Friday - so, here's the Texas weather report

Never in our thirty years at our house has the pool frozen.  Well, there's always a first time. 

This has been a record breaking ordeal.  And after the sweetness of Valentine's Day - a little snow,  comfy pants, good meal, and chocolate - the true test of marriage began as Texas Weather, Polar Vortex temps, and Snowmaggedon descended upon the fair land.   (We declared a rule - no cannibalism)

Rolling power outages started after early Monday 2/15 morning - 2am,  3 am, 6:45 am....and that did not roll. It stopped.  NO POWER and outside temp was  3 degrees.   Yikes.  Inside temp dropped rapidly. We had under counter drawers open, dripping faucets, and Ray rigged a space heater to our large propane grill tanks and brought it all into the house.  He then used a shovel to bust up pool ice. 

Electricity outages were spotty.  My work was fine so we drove the 15 minutes to Omega. Roads were dicey but not much traffic. One tech was there -Zach and I did work. Ray hung out.  We did our best and left around noon.  At home, it was futile - the pool froze again, pump was frozen. It was SO COLD.   We hunkered in one room with blankets and the heater. 

Continued outage.  Read by flashlight, went to bed under a mound of blankets. House temp - 55 or so. 

Tuesday dawned pretty - but bitter cold - 2 degrees. Still no power.  We headed to Omega - I worked. Ray hung.  We could microwave a hot lunch.  Afternoon - got to Ray's folks - they had power. We enjoyed a hot shower and a snooze.  Headed home - wanted to be there over night in case of pipe issues. 

Wednesday - awake and still no power.  House temp at 49 or so.  Back to Omega to warm up, charge up, communicate with the outside world. (Some friends had no power, others no water, it was a mess) After work, tried to find more propane for back up. Ha Ha! Too late for that.  We did go to Chili's nearby - open and warm and functioning - a hot meal was yummy. We feasted.  Home to continue our marriage test.  Still talking. Some laughter. We had alternated some meltdowns, but truly did pretty good. 

 Wednesday night - 11:45 pm - ding....power is on!!!!   Wow.  Heater started cranking.  No obvious water disasters appeared. Hot water working.  It took all night, but Thursday we awoke to our normal house temp. Hot shower felt great. Tasty breakfast in our own home - hooray.  Ray drove me to Omega to work, then came home  to do a deeper check of things. Too soon for the pool - lots more thawing must occur.  He picked me back up and now I'm catching up on blog posts, comments, and real world home stuff. 

We are happy and grateful we do have a house, food, light, etc. 

Texas, the state, failed in its infrastructure, response, etc. Reports from ten years ago showed what should have been done or upgraded to "winterize" wind turbines, natural gas flow, etc.  Nope - no doubt politics and money and greed truly caused this epic fail.  And sadly probably cost people their lives. 

Mother Nature.  Weather.  Climate changes.   Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise - Ben Franklin

Crazy from the Heat

Dateline - Texas (i.e Hell, Hades, Satan's home)  I have whined a lot this week and Ray's put up with it.  Earlier today this weather station showed 108. Ugh. I had brunch at a friend's house. When I came out my car thermometer read 112. Double Ugh!

Our pool is 95 degrees.............think about that. It's a spa, a lobster boil, not very refreshing, even warm for Ray.  Yes, we have a pool and this is a first world problem. I am aware. But I am whining.

Friday I left for work at 7:15 am and it was 85.  Ray (now semi-retired and off on Fridays) planned to mow our yard.  I told him, "Get it done before 9 am or 90 degrees. You only have 5 degrees to work with....).  I don't want to come home and find him passed out in the back yard. Triple Ugh!

I've used the heat excuse for not really cooking, not really doing anything, and not doing a decent blog post.   This is my lazy Monday post done on Sunday night. I'm not proud of myself. I've been reading. I've been to some movies. I lack motivation.

So I'm turning off the comment section. I know you kind folks. You'll offer sympathy on the heat, and generally excuse my slack-off behavior.  Do not enable me, my friends. I shall get my act together.

A "cool" spell is promised....it might be only 99 on Tuesday and I shall kick back into gear. Until then...enjoy your "weather" wherever you are. And if you are whining at 80 degrees or so...yes, I'm calling you a wimp. Suck it up, buttercup!

Crazy from the Heat

 We hoped for rain this weekend. As of Saturday evening, this has not occurred. I whine. Oh, feel sorry for Ray because I whine this time of year.  August in Texas is a true glimpse of hell..........

Friday - 7:51 am it was 86 degrees F.  Yowza.........
When I walked across the prairie field at 1 pm to fetch our work mail, I returned and said, "It's you-almost-want-to-throw-up hot."  and my worker bee guys agreed. Soul sapping

Leaving work at 3:04 on Friday, the car registered 104F - that is insane.........

I got home and it was back to a "cool" 95.  So, yes, I am whining. Friends back east who claim it's "hot" - pshaw.......

I have faced hell, I am in hell, it's Dante Inferno hell...........

Cheers!   (And that's why I go to the movies........the cinema is air conditioned to the max - worth every bit of my $5 matinee price)

It's Only a Little Sleet

 Wednesday I got home from work and raked leaves. It was a balmy 78 F.  Then the north wind howled. By Thursday morning, it was 40 F and raw. Drizzle started mid-late afternoon and the temperatures fell below freezing. A nice glaze covered the streets. I awoke at 1 am to sleet pellets pounding the windowpane.
At 7 am, it was 28 degrees and we had ice covered with close to two inches of sleet. No work, no schools, huge cancellations and treacherous conditions. That's Texas.

 Ray was in Boston and tried to fly home on American Airlines. They cancelled over 1000 flights at DFW. He managed to get booked on Southwest Airlines through Houston to Love Field. An all day journey, plus trying to get a ride home. He understood my car was not leaving the garage.

 I did wander out back (careful to not slip into the pool) to take these icy wonderland pics. I'm fortunate that our power did not go out. So I stayed warm - read and watched Netflix, and of course had to keep looking out the window. Temperatures stayed at 28 F so not much melting occurred.

Our odd metal sculpture looks quite alien with icicles. Very cold predicted for the whole weekend. I think my car shall stay in the garage. Stay safe and warm, my friends.