Howdy, Campers. Haven't got much, so let's talk about the weather. Just took out the trash and fed the horses. Thermometer says it's in the upper teens. Fingers tell me different. I think that the wind chill makes the "feels like" in the single digits. Suffice it to say Winter Storm Heather is somewhat dicey. Fortunately, for now at least the D is still part of that word.
I mean, I don't care who you are, nobody can drive on ice. Safely anyhow. Snow yes, Ice no. Especially when the temp is right around freezing when, not only is the road icy, but there's water on it also. Texans are especially bad at it! Even more so the "Texans" that have just moved here from that state out west. Good Lord! You want to drive like that? Even when it's not icy? Move back home.
Nope, went to HEB yesterday and stocked up for the next week. Yes, Beans, my daily HEB run is on hold for now. I'd advise you to sell their stock short. You'll make a killing.
But, as a result, we're tucked in and as ready as we can be.
So, juvat, what ARE your plans for the next few days? Well, Beans, assuming the power stays on, I'll spend a bit of time in my wood shop. I've got several projects in the works, most are Top Secret, Compartmented as some Birthdays are coming up. So, not going to discuss them. Spying eyes, doncha' know.
However, I just finished a fairly simple project for one of our Guest Houses. Little Juvat, while home over the holidays, upgraded our network connection to the guest houses. They now get their data from Elon Musk. Bigger, Better, Faster. But...
There wasn't a good place to put the devices and keep them organized, connected and out of the way.
So...
A few cedar planks, a bit of planing, a bit of staining and.
Voila'. The Boss Lady gave me two thumbs up on it. (Yes, Beans, that's much better than two middle fingers up. Just sayin')
One of my other projects that I am getting better at is turning pens (and pencils) on the lathe. I'm about halfway through with this pen.
While there are loads of ways to screw it up still available prior to completion, I think this one is turning out quite well. The finish looks even better than the photo conveys. Update: I did screw it up, got out of order in installing the hardware and it's not ready for prime time. But, I've got a nicely polished pen on my desk. So...
On the Grandkid's front, our middle granddaughter is progressing nicely and her personality is becoming very prominent. For those new to the blog or may have forgotten, she was born at 27 weeks and spent 6 months in Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit. She's overcoming that setback quite well and her personality is showing itself. In a good way.
She and her mom come up for dinner Wednesday's and Sunday's. A little socialization helps all four of us. Besides, I need to keep my cooking for more than two skills honed. And... Miss B is a hoot. She keeps me young.
We're cautiously optimistic about Little Juvat and they being reunited in their next assignment, and not wishing to jinx it, but some of the pieces of that process are starting to fall into place. Finger's crossed.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...
Things are quiet around here most of the time which is a good thing. Hope all is well with all y'all and hope all affected by Heather, "weather" the storm safely and without many issues.
Peace Out, y'all!
Even here in the North people tend to be incompetent at driving in winter conditions. There is a syndrome we call Michigan Amnesia where the first snow fall demonstrates that everyone has forgotten how to drive in snow and ice since last winter and the number of accidents skyrockets. Though I don't know if you can call them accidents as they are usually the results of rank stupidity.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
DeleteStupid is a large cause in a substantial number of things that end up on the evening news as well as a large number of ER visits. That having been said, while I have not managed to make it to the evening news, I have visited the ER a few times. Yes, stupidity was involved. However since my last ER visit, I have been a LOT more careful around my table saw.
juvat
The only folks safely driving on ice around these parts are those using the ice roads the resorts on the lakes set up to position their rental fish houses once enough ice thickness is reached. That's only happening now since temps have dropped below freezing in the last six days and below one above since Saturday night, minus eight now.....brrrrrr! Good to see Miss B is keeping the two of you on your toes! Stay warm juvat......:)
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteI can see that, but, never having done it, doesn't ice fishing involve a hole in the ice near where the hut is sitting? Wouldn't that up the risk of turning your vehicle into a submarine? Beans has always wanted to be a submariner.
Just sayin'
juvat
Some fish houses have holes inside the structure to fish in, try www.icecastlefh.com and see the interiors on these "fish houses". Then there are the man portable sleds you tow out on the ice and set up a frame n' fabric tent that you sit in to fish. Yup, vehicles out on the ice, need 12 & more inches of ice for that. Try www.fishingforducks.org & scroll halfway down the first page to see the number of people & vehicles ON the ice.
