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Post by karitx on Feb 19, 2021 21:39:42 GMT -5
Ooof, that sounds brutal, cinnabar! We would be in all sorts of trouble here at those temps. My family moved here from North Dakota, so most of them have been through that kind of weather, but I haven't. Can't say I really want to experience it, either.
Glad you have a new furnace - I hope it keeps you nice and warm!
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Post by pooka on Feb 20, 2021 5:52:11 GMT -5
This years late winter is being extra brutal in all the wrong places. My sympathy goes out to all those in Texas & Oklahoma, & as far south as the Rio Grand. They're getting hit by weather that would be considered harsh here in southern Indiana.
We were pretty lucky here. We went from a fairly mild winter till last week when we got just a very little freezing rain as it became bitter cold in the teens. It came during the night, so the road crews had most of the night to scrap & salt. By morning, It wasn't great, but it was passable. By evening, the sun had the main roads clear & dry. Sunday night & Monday, we got six or seven inches. Then a couple more Tuesday. We've had more nights in the teen than I can remember strung all together. Last night & tonight are in high single digits. That's crazy cold for around here. They got worse freezing rain just south of us in mostly rural Kentucky. A lot of people lost power. Just north of us got more snow. We're in kind of a sweet spot just south of Interstate 64. I don't know how many times they've gotten snow above 64, but south of it, we get nothing. I've always thought it was because that's the top of the valley along the Ohio. Warmer air off of the river rises up & holds the snow at bay. It's a theory anyway.
They closed early on Monday, so I didn't have to work, & I'm off Tuesday & Wednesday, so I had a long weekend. I didn't leave the house at all, except to walk a bill next door that the mailman put in my mailbox. They got the main roads plowed pretty quick, but the side roads are still a bit choppy. I warmed my car up & cleared it off finally early yesterday afternoon, but didn't bother the shovel the drive. When I left for work, I just watched for traffic, the just gunned it, & blasted through to the cleared road. When I came home, I just drove up the tracks I made leaving. My driveway is kind of a slot dug up through a low embankment. Even if I get stuck. I just go backwards & forwards a bit till I get some momentum going to keep moving. All my tires can do is bounce between the hillside & a curb as I swim out of the morass. Tomorrow will be our first day above freezing since the ice storm. By Tuesday & Wednesday, we're forecast to get up to fifty two. Then rain to wash it all away. Now that's nutty. From single digits to the low fifties in less than a week.
I keep expecting to hear some religious fanatic claim it's god's punishment for something or other. This past year has been one for the history books. I mean a pandemic admits political & social upheaval, & a failed insurrection. Demonstrations in Poland, Myanmar & India, & maybe a few more I haven't caught wind of. Now the weather is out to do us in. I hear Mount Etna is erupting, & I think I read they had a pretty strong earth quake in Japan. Where's the end times cult predicting the apocalypse to top it all off?
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Post by nana on Feb 20, 2021 7:28:01 GMT -5
We’ve had a winter a little bit on the easy side of normal, except for that 3+ feet of snow in December. Some below zero, but no really prolonged stretches, some snow, but no really horrible storms. Up until recently my only real complaint was a lack of sunshine. A sunny crisp winter day can be lovely, but we went for a month and a half and you could count the sunny days on one hand. Every day just overcast and gray. February seems to be picking up a bit of sun, and now when it shines you can feel it’s starting to gain back it’s strength! And the days are noticeably longer too. You can never hold back spring, like the song goes!
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Post by pooka on Feb 20, 2021 12:17:37 GMT -5
Mister Cruz is a poster child for tone deaf & disingenuous leaders caught in their own hypocrisy. How about the Texas mayor who tells residents to fend for themselves during power outage: ‘Only the strong will survive’. He's since resigned, & his wife got fired because of the blow back. The governor blamed the power failure on failed wind generators. The real truth is because Texas has it's own power grid not connected the the national grid, so they can avoid federal regulation. Their utilities failed to winterize their systems in order to make more profit. This is the third time this has happened in the past thirty years or so (1989, 2011 & 2021). People are dying because of their greed.
