Winter getting a good early start.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

If my daughter’s dorm in Norman loses power I’m sending her to your place! Don’t worry, she assured me they have enough wine to survive for quite a few days.

Send her up if needed.

It was 7 degrees when I got up and dressed. About 3 inches of very dry snow. Once it gets warmer, like 12 or 13 degrees I plan to use my snow blower to blow off the driveway. My FIL used to say this is the type of snow you can pile up, and set it on fire it is so dry. I think that was a slight exaggeration.

[john70t]

No water this morning. Either my pipes froze, or there was break in a city main somewhere on this leg.

One thing that helps is to leave a faucet dripping.
(Moving water doesn't freeze.)

[javadog]

Who got my snow?

I'm enjoying the many walk-backs of the Great Snowmaggedon of 2026 by the weather guessers this morning...

[rwest]

I worked for a city before I retired over two years ago and I was the main contact for the electric company and we had a contract with them that gave us a reduced rate if we had the ability to go on generator at their request.

I still get the email alerts on my personal email (I have tried to get them to remove it!)and they had sent the request for this morning for an electrical curtailment from 6-10 am, so they must have needed extra capacity today or had a grid problem.

The contract has penalties if you don’t comply; we couldn’t do it one time and it cost us $4,000! Hopefully the guy that has my job got the call!

-8F here right now and I have a 4 mile run on my training program- brrr I need to bundle up good.

[stevej37]

Our low last night was -21F....and I was outside for shoveling the walkway.

With no wind at all....-21 doesn't seem that cold. I didn't mind it one bit, but I was only out there for 10 minutes or so.

[JackDidley]

It was 8 degrees whnen I got up today. Light snow started about 2 hours ago but now its coming pretty steady. I was out in the car and the traction control came on once and the active handling came on when I got sideways at about 40 MPH. Probably be 2 or 3 days before I get back out.

[pavulon]

-29F at 0600. Changed out a car battery at -10F just a bit ago. Grateful it's not windy.

[flatbutt]

Im as ready as I can be but if it gets bad enough, I'll be at squad headquarters for most of it...even a power outage.

I emptied a 5 gallon jug of gas into the truck so I could refill with fresh fuel. I was wearing thin wool gloves figuring I'm only out there for 5 minutes at most. Lost all feeling in my hands before I was done!

[john70t]

Originally Posted by john70t

No water this morning. Either my pipes froze, or there was break in a city main somewhere on this leg.

One thing that helps is to leave a faucet dripping.
(Moving water doesn't freeze.)

Neighbors have water. City supply is good to this area.
Waved a heat gun across interior pipes.
Used an infrared thermometer a bit later. 55 degrees at the meter.
Cracked the basement tub sink faucet. It's dribbled but that might be from interior.
Called the city emergency on a Saturday. They couldn't access records (should be paid up I just went in).
Now heating up snow for flush water. And possible drinking with boiling.

Only conclusion is the supply pipes from the street froze.

edit: Another possibility is that my newer "Smart Meter" has been hacked.
This was mandated by The City a few years ago.
I 'opted out' until they gave me warning letters of $50/mo fines.
The old system had remote connectivity and worked fine. Bills since then went from ~$20/mo to $50/mo average.
Even with two of three tenants not being at the rental most of the time.


I had the Orangeberg sewer main dug up and replaced a few years ago by a local family company. Father and kids doing summer job.
Gave them a big cash bonus, a ladder, and a restored bike with $120 new parts.
Owner took my nice grow dirt and back filled with crap sand. Didn't save my ground cover vinca and could have.
Yard sunk about 1-2ft, sidewalk had to be replaced, street connection cutout has recently sunk a few inches.
Not a happy camper right now.

[rwest]

I don’t think the meter has the ability to shut off flow, just reads amount of flow.

Does the meter have a coupling on the pipe? Maybe, but you also might regret it too, but could you slightly crack open the fitting and see if water drips out?

[john70t]

Good point. It might not even have a physical shutoff. IDK.
It is internet connected with a sketchy chain. Home->Company->City and Customer.

At the moment I am a bit ticked at something or someone somewhere who done wrong.
I seek answers.
Paying $24k/yr prop tax on two small old houses and resorting to caveman lifestyle. City won't guarantee service to the meter.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

We have officially entered cowboy mode.

[stevej37]

^^^ Nice!...do you need/have tire chains for that?

