Life Somewhat Returning To Normal

[RiversideSm0ker]

We have friends in the Houston area who were without power for 30 hours. Just came back up yesterday evening. They say they are doing alright but it's got to be frightening.

G

 

[Winterrider]

When we had power outages and water issues many years ago, it just always made me think back to what our grandparents and great grandparents went thru back in the day. Almost unbelievable...
Glad to hear things are getting back to somewhat normal.

 

[Fueling Around]

Things are looking up at least.

...
Unless the power was cut at some point in the night while I was asleep, we've not had an electrical outage since late afternoon yesterday.
...

I live in NW Minnesota and since we got out of the deep freeze on Tuesday, the power generation companies have been sending electricity south on the grid to supplement the failed green and the overwhelming demand due to the cold temps.
Sounds as it is helping.

 

[pc farmer]

Glad your kinda back to normal. Here in Pa I have a well and a generator. I can run my whole house and well for water. In the winter I keep 20 gallons of gas on hand.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Good News for sure! Here's hoping that this was and will be a rare exception and not the new Annual Texas Norm...JJ

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm glad to hear, at least some of you are getting back to normal.
Like Adam, we have a well for our water, and a Generator that can power all Necessities. My Generator is always full of gas, and I usually have between 5 and 15 gallons of gas in my garage.

Bear

 

[Steve H]

You have had some strange weather for sure. I'm glad to hear it is easing up a bit.

 

[Murray]

I really hope the powers to be look real hard at what went wrong and fix it. It may cost a bunch of money but you can’t put a dollar value on that many people who had to suffer through a totally preventable situation. Good luck to all those affected.

 

[tx smoker]

Glad your kinda back to normal. Here in Pa I have a well and a generator. I can run my whole house and well for water. In the winter I keep 20 gallons of gas on hand.

Believe me sir, if I lived in your climate I'd be prepared in the exact same way you are. Who would have ever thought though we'd see weather like this in TX. Yes, I've seen snow, yes I've seen ice storms, and yes I've seen really cold temps. Never in 25 years here however has it been a solid week of all three. An aspect I find interesting is something somebody else already stated and I had thought about. It's interesting the difference between your mentality and that of so many other people. You know and understand what may be in store for you and you're prepared to deal with it. Others know it but do nothing then just sit around waiting for people like you to come help them. I made sure all the vehicles were full of gas with 10 gallons in reserve cans, the tractor was full of diesel with 5 gallons in reserve, and we had ample food to get by and enough to share with others who may not be prepared. I guess it's hare for us in this area to be prepared for losing power AND water, but we got through it.

It may cost a bunch of money but you can’t put a dollar value on that many people who had to suffer through a totally preventable situation.

I like your thought process but sadly, I don't think anything is gonna change. Yes, there will be a LOT of talk to create the appearance of doing something right after it's over, but when it's all done it'll just get swept under the carpet. Granted Ted Cruz isn't one of the brightest people in the world but what did he do when all of this was forthcoming? He flew to the Cancun. That isn't the sort of mentality that's going to advocate any real change. It's easier just to run away instead of dealing with it as you were elected to do. I'm gonna stop here before I turn this into a political diatribe

Robert

 

[Brokenhandle]

Believe me sir, if I lived in your climate I'd be prepared in the exact same way you are. Who would have ever thought though we'd see weather like this in TX. Yes, I've seen snow, yes I've seen ice storms, and yes I've seen really cold temps. Never in 25 years here however has it been a solid week of all three. An aspect I find interesting is something somebody else already stated and I had thought about. It's interesting the difference between your mentality and that of so many other people. You know and understand what may be in store for you and you're prepared to deal with it. Others know it but do nothing then just sit around waiting for people like you to come help them. I made sure all the vehicles were full of gas with 10 gallons in reserve cans, the tractor was full of diesel with 5 gallons in reserve, and we had ample food to get by and enough to share with others who may not be prepared. I guess it's hare for us in this area to be prepared for losing power AND water, but we got through it.



I like your thought process but sadly, I don't think anything is gonna change. Yes, there will be a LOT of talk to create the appearance of doing something right after it's over, but when it's all done it'll just get swept under the carpet. Granted Ted Cruz isn't one of the brightest people in the world but what did he do when all of this was forthcoming? He flew to the Bahamas. That isn't the sort of mentality that's going to advocate any real change. It's easier just to run away instead of dealing with it as you were elected to do. I'm gonna stop here before I turn this into a political diatribe

Robert

It's very true many of us up north are more prepared but something just dawned on me...good thing your diesel tractor didn't gel up on you, that would have really made you mad! I doubt blended diesel fuel is a thing down south. One other question I kept forgetting to ask...how many rooms did you walk into and turn the light switch on? We do it all the time if or when we lose power.