DeleteNylon,
DeleteHoly Mackeral! (See what I did there?) That's a lot of weight on the ice there. And yes, I could probably fish out of one of those fish houses. Only 12"? Given the life expectancy briefing we got at winter water survival training at Kunsan (a few minutes), I'd want quite a bit more than that before I ventured out in one though.
juvat
"drive on ice"
ReplyDeleteI once hit a small patch of ice on HWY 29 between Middletown and Calistoga. Make a 360 before leaving that patch. It was.....interesting.
In general Californians are also pretty sucky about driving on ice, snow, wet roads. My only wet road story - Mid-September of 2018, second rain of the season - we'd had about 0.05 inches two days before, and had about 0.01" on this morning. Ramp from Farmers Lane to WB Hwy, 12, had driven it hundreds of times. I must have it it just right as I accelerated up the ramp and lost traction. I overcorrected and the Tundra did a 180 and hit the kerb hard. Hard enough to break the bead on the passenger side tyres. Got out, looked, both flat. Waited for a break in traffic and pulled over to the wide pull off on the right side of the road. Called work, called Lisa, Called AAA. Watched in my rear view as a bunch of other vehicles fishtailed in the same spot where I had lost traction. Then one, I think it was a Ford Ranger, fishtailed, went onto its side, and slid. Slid right towards me. "OHCARP!" thought I. Stopped about 10 feet from me. Helped him out of his vehicle, let him use my cell phone to call his wife. Then my tow showed up. Got loaded up, went to the tyre shop, they were able to remount the tyers. But the vehilde wasn't the same. Still tracked, but a few months later had to replace wheel bearings. One hinge on the toneau (sp?) cover ended up breaking, little things like that.
Joe,
DeleteI did a similar thing going over an overpass in Lubbock, while in college. I was in my first car, a Chevy Vega. Nobody else was on the road (which should have told me something). Got to the top of the overpass and wondered if there was ice on it. About that time, the Big Guy decided to send a gust of wind towards me. 2 360's later I came to a stop against the curb on the other side of the road. The Vega never quite drove the same again. But, lesson learned. Nobody drives well on ice.
juvat
You had a Vega? In college I had a 1972 Vega Hatchback, 2-speed slip&slide transmission. Good car in general.
DeleteYep, Spirit of America version. HS Graduation present, they paid half, I paid the rest. Paid it off that summer before I went to College. 73 year model I believe.
Deletejuvat
Back when cars were simple and affordable.
DeleteBeans,
DeleteAnd in that particular case unfortunately, "not well made".
juvat
There is that. But I miss cars with roll-down windows.
DeleteI don't know. I like pushing buttons.
Deletejuvat
Not much you can do with ice on the roads... if your boots need chains to make it to the car you should have stayed in the house... Good luck!
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteThat's a pretty good and effective rule of thumb. I'll pass it on to my grandchildren.
juvat
Juvat, best be safe. I did my own version of "go to the grocery store to prepare for the natural emergency". The amount of stripped shelves and obvious lack of preparedness for things like Winter leave me depressed about the actual future of Western civilization. It is as if we had a collective memory purge ten years ago or so about how one should generally prepare.
ReplyDeleteIce is no joke, driving or walking.
Been praying that the Little J situation will work. I say that - given my track record, that is probably the least useful thing for him (e.g., it seldom goes as I pray for). Very nice to see that Miss B is "on track", as it were.
THBB,
DeleteYeah, much the same here. Went to the store for the big stockup, and a lot of stuff wasn't available. Fortunately, the stuff on my list was still there, so I've got that going for me. I forgot one item on the list that Mrs J wanted, so went back later. To HEB's credit, the store was pretty well restocked. Which I thought was interesting.
Thanks for the prayers, they're much appreciated.
juvat
Driving on ice? No, no thank you.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, only in a life or death emergency.
Deletejuvat
Me and my favorite HS teacher, TD, were coming back to the 'burg after visiting a Computer Nerd meeting in Lubbock (late 70's). It was late, and had started sleeting. We were creeping up an overpass on 87 north of Lubbock when some small car flashed by in the left lane. They did a few spins and landed tail first in the median on the downhill side. TD rolled down the window and hollered, "everyone okay?" The driver yelled back, "yeah, thanks!" Then a weak voice from the back seat said "got a roll of toilet paper with you?" We all laughed and we drove off. I think I remember calling a number for them when we got to TD's place.
ReplyDeleteI remember driving in the bar ditch to get to school when I couldn't climb a slight rise on the icy road. Ice ain't no fun atoll.
Maybe you can brand your pen sets as Uncle Blem's Cut Rate Ciphering Sticks. Keep warm up there. It was cold here this am, and I had to break out the ice scraper!! Probably one of the three that exist in this county.
