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Old Man Winter Cometh


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As mentioned before, we dodged a bullet with the snow storm that rolled through...PTL!  We stayed put today even though the rain melted most of the ice...just to make sure...and we had planned to hunker down anyway.  This makes 12 days we been either snowed in or iced in, so far this month.

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Not a bad day considering!  Just enough temp and sun to start melting some snow.  Mud and mush everywhere, but that comes with the melting.  Hoping all this freezing weather etc., will kill out a lot of the insects that have been hibernating during these past winters...that haven't gotten cold enough for long enough.  Especially ticks and japanese beetles etc. 

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AZ is being hammered. I looked at the radar & it covered most of the state. DH said it rained all day, flooding the yard again. The mountains are getting feet of snow. Highways in the northern part of AZ are shut down. TX weather said it’s coming this way. If it’s as bad as they are forecasting, I may have to stay another day for the highway to clear. 

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23 hours ago, The WE2's said:

Hoping all this freezing weather etc., will kill out a lot of the insects

 

WE2  ....you'd hope to get some good out of a nasty winter, right?  :thumbs: 

 

Annarchy...that mess is in N Mex right now - Fri nite.  Definitely wait for good traveling conditions, friend!  :hug3:  Some of that has drifted up in CO but right here, we've had only periods of snow.  Sunny most of today until later.  It's been snowing steady but lightly since sunset.  :sigh:  More sweeping and sanding ICE!  I've sanded ICE x2 today.  But fortunately, I found a patch of dry dirt/grit to mine from.  That's most of the problem -- dirt/grit is all locked-down-frozen.  

 

And....I have not seen Tennessee on the Doppler for weeks.....cuz it's COVERED with GREEN  [rain].  All around it too....is anyone from that area ready to build an ark?  :o

 

MtRider  ....be careful, everyone with 'weather'... 

 

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Its in the 30's here but it feels like a heat wave compared to the sub-zero weather we have been having.

 

I opted for clothing layers and a blanket this winter but I know my heating bill will be through the roof and I didn't really have it cranked up. A few times I went to bed with the heating pad because I just couldn't stay warm. Hope the new house is better insulated.

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This part of TX barely missed the direct hit of the storm. But, it’s not done yet. We got extreme wind. Snow on the mountains, hoping for pics in the morning. 

 

DH said, 40 hours of rain, he measured our bucket, over 2 inches. 

 

Supposed to get cold tonight here. Watching like a hawk, gotta drive on Sunday. Brrrr... iced bridges & mountains...

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Today.....DH and I shoveled....and swept....and dredged.....a whole lotta snow.  He went out front door.  I went out back and over to goat house.  For the first time, he didn't make it back up our STEEP driveway WITH ICE UNDER INCHES OF SNOW.  Car did backwards and spinning.  Then stopped with front of car again facing up driveway.  DH carefully backed down the driveway and left it there till W came over to plow.  It's steepest right before it levels out for parking at top.....and that's also where the other hillside blocks sunshine.  Gets the least sun... :(   Warned W but he has chains and does not slack off .....zooms his rig right UP!  Parking area at top is not that big...esp once there are mountains of plowed snow piling up around the perimeter.  I had moved my truck down out of the way too....once I finally made my way TO that vehicle.  :sigh:  Garage space would be nice, eh? 

 

I don't think DH and I can do another winter here.  Too much manual labor.  We have no mechanical devices....except [bless him] friend W's plowing.  Too old/ill.  Toooooo much vertical hillside terrain.  The past two winters were mild.  This one is more normal and ....we haven't got it anymore.  Kinda hoping the old goat and old ducks will just die.  And some idiot will come along and take the horses.  Then we'd be free to .....change some things. 

 

This place is lovely in non-winter.....except for wildfire and flooding that gouges crevasses everywhere....  :yar:    Hmph, with this steep terrain, it just doesn't work anytime.  But some weather issues are worse than others. 

 

MtRider  ...just tired and we need to go out and do chores again before dark.  Uff ta!

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Today was just a bit over 50 but very foggy and rained really hard this afternoon.  Not complaining at all, but the ground is sure "thick" :24: where all the snow and ice has melted.  It'll drain down before long, at least it usually does.  This place is on "high" ground, but the homestead is not.  There we have to keep an eye on the sump pump in the root cellar/basement.  When moved we'll put in a bigger collector well and probably a bigger pump.  Our biggest problem there is the ditch that runs across the front of the property and can't get through the driveway whistle so it backs up towards the garage...not good.  We have a pile of wood chips near the door from several years ago and that has helped deter it from flooding into the garage door. Won't be long though until we hook up our rain catchment systems.  They're calling for a dry summer so we'll start collecting asap.  Collecting it has really helped with diverting water away from the root cellar/basement...which in turns helps keep the sump pump from running as much.

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Drive safely Annarchy. I know you do. It's those other guys ya have to watch out for.

