MORE random stuff about your day

[Minnie the Minx]

I’ve built an animal hotel for the next couple of nights in our outhouse with blankets, boxes and later on, some food and water. It’s surreal watching animals behave in a way I’ve never seen in Texas - I hope they make it. I suspect a lot of them won’t.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Be careful with your water pipes. Are they insulated/protected? Otherwise keep a slow drip going or drain them and shut off the water overnight to keep the pipes from bursting.

Unfortunately, I can’t drain individual pipes leading to outdoor faucets, so we’re going to have to drip them rather aggressively. I thought about turning off the water to the house at night but I talked to a smarter friend who doesn’t think it’ll be that easy to drain everything (the hot water heater, for instance) so ... fingers crossed.

I love cold weather and spend the entire year bitching that it’s too hot so I’m a little annoyed I can’t just enjoy it and have this stuff to fret about that has never really been an issue. Usually when it freezes we can just cover those outside faucets and that’s good enough but it’s going to keep freezing for four or five consecutive days, which is pretty unprecedented.

[Six String]

Good luck and hope the danger passes soon. Running your faucet(s) should do the trick. Draining the pipes is a little OTT unless you were going to be away from the house. My pipes froze here in December 1990 while visiting my family in Texas. We had a few days in the 20s F where it stayed below freezing and then the thaw. I had friends feeding my cats so it wasn’t a surprise and I was able to get people to begin work on the house while I was gone but what a mess. This was the “flood of ‘90” that I reference sometimes when I talk of an album I don’t have anymore or have but without a cover. I had to live in a hotel suite with my cats for almost two months while the contractor replaced a few walls, ceilings, flooring, etc. and then ai had to go out and buy new furniture. Not fun.

[Minnie the Minx]

Fucking hell!

[Six String]

My cats were not happy when I got home and they didn’t like the hotel either as you could imagine. I try to picture what it must have been like for them to suddenly have ceilings collapse ( pipes were overhead in the attic) and water everywhere. My friends said when they opened the kitchen door water poured out over their shoes like in the cartoons.

[Brickyard Jack]

Another cracking day.
Wrote a Valentine's song for my wife first thing, then watched the facebook likes flood in (well, four ofthem). Made millionaire shortbread with my son for his school's "whole school bake-off"; then Arsenal win 4-2; and soon I'll be reaching for the cheap bourbon.
On top of all that, it is half-term, so no school for a week.

[kath]

good luck in texas, y'all.

it's gonna roll in here after. we're gonna go down to 25 here late tomorrow i think. not a very common thing here. attila and sam are out puttin tarps on plants. chi chi already has several blanketed boxes around and an open storage room with a heating blanket for the outside stray, bogart the cat, and any other animals that wanna take advantage. i imagine bogart the cat is gonna be inside before night falls. we're gonna be iced over and bunkered down on mardi gras, along with the rest of the area. you should've seen the run on liquor this morning at the grocery store, mwhaha.

if people aint driving, all the better.

[souphound]

I can wholly sympathize. We have that kind of situation for about 4 months a year solid, but a) we're used to it and b) we're generally pretty well prepared for it. When things like this only happen to you every eon or so, I'm sure it can be disorienting and devastating.

It does make the ensuing sun/warmth that much dearer though.

Good luck.

[kath]

I can wholly sympathize. We have that kind of situation for about 4 months a year solid, but a) we're used to it and b) we're generally pretty well prepared for it. When things like this only happen to you every eon or so, I'm sure it can be disorienting and devastating.

It does make the ensuing sun/warmth that much dearer though.

Good luck.

thanks, we'll be fine. and you are right. i've actually been through some snow living for a time in connecticut as a navy wife. reap was from ohio, so a few long drives during blizzards at christmas, that kinda thing. but obviously the exception not the rule if yer from new orleans.

i still remember the first time i was ever in freezing whether, i was 9 or 10. it was... slush. but i got soooo excited, i put on my dad's waders, a few coats and i went outside intent on making a snowball. it was... slush. mwhahahaaaa.

[Samoan]

North American weather is on the BBC web site front page as at 2 hours ago -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56058372

Take care, Everyone

[harvey k-tel]

I wouldn't want to be a homeless southerner right now. Brr!