STxAR,
DeleteYeah, I had a couple of those incidents going to and from Lubbock. Coulda been Snow, Ice or Rain, but add in 20+ knots of cross wind and you could be off the road in a matter of seconds. Good news was there generally wasn't much vertical distance from the road surface to Rancher Rick's land, so no blood, no foul...Usually.
Yep, turned on the truck and the defrost first thing, then started scrapping. Gave up after about 5 minutes with about a 6"x6" hole in the ice. Went back in the house , leaving the motor running and had another cuppa coffee. 20 minutes later, voila'. Had to go get the linens from our guest house. Mission critical right there!
Good idea about the pens, thanks.
juvat
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Drove on snow for 3 winters long ago while stationed on Da Griff, thank the good Lord for Front Wheel Drive! Never had a crash, but it could be interesting if the salt truck hadn't made it out yet.
ReplyDeleteYep, ice is a totally different thing. TV shop I worked for in college had a bit of a hill to get into the parking lot from the rear. That's how I usually approached the premises. January 1978 it was, we had an ice storm. 1/2" ice on everything. I went to work as usual. Slid a little on the way, but when I go to the slight hill, I went up, spun the rear wheels, and slowly came back down. Tried it twice more, no joy. Had to park elsewhere and walk (and slip and slide). When I got in the shop, owner had a rather astonished look, admitted he almost didn't make it in either. That was the last time I drove on ice!
Juvat, never seen a nicer IT waiting room than the cedar planked version you built. At least while working on the inevitable IT snafu, you'll be comfy in the nice chair. Kudos! And kudos on granddaughter's progress, very good to hear.
COTT,
DeleteI'll bet your boss was surprised. Did he call the other employees and tell them that you made it why hadn't they?
Thanks, It did turn out pretty nice, The pen would have been nice also, if I'd have read the directions on which order to put it together!
Instructions? We don't need no STEENKING instructions!
juvat
Crusty Old TV Tech again. No need to call the other employees, I was it! Owner was an old friend of the family, former neighbor, and knew I was capable of working on electronics...so, it was my first job out of High School, and probably the best boss of all to date. It helped also that my father had a small TV repair business, and gave his customer list to the shop's owner long before.
DeleteCOTT,
DeleteNice to have friends, isn't it. Makes things a lot easier and happier.
juvat
Just to be a contrary old b...d
ReplyDeleteI love driving on ice; it keeps the chickens in the hen house and I can get where I'm going in 1/10 the time.
I only had an interesting experience one time (and it was on one of those a flat, wide roads that run 4-6 lane depending) with light winter morning traffic outside of and leading into (G-d help us) Portland (yes! Orygun) where I hit a patch, did a 360, and just kept going.
The driver behind me caught up at the next light (it's a long one) opened his window to say "Boy, were you lucky!"
"Nah! (that's a NYC "nah" with a Bronx accent) Just feeling frisky. It's a great mornin' to play road doodles; y' gotta try it some time."
Boron,
DeleteTraffic must be horrible where you live. Driving on ice results in a 90% reduction in travel time? Wow! Although I guess, a steady 10MPH does get you somewhere faster than 0MPH. Plus you're likely to get a nice cardiac workout in the former. I generally get an excellent one in the latter though.
juvat
This was 20 years ago.
DeleteSince then, I've moved to one of those sand bars in the Gulf that the gubbmint's climatologists are consistently screaming on the indoctrination centers (aka TVs) need to be evacuated whenever they see a mild counter-clockwise movement of air.
Traffic's (as well as the prices in Publix) only bad when the geese land (winter migration pattern, y'know).
Boron,
DeleteYeah, the 'Burg is a big tourist town also. But, luckily it's pretty much confined to Main Street and the wineries in the area. While I like wine and have quite a few friends in the industry, we don't visit wineries often. And I do my darndest to stay off Main Street and any cost. You'd think that folks would see that it's a major US Highway and there are many 18 wheelers that use it and then not jay walk. Nope. Texans are known for being Friendly. I don't get friendly when I have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting someone crossing in the middle of the block.
Well, that was my rant for the week. Hopefully your sand bar isn't that bad.
juvat
Ah, the HEB. Sounds like an interesting place. Heyahhh in Florida we have Publixes everywhere. And after Florida took 4 hurricanes in 2004, Publix Corporate mandated all stores to have diesel gen-sets with a week's worth of fuel. And they have diesel trucks on hold to refill whichever Publix is still standing and needs fuel. Don't mess with Publix.
