Severe Weather thread.

Oh yes. And you better get that stuff shoveled ASAP if you don't like the driveway to be a sheet of Ice.

 

Also most people in this state can't even drive in rain, probably because our drivers licenses come out of a cracker jacks box.

 

Our regular cycle here is snow , warm up a bit , snow turns to rain , freeze at night , snow , repeat

 

Sorry guys, batteries were dead in my camera. I was already out there plowing, so I had to wait until I was done and stole the girlfriend's smartphone.

 

Snow in australia? Wtf???

 

Dear Canadians. -40 sucks. Signed, North Dakota

 

looks fun! Power still out?

 

little snow storm hit us yesterday

 

Taco mountain!

 

yeah lil bit. We got about 16" yesterday and last night.

 

Nah, we got the power back around 9AM or so yesterday. I still think somebody overestimated their winter driving prowess and took out a pole. It was windy here, but the snow was so light it's not like it could have been weighing branches down.

 

Good to hear. Being without power sucks. Specialy when its cold.

 

Honestly, it's not that bad for us. We've got a crapton of oil lamps, we heat with wood (primarily; K1 boiler acts as backup heat), and the house stays plenty warm. The only real inconvenience is not being able to take a shower, but we can heat water for baths easily enough on the cookstove. I've even got a hand pump rigged up in the cellar so that when power goes out I just have to open one valve and close another and I can pull water directly from the well, so we can even still run the toilets with a bucket.

We lose power a lot during the winter (dead end road, off of a low-priority road), so we've got the house set up so that it's not that inconvenient. Honestly it's worse for me when we lose power during the summer, because then I get all paranoid that all the food in the chest freezer will defrost, haha!

 

Nice. Sounds like a great set up.

 

Ironically, we bought the house with it already wired for a generator, with the automatic transfer switch and everything. I said "nope, too expensive" to the idea of buying a Generator.
Then I bought a bunch of old oil lamps, the oil for them, spare wicks and chimneys, the handpump and associated valves, fittings and pipe. Then I got a wood cookstove (to be fair, it was pretty cheap because it needed a lot of restoring/fixing/refurbishing), and the associated chimney pipe.

I'm pretty sure if I totaled up the tab it'd be pretty close to the cost of a good generator, if not more.

But, on the other hand, odds are if I take care of this stuff I won't ever have to replace any of it...

 

Truth. That stove alone could be a life saver. Not only for heat, but to cook on. That's a great stove.

My house would suck without electric. Forced air heat. Have a fireplace, but it doesn't heat the house worth a damn. If I was going to be without power for a long period, I'd be shutting off my water and packing the family up and heading to my cabin. That place is better equipped to deal with no power in winter. Wood stove, etc...

 

Sweet. Where's the cabin? Or is it a secret bug-out cabin?

 

Ha. No secret, but its probably where I'd go in the event of a zombie apocalypse. It's hard to find unless you know where it is. It's in Pymatuning PA. Just south of Erie PA. Me and my dad built it when I was younger.

 

Nice! I don't see any power lines; must be oil lamp or Coleman lanterns?
I like the stonework on the foundation. Is that a facade or is it actually a fieldstone cellar?

 

There is power lines. They run underground to the house from the pole. It's definitely not "roughing" it up there. LOL.

The stone is just a facade. The house is actually built on 9 12x12 posts. So it sits up off the ground because its so wet there. So under the house is all storage. On the right side because of the hill, its tall enough to stand underneath. We store the lawn tractor and there's a work bench.