Sun. Jan. 14, 2024 – sleeping in, then doing house stuff…

By on January 14th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

That’s my plan anyway. Cold and windy, getting colder. Well we’ll see about that. Supposed to. Should. Might not.

Did my meatspace stuff on Saturday. Had a movie night with the kid. Put away some Christmas stuff. Put the tree out on the curb. Stayed up too late.

So today I’m sleeping in. Then I’ll do some stuff around the house so it won’t be a wreck when my GS troop leader and D2 get home.

————-
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am a bit, by some of the other blogs I read. They are all somewhere on the red pilled, prepper spectrum, and yet said stuff like “I’ll go to Home Depot tomorrow and get one of those Mr Buddy heaters” or “I’ll go out and get some propane.” Nope, probably not. Probably sold out the day before the big bad cold… WHY PEOPLE?? At this point if you go out for stuff it should be for topping up or correcting some unfortunate timing issue in you use/replenishment cycle. It should not be for getting a critical backup item. One guy had his wife browbeat him into letting preps go. I get that. BUT. Dammit, it’s your job. It’s not rocket science, and everyone’s been talking about it for years now.

Even in my ham radio QST magazine there was an article by a guy who has spent 20 years doing emergency support activities as a ham, who admitted that his own preps never got done, despite preaching preparedness for years. His plan seemed to be “deploy to his ham assignment” and when he couldn’t, it turned out he didn’t have any plan at all. What did he think his family was going to be doing while he played radio?

I fall far short of the ideal, and even of my own goals all the time, but I’m trying. I’m living the life, and doing the stuff… and sharing to show that you can, because if I can do it, you can too. But you have to DO IT.

Don’t keep putting it off, or finding excuses not to get prepped for your local hazards, and then for the bigger stuff. They will come. You will be glad that it all turned out to be a minor issue after all, especially if it was minor because you had preps in place. If you haven’t already, take that first step, and then the next, and the next.

Stack the stuff. For realz.

nick

69 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Jan. 14, 2024 – sleeping in, then doing house stuff…"

  1. SteveF says:

    kinda meh on Robocop.  And really, so was I.   Couple of good gags

    I’ll buy that for a dollar!

    I have never understood the burnoffs you see at wells.

    My understanding is that it needs to be processed before it can be used or sold, but the plants to process the gas are at capacity and new plants are not being permitted and pipelines are also not being permitted. I haven’t looked into it, just noted the (somewhat contradictory) things I’ve seen. Flaring seems wasteful and asinine but in practice it’s the best they can do. Lynn no doubt knows 100X what I do.

  2. lynn says:

    Just finished watching Robocop and Real Genius with D1.   She liked Real Genius a lot, was kinda meh on Robocop.  And really, so was I.   Couple of good gags, and real funny to see the time capsule of the future that could have been…

    Robocop sucked.  The concept was dated at the release.  Super high body count that would never pass in real life.

    Real Genius showed Val Kilmer at his finest.  I can still watch Real Genius even with the anti shoot down ICBM technology in it.  BTW, all of the lefties think that we xan shoot down ICBMs now.  They are wrong.

  3. lynn says:

    I have never understood the burnoffs you see at wells.

    My understanding is that it needs to be processed before it can be used or sold, but the plants to process the gas are at capacity and new plants are not being permitted and pipelines are also not being permitted. I haven’t looked into it, just noted the (somewhat contradictory) things I’ve seen. Flaring seems wasteful and asinine but in practice it’s the best they can do. Lynn no doubt knows 100X what I do.

    You can build the natural gas treating plants all day long as long as all the motors are electric.  But getting rid of the nasties removed is expensive and dangerous.  The price of natural needs to be above $10/mmbtu before a new plant can be justified. The price is $3 today.   

    And running a pipeline across state lines is expensive and takes many years.  Look at Keystone.

  4. lynn says:

    37 F and not a cloud in the sky this morning.  Gonna get real cold late tonight.  We will be working tomorrow, we work for a living with real customers who have expectations.

  5. lynn says:

    And everyone who gets a pipeline run across their land expects to be set for life for their entire family or tribe.  Folks, it is just a pipeline.

    And the pipeline compressors and pumps have to have electric motors.  No gas turbines.  Expensive to run and they get cut when the grid is short.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    I’ll buy that for a dollar!