Ryan

 

[Millberry]

Well some good new alas, and hopefully I'm not the only one who is in this position. Unless the power was cut at some point in the night while I was asleep, we've not had an electrical outage since late afternoon yesterday. Water came back on in the middle of the night but went back off for some reason. We were still a bit concerned this morning but it slowly came back up to full volume. YAY!! Water heater is still working fine, which is a blessing, possibly due to it being a propane unit versus electric. With electric water heaters if they run dry and are turned on, it will burn out the heating element. Reading some of the news blurbs I don't think we are totally in the clear but for now at least things are looking up, and I got to take a shower earlier. i'll tell y'all this, never again will I take a hot shower for granted!! It felt wonderful The water was not as hot as it should be but that's because the heater is still trying to catch up with the cold water that was introduced into the tank when the water came back on. No problem there. I just unplugged the circulating pump to give the heater a chance to catch up. Not taking any chances on losing water again, Tracy has laundry going and the dishwasher is running. We'll at least have some clean dishes to eat off of and clean clothes to wear for a couple of days. We are under a mandatory order to boil the water before drinking or making coffee, but that's easy stuff. At least we don't have to melt the white stuff before boiling it...for now anyway It's still colder than heck though. Temps in the low 20's with wind chills around zero I'd guess. We had a few minutes yesterday that things started to melt but immediately froze back up when the sun set so still iced in with no way out. That should eb changing tomorrow though.

Oh well, hope this does not sound like a gloat and prayers to all that are still going through it. I read yesterday that areas around the state are now running out of water and things are shutting down for them, even in Austin which is only a few miles away. They are just starting what just ended for us...well hopefully ended. Thanks everybody for enduring all of my whine sessions yesterday but life has been a bit weird recently. All of this mess started exactly one week ago with the big ice storm and has just continued to get worse. Lots of great life lessons learned though, I'll say that.

Warm, clean, and happy,
Robert

Robert--I am so very glad for y'all. I went thru this many years ago and YES--a hot shower is a blessing. God bles y'all. Thanks for letting us know about you. Charlie

 

[Millberry]

Believe me sir, if I lived in your climate I'd be prepared in the exact same way you are. Who would have ever thought though we'd see weather like this in TX. Yes, I've seen snow, yes I've seen ice storms, and yes I've seen really cold temps. Never in 25 years here however has it been a solid week of all three. An aspect I find interesting is something somebody else already stated and I had thought about. It's interesting the difference between your mentality and that of so many other people. You know and understand what may be in store for you and you're prepared to deal with it. Others know it but do nothing then just sit around waiting for people like you to come help them. I made sure all the vehicles were full of gas with 10 gallons in reserve cans, the tractor was full of diesel with 5 gallons in reserve, and we had ample food to get by and enough to share with others who may not be prepared. I guess it's hare for us in this area to be prepared for losing power AND water, but we got through it.



I like your thought process but sadly, I don't think anything is gonna change. Yes, there will be a LOT of talk to create the appearance of doing something right after it's over, but when it's all done it'll just get swept under the carpet. Granted Ted Cruz isn't one of the brightest people in the world but what did he do when all of this was forthcoming? He flew to the Cancun. That isn't the sort of mentality that's going to advocate any real change. It's easier just to run away instead of dealing with it as you were elected to do. I'm gonna stop here before I turn this into a political diatribe

Robert

If I was Ted Cruz and could afford it---I would have left--woudn"t you? He wouldn't have done a damn thing by staying in Texas

 

[Bearcarver]

Believe me sir, if I lived in your climate I'd be prepared in the exact same way you are. Who would have ever thought though we'd see weather like this in TX. Yes, I've seen snow, yes I've seen ice storms, and yes I've seen really cold temps. Never in 25 years here however has it been a solid week of all three. An aspect I find interesting is something somebody else already stated and I had thought about. It's interesting the difference between your mentality and that of so many other people. You know and understand what may be in store for you and you're prepared to deal with it. Others know it but do nothing then just sit around waiting for people like you to come help them. I made sure all the vehicles were full of gas with 10 gallons in reserve cans, the tractor was full of diesel with 5 gallons in reserve, and we had ample food to get by and enough to share with others who may not be prepared. I guess it's hare for us in this area to be prepared for losing power AND water, but we got through it.



