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Glad to meet ya, Sunbyter! Welcome! The more the merrier! Very sorry to hear about all the awful heat, humidity, lack of power, etc. during this awful storm aftermath, but happy that you and yours are o.k. My very first thought in anything like this is that life and limb is so much more important than "stuff". "Stuff" can be replaced. Lives cannot. Even if a huge life-stressor of being uprooted from or losing one's home happens... if you have your loved ones and all are o.k., then you can make it through practically anything. And sallyls and Catbird, perhaps it's as they say: "No news is good news".

Socal and Sally: I agree. No news is probably good news as they were not near the coast. I have no cell phone myself so can't text them. I am calling their cell and land lines every few hours but they promised to call or e-mail me when they were up and with power again, and I trust them to do that, as they did with Rita.

I see Oklahoma is having temperature drops down into the 50s behind Ike, and ... Sally! Windy in KY (80 mph winds)! Keep your head down, please? This may well bring more birds to your rehab.

One old fisherman down galv. way says when the pelicans form up and go inland, you better too! It seems to be so, lol thanks for the warm welcome, I watched with bated breath as thunder fell..er...fledged to the pole, lol .  Got hooked waiting for that event!

A little late but welcome Sunbyter. So glad you decided to chime in. I totally agree with the old fisherman. I have watched the birds react all my life because of the fascination of it all. The geese tell you when fall and spring are here for sure. I had made a remark about them flying north just before all of this. And all the other creatures in their own way react way before something happens. I am with Sallyls the coast is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. Tornados don't seem near as frightening! Or near earthquakes and landslides either!!!!

I agree with Socal no news is good news and it appears there is just a whole lot of "stuff" damaged but very little loss of life which is the most important thing of all!!

Glad to read all of you are still in contact and I feel very soon the Hawk family will be appearing very soon. We got between 5 and 6 inches of rain. Looks like an early winter this year. When I looked this morning it was 47 degrees thats right I didn't get it backwards (It was 74 in the mornings a few days ago! LOL!!)

 

Once again welcome and enjoy! They will keep you entertained.

Ok, so Kentucky DOES get Hurricanes, after all!  Ike came with 75-980 mph winds Sunday afternoon, resulting in widespread power outages and road blockages. even interstates closed locally due to debris, lines and trees/limbson the road. I've been out of power since 1:00 pm or so Sunday, just came back on.  Luckily there was not rain so my basement didn't flood without the sump pump operating, I have some limbs down but no damage to cars or house (that i can find) and there has been very little loss of life here, just very inconvenient and lots of property damage. People are really helping each other out, neighbors sharing ice and supplies and the like.  6 of our Gas and Electric crews were/are in Texas helping their with disasater so they had a reduced workforce to handle our massive outages. They said over 280,000 out in the metro, with more than 150,000 additional in the surrounding counties, so that's pretty massive. They say the damage is much more extensive than after the terrible tornadoes in 1974.  Schools closed, universities closed. They say 150 power poles snapped and need to be replaced, untold number of lines down. National guard is now activated to help clearing debris and watching for looters in the outage areas. We have roofing repairs to make at the rehab facitlity, but all birds are fine and accounted for.  My freezer held the food frozen, and my dog did not figure out that her electric fence was not working!  So its all good!  I don't think we have any storm admissions yet but we will probably get a rash of horrific fractures from birds trapped in falling branches and trees, and do the best we can with them. My hummingbirds, amazingly, appear unscathed. WHERE do they hide????

That's 75- 80 not 980!!!

Sally: So glad you are safe, and sound. I heard that the winds there were 80 mph (on the Weather Channel that day), and when I had 82 mph winds in June, it sheared off 100 year old trees at the grass lines and flung pieces of them for hundreds of yards around, so I know that is some serious wind. Poor Kentucky - nothing like living in Tornado Alley and Hurricaine Alley. Sheesh! Let us know about post-storm rehab as they start coming in?

Thanks Catbird.  I haven't heard about storm birds, my regular work shift is Friday but I may be over there before then to help with roof repairs-from the ground-I don't do ladders!

Wow Sallyls we hadn't heard that! I was telling my husband all the news was stuck on Galveston an Houston but nothing about where else there was damage. I knew there had to be damage other places too. So glad everyone is safe!!

Yes please keep us informed. I have also wondered where the Hummingbirds go!!