    “Robocop” … and “Smash TV”.

    It was hard not to walk into an arcade in the early 90s and not hear that line from the video game cabinet.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Just finished watching Robocop and Real Genius with D1.   She liked Real Genius a lot, was kinda meh on Robocop.  And really, so was I.   Couple of good gags, and real funny to see the time capsule of the future that could have been…

    “Real Genius” was a very late digital transfer. Early-mid 00s IIRC.

    Not many copies of the DVD are around. I don’t believe a Blu Ray ever got produced.

    A lot of Martha Coolidge’s work outside “Valley Girl” is “lost”.

    UPDATE: Import Blu Ray, 4K even, but I’d be wary.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    “Real Genius” was a very late digital transfer. Early-mid 00s IIRC.

    Like “Back to the Future” earlier that summer, I saw “Real Genius” at the local theater the studios used for test screenings, and Coolidge was still tweaking a few weeks before the official release.

    I’ve seen prints where Coolidge or the studio removed the “I drank what?” joke about Socrates.

    Among other things “Real Genius” nails the major problem studying a science grad degree with a d*ck professor as an advisor. I had a 3.79 GPA and all of my classwork done on my first pass through grad school when I hit a wall with the thesis.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    And everyone who gets a pipeline run across their land expects to be set for life for their entire family or tribe.  Folks, it is just a pipeline.

    Toll roads.

    An ammonia pipeline will be a non-stop target for thieves even if most of them are killed trying to tap the line. We had one running near our house in Florida, and someone to tap it at an exposed point about once a year.

  10. MrAtoz says:

    Just finished watching Robocop and Real Genius with D1.   She liked Real Genius a lot, was kinda meh on Robocop.  And really, so was I.   Couple of good gags, and real funny to see the time capsule of the future that could have been…

    Ya, both are cult favorites. Robocop seems to be love it/hate it, I love it. There are a lot of one-iners in Robocop. One of my favs:

    ”Dick! You’re fired!”

  11. MrAtoz says:

    Among other things “Real Genius” nails the major problem studying a science grad degree with a d*ck professor as an advisor. I had a 3.79 GPA and all of my classwork done on my first pass through grad school when I hit a wall with the thesis.

    Heh, one of my thesis advisors was/is a real liberal prick. I had to pick him since all the other profs were saturated. Our advisor was a lover of the military, and personally made sure we all got accepted at the Colorado School of Mines (Math). During my oral defense, the liberal prick questioned and complained about every aspect of my thesis. During the semester of developing the thesis, he said nothing about my drafts. One other advisor took me to the side: “He is sandbagging you, watch out.” I had to produce some random large-scale simulations to test my thesis to meet liberal pricks request. I did that in a week and our advisor said: “You will graduate. He has been talked to.”

    Universities have really gone to shit. In our lifetimes.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    Remember when your favorite TV show was every year and had 22+ hour (42 min) episodes? Now actors want millions for an 8-10 episode season.

    8-10?

    Disney’s “Echo” fiasco has five, cut down from an original order of eight after the Marvel bosses saw how bad the performance was from the unqualified lead actress.

  13. SteveF says:

    During the semester of developing the thesis, he said nothing about my drafts.

    One of my undergrad instructors did that. The research paper was IIRC 40% of the final grade. Not a word about the outline, proposed method of research, or drafts, and a grade on the paper calculated so that my final grade for the course was a 60.  (Following 95+ on all of the tests and the final.) This was a history class, required for all Army ROTC students (not sure about the other branches), and he was a libtard who despised the military.

    The other history class required for all ROTC students was “History of the Soviet Union”, which was a reasonable requirement in 1983 … except that it was taught by a pair of apologists. Even as a 19-year-old I recognized the lies when I heard them. “The only reason the USSR is so expansionist is that they’ve been invaded so many times.” Riiiiiight. Right in the textbook there was a quote by a Russian (or maybe Soviet) marshal, bragging that of the 100 wars they’d been involved in over the past four centuries, only ten had been defensive and that the Russians had initiated all of the others. But we didn’t talk about that in class because it didn’t fit the narrative. (All of those numbers are made up but qualitatively right.)

