60+ year old thread.

Oldie2007, sorry I did not mean to offend anyone -- maybe I just make my views based on what I know based on my (here) surroundings. If this would not work for the folks in Texas --then pay no attention to my thoughts. We here in central Mo just tied a record where we had 11 straight days where the temps did not get above 20 -- those further up north would scoff at this as nothing. We have had colder days and nights , but it seems like the extreme lows have not hung around so long. I have been going through wood like shit thru a goose - to supplement the gas furnace in my 85 year old home with no insulation in most of the walls.

 

Good morning, all! Having spent some time living in southern OK I can understand the impact of the weather out there and in Texas - especially the cold. Houses just aren't insulated like they are here in the northeast...and people have really never dealt with this much sustained cold/snow. Things that are common sense here don't even come to mind when you've never, ever, faced these extremes before.

We got an inch of fresh snow overnight - expecting somewhere between 4" to " between now and late tomorrow morning. Temps are cold but not bad for this time of year - 19F right now and headed into the 20s for today.

Now matter where you are, stay safe and as warm as possible.

 

Morning folks. This year (and some of last year) so far has been a complete mess. I won't go into particulars, but we know the issues. Texas is having major issues due to the weather. I hope and pray for the folks down there the weather changes and gives them a much needed break.
When we go away for any length of time in the winter, I shut the main water valve off but leave all the sink and shower valves open and flush the toilet tanks. I do turn the heat down. If the electric goes off or the heat goes off, I don't have to worry about cracked plumbing.
Have a safe and warm day and be careful. For the folks in Texas, be well and positive thoughts and prayers going out.

 

The weather is an unpredictable unknown. We all must prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. The older we get, the more apparent this becomes.

I was out sectioning driveway ice into manageble blocks yesterday, in order to "clean" the driveway. I got about 10% down to the bricks. Everything now has a fresh 2" of snow on top. Today I'll clean that off, find where I stopped, and continue. I'm grateful I can still do this necessary stuff.

Second covid shot in a few days. I doubt it will have much impact on how we do stuff in on a daily basis, but glad to get it. Hope they don't cancel on us. When we got the first one, they only had a couple chairs for waiting, I'll take a couple folding chairs along.. my wife can't stand very long at a stretch. A common sense thing.. nobody thought about the 75 year old group being old folks.

 

Son in San Antonio lost power Tuesday noontime. Still out as far as I know. "Rolling blackouts" hahahahaha. He had an outdoor plastic irrigation pipe burst. Showed me a picture of the temp in one of the bedrooms, 41 degrees. I told him to turn all the faucets on to drip; I know folks with cabins in winter areas will do that to keep the pipes from bursting. Don't know if it works for the plastic stuff though!

EDIT: It started snowing here about 5AM. An inch or so on the ground now. Forecast is anywhere from 4" to 10" depending on how doom/gloom the forecasters want to be. I tend to stick with National Weather Service and ignore the commercial weather folks so I'm figuring on 4".

 

My son did just this. Shut the water off at the main, open outside faucets to drain, and have air pockets. Neighbors across the street had power! The power to about a dozen homes was taken out from a downed tree.

With all the neighbors having down tree limbs, most dead oak, he went around cleaning up the neighborhood of dead branches. Everyone appreciated it, and he had a ton of firewood.

With Austin, TX we don't have this type of weather. I'm happy leaving the truck in RWD, stay off the icy road. Little wheel spin, 4H is fine. I see cars out there full throttle polished that ice to slick as possible, and I kept thinking "I wish I had four sets of chains".

The first month I moved to Germany (1986) I spotted a snowplow about 30" wide. Enclosed cabin and I was what the heck? Never seen one like that, big enough for a person to climb in. Well, it started snowing. 6' of snow in 24 hours. Those were sidewalk snowplows. 4WD chained up and just didn't stop. The city didn't stop operating, sidewalks were clear. I also bought some rubber overshoes with spikes. I lived 15 minutes, by foot, from work so clear sidewalk, spiked footwear no issue. We had a 4" pipe burst, our tech was fantastic as our Semiductor plant had its own water facilities, so we used distilled water and dissembled and rinsed every computer. Airdried, 80% were operational. The ones that didn't come back up we looked at closely, it was a steel pipe with rusty water and bits of iron shorted pins.

Feel like a million bucks this morning. Power came on for a bit, so the first thing was a 2-gallon pot of water on the stove, just on simmer. Power went off and I had hot water to scoop with a cup to wash my hair and body. Felt great.

Had the power not failed, my 100W light bulb in a well-insulated pump house would have been fine. 5F weather, 35 mph wind, and it split my PVC elbows wide open. Too icy to venture out, and I know the minute I do Home Depot will be void of any PVC fittings. If the power stays on I'll start looking at things I have in the shop to McGyver up something once pipes thaw out.

Oh, best story from Germany: Diesel fuel jells. We had two weeks at -30C and none of the city buses were running. One guy out in the hill country knew the issue of diesel jelling, and put a bunsen burner under the fuel tank of his Mercedes so fuel wouldn't jell. Compression ignition anyone? They survived, but the explosion leveled over half that house.

 

Morning all:

!!
He should have married the woman in Philadelphia who put clothing directly on top of a kerosene heater to dry, and burnt the whole darn block down awhile back, DUH!

Just looked outside and it has now started snowing.
Thanks for the input on snow blowers, I have decided on an Ariens delux 28, only problem is getting one. I went to a dealer yesterday, he is getting more in but he thinks he has them all already sold through backorders, said to leave my name and number and if he has one available he will call me, also said it's his last shipment and won't be getting any more until the fall.

