rain showers are sporadic. Hopefully, conditions will not get too bad. No air conditioning with 90F and the coronavirus will be too much to take.

We keep looking at cruises and hope to be on one as soon as it is safe to do so; whenever that might be.

[naturelovergirl]

46 minutes ago, LewiLewi said:

Hopefully, conditions will not get too bad.

Best to you in the storm LewiLewi... 

here in Central we are watching as well... mostly for possible wind speeds for the trees and such... we also tend to get tornado warnings here too during the big tropical storms- so our weather radio is always a good thing we are grateful for.
Yes- also hoping for power to be ok... for the air conditioning and also the food in our freezer. (During the pandemic to keep from going to the store we have a very full freezer- would hate to lose any of it because of an outage) 

Luckily the storm is only a Cat 1. So that is something.

2020- What a mess.

 

[Host Hattie]

I'm enjoying the last weekend of my holiday. We went to the pub beer garden again (without the cat this time) and to MIL's for dinner in her garden but apart from that I've not been anywhere. Mr HH managed to get his haircut at last.

Restrictions in Wales are being eased again on Monday, groups of up to 30 can meet outside so we might be able to squeeze in a small gathering before the end of the summer. Pubs can open inside but I think I'll give that a miss for a while.

Stay safe from hurricanes everyone

[Lanky Lad]

Hello from East Lancashire where we have had new restrictions on meeting people indoors.  Sadly those of us who have stuck to the rules are paying the price for those people who for what ever reason have ignored the them and continue to do so. 

 

I had a trip to New Brighton yesterday (across the Mersey from Liverpool).  Sadly no ships to see, well apart from the Mersey Ferry and a Pilot boat.  This time last year I was mid Atlantic on QM2, back in the good old days.

Edited August 1, 2020 by Lanky Lad

[navybankerteacher]

13 hours ago, Etta1213 said:

I would gladly accept the risk of environmental imbalance to rid the US of alligators,  rattlers, copperheads, etc.

I might agree with you if you would include the COVID-deniers who are spreading the pandemic - whether because of sheer stupidity because they refuse to be informed, or sheer selfishness because they think it will not cause them any real harm.

 

It seems pretty obvious that far more people die because those low-lifes are spreading illness — than from alligator, snake, or any other wild animal attack.

[alc13]

3 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Sadly those of us who have stuck to the rules are paying the price for those people who for what ever reason have ignored them...

Isn't that always the way!

[Bigmike911]

10 hours ago, naturelovergirl said:

Best to you in the storm LewiLewi... 

here in Central we are watching as well... mostly for possible wind speeds for the trees and such... we also tend to get tornado warnings here too during the big tropical storms- so our weather radio is always a good thing we are grateful for.
Yes- also hoping for power to be ok... for the air conditioning and also the food in our freezer. (During the pandemic to keep from going to the store we have a very full freezer- would hate to lose any of it because of an outage) 

Luckily the storm is only a Cat 1. So that is something.

2020- What a mess.

 

I don't know what plans you make in Fl, but here in Texas, while I am 70 miles inland, I have a 20 KW natural gas powered back up generator that comes on when public power is disrupted as hurricanes tend to do.There are also propane models if you don't have access to natural gas. It works for A/C cooling and refrigeration and is a savior. It exercises every Monday at 10 am, and is serviced at the beginning and end of the hurricane season. By the way the longest time it has run was 6 days when an Ice storm caused the power lines to fail,  not a hurricane. Good luck I hope Isaias is as meek for you, as Hanna was for us. 

[Bigmike911]

11 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Florida is now at risk of Hurricane Isaias. We have just put up our storm shutters and the wind is starting to blow. Rain showers are sporadic. Hopefully, conditions will not get too bad. No air conditioning with 90F and the coronavirus will be too much to take.

We keep looking at cruises and hope to be on one as soon as it is safe to do so; whenever that might be.

Lewi,Lewi, look into a back up generator. It is worth its weight in gold. 

[naturelovergirl]

20 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

I have a 20 KW natural gas powered back up generator that comes on when public power is disrupted

Yes.... generators are our friends!

 

We don’t have one on the house but we own a good one for emergencies... my husband grew up directly on the SC coast- so he is always good with the hurricane preparedness. 
 

Those house backup generators are super nice- his grandfather just had one installed on his SC house a few months ago...  We were very glad since he is reliant on his oxygen machine. Peace of mind. 😊
 

 

[bluemarble]

Here's a little chain of events (partially cruise-related) from this evening that I just had to share. Kind of like the game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon".

 

1. I was listening to music performed by a group of singers from Slovenia I enjoy called "Perpetuum Jazzile". They have a fantastic video cover of "Africa" (by Toto) which is how I learned about that group a few years ago.

 

2. This evening I also happened upon Perpetuum Jazzile's cover of "Beyond the Sea" which naturally got me thinking about cruising with it's lyrics about watching the ships that go sailing.

 

3. I looked up the credits for "Beyond the Sea" and discovered that one of the songwriters was the French singer-songwriter Charles Trenet.

 

4. The tune for "Beyond the Sea" is from Charles Trenet's song "La Mer".

 

5. Another popular French song by Charles Trenet is "Douce France".

 

6. Our first ever cruise was a Rhine River cruise on CroiseEurope's ship named "Douce France".

 

So there you have it -- from a group of Slovenian performers to memories of a Rhine River cruise in six easy steps.

[LewiLewi]

11 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

Lewi,Lewi, look into a back up generator. It is worth its weight in gold. 