  14. Greg Norton says:

    Universities have really gone to shit. In our lifetimes.

    People will eventually discover Borrower Defense once the reality sinks in that the bulk of the Federal guaranteed student loans written since 2010 cannot be forgiven without an act of Congress which must be passed without Reconciliation since it monetizes a lot of debt and eliminates a sizeable revenue stream from the interest payments.

    The Dems might get one more Presidential election from the hollow promise of loan repayment.

  15. Greg Noton says:

    Real Genius showed Val Kilmer at his finest.  I can still watch Real Genius even with the anti shoot down ICBM technology in it.  BTW, all of the lefties think that we xan shoot down ICBMs now.  They are wrong.

    I’ve noted here before that I saw a Boeing promotional film for their 747-based laser boondoggle at a career day event about a decade ago which featured shots which could have easily come from the climactic scenes of “Real Genius”.

    Boeing’s “test range” looked just like the one in the movie. I’m hoping that was just because someone in the PR department was a film geek with a wicked sense of humor.

    If not, we are screwed as Boeing is even more powerful and influential now than in 2014.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    Robocop sucked.  The concept was dated at the release.  Super high body count that would never pass in real life.

    Brilliant product placement by Ford.

    And Peter Weller will eat for the rest of his life signing autographs at cons. I’ve seen his line a couple of times in the last few years, and he is still huge.

  17. Ken Mitchell says:

    Repealing the Second Amendment would cause an immediate Civil War in the USA.

    There is NO CHANCE that the Second Amendment could be repealed. It would take a ⅔ vote of both the House and Senate, and then 38 states to ratify it.  In fact, I don’t see any chance that ANY Constitutional amendment, on any subject whatsoever,  could be approved and ratified in the current political climate.

    I suspect that even an ATTEMPT to repeal the 2nd Amendment would cause the current cold civil war to become a hot one. 

  18. CowboyStu says:

    Dammit, it’s your job. It’s not rocket science, and everyone’s been talking about it for years now.

    Whether it is or is not rocket science, I will be the judge of that as  I worked on the launch team.  If the GPS on your cellphone or vehicle works, it is because I made no mistakes.  We also launched the Iridium satellites.

  19. dkreck says:

    There is NO CHANCE that the Second Amendment could be repealed. It would take a ⅔ vote of both the House and Senate, and then 38 states to ratify it. 

    Unless you’re Gavin.

  20. drwilliams says:

    Packing Service: Federal Judge Rules Ban on Guns in Post Offices is Unconstitutional

    The provision at 18 U.S. Code § 930 states in part that “whoever knowingly possesses or causes to be present a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a Federal facility   (other than a Federal court facility), or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.”

    Judge Mizelle noted that the law stands in conflict with the Bruen decision. In the course of the litigation, the Justice Department conceded that “[t]here is no evidence of firearms being prohibited at post offices, specifically, or of postal workers being prohibited from carrying them, at the time of the founding.”

    Indeed, the government acknowledged that relatively limited firearms prohibitions did not appear “until the mid-twentieth century—over 170 years after the founding.”

    https://jonathanturley.org/2024/01/14/packing-services-federal-judge-rules-ban-on-guns-in-post-offices-is-unconstitutional/

  21. drwilliams says:

    Blue State Dems Aren’t Hiding It Anymore, Move Closer to Forcing American Homeowners to Shelter Illegals

    https://redstate.com/beccalower/2024/01/13/governors-of-blue-states-arent-hiding-it-anymore-you-will-be-forced-to-shelter-illegals-in-your-homes-n2168674

    The slogan should be familiar:

    “They check in but they don’t check out”

    Liberal judges will rule that alien invaders have “rights” to shelter in private residences. 

    It’s so liberating when half the population has not been educated in American history and government, or brought up to believe in things like patriotism, civic duty and obligation. They don’t believe that the constitution is more than a piece of paper that they can ignore at their convenience, and the judges who took an oath of office to uphold the constitution are leading the charge.

  22. drwilliams says:

    Larry Hogan and Chris Christie: Twin Fat RINO’s of Different Mothers

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/01/14/larry-hogan-endorses-haley-on-eve-of-iowa-caucus-n604829

  23. drwilliams says:

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/01/harvard-professor-at-center-of-elitist-attacks-on-chris-rufos-harvard-credentials-backtracks/

    Put Christospher Rufo in charge of the Department of Education.