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Cowboys don't need chains!
In reality... The AGs do pretty good at parting snow. With all the wheel weights and pocket weights, they dig right down to ground. It's a weird sensation. Those tires dig straight down to the ground, once they hit terra firma, then they go forward.

If it gets icy, I've got chains, but in my advanced age, I will be too lazy to install them. If that can't clear the driveway- then no one else is making it, and the office is CLOSED.

[stevej37]

Yeah...installing chains isn't fun.
I had them for an old JD years ago...hated putting those things on.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Yeah, I think about all the chains I've installed. The best of times. The worst of times. Eventually the snow all melts anyways. I'm out for maximum "at least I'm enjoying the ride" type fun.

edit- I'm a little bummed this storm didn't warrant the snowblower attachment. Now THAT would make the chains worth it!!!!

[TimT]

I got to change a tire this morning... 7 deg F... loads of fun

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It was 7 degrees when I got up and dressed. About 3 inches of very dry snow. Once it gets warmer, like 12 or 13 degrees I plan to use my snow blower to blow off the driveway.

That sounds like snow that you could "shovel" with a leaf blower! Or, I've seen folks online using a big sheet of thin plywood. When we lived in Japan, they had things that were kind of like a cross between a snow shovel and a wheelbarrow (without the wheel) that you could use to push/scoop the snow in a big wide path which is great if it's dry snow...

Originally Posted by john70t

No water this morning. Either my pipes froze, or there was break in a city main somewhere on this leg.

One thing that helps is to leave a faucet dripping.
(Moving water doesn't freeze.)

Yikes! That sucks! Hope you get things figured out and manage!

Originally Posted by rwest

I worked for a city before I retired over two years ago and I was the main contact for the electric company and we had a contract with them that gave us a reduced rate if we had the ability to go on generator at their request.

I still get the email alerts on my personal email (I have tried to get them to remove it!)and they had sent the request for this morning for an electrical curtailment from 6-10 am, so they must have needed extra capacity today or had a grid problem.

The contract has penalties if you don’t comply; we couldn’t do it one time and it cost us $4,000! Hopefully the guy that has my job got the call!

-8F here right now and I have a 4 mile run on my training program- brrr I need to bundle up good.

Wow, crazy. Hopefully, they don't target you with a fine. I'm sure you could get out of it, but that wouldn't make it less of a PITA to deal with.

Originally Posted by john70t

Neighbors have water. City supply is good to this area.
Waved a heat gun across interior pipes.
Used an infrared thermometer a bit later. 55 degrees at the meter.
Cracked the basement tub sink faucet. It's dribbled but that might be from interior.
Called the city emergency on a Saturday. They couldn't access records (should be paid up I just went in).
Now heating up snow for flush water. And possible drinking with boiling.

[B]Only conclusion is the supply pipes from the street froze.

Not a happy camper right now.

What a bum deal all around.

Originally Posted by john70t

At the moment I am a bit ticked at something or someone somewhere who done wrong.
I seek answers.
Paying $24k/yr prop tax on two small old houses and resorting to caveman lifestyle. City won't guarantee service to the meter.

Wow, 24k/yr!

I'd be a grumpy mofo either with the 24k/yr or with the water problems that you're having. With both....

Good luck!

[masraum]

It was 38º when I woke up and wandered downstairs. Within an hour, it was 37º. It was 37º all day until about 30 mins ago, now it's 35º. I assume this is the beginning of our temp drop for the night.

The Internet weather people say that we should hit 32º about 930, and it should start raining at about 10. It should rain for 4-6 hours.

I saw a thing today that said that the cold air layer is forecast to be low and thin with the air above being warmer (hence the freezing rain). They said that if the cold layer was thicker, that instead of freezing rain, you get sleet because the rain freezes on the way down, and sleet is better than freezing rain, because it doesn't create a heavy coating on trees and power lines causing outages. I'm hoping for sleet!

[rwest]

Hi Steve,

No worries about them trying to fine me, it would be on the City’s electrical bill. There are several other people who get the message and some also get a phone call including police dispatch who are then supposed call staff- they usually just hang up on the call though!

They allow for a bunch of auto contacts, so I added my personal email many, many years ago so I wouldn’t miss it. Xcel doesn’t give a lot of notice, maybe an hour or so.

Just one of many parts of the job I don’t miss one bit.

Rutager