One of our neighbors is looking into inground generators. We may be able to get a group rate if enough of us are interested. I have no idea of how expensive it will be.

[Bigmike911]

1 hour ago, LewiLewi said:

One of our neighbors is looking into inground generators. We may be able to get a group rate if enough of us are interested. I have no idea of how expensive it will be.

It will depend on the size of the generator as expressed in kilowatt output. Mine was about $6,000 for 20 Kilowatts. That is enough to run two central A/C units, lights, refrigerators (2) and freezers (2). You have to be a bit sensitive about appliances that take a lot of power to start, like ovens and dryers and not try to run every one at the same time, but it's easy to manage. I also have ups units on computers and satellite receivers because once the street power goes off, and the generator starts it takes 12 seconds before the 'smart' switch transfers to generator power, which is enough time to require the sat to restart and download a new schedule which takes about 4 minutes. So there are no interruptions. 

[LewiLewi]

52 minutes ago, Bigmike911 said:

It will depend on the size of the generator as expressed in kilowatt output. Mine was about $6,000 for 20 Kilowatts. That is enough to run two central A/C units, lights, refrigerators (2) and freezers (2). You have to be a bit sensitive about appliances that take a lot of power to start, like ovens and dryers and not try to run every one at the same time, but it's easy to manage. I also have ups units on computers and satellite receivers because once the street power goes off, and the generator starts it takes 12 seconds before the 'smart' switch transfers to generator power, which is enough time to require the sat to restart and download a new schedule which takes about 4 minutes. So there are no interruptions. 

Thank you for the information. Is it very noisy and does it have to run every day for a few minutes in between uses. Do you have to store gasoline/propane tanks?

[naturelovergirl]

23 minutes ago, LewiLewi said:

Thank you for the information. Is it very noisy and does it have to run every day for a few minutes in between uses. Do you have to store gasoline/propane tanks?

My husband’s grandfather’s neighborhood did not have the capability for the natural gas... so he got the propane tank for his home generator. It’s a fairly big tank.

He wanted it covered for the HOA rules... so my husband built him a cover that would be good in winds. 

The first pic shows the structure of the supports- and then he attached treated lattice to the supports.

The cover looks great, is sturdily attached to the tank, and still makes it accessible for the tank to be filled by the propane company.

Edited August 2, 2020 by naturelovergirl

[Bigmike911]

3 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Thank you for the information. Is it very noisy and does it have to run every day for a few minutes in between uses. Do you have to store gasoline/propane tanks?

I makes about the same noise as a small power lawn mower. It runs weekly (Mondays at 10:00 am) for 20 minutes for exercise. Mine is connected to my natural gas service, but there is a propane version as well if you do not have natural gas service. If you get the propane version you will have to have a tank near by to be filled by the propane service in your area. 

[navybankerteacher]

We have a neighbor with a 22 kw Generac - it kicks in once a week for about 15 minutes just to insure it is operating.  It hasn’t been needed for 8 years - that last time, he let us “borrow”, via heavy duty extension cords, enough to run our freezer, a TV and a couple of lights for the 10 hours our power was out.  Our local power lines are underground, so we rarely get impacted — still, we are thinking of getting our own as we have natural gas service.

[BklynBoy8]

Getting Ready for the Tropical System on Tuesday to Hit NYC....

 

Winds 65 mph 

Rain  5 inches or better

Rip Currents

Heavy Surfs

Heavy Flooding - Especially Lower Manhattan

New Special Barriers - Designed after Hurricane Sandy...

[LewiLewi]

We were lucky....no problems From this storm at all. Hope the rest of the East Coast does as well.

Thank you all for your information about generators, it is much appreciated.

[navybankerteacher]

7 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Getting Ready for the Tropical System on Tuesday to Hit NYC....

 

Winds 65 mph 

Rain  5 inches or better

Rip Currents

Heavy Surfs

Heavy Flooding - Especially Lower Manhattan

New Special Barriers - Designed after Hurricane Sandy...

Manhattan flooding is very unlikely with this storm - simply not strong enough to create the necessary surge.

[BklynBoy8]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

Manhattan flooding is very unlikely with this storm - simply not strong enough to create the necessary surge.

Unfortunately you not as informed as we are. Special email received from City about these two precautionary barriers being installed. Came in as of Friday evening. 

 

So we rely the City do what they believe is necessary under the circumstances. 

 

Have a good day..

[navybankerteacher]

13 minutes ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Unfortunately you not as informed as we are. Special email received from City about these two precautionary barriers being installed. Came in as of Friday evening. 

 

So we rely the City do what they believe is necessary under the circumstances. 

 

Have a good day..

Sometimes information from the City is better qualified as mis-information.  Recent situations where they failed to put out sufficient warnings about trouble have made them over-cautious - with the result that they now over-do the warnings.  That creates its own problem: enough predicted disasters not coming about results in people ignoring ALL warnings.

 

Yes, this is a storm - most likely will not regain hurricane strength by the time it hits NYC area - and, given the wide Hudson estuary, Manhattan flooding is simply very unlikely - it is very different from the funnel-shaped  bays on the South Shore of Long Island where a slight storm surge will build up to result in coastal flooding.

 

Enjoy your day.

[Host Hattie]

Mr HH has survived his first day, it felt a bit odd waving him off this morning as he's been at home since I started working from home. Although we will be working quite close together when we're both on site that might not be that often as I work from home half the week and he is in a rotating day pattern.

Have a good week everyone, hope the storm avoids New York.