    First order of business: Make secondary schools liable for student loan defaults.

    Get fedgov out of the student loan business. Tell the states that they are responsible for the failures of graduates of state universities. Make sure that student load debt relief is treated like any other debt relief for tax purposes.

    Obama destroyed the trade schools in the U.S., based on claims that they were too expensive and graduates were deceived about the job prospects. Dust off that same language and implement the plan against the private schools.

    Start a full investigation into the viewpoint discrimination against hiring conservatives.

    Revise the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) to include university publications, and bring all university publications out from behind paywalls. At present someone who has their work plagiarized and uncredited has to complain to the biased enabling university and try to work the court of public opinion. People like Claudine Gay are not just plagiarists, they are in violation of the Federal copyright laws, where a remedy in Federal court carries a six-figure price as openers.. Make it possible for the aggrieved to send a takedown notice.

  24. SteveF says:

    One guy had his wife browbeat him into letting preps go. I get that. BUT. Dammit, it’s your job.

    I dispute that. If you assert that it’s the man’s job to make sure that the family is provided for, protected, and ready for whatever comes, then is the job of the woman and children to not get in the way if not help. If the wife nags about the stuff tucked away or uses it up because she’s too lazy to go to the store and get more, then he should make his own stockpile of food and batteries and sterno cans. She can do without when the crisis comes.

  25. Ray Thompson says:

    Whether it is or is not rocket science, I will be the judge of that

    It’s not rocket science, it’s rocket engineering. The science was settled long ago.

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    Forcing American Homeowners to Shelter Illegals 

    – well, they’ve systematically attacked the other BoR amendments, I was wondering how they would attack that one…

    —————-

    Whew, I was wiped out.   Woke several times but just went back to sleep.   Didn’t even pee.

    —————–

    Real Genius is one of my favorites of all time.   IDK if I saw it first in theaters, but it’s likely.   The straight up message that it’s good to be smart, that the world needs smart people is refreshing.  Even D1 noted that a modern version would be all about the girls, the ‘hyper kinetic’ girl is on the spectrum and they’d make a big deal about that, and that there would have to be a bunch of famous actors.

    @greg, she laughed at the “spike thru a board” line.   Then repeated the punch line…   proud daddy!

    n

  27. CowboyStu says:

    It’s not rocket science, it’s rocket engineering. The science was settled long ago.

    I totally agree.  However, several decades when we were doing launch vehicle engineerg it was mistermed as rocket science.

  28. EdH says:

    I was talking with a friend this morning. We were discussing how we were lucky that there was just some high wind in the high desert here, no real cold.

    They mentioned they have some friends up in Montana, living off-grid. They have run out of propane and only have three days of firewood laid up. Electricity production is of course non-existent during a blizzard. The pipes have already burst under their house…

    I am dumbfounded.  Montana in January and they have no back up heat for more than a few days..

  29. SteveF says:

    Forcing American Homeowners to Shelter Illegals

    If you play your cards right, that could be a good way to have the government supply you with an unending stream of people to sacrifice for your cult/harvest for organs*/kill for fun. “Gee, I can’t explain it. Every one of the last twelve illegal aliens that you told me I had to put up in my spare bedroom has run away without a trace.”

    * What is the procedure for donating, say, a liver to a hospital? Just put it in a zip-lock bag and transport it in a lunch bag full of ice? Asking for a friend.

  30. Nick Flandrey says:

    he should make his own stockpile of food 

    – that’s prepping…

    n

  31. drwilliams says:

    @EdH

     “Montana in January and they have no back up heat for more than a few days..”

    If the weather forecasts are correct they have another seven days before the weather breaks.

    I pray that they get some fuel or have a bugout plan.

    I talked to an acquaintance in Washington state today. In the teens and they know people with freezing pipes.

    If your infrastructure is not bulletproof you need people that have enough intelligence, initiative, forethought, and planning ability to make decisions and take action.  

    And you need people in control of utilities that understand that reliability is a couple orders of magnitude more important than virtue signaling with phony math that pretends to reduce carbon dioxide in the fifth decimal place 100 years from now.