 

I'm sorry this winter has been so tough on you guys this year Mt. Rider. With that terrain, even younger and healthier folks would have issues. Thank God for W and his equipment. I did a 180 in town last Dec. and it is scary when you have zero control of your vehicle. :hug3:

 

It's supposed to turn cold again next week. I'm sick of winter this year. 

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Well, I got blasted today. The wind is gusting up to 70 miles per hour. Trees are down, limbs are down and power lines are down. Other peoples things are strewn all over the place.

 

Its 23 degrees and snowing now. My power went out for over 4 hours. It was freezing in the house. I feel really bad for the elderly and people with children. Power finally came back on about an hour ago.

 

I can't believe how dependent I am on electricity. Only good thing is I have a gas cooking stove. So I could heat and eat and I could have turned the oven on and sat in front of it for an hour or two. If it had gone on any longer I would have done that to keep the pipes from bursting. I chose to just go to bed. It was warm under the covers and I had the lighted Kindle to read. Plus I fell asleep a couple of times.

 

I was so happy I got all of my firewood used up last year. Until today. I was wishing I had some left. Sigh.

 

I always said if things got bad I could go to a hotel for the night. Wrong again. No electricity...no garage door opener. No way could I lift up that garage door and put it back down again. It's a double door but I know I couldn't even handle a single size door. When the power goes out I'm stuck at home for the duration.

 

I also learned that I need a couple more windup radios. I have a really nice one that is big and heavy. That's a good thing because it's sturdy. It was a little harder to turn the crank that I remembered. But one minute of cranking lasts nearly an hour. It was really helpful because our local radio station gave updates. Otherwise I would have been totally in the dark. Literally and physically. Also, that radio was so dusty. I keep it on the open shelf on the bedside table. Nice and handy but out of sight, out of mind. I need to remember to dust that sucker more often. Not pleasant.

 

I saw on Homestead Tessie's channel where she was talking about a radio she likes. I think next month I'm going to order one or two. They are also solar. Just keep them in a window.

 

Here's a link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075MCTJ4N/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tessie1172-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B075MCTJ4N&linkId=bf4bcae1a2f6c200c341d15764db51c2

 

 

 

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20 hours ago, Jeepers said:

They are also solar. Just keep them in a window.

 

We have one that we keep in our travel trailer.  It runs on solar or batteries. I guess perhaps I need to bring it here until we move? LOL  We have one here that is a crank but not solar powered.  Those that you linked to look really nice. 

Edited by The WE2's
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On 2/24/2019 at 7:31 PM, Annarchy said:

Indeed. Spring is just around the corner....

 

:scratchhead:  .......that 'corner' is a loooong way away from me tho, Annarchy.  Tho it was allegedly 50* today, it sure was a chilly 50* with a stiff breeze blowing across all that snow in the valley.  Well, until I got all overheated with today's weird events and exertions.  :knary:     Of course...we could have another blizzard in March....April .....or even May!   :sigh:    

 

(((Jeepers))).....when I read the news I wondered if you had electric.  Glad you were able to adapt.  Oh my gosh.....you can't get your Jeep out with no electric????  That's a horrible problem:o  And you didn't even have your old fence to burn in the fireplace.... :rolleyes:  

 

What a royal MESS that storm made all across the Midwest.  This article went thru the problems in all the states.  I laughed at the Minn problem:  On Sunday ice fishing folks...over 100 of them...on Mille Lacs lake are stranded.  WIND kicked up huge drifting and no one can get off the lake [that lake is huge, btw] cuz the 'ice roads' are blocked.  They could walk off the lake but have to leave their vehicles.  They have ice fishing houses with propane heaters but...  Need snowplows on the lake to plow those roads clear again.....but regular roads everywhere else need to be plowed too. 

 

And where there isn't snow, there's flooding with the never-ending rain.    Like Louis...in a kayak...in the shout box.

 

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-02-20-winter-storm-quiana-impacts

 

MtRider  ...y'all be careful out there!  :grouphug: 

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Yeah, at least with gas you can still cook and have a little bit of warmth. Especially if you can close off the kitchen area. With the oven it isn't really an open fire like on top of the range. Stick a ham, turkey or casserole in there and...two birds with one stone. In my 66 years the only time my gas was out was for one day when they were changing out our meters. Not to say it can't happen. Just a little more reliable than electric. 

 

My crank radio is a pretty good one. I got it pre Y2K. I did get a small cheaper one from Wal-Mart about a decade ago but it didn't last very long. The plastic was thin and the crank broke off. I was using it outside while doing yard work. Glad I wasn't depending on it.

 

That spring corner isn't close to my house either. Sunday was pretty miserable here. You can disable the garage door easily enough. Just pull a cord and it disengauges (sp) from the opener. But then you are still stuck with having to lift up the door. And putting it back down. Maybe that's why some people have those two regular size garage doors instead of one big one on a two car garage? Couldn't have even burned the fence. It was treated wood.  :grinning-smiley-044:  Two years ago I had to cancel a dental appointment because a summer storm took out our electricity. I couldn't get out of the garage. The office was only about a mile away. The thought of walking there in the rain was not an option. Just the thought of walking there wasn't going to happen either. Especially after I would have a good quality hour+ with Mr. Happy Nose (gas).