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Post by nana on Feb 20, 2021 16:00:49 GMT -5
Hopefully they will learn. Windmills work just fine in cold, snowy, icy conditions, they just have to be designed for it. Maybe the Texas windmills could be retrofitted to be more cold-hardy. Texas does a lot with wind power, and it’s a good thing because it’s always windy down there! But I read where the governor got 150 million for his campaign war chest from oil and gas companies. That probably has more than anything else to do with his stance on wind power, unfortunately.
Fossil fuels had a good long run, but it’s clear now what the cost is of continuing to rely on them. The long term smart money on Wall Street is turning away from oil and gas and going in for renewables, electric vehicles, better batteries. Texas better get out in front of the parade if they don’t want to get passed by!
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Post by Chuckie on Feb 20, 2021 18:24:33 GMT -5
Fossil fuels had a good long run, but it’s clear now what the cost is of continuing to rely on them. The long term smart money on Wall Street is turning away from oil and gas and going in for renewables, electric vehicles, better batteries. As I've often said in the taverns--to MANY rolled eyes & "here he goes AGAIN!" sayings--I don't see anymore dinosaurs dying and rotting to make more oil, and I-F the earth were HOLLOW and FILLED w/oil, then scientists could tell us just EXACTLY how much oil we had LEFT!! Since there AIN'T no more dinosaurs roaming about and the earth AIN'T hollow and FILLED w/oil to be harvested--that kinda sums up the life expectancy of fossil fuels!! CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by pooka on Feb 21, 2021 3:27:35 GMT -5
Fossil fuels are a dying industries. It's plain & simple economics, especially coal. The price of renewable power is falling every day. Plus the given the environmental cost far outweigh the long run benefit. I regularly read about new innovations in solar cells & battery technology & other alternative methods. It's just a matter of time until greener alternatives will be the dominate source of power. Fossil fuels will become niche sources, but will one day be no more. The writing is on the wall, even if you want to try to ignore the reality. Fossil fuel industries are still big moneyed players with an outsized voice by virtue of their economic clout. There's too much money to be made. It's an environment that breeds corruption in politics. The worst effects of the weather in Texas was entirely preventable by simple winterizing their generating equipment, but that cost money, & cuts into the profit margins. The problem is it's only bites you in the backside every ten years if you skit it. Then the utilities throw up their hands & say, OH, It was an act of god, beyond our control! As I said, this is the third time this has happened. We shall see if it's a spin & repeat in ten years or so. If there were legal regulation requiring winterizing, this wouldn't be the catastrophe that it is. It would still be a bad weather event, but not the life & death struggle we're seeing.
Wasn't it just a few years ago when they had wildfires in almost every county in Texas. God must really hate Texas! I'm sympathetic, but you can't help some who are too stubborn to help themselves. Some things are beyond our control, but this current debacle has a known solution, because this has already happened twice. Not fixing it is criminal. Only time will tell if this is a lesson learned.
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Post by nana on Feb 21, 2021 7:59:43 GMT -5
My husband’s last car was a plug in hybrid, a Ford Fusion. It was a lease, and when he retired and the lease was up we just went back to being a one car family and kept our regular Chevy Impala, since it was paid off. But the Fusion was a really nice car, comfortable, fast enough for us, and QUIET!! In summer it could go 20 miles just on electric before the engine kicked on, in winter only about 10 (we do love our heated seats up here!!) which was enough to get us around locally to run errands, etc without using much gas, if any. And when the engine was running on gas, it could charge the battery and it even could build up charge using something called regenerative braking. There was a little display on the dash that kept track of how much charge you had and a little graphic of a vine with leaves on it that you could make grow new leaves with careful driving, or if jackrabbit starts and flooring it up hills was more your style the leaves would turn yellow and drop off. Between the electric and gas it averaged about 60 miles per gallon, and for the three years we had it I did not notice ANY appreciable increase in our electric bill, even though it was plugged in every night. And in the 5 years since that car was built there have been vast improvements to the technology. When this Impala finally goes, I will definitely be getting an electric vehicle!! It’s the way things are going, and it’s high time.
There are environmental costs to solar, wind, battery manufacturing and disposal too, of course. There is no free lunch. But I am hopeful that these emerging technologies are being designed by people who have learned the lesson of fossil fuel folly, and are taking the downstream effects into consideration. Dare I say, taking a holistic approach?