  32. drwilliams says:

    Wisconsin’s 15-Year-Old Albino Buck Is No More’

    https://www.wideopenspaces.com/the-king-is-dead-15-year-old-albino-buck-dead/

  33. RickH says:

    Been under 25F for the last 5 days or more. Currently 20F after an overnight low of12F. Forecast to be below freezing into the middle of the week. Possibility of snow Tue/Wed, but then turning to rain as the temps warm into the mid-40’s (highs) on Fri/Sat.

    Noticed yesterday that the upstairs tub faucet was ‘groaning’. Turns out that the cold water line had frozen.  Hot water line was OK, even though we don’t use anything up there. The water lines for the shower are on an outside west-facing wall behind a fiberglass one-piece tub/shower combo. Hot water was OK, and the toilet’s cold water line right next to the shower was OK. The sink next to the toilet also had cold and hot water.

    Tried running hot water for a bit to transfer some heat to the cold water pipe, but that didn’t work. Left the hot water in ‘drip’ mode, with the faucet (a one-piece control) at the position to mix cold and hot water. That was done last night. Just hot water dripping.

    Just now (about noon), heard the sounds of water running. Went upstairs, and the frozen cold water was running normally. No leaks anywhere that I could see. Let the water run for a minute, then left the faucet with a small hot/cold drip in place.

    Was not looking forward to having to tear out the one-piece shower/tub to get to the pipe in the wall to add (probably) insulation.  Will leave the drip in place until the weather gets above freezing later this  week. And will try to remember to re-enable the ‘drip’ during the next cold freeze.

    In the attached garage, there are three double-insulated windows on the north side. Have noticed frost on the garage side of the glass on those windows the past several days. Temps in the garage are about 40F.

    Power has not gone out though. There was some concern Saturday because the WA state big natural gas powered generation plant had a gas pressure failure resulting in no gas. They fixed that Saturday afternoon. Most of the power here is dam-based, although natural gas is about 12% of capacity. The power companies have been asking for reduced usage due to the increased load driven by the freezing snap here.  Can’t find any website that shows power load or generation capacity.

    Weather has been clear and cold (under 20F). Big storm to the south around “Vantucky” (Vancouver WA/Portland OR) and throughout OR into northern CA yesterday. Lots of snow. None here after the initial storm last Monday.

    Roads still icy in spots. Have to travel to Sequim (don’t pronounce the first ‘e’) WA tomorrow morning. Don’t anticipate problems, although probably slow going. Will use the ‘snow’ mode of the Highlander if needed. Will hit the grocery store on the way home for a few items. 

    Glad that there don’t appear to be broken pipe issues upstairs. Was a bit concerned about that.

  34. Tony Russo says:

    @RichH I’m surprised it was your cold water line that froze. Usually it is the hot water line that freezes first. The hot water heater causes minerals in the water to settle out so the water is purer than the cold water so freezes at a higher temperature. My father was a plumber and I worked for him until I graduated from college. We fixed many a burst pipe and it was almost always the hot water lines that burst first.

  35. RickH says:

    @RichH I’m surprised it was your cold water line that froze. Usually it is the hot water line that freezes first.

    I was surprised also. That bathroom is rarely used. You’d think that the hot water pipe would go cold due to non-use.  And the toilet (just cold water supply) and sink (hot and cold), also on the same west facing wall worked just fine.

    But the hot water side of the shower control was fully usable. The cold side froze. The faucet (one of those one-piece ‘big hunk of clear plastic’ knob type) would not turn to the cold position, so it was frozen inside the control. I could move it through the hot position, but not the cold. Had to force it to the cold position, but still no cold water flow. Hot was just fine.

    Strange.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    Real Genius is one of my favorites of all time.   IDK if I saw it first in theaters, but it’s likely.   The straight up message that it’s good to be smart, that the world needs smart people is refreshing.  Even D1 noted that a modern version would be all about the girls, the ‘hyper kinetic’ girl is on the spectrum and they’d make a big deal about that, and that there would have to be a bunch of famous actors.

    @greg, she laughed at the “spike thru a board” line.   Then repeated the punch line…   proud daddy!

    “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is about as close as you will get to a modern version of a bunch of obvious 80s movie influences, including “Real Genius”.

