Austin Area TW Chapter (all gens welcome, even T4Rs; heck, just make it a Toyota and we're good)

Going through my phone and found some of the pics I took before THE GREAT SHOVELING.

 

Fuck this shit.

I’m fine with the rolling blackouts. I was fine with reduced water pressure. Now, having water cutoff AND boil notice is just a bit over the top. Trying to not think Leander has its head up it’s ass, but it’s hard not to after having that multiple day boil water notice over the summer, or whenever that was.

 

Same in Pflugerville. No water since yesterday so more than 24hrs now
So in order for our pipes to not freeze, we must drip out faucets. There’s nothing to drip!!!

Power, we didn’t have one for 35hrs. Then had 5hrs. Then out again.
It’s madness. But the 4wd got put to good use

 

It’s raining now? RAIN? It’s freezing as soon as it hits the snow and existing ice. Holy crap.

My dogs spoke their first actual human words, and they were all obscene.

 

One of ours, Lucy, is always the first one out the door in the morning, 100mph, with a ball in her mouth and barking. She came oh-so-close to going straight into the pool this morning, due to the ice. The ball was not so fortunate; it came out of her mouth while she most assuredly was swearing like your dogs, and it is at the bottom of the pool now. She decided to hold it for a few hours, until she could get a better assessment of the situation.

Knock on wood, we have power and heat. If any of y'all don't, and need to get warm, hit me up.

 

One of my dogs chose this morning to shit in his crate. I don’t know if I slept through him barking or what. Typically it wakes me up better than any alarm clock could.

Even better is that he stepped in it. And as soon as I managed to get him outside, our power went out. Been a good morning so far. Not sure how I’m going to clean the crate and blanket, since we are sans water still.

 

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The ramp from 130 this morning


4 low 1st gear let me make it down with no issues. No way I was getting stranded at that spot.

Rest of the drive was only slightly better..


The drive home is going to be so much fun. Only to come home to no power

 

I just checked the Spectrum site to see when my current outage will be resolved.

It says “estimated time to restore is ____ CT.”

So...so much for getting to telework.

 

Frustrating at best! I have been using my personal account to create a hot spot for work while Spectrum is down. Just received notice from my Cell provider that they will start to throttle down my “high speeed” access to “low speed” access as I have now exceeded my data plan rate. No complaints there, they are accurate in this regard.

Spectrum in the meantime is silent on when service may be restored. Understand this is a Force Majeure event, but Spectrum needs to step up.

 

They can’t power up comm huts that don’t have power. Even low-voltage systems need power to run.

Also doesn’t help that their lines across the street have 1/4” of ice on them, and are directly underneath trees that look too heavy already.

It’s frustrating, but Spectrum is as much a victim in this as we are.

 

And just like that - Austin Energy managed to get power to the subdivision across the road from me and my Internet is back.

God, I’ve missed you my sweet, sweet, Interwebs!

 

AT&T is waiving overage charges for the period 2/17-21. I don't know who you use, but if you are over, you won't be charged for data during that time period.

 

Yay another day of tacomas on ice..

Roads are more dangerous now they are semi cleared. It instills a false sense of security in the TSTL crowd. Letting them get close to normal speed only to come around a bend in the road to a solid sheet of ice.

One guy passed me guess he didn't like my reasonable speed for the conditions. About 15 minutes after he is the ditch.

Stop and made sure hw was ok, ask if I could give him a push. Told.him nope nothing i can do for you to icey to push uphill. And I don't have a strap to pull you. Said he hit a patch of ice. I kinda laughed at him and said patch hell the roads have been solid ice for miles. Told.him stay warm make sure the exhaust pipe was clear of snow and ice and start back towards work.

 

Absolutely the right thing to do. I'm not getting out on the roads until probably Sunday, if then.

 

I was hoping to go to a meeting tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to get above freezing today. 17 miles is kinda far to ice skate, plus I can’t ice skate, plus I don’t own a pair of skates.

 

Morning. @Texoma - I saw the video of those guys snowboarding down your hill. That's wild

 

I remember those days of my youth, everything is great, and we're so cool!

The music was sure a lot better then, however...

 

When I went to talk to em, I thought of how you woulda been all about what they were doing. I have to admit, I was jealous and almost grabbed a slab of cardboard to join em.

 

Man I was so jealous! Looked like they were having a blast. Honestly looked like they were on a ski slope!