I may just need it. I have an older Kawasaki 4000 watt rig that seems to have stopped giving juice, but still does really well at producing noise. Home Depot and Lowes are both fresh out of generators, of course. Unless i want to spend $2000 for a 15000 watt machine that i might use twice a decade. Craigslist is chock full of pirates, and I'll be goddamned before I play their game. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the notion that a pussy of a tropical storm has given me such aggravation.
Story for you. Last night, when stores like Lowes and Depot are normally pretty quiet, I decided to go ahead and return some heavy-duty extension chords I had picked up to hook up to my generator. In the 5 minutes that I was at the return desk, 3 people came in with generators, 2 already assembled and 1 in the box. A quick scan behind the return desk showed 3 additional units. My point in telling you this is to confirm that the Craigslist Pirates can go "f" themselves, and that you will surely be able to find a sweet deal on a recently assembled, never-fueled unit at your local store in the coming weeks. If you're talking 10,000-15,000 watts I'm sure that they are a bit harder to come by, as most of the ones I saw were in the 5,000 to 6,000 watt range.
Not to make light of the people without power, but it could have been a lot worse. My aunt lives in Lincoln Park, NJ, which is basically under the water of multiple rivers, as are many areas of NJ. She's already been told by her insurance that nothing is covered. A guy I work with who lives in Kingston, NY said there are towns upstate that are literally "gone." The town of Windham (sp?), which catered to people who skied the mountain of the same name, no longer exists. Hotels, businesses, homes. Washed away, and water is still flowing down the mountain. Buster Olney posted to Twitter last night that (his cousin I believe) lost an entire farm. Home, livestock, equipment and the entire corn crop is under the water's surface. In Vermont. As the guy from Kingston told me, that's the same story in upstate NY. (Ought to be fun to shop at the supermarket in a few weeks.) I thank all that is good in the universe that I had no problems, and if the biggest problem for you is that you're without power, I feel for you, but know that others have it much worse.
It's not just SJ. It's anyone who is without or was without power. My brother was without power too. It sucks, and I feel terrible for anyone who was even inconvenienced by the storm. In the end though, it has been a tragedy for some people, a lot more than a few night without lights. I'm not trying to belittle anyone or start trouble or anything of the sort.
Saw one on craigslist almost exactly as you described. Still in the box. Called the guy and someone beat me to it. Couldn't have been up more than 20 minutes. But, by way of update - jackpot! A 5500 watt Generac being held for me at a store about 45 minutes away. $649. With the extra 1500 watt upgrade, I might just add a snow cone machine into the mix.
A lot of small towns along route 23 are gone. Another one that I know of is prattsville pretty much the entire main street washed away. A few business aren't even in ruins they are just washed away. I was snowboarding at windham a lot this winter and I am scared to see what it's like. The town literally sits right at the bottom of the mountain so I can only imagine how hard it got hit.
I can say, likewise, I woke up monday and I had no livestock or corn crop and no barn behind my house. This was a hellstorm for many of us.
I know that area very well. It's really a shame what happened to such a beautiful place, and despite the beauty it is a hard place to make a living. Hard winters, but not as hard as this was for them. I have to wonder whether the damage is limited to the places mentioned. Pretty much any areas near the creeks would be affected by a significant rise in them, and most of the towns and settled areas tend to be near the creeks. Like Tannersville, Palenville, Jewett, Hensonville, Durham just to the north of the Catskill park. Phoenecia and Shandaken further south. All these villages are along creeks. My buddies and I play golf at the Windham Country Club now and then, and that Bataviakill creek has a branch run right through the course. I'd have to think the fifth and sixth holes were under water. Probably the fourth and seventh, too. I am very sorry to hear about this.
My old college roommate lives in tannersville. He said shit is messed up there but the town itself isn't destroyed like some of the others. Lots of damage but roads are drivable and such. Seems to the same in many of those towns you listed. Damage but still recognizable unlike the less fortunate towns.
That's good to know about Tannersville. Great little town. As you may know there's a creek runs right through the middle of town, underneath 23A. I guess it didn't get hit as bad as others. From waht i can tell, Prattsville got it the worst.
Yeah I know what your talking about I drive out to tannersville to hang out with him quite often and go up 23a. I'm gonna see if I can get up there in the next few days and help out with the clean up.
Yeah I had been up there the previous two weekends drinking so I think I would feel kind like a dick showing up there for fun then avoiding it for weeks while it's messed up.
Yeah, I saw Prattsville on the news on Monday and it was bad. I think that's the same place where there were 21 people stuck on the top floor of a motel, right? Pain in the ass. :smile: Yeah, I'm not saying people shouldn't joke or anything. I'm simply saying to keep in mind that some people have lost literally everything in the world for them.
