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Post by moonglum on Feb 18, 2022 12:08:17 GMT -6
We've got gale-force winds at the moment. We had storm Dudley yesterday, and today we've got storm Eunice with gusts of up to 100mph. Our back fences have totally disintegrated. It got me wondering who makes up these twee names for storms. I'd call them storm B*****d or storm A**hole, but I suppose I'd soon run out of expletives!
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 19, 2022 0:47:59 GMT -6
We've had temps up into the mid- to high 60s. Then it dropped quickly below freezing on Thursday. Supposed to warm back up next week, and then get rain/snow/mix at the end of the week. My tank is at about 40/41%, so I went ahead and ordered some more. Even though the days are mostly nice, most of the nights will still be below freezing.
I had to drive to the pharmacy on Wednesday, and the winds were blowing upwards of 20mph. It blew for several days. At its worst, it will sound like a car coming down my driveway. I could even hear the tires on the gravel. But no matter how many times I got up to see who was here, the driveway was empty.
It's been five months since my last COVID shot, so I have an appointment on Monday to get my 4th shot. Supposed to have thunderstorms that day, but hopefully it won't be bad to drive in. I try never to drive in rain, or severe weather, but it can't always be helped. I stopped off at the Dollar General Store before going to the pharmacy on Wednesday, and when I got back in the car I saw my mask on the passenger seat. Why do I keep forgetting it? I was always good about putting it on before getting out of the car. My county is out of the red now, but it's still bad enough I shouldn't go in stores without a mask on.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 20, 2022 15:32:18 GMT -6
Today’s, Tomorrow’s and Tuesday’s highs are in the 60s, with the rest of the weeks highs being in the 30s and 40s. Tonight and tomorrow night’s lows will be in the 40s and 50s, and the lows for the rest of the week will be in the teens, 20s, and 30s. Might get icy rain at the end of this week. The prediction keeps flipping between rain and icy rain, so who knows what we’re gonna get. And, at least I ordered more gas, so if my tank empties before they fill it, it’s on them, and not me, so I shouldn’t have to pay for having to fill an empty tank. That was not cheap. What’s in there should last me a few weeks, but I just wanted to be on the list should they be behind again, and can’t get to me for a long while. February will be over soon, and hopefully the days and nights will mostly stay above freezing in March.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 20, 2022 15:41:47 GMT -6
Actually, I’m grateful for emptying my tank last year, as it helped my brother-in-law find the gas leak. I could smell gas every now and again on my back porch, depending on the breeze, but could never smell it when he’d come over to investigate. By the gas man turning off the tank, and me having to turn it on myself, (some rule they had), it made the gas smell very strong. And I turned it back off until he got home from work, and he was then able to smell it, and find where it was, and fixed it. So, yep, very grateful for not remembering to fill my tank beforehand.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 23, 2022 8:20:30 GMT -6
Moonglum, I hope the fence was the only damage you received from the storms. I saw a news article that showed photos of the damage in London - it looked pretty extensive.
The expletive supply could be extended by stringing them together, of course. The possibilities are endless!
Naming storms names given to people can be somewhat as damaging as the storms themselves (the milder storms anyway). What about the poor guy named Dudley? "Hey, did you hear what that b*****d Dudley did yesterday?! Totally disintegrated Vox and Moonglum's fences, and tore through London causing all kinds of damage!" "What a total f***ing damn-@ss b*****d!!!" Rumors spread, guy named Dudley is shunned by the townsfolk, eventually leaves his life-long home and moves into a hobbit house in the woods, and lives the rest of his life as a hermit.
Yep, much better to name storms expletives.
Joxie, I hope your shot went well, and that you're feeling fine.
Yesterday morning here, at 6am, still dark outside, and total chaos struck - the dog was sprayed by a skunk! Nearly everyone has smelled skunk odor before - it's a very recognizable stench. Up close and personable though, it is completely different than smelling it outside, and is something like a combination of burning rubber, toxic chemicals, and typical skunk smell. OMG, I have never smelled anything so foul in my life!!!