[kath]

I wouldn't want to be a homeless southerner right now. Brr!

indeed.

new orleans is making a small bit of effort, but it isn't nearly enough.

City authorities held an emergency conference call with providers of shelter for homeless and other vulnerable people Sunday afternoon to ensure outreach efforts were made and extra beds added.

Renée Blanche, a director at Ozanam Inn, the Camp Street shelter that provides services for homeless men in the city, said they will be adding a maximum of 20 beds to deal with the freeze. But she noted that because of the coronavirus pandemic, that is below the 30 extra beds they would normally provide during weather emergencies. The shelter is already operating at just 60% of normal capacity with 57 beds because of distancing precautions to deal with the pandemic, she said.

Others adding beds for those in need of shelter include the Salvation Army on South Claiborne Avenue, The New Orleans Mission on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, and the New Orleans Women's and Children's Center on South Liberty Street.

what a fucquin nightmare. 20 beds on camp street?

hotels were opening up for the homeless awhile ago, but they need to be doing it big time now.

[Minnie the Minx]

We’re burning logs at a rate of knots and I just threw one on and a beautiful red wasp flew out of it and onto the stairs. We couldn’t leave it in the house as the cats would kill it so I took it outside where it did a lap of the pint glass it was transported in then curled up into a ball and froze to death. So now I’m a wasp killing bastard.

Up the road, my friends now have a full on gecko hotel in operation, consisting of a bucket full of wet leaves and dead insects and a few spoons of water. I’ve stayed in worse, in fairness.

[Minnie the Minx]

How y’all doing in this weather?
‘Surreal’ doesn’t even cover it!

[BARON CORNY DOG]

good luck in texas, y'all.

it's gonna roll in here after. we're gonna go down to 25 here late tomorrow i think. not a very common thing here. attila and sam are out puttin tarps on plants. chi chi already has several blanketed boxes around and an open storage room with a heating blanket for the outside stray, bogart the cat, and any other animals that wanna take advantage. i imagine bogart the cat is gonna be inside before night falls. we're gonna be iced over and bunkered down on mardi gras, along with the rest of the area. you should've seen the run on liquor this morning at the grocery store, mwhaha.

if people aint driving, all the better.

I don’t think I’ve ever been colder in my life than one winter in New Orleans in the mid 90s. I was at my friend’s place near The Boot on the Tulane campus and the cold, wet wind just blew through the structure. Those places aren’t made for the cold at all! It was probably only in the low 40s, but it didn’t matter.

Hope things are holding together out there.

[Six String]

My mom went out to her sister’s house to stay until her power returns. When I talked to her Monday it was supposed to come back on at 10:30 p.m. That didn’t happen so she’s safe and warm at my aunt’s for the time being.

[Minnie the Minx]

My mom went out to her sister’s house to stay until her power returns. When I talked to her Monday it was supposed to come back on at 10:30 p.m. That didn’t happen so she’s safe and warm at my aunt’s for the time being.

Good.

We just lost water. I’m bringing some snow in in pans, but I’m not really cut out for the pioneer life. The pie and beer life, maybe.

[souphound]

My mom went out to her sister’s house to stay until her power returns. When I talked to her Monday it was supposed to come back on at 10:30 p.m. That didn’t happen so she’s safe and warm at my aunt’s for the time being.

Good.

We just lost water. I’m bringing some snow in in pans, but I’m not really cut out for the pioneer life. The pie and beer life, maybe.

All I can say is don't eat that yellow snow.

[Six String]

We took a drivemout on the delta today just for a change of scenery. The delta is a great place for a meandering drive. Many bridges to cross, a small four car ferry to get to Grand Island and little towns to drive through and oodles of farmland of vineyards, fruit and nut orchards. At one point I was gazing at the river and I saw what looked like a large bird standing in the middle of the river. Now the Sacramento river is very large so deep and wide and this bird was in the middle to it was incongruous to what I know. As we got closer it was obvious that the large bird (possibly a crane) was riding on a log that was floating down the river. Now the river flows pretty swiftly and the bird was going in the opposite direction so we didn’t have long to enjoy it but it was quite a site to watch a large bird surfing on the river. Part of me wanted to turn around and stop somewhere to video the event but there aren’t a lot of places to pull over easily in that area so thought better of it.

[Charlie O.]

Yeah, yeah, everybody knows about him.