Good morning!!!!

[toppop52]

It’s down to 51 now, was 62 early this morning, overnight thunderstorm left .64” of rain. A welcome break even if it doesn’t last long. Not much going on today, might change the regulator on the garage heater and finish my stool job that got interrupted. Tomorrow is funeral arrangements day. Getting things together for the obituary, mom had 10 grandkids, 18 great grandchildren, 3 great great grandchildren and at least one great great great grand child. I’ve lost touch with one great great, but he easily could have children we don’t know about.

 

[daugen]

You probably shouldn't move .. to Texas then .. if we're that screwed up.

I had to chuckle here, the pot calling the kettle black for someone from California complaining about the efficiencies of other states.

good trip to post office in nearby town, place was pretty empty, no lines, no surprise
I had to take all this ID with me, but once she saw my old passport, she pushed it all back to me.

Whereas the instructions clearly state you must have it all, make copies, etc. No, don't need copies, thanks.
I don't think she took a copy of my Real Id either. One would think a passport today would require more hoops to jump through, getting my
PA driver's lic was way more difficult. It was an extra 60 bucks on top of everything for expedited service. My cruise isn't for four months, that should be
long enough. Famous last words. They say if you need it in less than four months, expedite. But of course we'll go faster for a big fee...
I decided to save my money. With getting my pic taken it was $150 already.

warming up outside and snow is melting , ready for the next batch tomorrow

 

[Eric Salop]

Randy, my condolences. Thanks for sharing those pictures, was it your mom that first got you involved with sewing and upholstery ?

 

[lostcreekranch]

Good morning. Our temperature bottomed out at 8° this morning and now already up to 14° and sunshine. It should get up to the low 30's this afternoon.

It only got to the mid 20's yesterday but .. with a full day of sunshine .. the surface of what was very fine powder .. melted and then refroze overnight creating a crust on the snow. With forecast temps I suspect the snow will be here at least a few more days. It's supposed to get to high 40's on Saturday and the 60's by Sunday.

Those .. choosing to criticize "Texas" Power Grid management would do well to educate themselves prior to "sounding off". The Texas Power Grid (yes .. we have our own) is managed by ERCOT .. not Texas State and / or local government. ERCOT is independent and in general manages our power well. Texas' decision to create our own power grid was and is intentional. For one thing .. it keeps the Federal Government from meddling with our power.

Our present weather / temperature is a once in a generation event .. last time was 7° in 1989 .. that event was just cold .. not icy as we're experiencing this week.

Do you build your "power system" for the absolute worse case ever? That would be costly and extremely in-efficient .. so no.

It's unfortunate .. that a bad combination of ice storms and long term, low temperatures took the majority of our wind power off line. But that demonstrates that .. had our state been "majority wind power" .. we'd all be freezing to death about now. Prior to yesterday most of Texas was very overcast for last 10 days or so limiting what power came from Solar farms. And a large % of them got iced as well .. further reducing output.

ERCOT elected to use short term rolling blackouts to get through this. Ours have all been 30-40 minutes in duration which is nearly un-noticeable.

My point is that a total conversion to wind / solar is unworkable. We would have significantly less reliable power .. at significantly higher cost. This week hammered that lesson home .. for me.

Hope everyone stay safe and warm.

Prayers to all.

 

[Eric Salop]

Good afternoon,

You can add me to the list of good morning crew who have now been vaccinated, in my case with a syringe of Astra Zeneca. Slick operation at a new rural medical facility 20 minutes away on the other side of town. My wife did the driving so no need to take up space in the cark park for more than the couple of minutes it took before I was out again.

RNG, instead of using ballast and 4WD on concrete, could you put pallet forks on your 3pt and reverse up the steep section ?

Pretty grim news on freezing and power supplies in Texas. Wrap up warm !

 

[Buppies]

RNG could be like Santee Cooper built nuclear power plant that would never work from the get go design flaw now customers holding the bag or bill

It would appear that we are not ready for this type of natural disaster our basic utility cannot keep up our infrastructure is hurting has been for years. We keep pumping money in the wrong places and are headed for third world status if we are not careful

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I had to chuckle here, the pot calling the kettle black for someone from California complaining about the efficiencies of other states.

Unless I'm mistaken, Drew, Rick's reply was in response from comments from RS, who I believe dwells in wonderful Ohio.

Having been brought up in Ohio, I can understand RS's disappointment at not having fully participated in Polar Vortex.:laughing: But the weather in both Ohio and Texas is part of how I ended up in California. So far, that's about the only thing left in the state that the politicians haven't managed to screw up. But I have every confidence that they're busily working on it...:shocked:

But I'll leave it to Rick to make the official call on who-said-what-when-and-why.:confused2::laughing:

 

[Buppies]

Rick read about your power system last night fairly decent system and pretty well run

 

[daugen]

Unless I'm mistaken, Drew, Rick's reply was in response from comments from RS, who I believe dwells in wonderful Ohio.

Having been brought up in Ohio, I can understand RS's disappointment at not having fully participated in Polar Vortex.:laughing: But the weather in both Ohio and Texas is part of how I ended up in California. So far, that's about the only thing left in the state that the politicians haven't managed to screw up. But I have every confidence that they're busily working on it...:shocked:

But I'll leave it to Rick to make the official call on who-said-what-when-and-why.:confused2::laughing:

oops
well, you can see my point.
Now Northeast Ohio, very different place.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Unless I'm mistaken, Drew, Rick's reply was in response from comments from RS, who I believe dwells in wonderful Ohio.

Having been brought up in Ohio, I can understand RS's disappointment at not having fully participated in Polar Vortex.:laughing: But the weather in both Ohio and Texas is part of how I ended up in California. So far, that's about the only thing left in the state that the politicians haven't managed to screw up. But I have every confidence that they're busily working on it...:shocked:

But I'll leave it to Rick to make the official call on who-said-what-when-and-why.:confused2::laughing:

Exactly ...