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Post by Phalon on Feb 24, 2022 15:53:06 GMT -6
Argh!!! I don't know if I'll ever get this god-awful skunk odor out of my house. Just when I think it's gone, one of us will get a foul-smelling whiff.
Blah.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 24, 2022 16:57:44 GMT -6
It will probably be weeks, or a month, before you no longer notice it. I’ve had skunks spray near the heat and air unit, and the unit sucked that odor into the house. I’ve gotten better about realizing the first hint of skunk odor, and shutting off the fan, but not so in the beginning. One time the skunk had to have been on or near the unit, as it took ages for that smell to go away. I became accustomed to the odor while inside, so it wasn’t until I’d leave the house and return that I knew it still lingered. It was probably a month or so when I stopped smelling it upon entering the house.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 25, 2022 1:15:36 GMT -6
I forgot to stop taking my 24-hour allergy pill. My arm got a little sore. It was more like the first two times I got the shot. Which has me wondering if those of us with autoimmune diseases should get two booster shots. Like, get a second booster shot one month after the first one.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 1, 2022 14:04:17 GMT -6
This week’s highs will be in the 60s & 70s. The lows will be in the high-30s, 40s, 50s & 60s. Next week will be cooler though, so the Winter thread will still be in use.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 3, 2022 11:42:24 GMT -6
Damn, I hope not - though I did read that also. Did everything recommended when it first happened - bowled pots of vinegar (which really helped - and I'd much rather have the house smell like Easter eggs than skunk), mopped the floors, the laundry, and whatever else I could with that deskunker enzyme stuff, did the area rugs with baking soda. The dog got wiped down in vinegar, then rinsed with a mixture of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dishsoap, then a wash with the deskunker stuff, and then bathed with shampoo. Did her snout, which took the brunt of the hit, again the next day. All the stuff that's recommended. And the dog was literally only in the house for 5 minutes after it happened.
We don't smell the odor all the time, or even just when we leave the house for a while and come back. It's just every-so-often, a faint wisp of skunk wafts through the air.
Looking forward to being able to open up the house to air it out. We've had the windows open periodically, but only for short periods of time - the temperatures have been mostly in the 20s to the mid-30s, and it's surprising how fast the house gets cold with open windows, even with the heat kicked up.
Maybe this weekend - it's supposed to get into the 50s. And snow again on Monday.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 4, 2022 3:50:46 GMT -6
You wouldn't think skunk smell coming inside through the heat and air fans would be able to stick around for weeks and weeks either. I can understand it if an animal brought in the liquid spray, and dripped and splattered it on everything, but not when it's just the scent coming in from the outside through the air. It's just some very potent stuff.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 11, 2022 8:32:21 GMT -6
That's pretty much what happened...I don't know if she dripped and splattered exactly, but she was wet with it, walking from one end of the house to the other, trying to get away from the smell. Funny part of it all was that after checking online what to do, I wiped her down with vinegar to start neutralizing the odor...and to do so, I had to straddle her because she wouldn't stand still. Then I had to go immediately to the grocery store to get the rest of the deodorizing supplies, and because I'd straddled her, I reeked to high-heaven of skunk. It's a damned good thing it was so early in the morning and there weren't many people at the store, but I kinda chuckled to myself at some of the looks I was getting!
It's "warmed" up to 25F at the moment - boots have been on the heater, and are nice and toasty.
It's time to go shovel snow.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 12, 2022 0:55:14 GMT -6
It has snowed. It most likely won't be around for very long. Next week is more like last week . . . highs in the 60s/70s, with lows in the 50s/60s. The warm days make it so hard when going back to the cold days. I hate the drastic changes in temperatures. The clocks spring forward this weekend. Hopefully for the last time, or this will be the last year, if we're lucky.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 22, 2022 14:35:25 GMT -6
Happy 1st day of Winter!!!
