Glad to hear you did well and are safe. There are still many in our area w/o
power, 24hrs w/o wasn't bad I consider myself blessed. I was at the grocery
earlier trying to get ice. They just had a shipment come in it was
unbelievable the poor grocer was mobbed by about 20 shoppers trying to get
ice to keep their food from spoiling. I wasn't worried about my food
spoiling when the power was out. I was worried about my fish getting the air
they desperately needed.

My DH had thought of the compressor air pump, great minds think alike. He
said they make them specifically to pump up rafts and air mattresses that do
not have a tire valve and is less than $20. Next time! Joann
"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
...
Joann,

The Outer Banks of NC really got hammered (including a new inlet through
Hatteras), but inland we fared better than we did in Hurricane Floyd in
1999, when most of the deaths were due to drowning (inland, I mean).

I understand that MD & VA had some tough times, too even though Isabel had
"weakened" (I guess someone forgot to tell her).

Your description of the mini ac/dc adapter that runs off a car battery
gave
me an idea. After the blackout last month, someone mentioned using a
gas-powered leaf blower to aerate a pond, so that got me thinking (always
a
dangerous thing, admittedly).

We have a mini air-pump (compressor?) that plugs into a car's cigarette
lighter (or outlet on newer vehicles) and pumps air into tires. I think
that normally the release of air is controlled by the part the connects to
the tire valve (boy, my descriptive powers are failing me here!), but it
might still pump air if the connection is cut off the rubber tube.

I'm not going to go cut my gadget apart to find out, but I think it would
be
a worthwhile experiment for someone trying to keep koi or other valuable
fish alive.

Just a thought,

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC


"FBCS" wrote in message
...
I had a trying 24hrs. with no power. I prayed for my fish to make it
through. My DH ran around town looking for a generator with non to be
found
a friend provided a mini ac/dc adapter to connect to the battery of the
car
to run aerator. The wetones had been w/o water movement for 14 hrs
already.
The power came on about 1 hr ago and the fish were dancing in the fall
stream of water.

We had many trees down, I live 1/2 mile off the main road. DH took off
at
daybreak with the dozer and chain saws. I was able to keep all in
prespective and know many had it much worse than we. The storm had lost
much
of it's punch by the time it got here (So. MD), but it was still the
worst
I
had ever remembered for this area. My heart goes out to those in No. Car
take took the brunt of the impact. Joann