Rusty's Ramblings

[Rusty Edge]

I hope that doesn't mean YOU need a functioning car for that?

Sorry, I missed this post before.


I have an electric heater in the garage to moderate the temp. It managed to keep things above zero every time I checked. I'm sure our cars would start. Not  lot of gas in mine at the moment. What I don't know is what the anti-freeze rating is this year, I didn't remember to test it, and I didn't have it flushed out this year. My guess is that it's only good to about -20, and that if it sits in a parking lot all day at somebody's workplace, it could be a problem.   


At the moment we're back up to about -5 or -6, and the wind is minimal.  I will have to put the trash out tonight.

[Geo]

At the moment we're back up to about -5 or -6, and the wind is minimal.  I will have to put the trash out tonight.

The trash pickup services go out when conditions are good? There's no regular pickup day in your county?

[Rusty Edge]

At the moment we're back up to about -5 or -6, and the wind is minimal.  I will have to put the trash out tonight.

The trash pickup services go out when conditions are good? There's no regular pickup day in your county?

To answer your question- Our normal trash pick-up is early Thursday mornings. That can be delayed a day when there is a holiday. Recycling is always the same day, but only on alternate weeks.

In this case pickups were suspended for two days and it got complicated for people who were supposed to be picked up on late Tuesday, with some being canceled for this week. Wednesday pick-ups being re-scheduled. It's not like the  garbage is going to stink at these temperatures.

People here pride themselves on cold tolerance. A week of subzero weather is normal this time of year. But this was record breaking. I'm glad that people realized that this was dangerous and tried to allow people to simply stay home and wait it out. If the kids were home because school was canceled, or power outages and car problems were complicating things, and if business was so slow that it didn't pay to open... It just made sense for everybody to stay home and take care of things and wait it out. Why risk an extremity to frostbite just to prove "the cold never bothered me anyway?" There were actually a lot of people asking the post office to just suspend delivery for the safety of the mail carriers and the people walking to their mailboxes. We survive without mail deliveries and trash pick-ups on Sundays and holidays, why not suspend them now for safety's sake?

As it was when things warmed up to a more normal -5 or so yesterday, they started finding a few dead people outside and in their homes. One indoor case was blamed on a failed thermostat, but I suspect there were narcotics or some other complication. Somebody died shoveling snow, so heart attack was probably a complicating factor. They tried to bring all of the homeless indoors beforehand. I haven't heard frostbite numbers.  I know there big backlogs with tow trucks, garages, and furnace repair places.


It's back up to +12 degrees F and no wind. The garage will take a while to warm back up, since the concrete was almost freezing. The power interruptions were limited to that one day. When it gets just a little warmer, I will probably divert power from the garage to the roof cables and see about digging out the mailboxes. There is so much snow plowed around them that you have to approach on foot.

[Geo]

I can't imagine going through a winter like that.
If there's a couple inches of snow for a couple days, or subzero temperatures for a couple days in a row its called a cold winter in my region.

[Rusty Edge]

I can't imagine going through a winter like that.
If there's a couple inches of snow for a couple days, or subzero temperatures for a couple days in a row its called a cold winter in my region.

I should tell you that I grew up thinking that the winters in Belgium and Germany were always cold and damp with deep snow. It was because that was the experience of all of the WWII vets riding in the back of an unheated truck, marching in the snow, or sleeping in a two man tent with a thin blanket. They usually didn't talk about the fighting, but when the subject came up they were always quick to [complaint or disagreeable woman] about the weather there.


----------------------------
It's too bad I don't have kids. The snow I shoveled was ideal for cutting into blocks and building forts and igloos. It's 8:40 PM quite dark and we just got a UPS delivery. I guess they are intent on clearing their backlog.

[E_T]

Way too cold for me, which is why I stay in Florida

[E_T]

And good to know that ya'll didn't have any Major problems

[Geo]

I can't imagine going through a winter like that.
If there's a couple inches of snow for a couple days, or subzero temperatures for a couple days in a row its called a cold winter in my region.

I should tell you that I grew up thinking that the winters in Belgium and Germany were always cold and damp with deep snow. It was because that was the experience of all of the WWII vets riding in the back of an unheated truck, marching in the snow, or sleeping in a two man tent with a thin blanket. They usually didn't talk about the fighting, but when the subject came up they were always quick to [complaint or disagreeable woman] about the weather there.

Yeah, the winter of '44-45 was exceptionally cold and snowy in the Ardennes, the area were the heaviest fighting went on that winter.
But I'm living closer to Flanders Fields, so usually there's way less snow and temperatures are a couple degrees °C warmer then in the hilly Ardennes.

And, after all, we're a lifetime closer to climate change now.

[E_T]

You know, I wonder what the Upper Midwest area temps were during the Little Ice Age?  Do we know if things like older tree ring growth patterns (just to name one possible way of providing this date) might be able to show us?

Granted, as I've always stated, give us a few 1000 years of data and we can better predict longer term climate trends.

