Summer 2019 New England Banter and Disco

[tamarack]

16 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

I was talking specifically about cubs with protective mother getting startled... you're siting a different scenario there -

least the AC spoke at length about it and its stuff I've read on that anyway - mother bears are a different lot; escape or not, if in their primal brains they feel there is any threat to their kids, you're in the wrong place.

I mean ...in general, what I encountered was minimal risk.  I was not presenting any threat to it and it had options for vectoring out of there... But any time one sees a wild meat eating animal that probably stood over 6 foot on hind legs also fill up a bike path in front of them, that's bit disconcerting.

And since wild animals can be unpredictable (understatement!), "threat to cubs" can vary by situation.  Many years ago in the north Maine woods, I walked up on a mama and 2 cubs 40-50 feet up 2 trees, noisily chomping beechnuts.  I'd stopped immediately upon seeing them, in a less than desirable stance, and after 10 minutes attempted to very carefully sit down.  Not carefully enough - mama caught the movement and came down out of her tree at top speed, such that I was confident that my only danger was if she chose the wrong path and trampled me on the way by.  It was mid September and the cubs were 2nd year, 50-60 lb.  That's about the time the cubs are left on their own as mama is about to start on her next litter.  There was a good chance she never came back to look for them.  Had they been 1st-year cubs, she might've acted differently.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

More house questions!!

So yesterday I discovered birds have been nesting in the intake air pipe to the furnace... as you know... the house had been sitting a while after it was built before we moved in, so we theorize the birds have been there for quite some time. I was able to create a tool that reaches about 20 feet down the pipe and pulled out a bunch of nest material. It’s difficult to tell if I got it all, because the pipe turns at about 20 feet.

my question is, what else can I do? I can’t reach further down the pipe and don’t know if any other solutions. I bought a device to put over the pipes today, so I will do that... but as far as what’s left?

Also, those intake and exhaust pipes have absolutely nothing to do with the central air, correct?

[moneypitmike]

19 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

More house questions!!

So yesterday I discovered birds have been nesting in the intake air pipe to the furnace... as you know... the house had been sitting a while after it was built before we moved in, so we theorize the birds have been there for quite some time. I was able to create a tool that reaches about 20 feet down the pipe and pulled out a bunch of nest material. It’s difficult to tell if I got it all, because the pipe turns at about 20 feet.

my question is, what else can I do? I can’t reach further down the pipe and don’t know if any other solutions. I bought a device to put over the pipes today, so I will do that... but as far as what’s left?

Also, those intake and exhaust pipes have absolutely nothing to do with the central air, correct?

Not likely.  Do you have gas heat or a tankless hotwater heater?  Those would likely be from that.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

1 minute ago, moneypitmike said:

Not likely.  Do you have gas heat or a tankless hotwater heater?  Those would likely be from that.

Propane heat and electric hot water tank.

 

the last portion of nest I pulled out was packed and the shape of the pipe, so I’d like to think tha was the nd of it... but I truthfully have no idea.

[mreaves]

34 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Propane heat and electric hot water tank.

 

the last portion of nest I pulled out was packed and the shape of the pipe, so I’d like to think tha was the nd of it... but I truthfully have no idea.

It’s probably worth having a professional look at it to make sure it’s completely clear. Blocked vent pipes can lead to carbon monoxide issues. 

[jbenedet]

Was out at York beach today and was  shocked how warm the water is...just checked buoys throughout the Gulf of Maine...lots of upper 60’s and low 70’s already....For early July? Wow...

[Damage In Tolland]

1 hour ago, jbenedet said:

Was out at York beach today and was  shocked how warm the water is...just checked buoys throughout the Gulf of Maine...lots of upper 60’s and low 70’s already....For early July? Wow...

Canes FTW 

[butterfish55]

3 hours ago, jbenedet said:

Was out at York beach today and was  shocked how warm the water is...just checked buoys throughout the Gulf of Maine...lots of upper 60’s and low 70’s already....For early July? Wow...

Have been in York Beach all week and have been coming here my whole life.  It's been like this the last few years.  When I was young, it was painful to go in.  Can just walk right in now with no issues. I guess that's good, but brings with it its own problems too I guess.  

Beach was packed today and the last couple days...fireworks tonight!

[Typhoon Tip]

I've read/observed SST are below normal surrounding ... That said, cove temps in a still/calm unstressed shore environment after 3 days of high sun will create shallow thermoclines that don't stand up to the first offshore breeze that materialized.  Poof... cold.

We are in the tripole Atlantic phase of the AMOC and that tends to pool cooler than normal water along the terminus of the L. current - just fyi...

 

[DavisStraight]

4 hours ago, jbenedet said:

Was out at York beach today and was  shocked how warm the water is...just checked buoys throughout the Gulf of Maine...lots of upper 60’s and low 70’s already....For early July? Wow...

It warmed quick, I was up there last week and the temp at Ogunquit was 59.

[Modfan]

39 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

I've read/observed SST are below normal surrounding ... That said, cove temps in a still/calm unstressed shore environment after 3 days of high sun will create shallow thermoclines that don't stand up to the first offshore breeze that materialized.  Poof... cold.

