A few warm prayers needed

[Robby]

Since about 10:00 am yesterday morning we've been covered in a layer of ice, and it's supposed to last through at least noon-ish on Thursday. With another round moving in around Thursday morning. I know that sounds strange, but the temp is supposed to go up just enough for it to start raining Thursday morning, then by lunch the temp will start dropping again. So far the temps have been hovering around 20 F (6.6 C), in the morning some places around here will be around 4 to 10 F (-15- -12.2C). Thursday the warm part of the day should be around 35F (1.6 C), then back down to around 20 F like they have been today. I know this doesn't sound bad to you people in the north, but first its been almost 30 years since temps have been in the single digits. Anytime we have this type of weather, it's not just snow, it's sleet and freezing rain.  Which means that driving is impossible, I've driven in Chicago on snow, there is a difference. There is no way to get to the store, which it wouldn't matter if you could, shelves are empty, and people with jobs can't get to work. Next the ice coats the trees and power lines, pulling both of them down. Not to mention that houses are not insulated like they are up north so in these temps it's hard to keep a house warm, then pipes are not insulated as well so you have to leave the water running so the pipes don't freeze. We were out of hot water by the time we got up this morning. So the water bills go up, the electricity bills go up, if you have gas heat, then the gas bill goes up. This isn't really a cry for help, just need some prayers going up so we survive this.

[Barberian]

 

[denny]

Havnt seen ice on the ground sence i was young.
Many warm prayers!

[ronr]

Understand your predicament!  Some people have never seen it like this before.  Have been watching/hearing about it but didn't know xactly how bad it was there.

You can use cold water dripping to keep pipes open rather than hot.  Blankets on door/windows/anything where you feel a draft.  So long as gas & elect. doesn't start dropping off line, then it gets real bad.

Warm thoughts for you when wee finally get up to freezing later this week.  HOPE that helps.

[foxgrove]

Sending many warm prayers for you and your neighbours.  Yeah... I remember winter in Texas being frigid due to having acclimated.  The buildings weren't built to keep warm... more screens than double pane windows and insulation just wasn't used for the most part.  Even mildly freezing temperatures in the south aren't just inconvenient like they are up here, they're downright deadly!  Some of the temps this arctic freeze has thrown at us have cost us some of our residents their lives this winter...  and we're used to it!  We've had our kitchen taps freeze a number of times this winter... a sign of really cold weather.

Stay warm, my brother!  Keep your taps dripping and stay under the covers!  Praying that the weather warms up and you can all look back soon and celebrate having come through this.

[Robby]

Thanks guys, I feel like this was so minor, and at this time it is minor. Cold yes, but minor. But if we get the freezing rain and sleet they keep predicting, it will be more serious. All of our heat is electric and that could be a problem. So thank you for the prayers maybe they will keep it from getting ugly.

[Barberian]

I don't understand why homes aren't insulated in Texas. Wouldn't it help with airconditioning?

[ronr]

This was from yesterday & it looks like you have heavy snow this afternoon.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[foxgrove]

I'll put a caviat on my information about Texas... it's about 30 years out of date so... I imagine many have found the benefits of insulation and double pane windows by now.  The 80s were a LONG time ago!

[Robby]

Here's an update, sorry I haven't gotten back to you before now. So the roads have been covered in ice since Monday, and I mean Black Ice, basically impassible. Our power has stayed on the whole time, but just within a 30 to 45 minutes drive from us there has been hundreds without power, so we got lucky there. Day before yesterday so Tuesday our big window unit heat pump died. Don't know, just got up and it was dead. Luckily we had a couple space heaters that we are using until we can do something with the big unit. It's still under warranty, so all I have to do is get both my boys to pull it out of the window, load it in the pickup, take it back to Lowe's and exchange it, bring the new one home, and reverse the procedure.

This is the fourth one for this window in 4 years. Then we have 3 smaller ones, we replaced on of the small ones that was about 8 years old, with a Lowe's unit, it lasted about a year. I broke down and threw away the money we spent on that, and knowing the other two were on their way out (they had started making noises and wouldn't heat or cool like they used to), I ordered some off the internet, I checked the company  had an excellent rating, the  units I got had a 4.8, or 4.9 customer review, not only on the business website but like Google Reviews, and yelp reviews. So maybe they'll last. I would love to order a big one (28,000 btu) from that company, but the money I have tied up in this one, in the warranty that I will lose, I don't see being able to do that. To top all that off, we're supposed to have one more round of sleet & freezing rain, then it's not supposed to get above freezing until late Monday afternoon.

One more thing Dawn has been stranded at the hospital since Monday, and it doesn't look like she'll get home anytime soon. First almost every employee has called in, Dawn is working the floor so there is enough staff to take care of the patients, the nursing techs have had to cook all the meals since Tuesday afternoon because not one single cafeteria employees has come in. 70 out of 76 techs have called in every day, so that leaves 6 people to run the building. The building administrator has been washing towels and sheets so they would have enough clean. Then on top of that their building is at the bottom of a steep hill, I mean it's hard to get traction to get up just when it rains, much less ice.   

[denny]

  all that cold and no warm body to snuggle up with!! Thats worst than anything.

[Robby]

all that cold and no warm body to snuggle up with!! Thats worst than anything.

[ronr]

WOW !!