There is just as much evidence for global cooling as there is for global warming, but which one do you think is a better sell by the Media?  The only thing all of the current evidence agrees on is that there is ongoing climate change, just not on where that change will finally end up at...

[Rusty Edge]

I have no idea. While Wisconsin was mostly forested, most of that was clearcut a hundred years ago with steam powered sawmills and railroads. There aren't many older trees, or a virgin forest preserve, as in Pennsylvania.


Sadly, there's been a male cardinal frozen to a bush outside our living room window. Today it's mate came to see it. Otherwise the wildlife is returning. The squirrels are in the trees. The birds are in the bushes, the deer are passing through, the feral cat is making the rounds. On the bright side, we have a fox now. It seems to appreciate the heated water bowl we put out for the cats years ago.

[Geo]

You know, I wonder what the Upper Midwest area temps were during the Little Ice Age?  Do we know if things like older tree ring growth patterns (just to name one possible way of providing this date) might be able to show us?

Granted, as I've always stated, give us a few 1000 years of data and we can better predict longer term climate trends.

As coincidence goes, I just read an article about a proposed paper stating that temperatures dropped a bit during the 15-16th century due to the massive die-off of the native population in the America's. Main reasons for the massive die-off are said to be imported diseases and war.
The article said the native population was estimated to decrease from 60 million to just 6 million, resulting in human agricultural lands not being tended anymore. Following that forests took over the land again, and so taking more carbon dioxide out of the sky. Estimation was a 7-10 ppm drop of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

There's climate data from millions of years ago, but that's of course spotty. 😉

There is just as much evidence for global cooling as there is for global warming, but which one do you think is a better sell by the Media?  The only thing all of the current evidence agrees on is that there is ongoing climate change, just not on where that change will finally end up at...

Basically, the climate change involves more extreme weather and temperature swings as well. But the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises all the time, and its not the only greenhouse gas humanity is releasing in the atmosphere. Methane for instance is a more dangerous one...

[Rusty Edge]

Had another power outage. It was warmer, so it was an ice storm. About 3 AM I heard the printer chirp, the ceiling fan lights flickered as the power tried to come back, and then everything went dark and quiet. My wife was asleep, I figured to let her get her rest. Chances were that power would be back before we had to worry about it, maybe two hours. I had just fallen asleep, and knew I wouldn't stay awake long enough to start and tend a fire. So I rolled over.


Next thing I know ( 4;30?) she' waking me up with a flashlight, grouching about the chill, and saying that they don't know what's wrong or when it will be restored. So I get up and find emergency lights and cell phone chargers. By then they have an estimate. We decided I could go back to bed and I'd start a fire if they didn't meet their estimate. They got it going, although that woke me up when the house came to life at once again. I fell asleep in the chair tonight.

Now we're getting more ice....guess I'll make some preparations.

[Geo]

Now we're getting more ice....guess I'll make some preparations.

Dry Martini? 

[Rusty Edge]

Now we're getting more ice....guess I'll make some preparations.

Dry Martini? 

Actually I opened some Claret, after I charged batteries, positioned lights, discussed plans with my wife, etc. I never liked Gin or Scotch.


The power stayed on. Today is freezing rain. It took my dog 3 separate attempts to go outside because even she couldn't stand up on the wet ice. I now have the sidewalk and part of the driveway ( about half of the width ) scraped to the street, but the street itself is rather treacherous. Time to go back out to retrieve the mail.

[Rusty Edge]

YET AGAIN...
We have a multi-hour winter power outage. Our 4th by my count.  Only about 2 inches of snow so far, and the winds aren't that strong. Should be another 4 inches, but temps are in the 20s. Normal winter weather. Apparently it was a downed tree where our subdivision meets the old highway.  I prepared a fire in the fireplace, but we decided not to light it this time.


At this point, I'm losing confidence in the utility company. They had attracted a lot of interest in their stock about a year and a half ago because of their profitability for the sector. Now I'm questioning whether maintenance and upgrade costs were scrimped in order for VPs to meet their goals and gain their bonuses. Cynicism that comes from having a corporate officer wife.

What do we do about it, though?

1) Nothing. It uses some batteries, but otherwise it probably saves energy.
2) Convert the fireplace to gas. We use gas for the HVAC and hot water, it's been reliable.  That way we'd have heat and good cook bratwursts or something.
3)Get a power supply. Basically a battery/ inverter.
4)Get a good inverter wired into a vehicle.
5) Get a portable generator.
6) Get a permanent generator.

I'm sure that my wife could manage a gas fireplace, a power supply, or a fully automatic permanent generator hardwired into our electrical system without me.

It's those intermediate solutions I'm not too sure about. I've got plenty of cords because of my Christmas decorations. But I doubt her ability to carry a generator outside & start it. Or for that matter get the garage door open during a winter storm to get either a car or a generator outside. But, those are workable options for me. I could switch between refrigerator and freezers, (or furnace with some wiring).


I gotta go resynch the Ecobee with Alexa because of the power outage.