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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 17, 2010 18:54:16 GMT -6
I haz a/c!
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Post by stepper on Sept 18, 2010 14:45:19 GMT -6
Congratulations! Could always be worse though. It could be winter and you could be buried under snow without electricity for days! BRRR!!
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Sept 18, 2010 19:21:39 GMT -6
Thursday......job interveiw. The interveiwers were my current bosses and another supervisor. I dreamed the night before that I showed up for the interveiw and they were all dressed like Nazi's.
Totally bizarre since I already work for them and I've never laughed so much in a job in my life.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 18, 2010 19:25:22 GMT -6
Congratulations! Could always be worse though. It could be winter and you could be buried under snow without electricity for days! BRRR!!
Try a major ice storm, and no electricity for 15 days/nights. That happened Jan./Feb. 2009. Actually, I got lights after 13 days/nights, but lost them again a couple of days later for another 2 days/nights.
Given a choice between losing the heat in winter, and losing the a/c in summer. I'll keep the a/c and choose to go without heat ... but only for a limited time. Like, one or two days. 15 days/nights was not fun.
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Post by Phalon on Sept 19, 2010 7:31:41 GMT -6
Glad you've got a/c again, Joxie. Heat or a/c though? I'd probably choose going without air-conditioning...maybe. I dunno. It is easier to get warm, than stay cool, I suppose, but given our cold winters vs our typically mild summers, here, I think I'd rather go without air as opposed to without heat. Heck, over half the people I know around here don't even have air-conditioning. This summer was the exception - the hottest summer on record, I believe.
Ah, but that's all past us now. It has been absolutely, positively the most beautiful fallish weather these past few weeks. Brisk see-your-breath mornings, and mild, sunny 70 degree afternoons. A couple of days of rain recently, but we needed it.
Scrappy - you crack me up. Nazis? You never did say...can I uncross my fingers yet? How'd the interrogation....uhm...I mean, interview go?
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Sept 19, 2010 11:04:07 GMT -6
*sigh......I don't know. It's government thing. They have to make sure all the t's are crossed and i's are dotted before they can tell me.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 19, 2010 18:22:14 GMT -6
Maybe it was the heat exhaustion ... and the fact that it's been a while since the 2 weeks without heat, but, yeah ... I can shower in the summer without a/c, but not in the winter without heat. Shoot, dropping my drawers to tinkle was as far as I was going to undress, and if I could have found a way to do that while keeping clothes on I would have. Me thinks I should buy one of those strap-on thingies in case I lose power for several days/weeks this winter.
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Post by stepper on Sept 26, 2010 20:30:45 GMT -6
Thursday......job interveiw. The interveiwers were my current bosses and another supervisor. I dreamed the night before that I showed up for the interveiw and they were all dressed like Nazi's. Totally bizarre since I already work for them and I've never laughed so much in a job in my life. Well?
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Post by stepper on Sept 26, 2010 20:38:00 GMT -6
Shoot, dropping my drawers to tinkle was as far as I was going to undress, and if I could have found a way to do that while keeping clothes on I would have. No fireplace in the house? It won't warm all rooms but they'll make it much more tollerable. Eh??
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 26, 2010 22:14:15 GMT -6
Shoot, dropping my drawers to tinkle was as far as I was going to undress, and if I could have found a way to do that while keeping clothes on I would have.
No fireplace in the house? It won't warm all rooms but they'll make it much more tollerable.
Nopers. No fireplace.
Ya know ... one of those things you use to tinkle in while on a long drive and you can't stop. A bottle is straped to an ankle, and there's a tube that runs up to a device that catches liquid as it is released and funnels it down into the bottle.
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Post by stepper on Sept 27, 2010 21:45:43 GMT -6
I wanted two things in my house when we were looking. Kitchen space and a raised fireplace. Fortunately, I got both. I love a fireplace.
Ah! I've heard of those. Still, don't you think a fuzzy seat cover and a soft towel over top would be better? Our house has natural gas heating and hot water, but without electricity the blower won't work on the heater and that leaves the fireplace. The one we have is not a "real" fireplace - it's not equiped with the heat return plates you find in the north. Our fireplace is for show more than being a functional heater. Still, a couple of logs burning will make enough heat to take the edge off the cold. Gee. What do you do in the winter with its longer nights when you don't have electricity for 13 days in a row? Were you at all prepared for this? What did you eat? And how? Were you able to get to a store for fresh anything or were you trapped?
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 28, 2010 16:44:34 GMT -6
Ah! I've heard of those. Still, don't you think a fuzzy seat cover and a soft towel over top would be better?
I still wouldn't want to drop my drawers in such a frigid house. With the 'thingy' I could keep my clothes on ... then empty the bottle strapped to my ankle every now and again.