I like your thought process but sadly, I don't think anything is gonna change. Yes, there will be a LOT of talk to create the appearance of doing something right after it's over, but when it's all done it'll just get swept under the carpet. Granted Ted Cruz isn't one of the brightest people in the world but what did he do when all of this was forthcoming? He flew to the Cancun. That isn't the sort of mentality that's going to advocate any real change. It's easier just to run away instead of dealing with it as you were elected to do. I'm gonna stop here before I turn this into a political diatribe

Robert

I believe this was predicted, and they were warned back in 2011.
Guess they didn't believe it.
Maybe they believe it now.

Bear

 

[tx smoker]

If I was Ted Cruz and could afford it---I would have left--woudn"t you?

No I absolutely would NOT have left, not if I was an official elected to take care of the constituents who voted me into office.

He wouldn't have done a damn thing by staying in Texas

Wouldn't or couldn't? There's a big difference. Obviously he wouldn't do anything or he would not have left. He at the very least could have been here to deal with it like the people he's supposed to be representing and looking out for. Why do these politicians feel that they have a sense of entitlement which allows them to abandon the people they are supposed to be protecting and supporting?

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

I believe this was predicted, and they were warned back in 2011.

I'm thinking it's be tough to predict the weather 10 years in advance. The weather fools can't get it right a week in advance so 10 years is a huge leap of faith

Robert

 

[Millberry]

No I absolutely would NOT have left, not if I was an official elected to take care of the constituents who voted me into office.



Wouldn't or couldn't? There's a big difference. Obviously he wouldn't do anything or he would not have left. He at the very least could have been here to deal with it like the people he's supposed to be representing and looking out for. Why do these politicians feel that they have a sense of entitlement which allows them to abandon the people they are supposed to be protecting and supporting?

Robert

Like I said--He wouldn't have done anything by staying--EXCEPT to make you feel better

 

[tx smoker]

Like I said--He wouldn't have done anything by staying--EXCEPT to make you feel better

Gotcha. When you made the inclusion that I too would have gone if I could, I thought you were condoning him bailing out on people. Yep, as stated, the whole country knows he's not one of the brightest people ever elected to office and now everybody knows he just doesn't care. I'd be fine if he didn't get re-elected or God forbid, get elected to the presidency

Robert

 

[Bearcarver]

I'm thinking it's be tough to predict the weather 10 years in advance. The weather fools can't get it right a week in advance so 10 years is a huge leap of faith

Robert

I think it was worded something like "Your current Grid could not handle what could hit here." I'll see where it came from & what they said. My CRS needs help on this one.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Robert: Not the one I saw before, but similar:

In 2011, a February cold spell led to a spike in demand for natural gas and problems with the gas gathering-and-pipeline systems. The issues lasted about six hours and the grid had to cut off four gigawatts of electricity to customers.

In 2014, another cold snap in January forced nearly 10 gigawatts of power generation offline because of freezing conditions. A report said frozen pumps and other equipment caused power plants to go offline. The emergency—and rolling blackouts—lasted for about four hours.

This week’s disruption has been far worse. It has lasted far longer and involved about four times more generation.

“A decade ago, almost to the day, we had a similar event, so we had 10 years to implement solutions to prevent this from happening and it looks like we didn’t do it,” said Michael Webber, a mechanical-engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin and chief science officer for French power company Engie SA. “The question is, will we learn the lesson this time?”

The Source:

Texas Power Outages to Drag Into Third Day as Deep Freeze Persists

Bear

 

[tx smoker]

In 2011, a February cold spell led to a spike in demand for natural gas and problems with the gas gathering-and-pipeline systems. The issues lasted about six hours and the grid had to cut off four gigawatts of electricity to customers.

Yes sir, I remember that very well. Temps down into the low teens, some snow (not as much as this time around though) and the whole city in a shut-down mode. The primary reason I remember this one is because we kept the boat stored in a field under several covers. That year I learned the hard way that I missed one of the drain plugs on the engine when I winterized it. One new engine, two new intake manifolds, and $10,000 later the boat was fixed. Difference was that one only lasted a day or two whereas this one was over a week and much colder temps.

Robert