ReplyDeleteI'm making my Publix run today and not Wednesday because for several reasons. Almost outa butta, which I'll get from Sams (4 boxes for the price of 2 at Publix) and some other things are getting low (subtle hint: don't go shopping when head is on fire from fever, of which I didn't know last week when I went until I got home and almost passed out putting groceries away. this year's crud is just hanging on.) And tomorrow we're expecting like 2-4 inches of rain, with temps going from 64 to 32 in a 10 hour time period. So that's gonna suck, but Wednesday we're expecting 50s to 30s and very windy. So out today, on a Monday, when Mondays suck because Monday.
As to driving on ice, done it, meh, not bad. You just have to line up on the upwind side of the road ice and expect to recover on the far downwind side. How did I, a Southerner, learn to drive on ice? Simple. Dad refused to put new tires on the 72 Olds 98 (with the big 454 engine, what a ride) and I went through an intersection on bald tires on the corner of A1A and the Eau Gallie Causeway road right after a hard fast rain. I turned left and kept spinning, doing at least 3 full rotations until coming out pointing north at the correct lane and kept driving. It was very interesting watching everyone's faces flash by as I rotated and rotated.
After that, ice? Meh. Stay home or drive slow. Of which I had to do in December of 1989 when we went from 70s to 10s during a rain storm on December 23rd. We thawed out enough to head down for Christmas in Satellite Beach but hit icy patches on 441. Again, not a problem.
The one time we went to the Smokies to stay in a cabin for New Years I bought tire chains. Didn't have to use them. Thankfully.
Winter storm Heather. Or as other people would call it... Weather.
Stay warm, my friend.
Beans,
DeleteWish we had a SAMS a tad closer to us. Closest is in San Antonio, about an hour and a half away. Austin has one also, but...Austin!
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
juvat
It's all good!
ReplyDeleteHousing the homeless IT bits.
Little J negotiations.
Miss B smiling.
Mrs J. looking good- hope the docs agree with that.
Driving on ice- done some, carefully, mostly, but without any damage, so must be doing something right.
JB
JB,
DeleteThanks. Done some driving on ice out of necessity of some reason or another. Would rather not, but...sometimes. Now landing a Jet on a waterlogged runway with a cross wind right at the limits. Now that'll get your heart rate up.
juvat
Driving on ice? UGH!! That's my opinion. Can I do it, yes...do I like to do it? Heck NO!! And I grew up in Upstate NY, and learned to drive in Oneonta NY which is down wind of the Finger Lakes...and snows heavily from mid October right straight through until mid April when the sun comes out after being MIA for 6 months and the birds start singing again. My roommate had a pinto hatch back she taught me on.
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing to remember about driving on ice is DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE EVER TOUCH THE BRAKES!! Never, ever!! Pop it into neutral before touching the brake! It helps prevent the spins. And if ya absolutely hafta go out--like life and death have to--go SLOW, take your time, and give everyone else a lot of room to do whatever stupid thing they are gonna do. When we are forecast to have even heavy snow, I call my patients, and they will say "Don't come!! Wait until it's over!!" Which I am more than happy to accommodate.
Miss B is looking great!! As is Mrs J!! Keeping fingers crossed the stars aline for Little J and family.
Suz
Suz,
DeleteI hadn't heard that about putting it in neutral. Sounds like a good idea. Thanks.
Yep, both Ladies are doing pretty good all things considered.
Again, Thanks.
juvat
There is one time to apply brakes. After getting out of the driveway onto the street (with no traffic) and barely moving, tromp on the brakes. If the antiskid starts chattering (or worse), then proceed very very carefully.
DeleteGood point! Figure out how crappy street conditions really are. Make decisions at that point.
Deletejuvat
Another subtle sign was on an icy road from I29 east into NM. A snowplow had just been through, so the road was as good as it would ever get that day. Then the tracks showed the snowplow had left the road, plowed about a hundred yards of ditch, and came back on the road to resume plowing. I decided I had plenty of time, so very slow was good.
DeleteDon,
DeleteVery observant. Not quite Sherlock Holmes-esque, but good nonetheless.
juvat
I drive on Mud+Snow tires year around here in Colorado and rarely have a problem. Part of that is having been a licensed driver for 65 years. Some people I respect are now carrying "snow socks" for icy conditions. Much easier to install than traditional chains.
ReplyDeleteWSF,
DeleteHadn't heard about those, might have to look into them. Thanks!
juvat
Good news and stay warm!!!
ReplyDeleteYou also. It's a nice day down here except for the temperature. But so far so good.
Deletejuvat