We are in the tripole Atlantic phase of the AMOC and that tends to pool cooler than normal water along the terminus of the L. current - just fyi...

 

Water temp here off West Palm just got to 82 after being stuck in the 70's for a long period; and that with the gulf stream 6 miles off shore. 82-83 is normal for this time of year

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

8 hours ago, mreaves said:

It’s probably worth having a professional look at it to make sure it’s completely clear. Blocked vent pipes can lead to carbon monoxide issues. 

Yeah.... I’m going to have someone come out and make sure all the debris is out of there... hopefully it doesn’t cost an insane amount 

[Torch Tiger]

Darn. It's warm

[Torch Tiger]

6 hours ago, Damage In Tolland said:

Canes FTW 

Not one threat. Arid, cool wx

[OceanStWx]

On 7/3/2019 at 11:04 PM, Baroclinic Zone said:

Finally got my hands on some BB @OceanStWx @Damage In Tolland.  Good stuff.  I was shocked how cheap it was relative to stuff around me. $13 for a 4 pack is unreal.  I’m used to $18-20+.  I also had a micro from fryeburg that was awesome.

Bissell really is my go to. So many great options, and now that you don't have to camp out for a four pack it's all the better.

[dryslot]

I guess he liked the view from the balcony.......

[Baroclinic Zone]

On 7/5/2019 at 8:51 AM, OceanStWx said:

Bissell really is my go to. So many great options, and now that you don't have to camp out for a four pack it's all the better.

Looks like a really nice place.  They only had a few offerings in the cans (4), so I was a little bummed out by that.  I was shocked by the affordability.  I'm used to paying $18-20+ at Trillium.

[Hoth]

Well, today marks 30 years since the Hamden tornado. As it is the first weather event I can remember (I was five), and furthermore the event that marked me for lifelong weather weeniedom, I feel it's always worth revisiting. We all know what a classic setup that day was, so I'll set aside the synoptics and stick to my recollections and those of my neighbors. My family was returning to New Haven from Fishers Island that afternoon. My earliest impression from that day came during the ferry crossing to New London. The Sound was almost mirror smooth and took on a strange grey slate color, reflecting the bank of tenebrous cloud overhead (what I assume in retrospect to have been the anvil) and a darker louring horizon to the north west. The journey from New London to roughly Madison was evidently not worth committing to memory, but I remember traffic slowing in the vicinity of one of those I95 rest stops and my dad leaning forward over the wheel and peering up through the windshield and saying, "Man, what is going on?" That's when I began to take notice of how dark the sky was and the ragged whorl of cloud overhead. Directly to the north, it was just blue/black with frequent green CG. A few huge raindrops started ricocheting off the top of our Volvo 240DL wagon and mom put up the windows despite the stifling heat. Man, what a deluge. The cars around us vanished in a fog of water and flying leaves and brake lights. Wipers were useless. I don't remember any hail though. We crept along the highway and when we approached the Lake Saltonstall bridge, my mother made an exclamation, for there was an overhead sign down in the road and a large stand of pines that had been sheared off maybe 10 feet from the ground. I don't believe this was tornado-related, probably just impressive straight-line stuff, but it made an indelible impression. The stand has grown back quite a bit in the last 30 years, but you can still see where the blowdown was. Difficult as the driving on 95 was, the real challenge began when we got on I-91 and took our exit. There were trees and power lines down all over. We had to snake around all over to find an open route home. I don't know where it was (5 year olds are not known for their mastery of local geography), but there was at least one street we could not pass because a roof was across it. Incidentally, I thought that recollection was a figment of my imagination until last year, when my father actually brought it up. Finally we made it home. We were about 2 miles east of ground zero and had a few broken window panes on the northern exposure from large hail. My grandmother saved a few hail stones in her freezer after the storm and showed them to us the next day. We also had a large white pine down in the yard. That is where my direct recollection ends, but I'll tack on that when driving through East Rock Park for years afterwards, there were large chunks of roofing and insulation, some of which had come from the Albertus Magnus gymnasium, lodged high up in the trees. 

Some other recollections from relatives/family friends:

My uncle (who incidentally was also caught in the May '18 tornado on Gaylord Mtn Rd) lived about a quarter mile from the tornado's worst destruction. He said one of the things that tipped him off that this was an unusual storm was that one could hear just constant thunder even when the storm was still really far off. He compared it to an artillery barrage. He said the air got incredibly still and the birds stopped singing, and the sky got darker and darker. He said that, although he and my aunt felt kind of silly, they just felt instinctively compelled to the basement. From a small window down there at ground level he could see out to the street and he said he'll never forget the way the air became foggy and moved sideways at terrific speed with trash cans and branches nearly airborne in it. Their house suffered minor damage in lost siding, gutters and shingles, as well as a few lost trees.