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Post by nana on Feb 24, 2021 18:21:12 GMT -5
We had a light snowfall the other day only about 5-6 inches, but PERFECT packing snow. My grandkids took full advantage! They used a machete to square it off to make a snow robot. If you look closely you can see it in my grandson’s hand. Unfortunately the robot was a little top heavy and fell over the next day when the temperature went above freezing...
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Post by dwayner2 on Feb 24, 2021 20:38:16 GMT -5
You guys do realize I live in Texas and don’t appreciate your negative condemnation of how we run our state. Might I ask if everyone up North has AC units in their homes for those seldom seen heat waves that kill people as well?
I just find it hard to understand how people here who I considered friends would get up on some high horse and think they know how to solve the world’s problems, much less those of Texas. I have been killing myself for almost two weeks preparing for this weather, then trying to keep me and my family safe during the freeze and now, repair the damage and start over. What a surprise to find a few minutes of rest to check out what’s going on here. Wish I never had!
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Post by pooka on Feb 25, 2021 10:42:28 GMT -5
I'm sure every state has their own dirty linen in the manner of archaic methods of running things that those in other states might find baffling. In Pennsylvania, all liquor is sold only through state run stores. Here in Indiana, all license branches used to be run by which ever political party was in the majority in state government. In a number of nearby states like Kentucky, Illinois & Tennessee, they still have counties that are dry as far as liquor sales. Here in Indiana, they only made it legal to buy packaged liquor on Sunday late last year. When I was growing up, you couldn't even get a drink with your dinner in a restaurant on Sunday.
When we hear how the power utilities in Texas are structured to allows millions to suffer blackouts because they fail to prepare their equipment for the weather, we are outraged. Also, any system that leads to regular folks to get a bill as high as $17000 because of no regulations on prices seems unwise. This seems like a system skewed to help make the rich richer, & the poor poorer. If you think we are being overly critical, I'm honestly sorry. But when we hear of people freezing to death in their homes because what we perceive as greed on the part of the utility companies, we are outraged. dwayner, If we've offended you personally, we're heartily sorry. I'm ashamed my state gave America Mike Pence as vice president, but we'll have to live with that shame forever. If you've got any insults to throw at us Hoosiers, we probably deserve a few lashes for some of our particular character flaws. We're all flawed, & so are our judgments. It's impossible to be truly impartial. None of us is fit to judge another, but we can't help ourselves. It's human nature. Our biggest flaw.
By the way, we had a high of sixty two yesterday.
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Post by Chuckie on Feb 25, 2021 21:09:21 GMT -5
I'm sure every state has their own dirty linen in the manner of archaic methods of running things that those in other states might find baffling. In Pennsylvania, all liquor is sold only through state run stores. Here in Indiana, all license branches used to be run by which ever political party was in the majority in state government. In a number of nearby states like Kentucky, Illinois & Tennessee, they still have counties that are dry as far as liquor sales. Here in Indiana, they only made it legal to buy packaged liquor on Sunday late last year. When I was growing up, you couldn't even get a drink with your dinner in a restaurant on Sunday.
When we hear how the power utilities in Texas are structured to allows millions to suffer blackouts because they fail to prepare their equipment for the weather, we are outraged. Also, any system that leads to regular folks to get a bill as high as $17000 because of no regulations on prices seems unwise. This seems like a system skewed to help make the rich richer, & the poor poorer. If you think we are being overly critical, I'm honestly sorry. But when we hear of people freezing to death in their homes because what we perceive as greed on the part of the utility companies, we are outraged. dwayner, If we've offended you personally, we're heartily sorry. I'm ashamed my state gave America Mike Pence as vice president, but we'll have to live with that shame forever. If you've got any insults to throw at us Hoosiers, we probably deserve a few lashes for some of our particular character flaws. We're all flawed, & so are our judgments. It's impossible to be truly impartial. None of us is fit to judge another, but we can't help ourselves. It's human nature. Our biggest flaw.
