Monday, February 22, 2021

Sunshine and Lollipops and Rainbows

Well, actually, no lollipops. I can't eat the hard candy. It sounded good at the time, though.

Sunshine, however is in full force.  It's spring again in Texas. Things are not back to normal in most of the state, between electricity and water and other issues. But the freeze is gone. There is no snow or ice or wet anything to be seen anytime anywhere. Water here is good, power here is good, it is warm. I am not looking forward to my electric bill next month even at fixed rate. While the one hour and off may have lightened the overall load, my fridge and freezer reset every hour plus the extra heat seem to have kept my use, well, high. Instead of at my normal 65 KWH to 75 KWH max usage (which is already high). Fortunately I have a fixed not variable rate and am not one of those companies that you are hearing about where I pay exact cost of usage. 
Yesterday it was also 75, Spring being Sprung and all tha


And the rainbows?  The crafty items that I ordered before the zombie snow/ice-mageddon apocalypse have started trickling in. Namely the fabric shown below and the set of 72 pencils in all the hues of the proverbial rainbow. The purpose of the pencils primarily being to help me sketch modern and mainly spontaneous blocks/quilts from the fabric.  After much perusal of said pencils, I think I have the closest matches to the  small bundle to begin playing with. Being me of course, I also need to spend time checking out the names for every color. Some of which are obvious, some less so. Basil, that one is obvious. Tuscan Sun, a little less so.





Also under the heading of color I suppose, my daughter came over yesterday and put together my TV. Or rather, she pulled said TV out of the box, had it standing on the TV stand and turned it on when we realize the screen was completely damaged. So in actuality she put a TV together, put it back in the box and exchanged it, took another (same model) TV and put together and I now have a much larger screen and better picture. 



I took a brief spin today both to get out and to get the necessities of life. Coke, sparkling water and milk (which is hard as hell to find because the dairies all lost power and had to throw out their milk). Everything else can wait till the big shop at the end of the week. If I have to use frozen vegetables and meat and fruits, so be it.

While this is deserving of it's own (probably long) missive at a later time, I'll just say that this little episode has had me rethinking my very small "prep" strategy. While the period was short for me, many others have been without water, electricity or heat for more than a week. It's not just that though. As a fellow on my city facebook page said this morning, we are all set to the expectation that unanticipated interruptions will not happen (so every one has low to no inventory) which is true up to 90 percent of the time. But the other ten percent of the time? We should all be better prepared for it to happen because when it does, it's pretty awful.  And that doesnt take into account illnesses, Covid not wanting to leave the house problems, temporary financial and other issues. 

Personally, I was pretty well off simply because I shop monthly to every two weeks and fill in with the fresh/sale stuff. So in my case my immediate plan on the emergent side is to have much more water stored, paper products to eat off of (so I dont HAVE to boil to wash) and a few more cans of heat and eat type stuff. Before I put my list making self to work on the other issues. In a perfect world, I have plenty of time to do this now that the crisis of the decade has past.

If we had a perfect world that is.

Today, once again I can walk in a long shirt and nothing else to get the mail. All is good.

28 comments:

  1. I am so glad you have water and power! I can't imagine why anyone would not do a fixed rate. The guy who had his electiric bill debited from his account was in a bit of a surprise when it was over 16,000. How awful!

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    1. Well the thing is that in the normal times Griddy dispenses energy at the wholesale cost which is 30 percent less. In the normal times...

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  2. Beautiful colors and I bet you will enjoy your new TV a lot. Living on earthquake and wildfire prone S Cal our emergency prep includes food that can be eaten as is. Unless you have an outdoor grill there is no guarantee you can heat anything. Lots and lots of water, dry shampoo, paper goods of all sorts, extra batteries for everything, emergency foil blankets, etc. I still need to get heavy gauge plastic to staple over broken windows and make sure we have enough of the dog’s meds at all times to keep her alive. Thinking of a solar powered lantern and charger. It is an ongoing effort.

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  3. I would not even have thought od dry shampoo

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  4. The recent TX situation has reminded me that we need to buy a generator, and need to stock up on portable water. We live in wildfire area (and earthquakes) & are well sorted on the food side, but need to plan better for the infrastructure side.

    Glad live is returning to normal for you.

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    1. Yea it must be really difficult when earthquakes, wild fires come into play..

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  5. Glad to know you're okay. And it must be a relief to know it's going to hit 70 in a couple of days. Warms the soul!

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    1. It was 75 yesterday so I am thrilled. back to normal

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  6. Good to know you are getting services back-I am so sorry for those that are getting pummeled with their utilities. Yes, fresh water will be on my next shopping list-both bottles for drinking, and a list to prepare, like quick-fill the bath tub.

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    1. I did not quick fill the bathtub (and actually took one shower) but there was only me and I had multiple bowls that could have been used for flushing. If it were more than me, it would have been done.