And so it starts.
Much of the country is going to be hit with a winter storm this weekend. It started snowing here a little more than an hour ago. The blizzard warning here goes into effect this evening. We are suppose to get 10-20 inches of snow through Saturday, Christmas Eve, with temperatures in the teens, and winds of 45-55mph, making the wind chill well below zero.
Everyone stay safe and warm.
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Post by katina2nd on Dec 22, 2022 19:37:16 GMT -6
Was saying how this has been the coolest/wettest Spring and beginning to Summer I can recall (my memories just about shot so not sure how accurate that is) now they're predicting consecutive days next week of 35C (around 95F) so I'll have something else to whinge about I guess.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 23, 2022 23:58:30 GMT -6
Glad I dripped my faucets last night. I used the bathroom during the wee hours, and the stream of water barely washed off the soap on my hands. The flow was normal during the afternoon.
My lights went out twice. First time around 11:30 pm, and came on about 30 minutes later. Second time around 7:00am, and came on around 9:30am. I was just getting cold, and had pulled up the comforter. Hopefully, the lights will stay on from now on. The temps aren’t supposed to get above freezing until Wednesday. Back up to the 40s day and night.
I shoveled the front and back porches. The cats hate walking and standing in the snow. They didn’t stay out long when I put food out. Last time I checked, there was still food left. You know it’s cold when the wild animals don’t come out to eat.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 24, 2022 19:23:34 GMT -6
From Wednesday onward, next week’s highs will be in the 50s & 60s. And the night’s lows will be in the 40s & 50s. Supposed to get more snow Monday morning. I’m glad my area doesn’t have these frigid temps for longer than a few days at a time, sometimes a week here and there. Hope everyone else is doing good. Although my lights went out twice, they didn’t stay off for too long. Laters.
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Post by stepper on Dec 24, 2022 21:51:36 GMT -6
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
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Post by stepper on Dec 24, 2022 22:01:07 GMT -6
We've had a couple days where we had a hard freeze but today's high was above freezing. Christmas morning will be freezing too but it won't last long. The weather guessers are saying that by Wednesday we'll be hitting 70s (21.11c). I didn't have any problems but a friend up in the Dallas area did - her daughter came home late and stopped the dripping pipes at the kitchen sink. Of course, it froze up and has stayed that way. Still, the cold isn't anything like what Phalon has happening up her way. Houses here are not constructed to cope with that kind of cold. We don't have basements here either. The ground is caliche - it expands and contracts based on moisture percentage - and it shifts way too much to allow for a basement. Foundation repairing is a major business here.
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Post by stepper on Dec 24, 2022 22:06:56 GMT -6
When I left work Thursday afternoon the front was just arriving. The wind was blowing and it was obviously getting colder. It went from 61 (16.11c) down to 16 (-8.88) in a matter of a few hours. We didn't have any snow or rain though - just cold.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 25, 2022 8:05:47 GMT -6
Dang! That's a huge drop, and so quickly! High temperature here Friday hung at just under 6F, but our high on Wednesday and Thursday was in the 20s, so it wasn't that big of a drop. But OMG!!!, the wind!!! It came in Thursday evening like a roaring freight train, and did not let up for the following 36 hours, all the while snowing. At one point, the "RealFeel" temperature on my phone read -23F. It truly was eerie - no sign of life at all outside the house - not even a car drove down the street for a day and a half. Only evidence of other people was the faint blurry glow of lights on the across the street neighbor's Christmas tree, barely visible through the blowing snow.
Still windy yesterday, still snowing, but not as cold, with a high temperature of around 16F. Signs of life too - the plows came through, and a lone snowmobile went down the street. A couple of squirrels too - as part of our Solstice Celebration, we made a Christmas tree for the birds and squirrels, decorating the spruce in the backyard with apple slices, ears of feed corn, and pine cones smeared with peanut butter and crushed nuts. The squirrels went crazy over it Thursday before the storm fit, and a couple of them came back yesterday to stock up with what remained. I shoveled a narrow path down the steps and out to the yard for the dog - the snow is past her chest, and she's so old, she can't plow through it like she used to. I honestly don't know how we're going to shovel ourselves out - there's a drift across the driveway that's nearly 4 feet tall!