I was part of a play group with other coevals that rotated from house to house. One of the houses was owned by a woman who grew up in rural Illinois. She said later she instantly knew a tornado was coming when things got still and the sky turned a distinct blue-green. She grabbed her son and went straight to the basement. She said she could hear the tornado's roar, but thankfully their house was spared any significant damage. Her son, however, was deeply scarred by the experience and for a decade afterward ran to the basement any time there was thunder. 

Finally, my godmother lived on top of a hill on Giles Street, very close to the worst damage. There were a number of destroyed houses a block or two from her place. She was not home when the tornado hit, but her garage was blown in and several trees came down on her roof. Most impressively, there was a large oak tree just up the way from her that had a slate shingle buried in its trunk a good three or four inches by the tornado. Sadly the tree is no longer there (I went looking a few years ago), but for many years that shingle was still there, with the tree growing a burl around it. 

Anyway, that about sums it up for me. I've also attached some of the local coverage from the storm, which contains the only radar images I've ever been able to find from it. 

 

 

 

 v

[Ginx snewx]

Nice stuff Hoth

[PowderBeard]

Just like last summer. A quick rain and dews approaching 80 70. 

[dryslot]

Still amazed each time i read this

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48968502

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, dryslot said:

Still amazed each time i read this

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-48968502

Lol, “plummet to -20 c”. That writer has really no clue about winter in Maine or NNE in general. That’s a pretty normal night. 

edi: it is an amazing story. 

[tamarack]

10 hours ago, mreaves said:

Lol, “plummet to -20 c”. That writer has really no clue about winter in Maine or NNE in general. That’s a pretty normal night. 

edi: it is an amazing story. 

And didn't ask about the climate (or chose to ignore it.)  Mr. Knight was in his encampment the morning that Big Black River set a new state record at -50.  At my place, 9 miles NW from his camp, it was -36 that morning.  Outside his shelter in the woods it was probably about 10° less cold, but that's -32 C, not -20.

Knight lit no open fires but had a huge stash of 20-lb propane cylinders, though he apparently used them more for cooking than for heat as he could never steal enough to provide heat all winter.  "Stranger in the Woods" is a fascinating - but strange - read.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Anyone here have experience with a grinder sewer pump up system? We have a pump in a septic style small pit that pumps sewage out to the main line.

Alarm has gone off twice in the last week for levels above normal within the tank. We switch the pump to “hand” and it pumps all the way down. 

What would be the reason for it not kicking on normally when in “auto”? Floats not working properly? Electrical issue?

My guess is the pump itself is okay because when manual it pumps fine 

[CapturedNature]

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Anyone here have experience with a grinder sewer pump up system? We have a pump in a septic style small pit that pumps sewage out to the main line.

Alarm has gone off twice in the last week for levels above normal within the tank. We switch the pump to “hand” and it pumps all the way down. 

What would be the reason for it not kicking on normally when in “auto”? Floats not working properly? Electrical issue?

My guess is the pump itself is okay because when manual it pumps fine 

It's probably the float not triggering the pump to turn on.  It might help to get a hose in there and clean everything off, particularly if there is a contact switch mechanism.  If that is internal to the float, you might need to replace it (or have it replaced).

[STILL N OF PIKE]

On 7/4/2019 at 7:59 PM, Typhoon Tip said:

I've read/observed SST are below normal surrounding ... That said, cove temps in a still/calm unstressed shore environment after 3 days of high sun will create shallow thermoclines that don't stand up to the first offshore breeze that materialized.  Poof... cold.

We are in the tripole Atlantic phase of the AMOC and that tends to pool cooler than normal water along the terminus of the L. current - just fyi...

 

We do this every year . Look at bouy temp when we got a slight NW breeze 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

14 hours ago, MetHerb said:

It's probably the float not triggering the pump to turn on.  It might help to get a hose in there and clean everything off, particularly if there is a contact switch mechanism.  If that is internal to the float, you might need to replace it (or have it replaced).

It was working on its own when I pulled the cover friday... so it seems like an intermittent issue. I’m going to call and have someone take a look at it

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

So my neighbor and I pulled up the pump and hoses the floats and pump off. He noticed some water in the electrical box inside the tank... he thinks wires may be tripping the breaker as they occasionally come in contact with the water. 

We dried the box and wires off and sealed it up properly. Reset breakers and manually lifted first and second floats (normal running conditions) and the pumped kicked on as it was supposed to.

Hopefully that was the issue and it’s veen solved 

[Lava Rock]

So my neighbor and I pulled up the pump and hoses the floats and pump off. He noticed some water in the electrical box inside the tank... he thinks wires may be tripping the breaker as they occasionally come in contact with the water. 
We dried the box and wires off and sealed it up properly. Reset breakers and manually lifted first and second floats (normal running conditions) and the pumped kicked on as it was supposed to.
Hopefully that was the issue and it’s veen solved 

Always satisfying when u can fix stuff without calling the experts

.

[dryslot]

17 minutes ago, Lava Rock said:

Always satisfying when u can fix stuff without calling the experts

.
 

I have learned over the years, That you have to become a jack of all trades as a homeowner as long as you have the required tools to perform the task at hand especially today with google and you tube available to execute it.