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  7. I have a dumb question for you. I read online that people knew more than a week before the storm. I'm sure no one thought how bad it would be but there were people on tv saying they ran out of food. I live in the Northeast and when the word snow is being said, people stock up. Didn't people believe the forecast or thought everything would be ok.

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    1. Well lets see if I can not make this a book. there are no dumb questions but as I told the guy yesterday on my Next door who started his comment with "In Michigan, we"... This is not Michigan or the Northeast (I lived in Connecticut for many years) or Pennsylvania or Montana. I literally do not own a coat or a pair of boots. 1. The average snowfall in Dallas is one inch, and the highest drifts were eight inches. our definitions of snow are different. San Antonio gets no snow, and the arctic snow certainly doesnt hit the Gulf of Mexico. No one was prepared for this. Cold, yes. 2. The reason there is no food is because of the grid completely failing the entire state. In many places we COULD leave our homes, my daughter drove to work daily. No power, no heat, no gas, no water means absolutely no cooking. It means the restaurants threw out food. It means the grocery stores all threw out food and that there was absolutely no way to cook said food. I could go to the store today. I was damned lucky to get milk. I threw out much of my fridge. it has warmed up so stores and people can't put the food outside to store it. Also, when I lived in Connecticut we didnt start running to the store because there were things we keep all year along. 3. Our roads and our infrastructure are not snow, ice and cold weather ready, so transportation came to a halt. Someone brought me food, which was why I was able to eat much of the time. We are a wide and varying country and we are not all the same. I expect that southern New Mexico, Florida, southern California and Arizona all would be in the same situation as e care. But the short answer is the complete failure of power and water and the fact that when it snows in Texas, you go out the next day or the day after. Imagine if you will that instead of a few hour blackout where a bunch of babies are made, the entire eastern seaboard grid loses it's power and water and it's 120 degrees. An

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    2. In AL we are prepared for tornadoes which covers most everything! But, I understand you were not ready for days of no electricity and temps so cold.

      Maybe you should get a light coat you can wear over layers.

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    3. Thanks for answering. Living in PA we lost power for 5 days from a tornado years ago. We lost water due to a well but no pipes bursting like I saw on tv. I would think there is no reason for coasts of boots but wondered why no one had food that didn't need cooked.

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    4. You're right about leaving the house the next day or so. Even with over 20 inches years ago it only stopped us for oneday.

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  8. I'm happy to hear things are getting back to normal for you. Like others, I'm so sorry for those who have been horribly impacted by not only the storm, but by unscrupulous utility companies.

    Your idea of having on hand water, paper products and items that can be easily heated is a good one.

    Take care, stay well.

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    1. Thank you my dear. I am grateful that I am mainly back to normal.

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  9. I keep 14 gallons of water in hand, a solar cooker, flashlight, six month supply of canned vegetables, dried mangoes, peanut butter, crackers, one months supply of canned milk, dog food, cat food, one years supply of dried beans, but that is because of hurricanes, and tornadoes, and because I live in the boonies and do not want to do a one hour round trip every time I need something. The closest restaurant and grocery store are 20 miles, one way. I am NOT prepared for a week of cold weather. I mean, I do have a pair of long johns, a sleeping bag rated for ten degrees, a couple of quilts, but no way to cook food if the sun is not out. I am not my grandmother, she had a wood stove to cook on and I do not know how to build a fire in one. Yikes. I would have zero heat in my all electric house.

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    1. And see, south of Dallas until you get to houston there are pretty much no tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards or fire issues. One of the many reasons I moved here. Rain storms,triple digit heat, and maybe a one day ice storm. I might have to get a coat next year.

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    2. And yes, my daughter has a fireplace although she had a hell of a time finding wood after day two . I suppose a charcoal grill would be helpful..

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    3. Yeah, I have no idea how to handle a week without heat in my all electric house. So, I would be in a mess if what happened to Texas happened here. Our houses are built for protecting us from heat, not cold. I easily handle temps above 100 for a week. Cindy in the South

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  10. It's good to read your blog tonight---can't help worrying about you guys down in Texas right now. Glad you're discomfort was minimal compared to others.

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  11. I love the comment 'I might have to get a coat next year.' I also find it interesting to read how people in other parts of the country prepare for the weather emergencies that are likely to affect them. I doubt anyone could have prepped and stockpiled enough for such a rare occurrence and I send positive thoughts to everyone recovering from the catastrophe.

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  12. "Expect the unexpected" is our mantra and it's been proven right so many times. Glad you're OK and the sun's shining.

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  13. Phew, you have really had some harrowing times in Texas. So happy you have heat and water and don't need to mortgage the farm to pay your light bill. WE are looking at almost 70 degrees today and hope same for you. Never thought brown grass would look so good.

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    1. Yes. Dry and in the seventies which helps everything

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