That's what were doing this snowy Christmas day (still snowing) - trying to unbury ourselves. BP and her boyfriend will come in tonight, and LX and Boyfriend will be in tomorrow to celebrate Christmas then.
Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!
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Post by katina2nd on Dec 26, 2022 18:13:57 GMT -6
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and that you don't cop any of the weather that I saw on the news last night, absolutely horrific. Supposed to hit 37C here today (98.6F) so not real happy about that. 11:15AM here and it's not bad at the moment, fingers crossed the "weather guessers" (as Step calls them) are wrong, but have the feeling it's going to warm up pretty quickly.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 26, 2022 21:54:51 GMT -6
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Post by stepper on Dec 31, 2022 15:40:20 GMT -6
Well, yes since you're thinking of asking, I have purchased a couple things intended for Christmas 2023. Why wait? Besides, it's a good way to end 2022 - getting ready for important occasions happening in 2023. And with that thought in mind... Happy New Year to everyone!
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 31, 2022 21:47:43 GMT -6
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Post by Phalon on Jan 9, 2023 9:06:11 GMT -6
Nine days in already!!! Happy (much belated) New year!
This made me smile. It's always good to do something that makes you happy - especially in the end, if it makes someone else happy!
Which is why I've still got the Christmas tree up - I love the way it looks all aglow. Hubs too; "leave it up a while longer", he says. Of course, a lot of it on his part has to do with it being a pain in the @ss to take down! It seems pretty late though - I'll probably start putting away the decorations today.
Been busy lately with on-line courses I enrolled in for work. Even though it's a pretty dry subject - plant biology and pathology - I'm finding it pretty enjoyable. Most of it is refresher, but it's been years and years - no, decades and decades! - since I learned this stuff. Kinda fun being a "student" again.
Downside to the beginning year this year is Quetta's health, which took a downturn during the three days the blizzard raged - it was just too much on her old body, I'm afraid. I think we'll have to make a tough decision by the end of this week. Sigh.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 9, 2023 17:37:00 GMT -6
Downside to the beginning year this year is Quetta's health, which took a downturn during the three days the blizzard raged - it was just too much on her old body, I'm afraid. I think we'll have to make a tough decision by the end of this week. Sigh.
So sorry for having to make such a hard decision, and for your loss when you do follow through with that tough decision. I can't believe Quetta is that old. It just seems like you got her a couple of years ago.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 12, 2023 15:08:37 GMT -6
I can't either. We thought she was 12, or maybe 13-years old. I talked to the vet this week, and asked - she's 14; would be 15 this coming July. I'm not really sure why I called the vet earlier this week - maybe just to hear someone outside of family tell us we were making the right decision, although I know they couldn't tell us what to do, and I didn't expect them to. We had a family discussion about it this fall, because we all knew she was past what is typically the end of a lab's life-span, and we knew she probably wouldn't make it through the winter. Of course, we decided then, she'd live out her remaining days as comfortably as possible, and hoping she'd die peacefully in her sleep.
She's stopped eating this week though, and her body is shutting down. She is not living comfortably anymore.
Hubs and I made an appointment for tomorrow.
Thanks, Joxie, for your kind words.
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Post by stepper on Jan 12, 2023 16:55:22 GMT -6
Awww! I'm so sorry! I agree with your decision, which isn't going to help one bit. We made the same decision with our last kitty Cuddles - clearly it was time even though he was within 2 days of his 18th birthday. Sometimes we have to choose what is best for someone else instead of what is best for ourselves.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 14, 2023 12:09:38 GMT -6
You are most welcome.
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