    Much like Jordan in “Real Genius”, Phoebe in “Afterlife” is “on the spectrum” as they say, but the film does not make a big deal about it. 

    And Jordan isn’t perfect and knowledgeable in all academic disciplines like the character would be today.

    Of course, Jordan does commit statutory rape, grown woman and teen boy. That’s way ahead of its time and would be a prominent part of the character’s arc in any new version.

    “10 is the new 16” as they say on the CW. Or did right before the network went broke being so woke.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    If you play your cards right, that could be a good way to have the government supply you with an unending stream of people to sacrifice for your cult/harvest for organs*/kill for fun. “Gee, I can’t explain it. Every one of the last twelve illegal aliens that you told me I had to put up in my spare bedroom has run away without a trace.”

    Most states have pretty sever squatters rights laws which most property owners are unaware of until they get hit with the brunt of enforcement. I’m sure those will be used to the fullest extent if the government goes as far as quartering illegal immigrants in private homes.

    Maybe “Soylent Green” was right about this time period, maybe just a few years early. The story takes place in 2022.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Of course, Jordan does commit statutory rape, grown woman and teen boy. That’s way ahead of its time and would be a prominent part of the character’s arc in any new version.

    Michelle Meyrink was 22. Gabe Jarrett was 14.

  39. Denis says:

    Made it home despite the local pilots’ strike, by the expedient of rebooking tickets to an airport located across a national border, and renting a car to cover the last 200km.

    I can now reliably report that the Jeep Renegade plug-in hybrid is a steaming turd masquerading as a motor vehicle.

    The IC engine appears to have been repurposed from a crashed Honda 50cc motorcycle, giving this execrable excuse for a car a top speed of maybe 140km/h (87mph) downhill with a following wind. Not good on the Autobahn, and not safe on country roads either, as this lump has no acceleration to overtake safely anything other than a Harry Ferguson tractor moving at idle.

     Fuel economy was inexcusable, about 12 litres per 100km (my gasoline-only RAV4 gets under 10 litres/100km, and I drive it like I stole it). It barely managed the 200km journey on one tank of petrol.

    Handling and suspension like a double mattress discarded from a bed-bug motel. Vomitorious.

    Lighting and dashboard presumably inherited from Lucas, prince of darkness.

    Jeep? Never again. Not even a rental.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    Weather has been clear and cold (under 20F). Big storm to the south around “Vantucky” (Vancouver WA/Portland OR) and throughout OR into northern CA yesterday. Lots of snow. None here after the initial storm last Monday.

    Vantucky gets “lake effect” snow from the Columbia whenever a storm hits the metro and a mass of cold air is sitting up on the high desert with no escape route except through the gorge..

    A couple of inches of snow at Portland Airport will mean a foot easily just across the river in Vancouver/Clark County if the winds are swirling right.

    The local Faux News weather guy tried naming the gorge wind one year, “The Chinook Wind”,  but the puckered sphincters in the Northwest wouldn’t have it. Their complaints shut down the effort within a few days.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    Jeep? Never again. Not even a rental.

    Fiat. Literally. Probably the inline 3 cyl. engine.

    They aren’t sold in the US for the 2024 model year, probably due to CAFE.

  42. Greg Norton says:

    We really mean it this time.

    https://vimeo.com/866052086/7d7781e9ea

    The new target in Corporate America seems to be February.

  43. ITGuy1998 says:

    We had a Jeep Renegade for a rental in San Francisco is 2017. Gutless, poor quality, and just plain awful. Even my son, at 13 and not into cars yet, commented that it was awful. 

  44. Denis says:

    Gutless, poor quality, and just plain awful.

    You have the gift of being concise. 🙂

  45. Greg Norton says:

    The forecast for today was 38 in Austin, but the temperatures didn’t cross the 30 mark this afternoon.

    I didn’t wrap our spigots until about an hour ago, and one had a hose still attached which is frozen. We’ll see what happens when the weather warms up later this week. Fortunately that spigot is on the exterior wall of the garage so any leak damage will be confined to that area.

    We are slab on grade construction in Round Rock. 

  46. EdH says:

    Re: my comment about the off-grid prepping failures in Montana … it was actually Idaho, specifically near Ponderay ID.

    Not that -25F cares.

