Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Hi Folks,

I've rigged a laptop and modem to a car battery. Not much rigging actually; a couple light extension cords, a power inverter, and the modem and back in business!

A series of storms has knocked out the power all along here for more than 24 hours now, and I'm hearing that it will be at least another 24 before they turn it back on. This is rumor-mill only; the power company won't answer its phones.

I can charge the batteries, and with the type of fridge I have, everything that's supposed to be cold still is; everything that's supposed to be frozen still is.

Cooking is via camp stove or fire. It's in the '90s and I'm wishing for the A/C, but oh well. It cools at night almost like the desert so it's not too bad.

So, I'm enjoying myself. Might make a better, non-aluminum heat sink for this laptop as I simply cannot run the cooler for the laptop. I'm currently drawing a little under 5 amps peak right now with the modem and computer. I'd like to try to keep the computer's fan from running as much as possible, too.

Business is totally dead and I'm seeing holes that I need to plug for next time this happens. Anyone know what's going on? Is it slow all over? This is the time I need it to speed up! Down time on machines = really good time to take orders, and not be rushed about it!

This is always good practice for when the lights finally don't come back on!

I'm glad I switched back to non-electronic scales for handloading. I have a bunch of 7.62x54R to finish up!

Josh

That was one hell of a storm last night. The NWS is calling it a "Derecho" or "land hurricane".

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... es-m/67383

I'm sure there are many of our members who are without power on this very hot weekend. No doubt there are power utility crews headed to the affected areas. Let's all hope that they can get the grid repaired quickly.

OakRidgeStars wrote:That was one hell of a storm last night. The NWS is calling it a "Derecho" or "land hurricane".

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... es-m/67383

I'm sure there are many of our members who are without power on this very hot weekend. No doubt there are power utility crews headed to the affected areas. Let's all hope that they can get the grid repaired quickly.

I was hearing branches and debris hit my aluminum roof all night. Over here in Williamsburg, though, while it sounded scary, there was no major damage that I'm aware of. Big storms are always a bit unsettling to sit through in a camper.

Power came back after 12h in Alexandria.
Cooked breakfast on a little butane stove and toasted my bread on the backyard propane grill. Excellent!

I feel sorry for all the PEPCO folks.

WTOP has contact information galore:

http://www.wtop.com/41/2925313/Storms-w ... -powerless

@ OP - Do y'all still have cannonballs in Wabash?

Yeah, that was a bit scary all around. Hope everyone is safe.

We got our power back around 10 in luray. went over sperryville mountain it was clearer that i thought they did a good job getting it cleared up fast up here
Mak

Just amazed at the collapse of civilization due to this little storm.

I see more storms on the way for Richmond

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid= ... 1&loop=yes

Power has been flickering for the last 30 minutes, but nothing too serious so far.

Palladin wrote:@ OP - Do y'all still have cannonballs in Wabash?

I doubt the Cannonball is still running, but we have trains go through all the time! Walking the tracks is fun. Getting too old for it though.
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Power is on intermittently, enough to give the freezers a jolt of juice. It's dirty power and I don't feel right plugging my electronics into it yet.

Got to thinking and I think I might have a camping genny out in the garage. The parents usually drop in to get it before going, and they're gone this week, but don't know if they bothered taking it. The campground has full hookups I think. If power fails again I'll go looking. Just a lil' Honda but should work OK to power a couple compressors.

All this is not a big deal for me honestly. I just maintain a web presence that might be missed by some. I camp all the time and have stuff for very primitive camping to full hookup (water and electric).

To be honest, I like the quiet, and if I didn't have a business to run, I'd drop in, tell ya'll I'm fine, and drop out again.

You all ever notice how quiet Rural America is without power? Very peaceful.

Josh

We lost are for about 10 hours getting it back this morning around 7. We got pretty lucky no down trees.

Still no power here at my place on the west side of Alexandria. That storm came through here like a tornado there are downed trees and power lines everywhere. Keeping myself amused with the iPhone.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Sorry for ya'll-s luck. We (thank God) did not lose power this time.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

It made a mess here (my jacuzzi looks like a swamp and a dying tree went down and decapitated a living tree-guess it had a grudge against his leafier brethren) but we kept power thankfully...many in my area were not so lucky and quite a few people in Vinton have no water since the pumps lost power and a good chunk of people still have no power in the Roanoke vicinity.

How do you get online if the powers out? Wouldnt all the servers in your area be dead or do you use a satellite or phone connection?