Praying all is well for you guys in the south

[GSB4243]

Just wanted to say I'm praying everything goes OK for you guys in the south especially Texas. Mother Nature tried to put a woopin' on you guys. Normally Ohio would have sent help, but our Dept. of Transportation actually looked at a map and saw we were going to get blasted and kept our trucks home (I had 10 inches of snow Tuesday just outside of Cleveland, and more is coming now).

Stay warm and dig out, it won't be cold and white forever.

[JimN]

Thank you, my wife and I live about 30 mi. e. of bryan/college station. It has not been to bad. Rolling blackouts have been a nuisance but nothing long enough to have to break out the generator I don't have. On the plus side I don't have to defrost my two freezers. The low water pressure and boil the water alert have been a bigger hassle but there are plenty of other people who have it a whole lot worse than us. Power has been back in my area since yesterday evening.

[GasGuzzler]

It was -5 overnight a couple days ago. We had a windchill of -24 once. Took a foot of snow in three days. For some reason my neighborhood never lost power. Most of my family and co-workers closer to DFW or very remote did. I just turned the water meter on and we're all taking our first showers and washing dishes for the fist time in a couple days. We never lost water ... but someone that shall remain nameless twisted a frozen faucet handle and broke the porcelain in the 1971 stem and it took me two days to fix. Couldn't get a plumber to come out. We had it pretty good compared to a lot of people around me. Because of "covid prep" we had plenty of disposable dishes and bottled water on hand.

[Ranch Dog]

Thank you for your prayers; I also appreciate them. I ended up taking care of four homes; three here on the ranch we just sold and one an hour away that we just purchased. The new one was easy, let the water drip, and made sure its 45kW Generac was ready (I don't know much about it other than oil and fuel). With its underground utilities, smart for a neighborhood with "Oaks" in its name, it never lost a beat other than the rolling brownouts. The Generac took care of that. Left a key for our new neighbors when they needed heat and water.

The ranch has three homes and durn if this weather didn't hit a day before movers were scheduled. So, I sat and took care of three homes I no longer owned. Not bad; I suspect this place has seen worse. We beat the low temperature we've seen. It went down to 11°. That doesn't sound really low, at least from my travels, but the homes here are not built for it. I have a gas generator tied into the main home, but it cannot support a central heat system. It is set up to support a week after a hurricane. Open the windows, run the ceiling fans and kitchen, that kind of stuff. I do have these little "as seen on TV," Handy Heaters that plug into a wall socket that we use when central heat is not needed, and they work well. I started the generator (battery start) and ran it with the first outage, but when the brownouts started, we didn't bother as it seemed a good time to take a nap. Napping was about like that of my hound dog; up for 1:30 and then sleep for 45. Perfect!

Handy_Heater.jpg

Thanks again for your prayers!

[Mad Trapper]

Thank you for the Prayers Brother.
Im in south east Kentucky, we got the ice storm on the 15th, power went out, temps went down to single digit.
People started fleeing their homes seeking shelter.
Then the snow came a few days later, maybe 5 inches.
I decided to stay, fired up the wood stove, I keep a couple cords of wood put back.
I have canned goods put back, so cooked on the wood stove.
No hot water from the electric water heater, so heated water on the stove, mixed it with cold water and filled one of those 2.5 gal pump spray jugs that you find at the hardware store, in the lawn and garden section.
You can also set them next to the stove and they keep the water warm.
Then just pump up the jug and have your shower.
Power came back on saturday afternoon, today.