  47. SteveF says:

    We had a windstorm today. Maybe half an inch of snow, falling just shy of horizontally. Everything in the chicken run was covered with ¼ inch of snow even though it’s under the deck and the cardboard-covered windward end of the run was lifted up and the door knocked open when the frame was twisted. The birds were hiding in the coop or the wind-blocked cage under the coop. After the wind died down, I swept the snow out of the run and off the roof of the coop so that it wouldn’t get everything wet, but then the temperature dropped sharply so it was moot.

    As usual, the birds were not satisfied with being out of the run for an hour or so, the only time the weather cooperated, and they also were not grateful for being under cover and having a heated coop to retreat to.

  48. drwilliams says:

    “Most states have pretty sever squatters rights laws which most property owners are unaware of until they get hit with the brunt of enforcement. I’m sure those will be used to the fullest extent if the government goes as far as quartering illegal immigrants in private homes.”

    That is one of many reasons why they will never be permitted in the door.

  49. paul says:
    I didn’t wrap our spigots until about an hour ago

    What?  I wrapped a month ago because I’ve been out there in the rain when it’s 35f.  More times than I care to admit. 

    Yesterday was almost nice.  It was sunny and 61f or so.  The dogs had a bit of snoozing in the sun out of the wind.  The front started to slide in around eight.  It was 55 when we went out and 48 when we came in.  How much time was that, I don’t know, enough to get most of the way to the gate and then Penny decided “we are going in right now”.  No argument from Buddy or me.

    It was 22f at 5am.  17f at 7am.  The dogs did not dally with their morning duties.  Whew, the north wind is like a knife.   It made it to 22f today and is down to 19f.  We’re supposed to get some “wintry mix” tonight. Hopefully after the dog’s after supper walk…. but the wind is picking up, so, fun times are expected.

    I have the hall bath sink trickling. It’s at the end of the water lines.  I know “the experts” say to drip.  I also know who’s going to be under the house fixing any leaks.  So mm size trickle it is. 

    Bleh. Now it’s 18f and time for supper according to Buddy.  

  50. Lynn says:

    There is NO CHANCE that the Second Amendment could be repealed. It would take a ⅔ vote of both the House and Senate, and then 38 states to ratify it. 

    Unless you’re Gavin.

    Biden is a wannabe dictator and the rest of the dumbrocrats are envious.  

    5
    1
  51. paul says:
    That is one of many reasons why they will never be permitted in the door.

    What door?  I assume the door would burn with the rest of the house.  

  52. Greg Norton says:

    What?  I wrapped a month ago because I’ve been out there in the rain when it’s 35f.  More times than I care to admit. 

    We are in the ‘burbs between 183 and I-35. Today was the first time the daytime temps have been below freezing this winter.

    I believed the weather liars. That wasn’t smart.

    Fortunately, I managed to get the water flowing out of the spigot after removing the hose and wrapping the exposed part with a towel soaked in hot water. Then I re-wrapped with a dry towel.

    No leaks on the wall inside the garage. I’ll check again later.

  53. MrAtoz says:

    It has been 28°F all day according to my heat pump thermo. Probably the same all night. Apple weather says we might hit 70°F on Thursday. If it gets even close, I think I might skate any freezing problems. It should be 50-60°F from Thursday on, but high 30’s at night. 

  54. Ken Mitchell says:

    There is NO CHANCE that the Second Amendment could be repealed. It would take a ⅔ vote of both the House and Senate, and then 38 states to ratify it. 

    Unless you’re Gavin.

    Navin Gruesome isn’t exactly popular even in Cacafornia. 

    Biden is a wannabe dictator and the rest of the dumbrocrats are envious.

    There’s no way that a bogus ATTEMPT to repeal the 2nd would be generally accepted as legal, and it would almost certainly ignite Civil War II. 

    And along that same topic, there’s no chance that ANY Constitutional amendment, on ANY topic, will be adopted given the current political climate being so sharply split  between the populated cities and the less-populous STATES.

  55. Ken Mitchell says:

    ERCOT issuing warnings because of the freezing temperatures. 

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/here-we-go-texas-power-grid-operator-issues/

  56. RickH says:

    ERCOT issuing warnings because of the freezing temperatures. 