Dwayner has had a HELLUVA go of all this mess. Although a bachelor, he's FAR from "free". His elderly Mam lives in southern Texas---some THREE hours away--as does his sister. Well, he's often mentioned the "lack of concern" from his sister & nephew(s) about problems--as dwayner ALWAYS takes CARE of them. Well, he'd gone to his MOM'S place FIRST to get her ready for the storms, along w/his sister. He also put some sort of protection around the citrus trees they have, along w/a sort of electric protection to keep them safe through the freezing weather. He also said he made SURE the generator was gassed up, serviced, & ready to go should their power go OUT, and then went home to take care of HIS stuff LAST. Well, guess what? When he called his Mom & she said the power was OUT, he told her to tell his "less-than-ambitious" nephew to go out & start the generator. Nephew told Mama Dwayner it was " TOO COLD" to be messing around outside, and G-ma agreed. Nearly ALL the pipes froze up there along with his sister's. Ma was staying warm via the burners on the no-electricity-necessary propane Chambers out in the garage. He texted me Tuesday, said there is Z-E-R-O plastic pipe & fittings available in Texas ANYWHERE to repair the damage, could I help him out? So he sent me a list, I went to our local Home Depot & bought the 10' lengths of pipe, and cut them to 5', as the gal @ the Post Office enlightened me that you can put TWO of those triangular Priority Mail boxes TOGETHER, as long as TOTAL area doesn't exceed 108". I shipped said pipe & fittings to his MOM'S house, as he wanted to get her & his sister's place "back up & working" before HIMSELF. He said to let him know the total cost, and he'd remit the money ASAP... Needless to say, there will be NO CHARGE to our Chambers Gypsy, for all the stuff he has done GRATIS for us all these years. I just wish him & his family the best in their repair efforts. Lastly, he will prolly kill ME when I seen him next for posting all this shit.
And to quote HIM... "just sayin'...."
Chuckie
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Post by nana on Feb 25, 2021 21:47:45 GMT -5
I too, am sorry that we offended you, Dwayner. My state of New York certainly has its own share of public officials of all stripes whose portraits could hang on the wall of shame, and you could probably write volumes about the various scandals and back room deals they’ve been involved with. I certainly had no intention of making you feel like were condemning or ridiculing you from up on our pedestals. I have nothing but sympathy for the folks, like you, who had to undergo such hardship. It’s just that this was a thread about snow and cold, and Texas was in the news for just those things. As the story has been reported, the government and the power utilities down there dropped the ball, which caused immense suffering, and that is what I was reacting to. My original post that started this thread was meant to be tongue in cheek, and give people a chuckle, and I’m really sorry it led to hard feelings!
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Post by pooka on Feb 26, 2021 5:12:34 GMT -5
My heart goes out to all the Texans who've had to suffer through this cataclysm.
I've read that at least two of the officials on the board that has some oversight have quit. They don't even live in the state, yet they oversee it's electric grid. There was a study just published that concluded Texans have payed twenty three billion dollars more for their utilities than they would have had they not deregulated their electric generating system. Here in Indiana we have a board that must approve rate hikes. If the utilities doesn't justify the wanted rate hike, they don't get it. Plus, I'm sure there are Federal regulation that must be followed too. Texas's grid is not connected to the national grid, because they don't want to have to follow Federal regulation. Had they been connected, they could have drawn power from out of state to help shore up at least some of their outages.
As I said, this would have been a bad weather event no matter what. But those in high places utterly failed their fellow Texans by failing to prepare. The governor & lieutenant governor both have tried to deflect responsibility, but are being ridiculed for it. Ted Cruz sneaking off to Cancun in the middle of it was a classic corrupt politician skipping town when things blow up. Then when he got caught at it, he changed his excuse at least twice. I'm not pointing fingers, I'm just reading the news, & using logic & good sense to come to any conclusions. I also noted, this is the third time this has happened. It's ironic a state known for their big oil & gas production was helpless because their system froze up for lack of winterization. I don't want to be hard on Texas in particular. I'd be up in arms no matter where it happened. I'd be especially pissed off if it was my own state.
Around here has always been coal country. Heck, there's an old mine right under my neighborhood. The old lift shaft & ventilation shaft are right across the street from where I went to high school. The only time we loose power is if the lines are down. You can go down to the riverfront & see the power plant smokestacks a bit down river. Then there's another a bit upstream. It was build mainly to supply the ALCOA plant up that way, but it also serves the area. Most of the coal is gone now, & I believe at least some of the generators run on natural gas.
