Too Cold For Me

ElizabethB

Guru
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Joined
14 Aug 2017
Local time
1:51 AM
Messages
3,836
Location
Lafayette, LA. US
The extreme cold blanketing the U.S. is wrecking havoc, especially in the south where we are not prepared to deal with such extremely cold temperatures. Once again we have lucked out. No power outage other than a 30 minute rolling blackout. No frozen pipes. Step Son lives in Katy, TX., a suburb of Houston. He has been out of power since Sunday. He has a gas log fireplace for heat, a gas oven and lots of propane cookers. He was doing fine until yesterday when a pipe broke in his attic. There are 8 homes on his street that had the same situation. Plumbing supplies are not to be found. He finally found a short term fix at a locally owned plumbing supply store 30 miles south of Katy. His power came back on for a few hours this afternoon then went out again.
My Niece and her family just moved into their new home. They started construction last January 2020. Because of the Pandemic supplies have been short. It has taken over a year to complete construction. They lost power and had broken pipes. :cry: My beautiful niece has cried her eyes out. Her beautiful, new home has flooded. We have friends in Buffalo Gap, TX. who have been out of power since Sunday. Buffalo Gap is 15 miles south west of Abilene. They have had single digit temps. Of course their pipes froze. To make matters worse Sandra ran out of beer.
CD I know Dallas has had problems. Hope all is well with you. The Late Night Gourmet and detroitdad I can not imagine how cold it must be. Your advantage is that you are more prepared for extreme cold.
We have not been out This morning G had to go to the clinic to have his Coumadin level tested. On his way home he stopped at Walmart. Tomorrow I will get my Covid Vaccine. Other than that we have huddled around the gas log fireplace. Eating, drinking and sleeping too much. We are like a couple of bears in partial hibernation. Our cats are either in my lap or on the hearth. G has gone out to fill the bird feeder every day. The birds and the squirrels are eating huge amounts of food to compensate for the energy necessary to keep warm.
Tonight will be just freezing. Tomorrow night will be in the low 20's. After that the temps will rise quickly. Next week we will be in the 70's.
I hope you are all safe and not having major issues with power loss or pipes breaking.
Houston has had more power outages than any other city in the U.S.
 
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Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we'll be doing 67F tomorrow and the week ahead will run up into the low 70s.

So, I can't share your concerns.
 
Lucky you! I am jealous. I have never been to San Francisco. It is on my bucket list. If I ever fulfill that dream I will reach out to you. The beauty appeals to me and the cultural diversity makes me think of NOLA on steroids, Send warm thoughts to all who are in the grip of insane cold. :hug:
 
Lucky you! I am jealous. I have never been to San Francisco. It is on my bucket list. If I ever fulfill that dream I will reach out to you. The beauty appeals to me and the cultural diversity makes me think of NOLA on steroids, Send warm thoughts to all who are in the grip of insane cold. :hug:

SF is ok, but be prepared for no parking anywhere and the possibility of criminal activity. I haven't been up there in quite a while. It's too crazy for me. Monterey is much saner.
 
Keep your chin up her madge, I have been watching the disaster unfold. The last big freeze up where we last lived in the North Wales the temp dropped to-19c for three days. For ten days either side it was never above -10c with deep snow.I think it was 2014 Luckily the previous owner had wrapped all of the vulnerable water pipes with Canadian electric heating tape, as soon as the water temp in the pipe drops the tape automatically turns on.
 
I have been posting updates in the general chat thread.

it got even colder here, with the lowest temperature being 0° F. No water problems at my house, but I only have one sink that is on an outside wall, and I insulated everything else very well when the house was built.

we had rolling outages for about 24 hours, with 20 minutes on, and 20 minutes off. I have been spending a lot of time in front of the fireplace.

Power has been back on here for quite a while without interruption.

my sister and parents in Houston fared worse than I did, even though it didn’t get As cold.

I posted pictures in the general chat thread.
 
The extreme cold blanketing the U.S. is wrecking havoc, especially in the south where we are not prepared to deal with such extremely cold temperatures. Once again we have lucked out. No power outage other than a 30 minute rolling blackout. No frozen pipes. Step Son lives in Katy, TX., a suburb of Houston. He has been out of power since Sunday. He has a gas log fireplace for heat, a gas oven and lots of propane cookers. He was doing fine until yesterday when a pipe broke in his attic. There are 8 homes on his street that had the same situation. Plumbing supplies are not to be found. He finally found a short term fix at a locally owned plumbing supply store 30 miles south of Katy. His power came back on for a few hours this afternoon then went out again.
My Niece and her family just moved into their new home. They started construction last January 2020. Because of the Pandemic supplies have been short. It has taken over a year to complete construction. They lost power and had broken pipes. :cry: My beautiful niece has cried her eyes out. Her beautiful, new home has flooded. We have friends in Buffalo Gap, TX. who have been out of power since Sunday. Buffalo Gap is 15 miles south west of Abilene. They have had single digit temps. Of course their pipes froze. To make matters worse Sandra ran out of beer.
CD I know Dallas has had problems. Hope all is well with you. The Late Night Gourmet and detroitdad I can not imagine how cold it must be. Your advantage is that you are more prepared for extreme cold.
We have not been out This morning G had to go to the clinic to have his Coumadin level tested. On his way home he stopped at Walmart. Tomorrow I will get my Covid Vaccine. Other than that we have huddled around the gas log fireplace. Eating, drinking and sleeping too much. We are like a couple of bears in partial hibernation. Our cats are either in my lap or on the hearth. G has gone out to fill the bird feeder every day. The birds and the squirrels are eating huge amounts of food to compensate for the energy necessary to keep warm.
Tonight will be just freezing. Tomorrow night will be in the low 20's. After that the temps will rise quickly. Next week we will be in the 70's.
I hope you are all safe and not having major issues with power loss or pipes breaking.
Houston has had more power outages than any other city in the U.S.

I've lived with this type of weather my entire life. Heck, I even spent 3 years in North Dakota. Its not uncommon for JAN/FEB weather to hit negative 50 with the wind chill.

Its been a rough week or two. Its been 0 or below at some point almost everyday. It definitely starts wearing on you after a bit. Good luck. I hope the weather gets back to normal for you soon!
 
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