    We’ve had those warnings for the past 3-4 days here on the Olympic Peninsula (and other surrounding areas).

    Partly because of the issue with the natural gas generators failing Sat – fixed now.

    Suspect the warnings will continue for a couple-three days until it warms above freezing Wed/Thurs.

  57. Greg Norton says:

    Partly because of the issue with the natural gas generators failing Sat – fixed now.

    The big natural gas distribution facility run by PSE in Chehalis had problems on Saturday. I just saw a story, but I was probably on my work laptop browser.

  58. Nick Flandrey says:

    Nice day here.   36F currently, with some overcast.   As the sun was setting I could see rain in the distance, looked like it was over Katy.

    They’ve moved the hard freeze to Tues am, might  get a dip below tonight… 

    Wife and child have returned.  Sat. was so nice they got the kayaks out.

    I brought the potted lime  tree underneath the patio cover, but that’s the extent for me so far.

    n

  59. Nick Flandrey says:

    Jeep is rebadged Dodge, built on a Fiat platform, isn’t it?

    n

  60. Greg Norton says:

    Jeep is rebadged Dodge, built on a Fiat platform, isn’t it?

    The Renegade was a Fiat 500X with a different body.

    The Dodge Hornet is an Alfa Romeo.

  61. Greg Norton says:

    Yup. The phone rang in The Colony last week.

  62. Lynn says:

    The demand load forecast for 8am Monday morning is 83,126 MW. 

    The available power forecast for 8am Monday is 83,243 MW.

    Uh, those numbers don’t work together.  That is the stuff of rotating blackouts.

    Can we send all of the immigrants back to where they came from ?

         https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

    I am glad that I have a generator at the house.  Looks like I may have to get a generator for the office.  I wonder if a 60 kW will handle the office load ?

  63. Lynn says:

    Yup. The phone rang in The Colony last week.

    I understand the Dallas Cowboys lost.  What does The Colony have to do with that ?

  64. Lynn says:

    I was talking with a friend this morning. We were discussing how we were lucky that there was just some high wind in the high desert here, no real cold.

    They mentioned they have some friends up in Montana, living off-grid. They have run out of propane and only have three days of firewood laid up. Electricity production is of course non-existent during a blizzard. The pipes have already burst under their house…

    I am dumbfounded.  Montana in January and they have no back up heat for more than a few days..

    One of my employees is from northern Minnesota, 10 miles south of Canada.  By Thanksgiving, they would have 10 cords of split wood ready for the winter in their cabin.  There was a pot belly stove in the basement and their dad would feed it at bedtime, four hours later, and getting up time.  They did have water and the hot water came off the pot belly stove from a rig his dad built.  When it got below -45F they moved into the basement.  

    All of their vehicles lived outside with block heaters.  If you forgot to plug in, your life sucked.  It was not unusual to snow in July. 

    He is never going back to live in Minnesota.  His wife goes back once per year to visit her parents.  His parents have passed so he does not go anymore.

  65. nick flandrey says:

    I don’t think anything could get me back into the  Chicago area, nor in the Boston area where my wife’s family is.   

    ————

    still chilly, but still not freezing.  Officially 34F.

    ————

    I’m headed to bed, despite my lie in.

    n

  66. Lynn says:

    still chilly, but still not freezing.  Officially 34F.

    It is now 29 F out here in the sticks.

  67. SteveF says:

    Currently low teens outside, with just enough wind to be unpleasant. Somewhat colder than forecast but not enough for an eye roll at the lies coming from the weather service. Heat lamp is on in the chicken coop, of course. I didn’t go out to check the temperature as shown by the thermostat’s probe; didn’t want to disturb the precious darlings. Vehicles’ antifreeze should be fine; they made it through the -13F a year ago, or whatever the temperature hit, and I did only top-offs in the past year.

  68. Brad says:

    I am dumbfounded.  Montana in January and they have no back up heat for more than a few days..

    WTF?! Off-grid, at a minimum,  they should have firewood for this year ready, and for next year seasoning.

    And what’s with the pipes? It gets cold in Montana. The pipes should be buried below the frost line, and those in the house get heated by the house. Unless the entire house is below freezing, the pipes shouldn’t freeze.

    Sounds to me like idiots.

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