I have a quick question.... we are having a massive construction project in our
neighborhood. They will be in front of us today after the garbage truck comes.

Included here is the picture. Should I turn off my computer? Will the vibration
hurt the drive? In the old days, there used to be a warning. But my husband
says no.... not any more?

Please advise!

They are digging a new water main, and putting in new manhole foundations.
They will be here soon! Gotta know!

This photo is 2 doors down. The machines are IMMENSE!

the vibrations shouldn't cause any problems. i would be worried about the fine dust that may creep in.

what about your own sanity while this is going on?

Oh, it is horrible. Two days ago they ruptured the water main and we had no water for 1/2 a day. (this was an accident).

They are putting in a new main in the whole area...since we are VERY OLD...
Our cat trembled ALL day yesterday until they turned the immense machines off.
Today they are digging a test hole for our line to see if we are copper..and the neighbor whose line is right next to ours. If either one is NOT copper they will be digging up my whole garden in the hill! (We just had our line replaced one summer about 4 yrs ago so we think we are copper..the house next door is a rebuild on an old lot 25 yrs ago...and they think both are copper now).

They will be coming today...digging up the whole curb area across the street (no houses on that side--just my wildflower gardens).

I will be keeping all doors and windows shut. The fumes off these monster diggers were horrible yesterday...clouds and clouds of diesel. And both of us are sneezing and gakking majorly too.

I expect more vibrations today since it will be closer.

oh yikes mrsD I feel for you or the kitties with that going on so close around you

hope they get the job done quickly!

Probably the main thing would be if they hit the power lines and cause power surges or something like that.

electrical more than vibrational - but you can set the computer on a cushion of some sort as long as it isn't going to cause any kind of overheating or anything..

hard drives are pretty tough - I think if they are dropped or if a magnet is placed near them are the big issues.

but your HD is new so if it is really bad you can turn the whole computer off and it will "park the heads" - that's what I read years ago so I don't know if it is even necessary anymore.

Just think about all the abuse laptops take in cars , on those roller totes on rough ground, on and off desks etc.

that's the gist of what I skimmed on a quick search about hd & vibration/damage

They changed course and went further up that street! Told DH
"tomorrow" will be our turn.

When they quit for the day I'll be over there snapping more pix.

Our electrical comes in from the back. We live on a high hill, and the street
is down below us. We now have buckets of water and two 2L dispensers
standing by. They told us we would be "warned" but then they hit that main at the corner (said it wasn't where it was supposed to be) we were caught short.

They are removing the curbs...since they are putting the new main under there.
Then when all done, the road will be repaved...which that part we do like.
Our area was built in 1915...so everything is narrow, and VERY old.

I have to remove some things (rocks) from the edge of my gardens, so Kevin is coming on the weekend to help. I am going to move some plants too.
I just hope we won't have to move 6 feet up to the sidewalk...I think we may escape that plan.

What is amazing is that the digger down in the street is big enough to reach
the roof of any house here (2 story) from down THERE! The scale is just not like anything we have seen here ever.

The other two cats are ignoring everything. It is Oreo who is deeply affected.
She is afraid of thunderstorms, the garbage trucks, the mailman, the street cleaner is a biggie.

We took her down there last night, here is a picture, to show the scale.
She got that close then ran off, and I barely got to catch her in the frame!

Thanks Jo...we have a battery APC surge protector thing so it would beep like mad if we lost power and
give us 15 min to shut down. If both of us were going to be gone, I'd turn everything off. We lost a powerpak
and whole unit several yrs ago during a tornado alert...so I am very paranoid about computers now.
Thanks for the advice!

This corner which is 2 houses away from us... had a big sinkhole problem. They are removing the
whole manhole now to fix that. So I guess it was jinxed.

Major problem with THEM.... they are confused, and are right on the machines.
We had to go down to them and shooo them down the wall and get them out of the street! (just now) The operator of the
digger notified us.

Oreo went nuts this morning...I went down to talk to the guys...even got some supplement hits in there! (how cool is that?)
But she heard my voice down there, and drove my husband nuts.

So we had a talk... I told her it was okay, I was talking to the MEN.
So now she is sitting in the backyard on a bench under our umbrella (for shade).
I swear she understands language like no other cat we have ever had.

It is pretty bad tho...the digging is now in front of our home. Our water went off again today 3 hrs.
This is a picture from today:
I am on our stairs looking down on the street--- our hummingbird banner is pretty funny.... LOL

Anyway this is before this massive machine started digging the trench to bury the new water main. Behind it is a river. And behind that is downtown, office buildings etc.
This is where we typically park our cars.
And the bucket for this digger is totally out of range!

I DID turn off the main computer --the ground was really shaking. I used the laptop upstairs instead. Just being careful.

The second picture is later in the day, they are lowering the main pipe into the trench...this is in front of our next door neighbor (who escaped and has not returned home! )

Tomorrow will be more of this.... until they reach the end--the dead end! LOL

I have to say it is going quickly...they are very good at it.
They told me today, they found mastodon bones 3 miles north of us! Recently.... so who knows what they may find here? LOLOLOL

edit-- okay... Mr and Mrs QuackQuack... have figured it out. They just came in from the neighbors roof (see the Pet forum).
I think they finally figured that coming up the traditional way--up the hill, from the street which they do most of the time
was not going to work. I was worried that they would get squished! So now I am relieved!

I really miss the peace and quiet when any work projects are happening on our road.
One year we had log trucks and dump truck running back and forth constantly, we are on a rock road so the dust and noise was horrible.
Sometimes they would leave a trailer or second dumper box parked out in front of our property and not even on the edge of the road.

I tell you... the attack of the orange barrels here is sickening.

Our area is OLD... right in the middle of a major metro area.
When I see orange I get palpitations!

And we had huge repaving of the highway behind us and in front of us all last year. They worked 24/7 to get it done quickly (8mos)... we heard them all night long. Not to mention the dust/dirt. We don't have central air...so we have to have some windows open (during the hot times)...It was a nightmare.
Just when they finished both sides...now we have THIS... I say ENOUGH already.
I have DREAMS with beeping sounds in them... BEEP BEEP... duh?

Mrs. D.

what do you mean, the attack of the orange barrels??

Mel