Update-SLOWLY power is being restored.  They reported 387 poles broken, over 6,000 lines and counting in the metro area.  As of last night nearly 190,000 still without power. Our crews are back fromr Texas and being supplemented by some cooperative crews from the region now, and National guard is helping with traffic control. The rural areas around are worse off because they are also having boil water advisories (we had uninterrupted water service), but of course, no electrcity to boil water with as most have electric stoves, and they have fewer stores, which have sold out of non-perishible staples.  Of course the poor are having a really hard time as they don't have the resources to go out to eat or drive around looking for ice like I could, of course their refrigerators have spoiled, and the hourly wage earners whose buisnesses are closed due to the power outage also aren't getting paid so they are even more hard-pressed to purchase goods they need. a few community groups are trying to set up food kitchens for needy residents but they are working without power in those neighborhoods. Schools are still closed, though the large university has opened for some classes now. It is a mess. But it isn't Katrina or Gustav, it isn't Galveston; we will survive this. It's a great excuse to clean out my refrigerator :)

Hi all! I've been in a busy spell, but play catch up each day reading posts... I've been thinking / praying about each of you who are affected by, or have loved ones affected by Ike, with ongoing hopeful thoughts and prayers for the restoration of power, as well as for food & shelter to be there for all. Wow, I had no idea that Kentucky could get hit with hurricanes, sallyls... And I'm with you on the issue of ladders. I love going up to the mountains, and to the Grand Canyon, but I have to be well back of any ledges, or road edges to feel calm. ... a bit acrophobic, am I. Anyway, here's hoping Mother Nature stays calm enough, long enough for recovery for all who need it... and here's to enough resources being provided, to all who need them!

Hey, folks, just out of nostalgia, I just checked out the slide show on the main hawk page... Of the 11 slides in the slideshow, check out slides # 7 & 8. Is that truly a falcon, as the caption reads?... or is it a kestrel? It looks an awful lot like a kestrel to me. What do you guys think?... Also, looking at the pics made me think once again of Kay, Jay and Thunder, and hope that they continue to thrive... Godspeed to them all!!! And to all the other winged friends in Tulsa that we've all been introduced to here, thanks to catgirl, Workaholic, and kcactionphoto ("KC" as we like to nick-name him, for short). ... I'm looking forward to our next "nesting season", providing there is another one in the KJRH tower! Thinking positive about it.... : )

Later. Take care, all.

#7 looks like a female kestrel with her barred wings and tail, #8 Looks like a juvenile male kestrel-I say juvenile because the adult male had a solid brick red chest and this one is showing the slate grey wings with black outer flight feathers and grey cap but still has its baby speckles on the chest.  They actually ARE falcons, so you are right on both counts. 

Catbird, did you hear from your family in Texas yet?  I do hope they are all right!

Sally: Bless you for your concern for those whose struggle is harder. As one newscaster said today, FEMA tells all to have supplies on hand for 3 days in case of power outages. And here it is day 4 and counting. Ike, probably, is going to go down in history. I wonder if they will retire the name Ike, as they did Katrina and Rita and others.

SoCal: No word from Houston yet. Still millions without power.

I have always had a good energency supply in our basement, but since the children are grown and gone I am not as wary. Flashlights, batteries, radio, old-style phone that works without pwoer-I have never switched to the cable telephone and have kept our trusty landline all these years, more expensive that way but WE had phone service and few others did, lanterns, candles, some water and dry staples, paper products, even pet food. We will be getting a generator; we have been lucky that we have not had an outage along with hevy rains, as of course our basement would then flood without the sump!  20 years and I am just thinking of this? Really, I did not have enough water on hand-I have never experienced a water shortage but I should be prepared becasue many around us do have water supplies affected. I could have drained the water heater and it holds 80 gallons. We are blessed, actually, that it wasn't much worse.

Sally: Good idea about the water heater. I hadn't thought of that. A tornado took out the world about an eighth of a mile east of my home about 6 years ago, and we were without power for four days. I have since been taking preparedness more seriously, although with a tiny house and no basement, it is hard to store enough supplies for more than 3 days. But I try.

Donna's palemaleirregulars blog today is about Prairie Wolves, based on the catgirl photo capturing Jay on the Prarie Wolves sculpture on Riverside in Tulsa. And it is about the famous Balto.