Just watching a 94 yr. old WWII vet getting his covid shot on TV, one thing I have noticed is that needle is REALLY LONG!

 

Good morning all,

I hope all of you are staying warm and safe. Sorry, not fair to compare what we in the north or have lived and learned by living in the north to those that have not experienced or even have the equipment to handle this deep winter thrust. Yes, we would do many things to help with pipes and yet we have all experienced frozen pipes over the years. I will bet (know for a fact from some calls with friends and family in TX) that most home owners in the south don't even know there is a master water shut off much less where to even find it in their yard. It isn't something they would do or know to do.

I did offer some tid bits of preparation to some friends and family that are in the south during this weather. Similar to preparing for a hurricane, one is to fill the tub with water even if it is a trickle plug it so you have water to flush the toilet - but that assumes the waste system is not frozen. Waste systems and water pipes from the street are not as deep as ours are up in the north - why would they be.

Thoughts of warm weather coming your way - not even going to share what I have to deal with here with snow and cold because in the end that is what we deal with every year - right now I am just not looking forward to it today. Be safe

 

My bad Mark. Guess you hit a nerve I didn't know I had open. Too much getting pissed about the news about how BAD it is around here. I've lived in Texas most of my life now, and even the hurricanes aren't that bad - they are still regional, not state wide. I never imagined some hare brained, non-profit group would be in charge of electricity, and have the nerve to tell the rest of the state they better shape up or we will lose 100% of the power, instead of just the 40% we're currently missing..
Otherwise, good morning everyone. Be careful, there's ice on the porch today! No new snow here, but there is South of me (!) Still freezing though.

 

The needle isn't that long Carl . Depends on where and who is giving the shot. I told the wife the needles were long but she said only some. Most are shorter (1 to 1 1/2"). Got my first get the second on March 7. Take care and hope you can get your shots.

 

@Oldie2007 how are you doing this morning? I just realized Lockhart, TX. Good friends are down there. Sadly we lost Donita to Parkinson's two years ago, but she and Pat were the tour de force for years in Habitat for Humanity builds. Pat is still active with HfH.

I was volunteering around '99 on one of the builds—114F in August. I was working on plumping, sweating fittings, Pat checking on me. I couldn't focus. I would step back and see where I was boring a hole to run pipe, but closer couldn't see the drill's end. Finally stopped what I was doing, went and sat in my car. I cranked up the AC, and no cold air. A new vehicle, AC didn't work. Left, went home and climbed in the shower, turned on shower full cold. I couldn't tell warm from cold. Major heat stroke! It took me about two years to recover.

So extreme heat to extreme cold, Texas keeps us on our toes!

 

We're doing OK here, still have power and heat, and a drip of water. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back before I moved here, I went to the library (remember those) to look up the climate in Austin, because..... Average year round temperature = 72*! Boy that sounds wonderful when you are in Michigan! Now I know, only too well, the "average" is really made of extremes!

 

Good morning,

back in my high school days there was a band that was/is called Cheap Trick that would play at some of our school dances at Madison East. Another oddity my wife and I attended the same high school and never met until a year after graduation.
We never kept up with the reunions but for giggles we went to the 30th and it was humerus that the same clicks that hung together at school seemed to still congregate together 30 years later.
First day back to work went well and it’s 12* above here in gods country so all is good.

Stay well

 

Ha!... My wife and I attended the same high school too, and never knew each other. Comparing notes we knew a few of the same people, and attended one party that one of our friends had, but met about four years after graduation.

Cheap Trick was a decent band...

 

Just talked to my niece in Wimberley Texas, the Texas hill country. They are without water and have been for 3 or 4 days. Water is not expected to be back on until Monday (maybe). They are fortunate they currently have power. For water for them and their dogs they are gathering snow and melting it on the stove. They made it to the store but said the shelves were 90% empty. As of today they are home bound as the roads have too much snow and ice to drive and they do not have 4wd. They live in a simi rural area. Their $$$$ landscaping is all frozen and dead. Wish I lived close and could give them a hand.
All of you people caught up in this weather I wish you the best, prayers being sent. Be careful and stay safe.

 

Hey, are you by chance on the Refuge duck hunters forum? I remember seeing a guy on there with the same handle (Sprig)

 

I’m on duckhuntingchat, but don’t hunt refuges. I’m known as California Sprig there. That is the akc name of my lab. I hunt the bay and private clubs although was unable to hunt in 2020. Duck and pheasant hunting are 2 of my passions

 

I was thinking the same thing

I think you'd be able to find someone outside the area to pick up what you need and mail them to you....

 

Good morning, everyone! We had maybe 2" if snow yesterday and there's another 2" or so on the ground now and it's coming down steadily. Light stuff so it will be easy to shovel/plow. Guess I should have bought the snow blower this year instead of waiting until next. Live and learn.

Be safe out there. I've heard it is something called the weekend. Sounds familiar but I can't remember what that means.

Stay safe and warm!!

 

Getting our second covid shot in a few days. Have to get the driveway in shape to get the car out to the road. Got about 1/2 done yesterday, I'll finish it today. I can get the truck out easily, but the wife has arthritis pretty bad, hard for her to get in/out. Made a custom step-up for her, works good, but she's more comfortable in the Lexus. Looks like the weather may cooperate today, but stay in the 20's and no sun, which would help, but we have a few days, and the forcast looks good, so I'm on it.