 

The thought of ice fishing reminded me of that movie Grumpy Old Men with Lemon and Matthau. There were some funny scenes of them ice fishing. It was a funny movie but as you can imagine, a little "adult". Maybe more "adult" than I remember.  I think Burgess Meredith was in it too. Or was that Grumpier Old Men? At any rate they were funny. 

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Sounds like we've all had different weather conditions!  The weather here turned back off chilly and it's supposed to start raining about 1am and then maybe some ice about 10am.  Sounds like we may be hunkering down for another day, especially since hubby was feeling so poorly last night!

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Sorry your mister is feeling poorly, WE2.  :(

 

Jeepers, we have all electric for everything....including the pellet stove.  The furnace is propane but all the works of the furnace require electric.  We gone dead if we lose power.  I have Buddy heater and a big dog.  If there's a real blizzard expected, we park a vehicle down in barnyard, close to the road.  A shorter distance by hundreds of feet....iffen we had to dig ourselves out to the road.  Have several oil lamps which give heat...and the oil.  Have camping 2-burner stove which could be used inside with a bit of ventilation.  <_<   Course our whole house is WELL ventilated anyway.  If you pump it up right, the stove burns cleanly blue flame.  Hmmm....I think I remember buying an old Coleman 2-mantle lantern too.  :scratchhead:  I think I'd stick with the oil lamps...but it's time I investigated that lantern.  We also have plenty of LED lantern/flashlites.  Have those $1 flashlites all over the house....cuz we have so many dark corners to try to find things.  This is going into the season when we get soggy, heavy snow storms.  That's when trees and limbs come down - bringing the power lines with it.  :(   I always kinda hold my breath during that season.  But...it is warmer when that happens.

 

Today was again registering 50* and I was more inclined to believe it.  B)   Really melted things......  including big bare dirt/grit patches in the driveway where it's been a perennial glacier since Dec.   :cheer:   A couple more days and that steepness will be down to dirt again.  Unfortunately we're expecting more snow over the weekend....tho maybe not a lot.  But much colder again.  Still, it helps to finally see dirt there on the driveway again.  

 

MtRider  B)   :frozen:  :rolleyes:  

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When we lived in Japan and Taiwan we used one of those round kerosene heaters. We had those sliding Japanese doors so you close every room off if you wanted too. They were nice and kept us very warm. I wouldn't mind having another one again. There is a nice wall mounted gas heater on the wall in the second garage. It puts out a lot of heat. I don't know how to work it yet but son does so he can show me. I have a Buddy heater...packed away.  Sigh.

 

My D-EX Cousin-in-law (wife deceased but I still claim him as family :blink:) Anyway he is trying his level best to get me to have a whole house gas generator. In reality, I only really need the fans, small refrigerator, ice maker and the coffee maker. And the freezer. I don't really want all of the whistles and bells and have the whole house lit up like a Christmas tree when everyone else has none. Nothing like flaunting your electricity in your new neighbors face.

 

He had their house sat up with the whole house natural gas generator BUT they lived in South Carolina. :rolleyes:  They probably got 1-2 ice storms a year, if that, and by the next morning most of it was gone. Their usage and my usage would be totally different. I put it on my list but it is pretty low down on the list. I need all new appliances, new paint job through the whole house, and repairing the walls where they removed all of the door stops, all new curtains, FURNITURE, yard re-landscaped, a new riding mower with a snow blade and more I'm sure I'm forgetting about. That is all going to cost mega bucks. Not to mention I really need to get to canning and g'son will probably be around a lot in the summer since school will be out. His other grandmother is starting to get pretty tired. She is a couple of years older than me. I'd also like to get some sort of fencing around a little bit of the yard to keep g'son safer. All of that is going to cost a fortune. Plus decorating a little. And paying for a move....I'd like to get a couple of fruit trees and some black raspberry vines started. I'm never going to see the light of day. I just pray it won't be a money pit. Speaking of the light of day...I do have two skylights in the great room.  Those might come in handy.

 

I knew when I bought the house it needed upgrading so I'm not really complaining too much. My focus was on a big yard rather than a house. I can change the house and spruce it up but I can't add on to the yard. 1 square acre is it. I can make it pretty (theoretically) but I can't make it bigger or move it around. In other words, I bought the land knowing I could change the house.

 

What I wanted to say before I digressed  :rolleyes: is there is another radio nearly like the one posted above except it says it has NOAAH and only $1.00 more.

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17 hours ago, Jeepers said:

you close every room off

 

We have those heavy duty "moving blankets" (from Harbor Freight) that we have hung up over all the windows at the homestead.  Since we don't live there light isn't an issue but warmth and low heat/cool bills is.  Every time we get a flyer from HF that let's us get something free with any purchase, we grab one of those blankets!

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