Dwayner, please don't take offense. I'm sorry you've been dealt this blow. I can only hope you get through this as easily as possible. I wish I could help, but I'm stuck here on my treadmill. Stay safe, & ignore us unfeeling blockheads. We mean no harm.
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Post by pooka on Feb 28, 2021 13:37:59 GMT -5
dwayner, Please don't take offense to our idle talk about The Great State of Texas. We meant no personal affront. I was hoping you'd be outraged by those in your state that made this disaster worse & not be offended personally. If we've pissed you off by our criticism, Mea Culpa. You are too great a friend to loose over our stupid & unfeeling bashing your home state. There's plenty enough pain ongoing all around for us to add to it with our sour words. You're too great a guy to let any of our words rumple that flowing super hero cape you wear. Be the hero we know you are, & let our gutter talk bounce off of you shield of invulnerability. Tend to your home front, & let us know if you need anything. Whenever you want to react to us, please come back as a pal. I've heard it said that the weather is the one safe topic to discuss with anyone, because we all have it in common. But apparently even the weather isn't safe, because it can quickly lead elsewhere. I'm known for moving stealthy, but I struggle at walking on eggshells. Please ease my discomfort, & let us all know you're OK.
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Post by Chuckie on Feb 28, 2021 22:26:08 GMT -5
dwayner, Please don't take offense to our idle talk about The Great State of Texas. We meant no personal affront. I was hoping you'd be outraged by those in your state that made this disaster worse & not be offended personally. If we've pissed you off by our criticism, Mea Culpa. You are too great a friend to loose over our stupid & unfeeling bashing your home state. There's plenty enough pain ongoing all around for us to add to it with our sour words. You're too great a guy to let any of our words rumple that flowing super hero cape you wear. Be the hero we know you are, & let our gutter talk bounce off of you shield of invulnerability. Tend to your home front, & let us know if you need anything. Whenever you want to react to us, please come back as a pal. I've heard it said that the weather is the one safe topic to discuss with anyone, because we all have it in common. But apparently even the weather isn't safe, because it can quickly lead elsewhere. I'm known for moving stealthy, but I struggle at walking on eggshells. Please ease my discomfort, & let us all know you're OK. I DOUBT we'll here ANYTHING outta HIM anytime soon!!! He sent pix of all the damage done at HIS place. I checked on the package I sent to his Mom's address in Victoria, and it arrived on SATURDAY--two days EARLY--praise GOD!!! He was gonna TRY to temporarily wrap things up @ HIS place, then head to Victoria to start the work THERE, then return HOME to finish HIS stuff. I told him to call/text ASAP if he needed MORE supplies, and I'd mail them Priority as well, and pray for another 48 hour delivery. He's "pretty frazzled" @ the moment, w/no "quick" relief in sight... Chuckie
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Post by pooka on Mar 1, 2021 1:08:26 GMT -5
I wish I could hop in a mister fix it van full of supplies & head down there & pitch in. I can live rough if need be. Unfortunately I'm not at leisure to pick up & just go. I'm on my own treadmill.
I can see that he went to check in here to get a break only to have us throwing the storm at him too. A kind of double slap in the face. I'm a recovering news junkie. I don't seek out the news so much any more, but I do take note when it goes by. I prefer the more esoteric news like the ceremonial chariot just discovered near Pompeii, but politics & current events draws my interest too. Sadly that doth make fools of us all.
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Post by pooka on Mar 3, 2021 14:07:23 GMT -5
On a lighter note, I just found this video put together from drone footage shot during our snow a couple of weeks ago. It was posted Feb 19, 2021. Winter can be beautiful as long as we're safe & warm. Some of the local site I have not seen personally. I generally avoid down town.
Every since they put in the riverboat casino & hotel on the river front in 1995, I've stayed away from downtown, except to go to the Civic center to pay the water bill. I voted against gambling, but we got it anyway. They only aloud it on the boat when it was not docked. They said they'd never have land based gaming. Well guess what. Last year they got rid of the boat, & moved all the gaming on land. I suppose it did help to revitalize the dying down town, but I still appose gaming here.
On a more historical tangent, bellow is a short video of our local winter of 77 & 78. That storm effected the upper east coast too a lot worse than us though. This piece was made by one of the local high schools. The local paper put out a book about it called "The Tale of Two Winters".
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