Shit I hate this stuff

sleeting like crazy with about an inch on the ground already. I've got my generator/welder standing by all gassed up and ready to go in case we lose our power.

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/mixedcomposite.asp?region=c3&size=2x&type=loop&MR=1

You guys are going to get hammered.

Good luck and stay safe!

:scared:

to Eastern Washington. I was really tired of waking up to 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity - then it got hot as the day went on ;)

Many more nice days and nights here, for us anyway, though for some the winter is too long and the growing season too short. Watermelon sucks, and there are always green tomatoes on the vine when the cold comes. So I switched to growing garlic, better salad greens, squash, and strawberries. They all do much better here, as do we.

The snow is different here too - mostly powder, not like the icy stuff I grew up with in OKC. We had something like 3-4 feet on the ground at once last winter, but there are plows everywhere, so everyone is able to keep going. Up here a woodstove is a working
tool, not a decoration. Shade works here too - under a tree is noticeably cooler, without the humidity.

You sound like you are ready, however. Good luck!

:grouphug:

The wind is shaking my building and it sounds like sleet here, too. And the bad stuff isn't supposed to hit until tomorrow.

looks like we may have 2 or more inches of sleet and snow on the ground and according to the radar a shitpot full or more to come.
These last three winters here has been a bugger. Last year and the year before it was freezing rain instead of the sleet and snow so I guess I have something to be thankful for. Freezing rain brings the power lines down and wrecks havoc with the trees. This time last year and the year before after the thaw it looked surreal, like something in a movie or something with the trees all broken down. My back deck was 4 to 5 feet deep with limbs from our trees. When you'd go out side during the freezing rain it would sound like a war out there with the trees breaking down, some would be as loud or louder than gunshots.
I guess I'll be a real go getter today, take her to work and then go get her.
My wife, poor girl, will have to put in some long hours. She's a nurse and old and sick people need care 24/7 and many of the other nurses and help won't be able to make it in so she'll be out of the office and working her butt off. She loves living a mile from work until this shit starts flying and then not so much as the other help thinks, well, Teresa can do it since she lives so close and all so many of them don't even try to make it in to work.
We have an all wheel drive ford explorer so I'll probably be spending a lot of my day as a taxi service for the ones who live way out and do want to come in but can't make it because of the ice and snow. I can hear it now, honey can you go get Mary or whoever it is and I'll say sure, where does she live and I'll hear something like oh not far just up to Rose or over to Salina, well, Rose and Salina happens to be about 25 miles away over the hills and across the valleys. I'll happily go as I know what my wife is going through at work needing all the help she can get. After the snow stops I'll take my scoop shovel and go clear them a path to get in and out of the building on as I'm sure the person who is paid to do it won't be there because of the damn snow. If the last two winters is any indication that is.

Sorry for the ramblin but damn this weather is really starting to suck. We used to never get ice, sleet and snow like we have these last few years.

got up early and walked the dog at 6:00 - had a nice walk in the wind and got back with minutes to spare. It is still 70 degrees here, so it's rain and heavy wind.

keeping my fingers crossed that all we get in this blizzard is snow - no ice. (NE Indiana)

Good luck to you - we lost power two years ago for four days. Rough going.

we were the lucky ones though as many around us were without power for days. One of my brothers was without power for 14 days last winter and about a week the year before.

stimulus funds, was burying power lines - nation wide. Probably would have been a $250 billion dollar effort, but worth it!

stay safe.

he manages a dog boarding and daycare facility that his friend owns. I'm at home with our dogs. He has enough supplies to stay til tomorrow. I'm hoping they cancel classes tomorrow too, because I don't have a car (alternator belt snapped) and I'm not biking in this crap.

On the flip side, I grew up in NJ, so this is nothing compared to what my folks are getting this winter. And watching my dogs play later will be fun.

very nervous in the storms (not to mention needing to be fed ...). The lab and I made it out for our early morning walk before the rain started so we're good for awhile now.

and then a boarder. Most people cancelled their plans, so it's quiet up there. But he let the dogs up so they could snuggle with him in the sleeping quarters. The thundersnow/sleet up here freaked out my seasoned dogs, so I'm sure the boarders were a little nervous.

Last year, he had to drive through the Christmas blizzard, and nearly totaled our car. Luckily, when he changed jobs, the owner set up a sleeping area for employees just in case something like this happened.

Dumbfuckistan is getting hammered by this
weather!

Will no place be spared?

Not all of us are inhofe or coburns, some of us actually shit behind our heels unlike the two above mentioned dickheads.

not trying to slur your state.

:rofl:

i should probably change it. it was how i felt when i first moved here (7 years ago, incidentally when i joined DU).

We drove through there on the way
to Houston last year.

I thought the countryside was BEAUTIFUL.

Really!

Grass, cows and meandering streams, it
was much more...bucolic and pastoral
than I ever imagined Oklahoma would be.

I love it here. It's quiet, cheap, and people are generally friendly (if you don't talk politics or religion). Cycling through the rural areas is so much fun.
Unfortunately, the state has been hijacked by incredibly regressive people.

but I'm a tad gunshy with people dissing my people and my state because of the two senators we have.

Peace

but it is good to meet another like-minded person down here. :hi: Hope it isn't too bad for y'all up there, we've only got rain/wind down here so far with warm temps.

sure glad we have 4 wheel drive or I wouldn't have been able to get there. Drifts of at least a foot and looks like a good six inches on the ground and its still snowing sideways like crazy.. I'm hoping for the best for your hubby.

he grew up in NJ too, and navigated through the blizzard last year several times to and from work(when he worked much further away-now he's only about 3 miles). The man can drive in the snow. But I'll be a wreck if he drives, so as long as he has food, clothes, and dogs to keep him company, I'm content to stay here.

Seemed like every time the power went off by the time I got it gassed up, hooked up to the transfer box, grounded and running the power usually came back on a few minutes later.

So now I wait a couple of hours after the power goes off before going though all that and wait to see what happens.

Power usually comes back on by then. I just start it in the summer with about a cup of gas and let it run(under a load), until the gas runs out. Then I change the oil and put it away for winter. Haven't gassed it up for an actual power outage in more than five years.

Don

so I keep gas in it all the time. I turn the gas off and let the carburetor run out of gas when I shut it down though. I've also learned to take a piece of stainless steel rod and stick it down in the gas tank and stir the gasohol up because the alcohol will and does settle out if it sets for very long, another reason to not put alcohol in our gas. Here shortly I'll take a lamp and put it under the motor so it will help to warm the oil up a tad to ensure easier starting in this temperature. 15 and dropping here now.
I have three safety gas cans that I keep my gas in cause they don't allow the gas to go bad like a plastic gas can will. These eagle brand safety gas container are expensive but they are air tight so they won't let any gas fumes out or air in to degrade the gas. The plus is I will be able to use the gas in our lawnmower this summer. Been doing it like this for years without any problems. I put sta-bil in my mower tank though and keep it full during the winter just in case I need the extra gas during a power outage. When the power goes off so does the gas pumps, no electrical power and they don't work.

sometime for an experiment put some gasohol in a clear container and let it set a few days and you can see that the alcohol and what water it soaks up settles to the bottom, it being lighter than gasoline. Alcohol loves water and will soak it up out of the atmosphere if given a chance and that alcohol water mix has a tendency to not want to start very easy. One can never be too cautious in this kind of weather.

I've been lucky so far as to not be out of power but for a few hours at a time but some around here will go weeks without electric so I know it can happen to me too.

If you live in the DFW area and absolutely don't have to go anywhere today...

Don't.