{"id":50196,"date":"2017-09-14T06:50:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T10:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/?p=50196"},"modified":"2017-09-14T09:21:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T13:21:57","slug":"our-gas-acquisition-and-generator-travails-a-tiny-lovely-hurricane-irma-survivor-and-making-hay-with-a-long-forgotten-lens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdsasart-blog.com\/baa\/2017\/09\/14\/our-gas-acquisition-and-generator-travails-a-tiny-lovely-hurricane-irma-survivor-and-making-hay-with-a-long-forgotten-lens\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Gas Acquisition and Generator Travails … A tiny, lovely Hurricane Irma survivor. And making hay with a long forgotten lens."},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuff<\/h3>\n

A Day to Remember …<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wednesday was a day to remember. After creating the photograph that is today’s featured image, Jim and I headed to town to try to get some gas so that we could keep running the inverter off of my Sequoia to keep the food cool. I was using about 1\/3 tank of gas each long day that I ran the car so it was time. Only one station in Lake Wales had fuel and the line was about a mile long so we skipped that one and headed up towards Winter Haven. We stopped at Lowe’s and I grabbed a 9500 watt generator for about a grand. They had just gotten a shipment and were rolling them out on big carts six at a time. And selling them like hot cakes. <\/p>\n

But could not, however, find a place with any gas cans for sale … We found a Murphy’s that was open. After waiting calmly on line for about ninety minutes we were three cars from paydirt. Then came the “no gas” signs \ud83d\ude42 We kept going on Cypress Gardens Boulevard for a while and came across a Circle K with gas. We waited on that line for about 45 minutes. We were four cars from success when again, the station ran out \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We were getting a bit concerned as we were close to empty and 40 miles from home. We turned right on 17 North and found a Wawa with cars at the pumps. Jim got on our shortest line yet. I went inside to ask if they were running low and the lady said, “No. We have lots of gas and we get a new shipment every four hours.” Hooray. <\/p>\n

We stopped at a few likely spots on the way but still no gas cans; but in Lake Wales we did get a pump siphon. It would be easy to siphon gas from my full tank into the generator. Or so we thought. We wrestled the huge generator out of the trunk, wheeled it into the garage to assemble it. The directions were a bit hard to follow and we managed to lose a small nut and bolt (that we later found while looking for something else …) We got the struts on and got the handles on. We followed every instruction. We wired up the battery. We put in the oil. We confidently rolled the generator next to my Sequoia and squeezed and squeezed the bulb, but no gas flowed. Heck, the end of the hose was not even wet with gasoline … I went to our nearest neighbors, a dear couple from the UK to see if they might have a longer siphon. They did. Back to my house, back to the gas tank, same result even with three and one-half feet of tubing. I called a Toyota dealer in San Diego (nobody in FL was answering) and was told that it was not possible to siphon gas out of most newer vehicles because there was a valve that you cannot get past, a valve that keeps vapors from escaping. <\/p>\n

I headed back to the neighbor who kindly offered us 2 1\/2 gallons of gas. I kindly accepted. We fueled the generator and were good to go. Or so we thought. “Where’s the ignition key?” asked Jim? “I did not see any key.” After lots of swearing we searched and searched again through all of the packets and all of the packing material. No key. We read the owner’s manual from cover to cover twice each, word by word. No mention of where to find the key. So I called Lowe’s seven times and seven times I got disconnected. More swear words. At this point I was having a hard time loving what was. And I was too upset to do The Work on the things that were bothering me. In the meantime, Jim was checking over every inch of the generator in search of the key. No luck. I finally got through to a human at Lowe’s and was told to hold for the duty manager. Just as the woman said hello Jim said, “I found the keys!” I hung up. <\/p>\n

Where had the keys been hiding? There was a 1 1\/2 by 3 inch white “What to do if your lights are flickering” tag tied onto a piece of black tubing with a yellow string. Right next to that, previously unseen by us, were two very small keys tied on by a thin black piece of string. They key were right below and completely hidden by the larger white tag \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Jim had the generator up and running in short order. We ran the one stand alone freezer and my older refrigerator\/freezer until we hit the sack at 9:45pm. All’s well that ends well \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

The good thing about our gas acquisition trip was that we spent six hours in an air-conditioned vehicle. As predicted, it was hotter than Hades yesterday with no breeze. And it is looking like more of the same for today, Thursday September 14. I woke at 5am this morning in a pool of sweat. There was still not a breath of air. Amazingly however, despite having drank a ton water right before bed last night, I had slept seven straight hours without a pit stop, a record since my major prostate surgery in March, 2016. <\/p>\n

Despite hearing what seemed like mildly encouraging news on Tuesday, it is looking as if everyone at Indian Lake Estates might be without power for at least a week or two. Or not. <\/p>\n

Good News <\/h3>\n

I have signed up several folks for both the 2018 UK Puffins and Gannet IPT with the cost-sharing Bempton Cliffs Pre-trip that includes 100% free instruction and the July\/August 2019 Galapagos Photo-Cruise of a Lifetime, the world’s best Galapagos photo trip. By far. Both before they have been formally announced, by word of mouth only. If you would like advance info on either trip please shoot me an e-mail<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Streak<\/h3>\n

Today marks fifty-one days in a row with a new educational blog post. I began this blog post late on Wednesday evening, after my wonderful and cooling evening swim that ended just after sunset. I finished it this morning. It took about two hours in all to prepare. With all of my upcoming free time (or not …), the plan right now is to break the current record streak of (I think) four hundred eighty something … Good health and good internet connections willing. <\/p>\n

Everybody’s Doing It…<\/h3>\n

Everybody’s buying and selling used gear on the BAA Used Gear Page. Sales recently have been through the roof. Selling your used (or like-new) photo gear through the BAA Blog or via a BAA Online Bulletin is a great idea. We charge only a 5% commission. One of the more popular used gear for sale sites charged a minimum of 20%. Plus assorted fees! Yikes. They recently folded. And eBay fees are now in the 13% range. The minimum item price here is $500 (or less for a $25 fee). If you are interested please e-mail<\/a><\/center> with the words Items for Sale Info Request cut and pasted into the Subject line :). Stuff that is priced fairly–I offer free pricing advice, usually sells in no time flat. In the past few months, we have sold just about everything in sight. Do know that prices on some items like the EOS-1D Mark IV, the old Canon 500mm, the EOS-7D, and the original 400mm IS DO lens have been dropping steadily. Even the prices on the new 600 II and the 200-400 with Internal Extender have been plummeting. You can see all current listings by clicking here<\/a> or by clicking on the Used Photo Gear tab on the right side of the yellow-orange menu bar at the top of each blog post. <\/p>\n