I have gas for heat and cooking. My water heater is electric. Actually, when I bought this double wide, the whole home was electric, but I switched out the heat/air and cooking stove first thing. Unfortunately, the new gas stoves are set up so that the oven doesn't work when there's no electricity. When I was a kid Mom & Dad used their oven to heat the house when the electricity was off in the winter.
This is the second time in my life that I've gone a long time without electricity in the winter. When I was a teen we lost lights for a week. We had our gas cook stove and a kerosene heater to keep warm. And at night, layers of blankets. (The old stoves used fire pilot lights, so we could use the oven to help heat the house. The new stoves use an electric flint fire starter, so the oven will not release gas, and the burners need a match or lighter in order to make flames.)
We knew sleet was coming, but weren't worried, so didn't stock up on much. I had more than enough food for a few days, if the lights went out. Shoot, I probably had enough for a month if necessary, but no one was figuring it'd take more than a couple of days. This ice storm caused more damage than there'd ever been. The area looked like a war zone. Roads were blocked, lines were down everywhere, poles broken ... all of this had to be work through before new lines/poles could be put up. Some didn't get their lights back for 4 to 6 weeks. So we were lucky.
If you do a search for 'Ice Storm 09' you should find photos and video of what it looked like after the ice storm was over. I've never seen anything like it in all my years, and I hope never to again.
I could cook on my stove-top. And it took a while for the frozen stuff in the freezer to thaw. And my bil brought home dry ice to put in my deeo freeze and frig freezer. Plus, just the day before, I had made a 6-quart slow cooker dish of Slow Cooker Hamburger Casserole. I ate on that for several days. Mom sent me a couple of cheeseburgers she had grilled. The next day I heated the second burger up in a double boiler. I was surprised my idea worked, but it was great. The burger was hot all the way through. A double boiler works great in place of a microwave. ... Other times Mom sent down deli ham & hot cheese, bread, etc. Things that would last a couple of days, and I could have it ate up before it spoiled.
It warmed up too much during the day to put food outside to keep frozen, but not enough that I didn't have to wear two pairs of long johns, two sweatpants, two insulated shirts, two sweatshirts, two pairs of socks, one pair thin house shoes, one pair boots, hunter's vest, one winter jacket, hooded dickey, knitted cap, & gloves. Trust me when I say I did not want to drop drawers to go to the bathroom.
Only a couple of nights got way below zero, and on two nights Mom had my bil bring down her kerosene heater for me to use. The rest of the nights I slept under 6 blankets. Plus I put pillows on both sides of me beneath the six blankets to keep cool air from hitting me when I rolled over while I slept. Those pillows helped to keep me snug and warm. The only things I took off to go to bed were, jacket & vest, boots & house shoes, gloves. I kept my head covered to help hold in the heat my body had accumulated.
Mom also sent me her walkie talkies, and I was able to talk with her whenever I needed something. She's just a hop/skip/jump up the road. My bil had hooked up a generator at her house, but I didn't want to load up two cats, litter box, cat food/litter, cat carriers and drag it all to her house. A four wheeler is pretty much the only way for me to get in and out. And the cats would not have been too happy with my great niece & nephew pestering them either. So, I stayed home.
My sister's house is between me and the road. My driveway goes around her garage and into her driveway. I didn't know it, but they only stayed at my Mom's during the day, and then came home at night. I thought I was all alone in my part of the world. So, I could have gone to Mom's too during the day with them, and came home at night to make sure the cats were taken care of. When I learned this, my bil had bought another generator and hooked it up to their house.
Oh what fun to hear the generators going on all around me, and still freezing me hiney off. I read a lot during this time 17 books during the 15 days of no electricity. I'd read by flashlight after dark, except on really cold nights, and then I'd go to bed as soon as the sun went down and stayed there until the sun came up. The two nights I had the kerosene heaters, I stayed up to read though. Thankfully, I had a huge TBR pile. I still do, so I'm ready for the next time. (Which I hope never comes again.)
Every Saturday, I went to Mom's house to get warm and take a hot shower. She'd turn off the heat and turn on the water heater, then turn off the water heater and turn on the heat. And I'd take a shower until the hot water ran out. I swore I wouldn't, but once I got in, I couldn't turn off the water until the heat started to run out. I'd stay a little while, then bundle up to head back home. We were without lights for thirteen days, then had lights for two days, then lost lights for two days. (Mom didn't lose lights the second time.)
Funny thing is, Ike had taken out our lights during the summer for about 2 days. Well, it would have been a week, but bil cut some limbs and flipped a switch on a transformer ... which he has been forbidden to ever do again. He's more important than lights. I think this is when my bil decided to get a generator.
bil = Brother-in-law
TBR = To Be Read
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Post by stepper on Sept 28, 2010 21:26:55 GMT -6
Thanks for filling me in Joxee. Sounds like one heck of an adventure - or misadventure. Down here we have ice storms - but nothing so extreme as what you experienced. Snow on the other hand is rare. If there's a chance of snow sticking they close up the offices and send us home. The last real snow storm in our area was 1985. There's a ton of drivers down here who have never driven on a snowy road.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 28, 2010 22:52:36 GMT -6
You're very welcome. We don't have really bad storms here too often. And we've never had a storm as bad as this ice storm before. Ike had been fairly bad, but was tame in comparison to this. You can probably find posts I had made after getting back online in a few threads here and there.
Okay. It seems I wore only one pair of long johns and one insulated undershirt beneath the two pair of sweatpants and 2 sweatshirts ... and it got down in the single digits, and not below zero ... though I think with the wind chill factor it felt like it was several digits below zero.
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Post by Mini Mia on Sept 29, 2010 0:44:10 GMT -6
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Post by stepper on Sept 29, 2010 20:10:50 GMT -6
O! O! O! Phalon would like this one!
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Post by Phalon on Sept 30, 2010 6:30:26 GMT -6
Good thing he's been forbidden! Messing around with power lines is way too dangerous. Even my brother, who's a foreman for an electric crew which installs outdoor lighting (traffic lights, highways and stadium lighting and such), still, after over twenty years in the business, has a cautious fear of electricity.
Hubs got ours after we were out of electricity for four days from a summer storm too. Thankfully, our friends out in the country were out of town for the weekend, and offered us their house.
We haven't been without power for an extended period of time since. Good thing...although, I believe I see a tiny sparkle in Hubs' eye during every storm. I know he's itching to fire up the generator.
I'll say....and definitely a most harrowing experience. I think, though, that'd I'd skip the catheter thingy and stick with bare skin, and leave the cats to fend for themselves during the day. Their skin is not bare.
Oh! I do! I do like that one.
(why does it sound as if I've suddenly become Dr. Seuss?)
Such amazing beauty.....such an amazing amount of destruction. Another of Nature's many paradoxes.
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Post by stepper on Sept 30, 2010 16:26:14 GMT -6
Because you're quoting him?
I was pretty sure you'd like the robins in that video.
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Post by Phalon on Oct 1, 2010 4:26:55 GMT -6
I am?
Sam, I am!!! Green Eggs and Ham - it just hit me.
I did. I did. I did like that robin in the video! Funny thing about that robin (funny, as in I'm weird).... It is a robin, yes? It has to be a robin. I thought about him all day at work yesterday. Each time I'd see a robin, the little guy in the snow would pop into my head, and I'd compare the two. The ice-storm robin is a fluffy ball - he's all the wrong shape, and doesn't have white around his eye. Maybe he's just all puffed up to keep warm in the cold.
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Post by stepper on Oct 1, 2010 18:57:31 GMT -6
From The American Robin web site: "A bird's feathers are its best defense against cold weather. Robins fluff their plumage to create tiny air spaces that improve insulation."
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 1, 2010 22:15:29 GMT -6
Man....sorry I haven't gotten back to you. I've been really busy.....what with my NEW JOB and all!!! HA...this is me doing the happy dance!!
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 1, 2010 22:23:01 GMT -6
Congratulations, Scrappy!
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 1, 2010 22:38:17 GMT -6
THANKS!
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Post by Mini Mia on Oct 1, 2010 22:59:42 GMT -6
You're very welcome.
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Post by stepper on Oct 1, 2010 23:04:30 GMT -6
Good for you Scrappy! But if it's going to keep you from us - I'm torn. Good for you - sux for us.
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 2, 2010 11:16:17 GMT -6
Well.......Once my training period is over things should mellow out some. I'm already planning another survivor episode for sometime just after christmas. So get ready! LOL
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Post by katina2nd on Oct 3, 2010 0:34:36 GMT -6
I'm already planning another survivor episode for sometime just after christmas. So get ready! LOL Count me in, but only on the condition that this time we "can" eat the Penguins. ;D
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 3, 2010 16:40:02 GMT -6
Um....no penguins me thinks.
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Post by stepper on Oct 3, 2010 19:26:54 GMT -6
After Christmas? You mean, no long sleepless nights searching for impossible to find answers while simultaneously wrapping and mailing real Christmas presents? Gee. What will I do with an actual Christmas vacation?
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Oct 9, 2010 11:23:10 GMT -6
After Christmas? You mean, no long sleepless nights searching for impossible to find answers while simultaneously wrapping and mailing real Christmas presents? Gee. What will I do with an actual Christmas vacation? Ok...that was funny. Be careful I might just change my mind!
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