Getting tired of the cold....my rant.

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted By: Tzu
…….. Last week I had to take a day off work because the water line coming from under the road froze deep because of the clear roads allowing the frost to go deeper than normal. It has never happened in my 24 years of living in this house……...


How were you able to thaw the supply pipe?

 

[shinyWheels]

Us folks in CA are getting tired of the water drought. We just need a pipeline to bring water in from the eastern states to the west coast.

 

[CharBaby]

Yeah, I hear ya!

We just keep getting this flurry all day/night. Good think it's still fluffy powder and not that heavy wet snow! Temperatures are in the minus' in the morning and in the low teens the rest of the day!

We're supposed to get above 32 degrees F later/maybe next week, IDK!

 

[bradepb]

Highs in the upper 40's all next week , I am excited. This winter has been bad but nothing like last year.

 

[CharBaby]

Although the winter has been very cold/snowy for all of us, some got it worst than others, i.e. Boston, Buffalo!

 

[IndyIan]

Practically speaking, its been easier dealing with the near constant cold temperatures than a half dozen thaw and freeze cycles. I've been able to plow the driveway down to the gravel all winter, and move the snow banks back as they've never thawed and frozen again. No ice around the barn either. The cars seem to start easily in -20C so its no big deal.
Snowmobiling and snow shoeing has been great too. We have gone through some more wood than normal, but there's lots left.
I wouldn't mind a few more days that were just below freezing, but overall I could handle winters like this all the time. I like it much better than a winter with little snow and constant thawing and freezing.

 

[Tzu]

A local village in a neighboring town was sharing their generator/welder with our village to heat up the water lines with electricity. After unsuccessfully trying to back flow hot pulsing water through our supply line in hopes of melting the ice blockage, a welder was brought in going from a water hydrant across the street to our water pipe in the basement. Took 45 minutes to open up, but they said they used it recently to melt a 4"water line that froze up. Took 5 hrs of current flowing through it to get running water again. Nearby village unfreezing residential pipes 7 days a week. The village disconnected my water meter because I was told to keep a tap on 1/3 the way for the next month. I was without water for only 1 day.
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
Originally Posted By: Tzu
…….. Last week I had to take a day off work because the water line coming from under the road froze deep because of the clear roads allowing the frost to go deeper than normal. It has never happened in my 24 years of living in this house……...


How were you able to thaw the supply pipe?

 

[eljefino]

^ service!

 

[zzyzzx]

How hard would it be to dig out a part of your lawn for your dog to use as a bathroom? Obligatory comment about how you should get a cat next time.

Anyway, what's up with your car being so hard to start? Even on really cold days here my car started right up. I'm talking mid to high single digit degrees F. And that's on a 1995 Escort with 227K miles, 4 years into a 5 year battery. It probably helps that I had recently cleaned and regapped the spark plugs and installed new Motorcraft plug wires. I am really thinking that you have some sort of car issue. Even someone posted above me in Canada said his car started right up.

 

[Tzu]

If we had a couple more thaw cycles thrown into this winter, maybe a lot of the ice dams damaging people's houses could have melted some. Last year was bad and the roads turned to pothole central. This year there was no thaw at all, and our roads are still crumbling and heaving to the point of temporary signs warning drivers going up. Some have "rough roads" and such. I'm happy you like the cold, but I just wish it would moderate some. Global warming is funny. So funny that we broke another low temperature in Buffalo this morning at -1F, but thankfully not much wind until late morning.
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Practically speaking, its been easier dealing with the near constant cold temperatures than a half dozen thaw and freeze cycles. I've been able to plow the driveway down to the gravel all winter, and move the snow banks back as they've never thawed and frozen again. No ice around the barn either. The cars seem to start easily in -20C so its no big deal.
Snowmobiling and snow shoeing has been great too. We have gone through some more wood than normal, but there's lots left.
I wouldn't mind a few more days that were just below freezing, but overall I could handle winters like this all the time. I like it much better than a winter with little snow and constant thawing and freezing.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: bradepb
Highs in the upper 40's all next week , I am excited.


We are supposed to get mid 50's near 60 this next week. It's going to be nice to see the snow piles start to melt, for a change!

 

[Tzu]

My winter beater is a 1991 Camry with almost 310,000 miles. That might explain something there. My Impala 3800 unfortunately has an ignition switch problem that leaves it questionable to drive at times. I'm on page 4 of the waiting list at my local Chevy dealer for the recall. They say they are currently working on October 2014 recall customers. Wow

The yard is too deep to use my snowblower in now, but next year when we have yet another Artic winter, I'll start the dog run when there is less snow on the ground. I usually do that, but I expected some warming in February. Dumb me.

If I had the Impala, I'm sure it could do -20F no problem and be whisper quiet doing so, but I don't. That only has 238k on it and hasn't really ever made any troubling noises. Even at 5F, the Camry sounds ok, but below 0, it sounds nasty. Yeah, it always starts and I give it that. I guess it is just getting tired....

 

[supton]

We sprang for a trip to Disney this year. Not cheap, but I suspect that is not the only destination down south. Would a week of warmth and sun help? I am starting to seriously think about a vacation in (egads) the south every winter. I like the brutal cold and snow, but too much of a good thing is never a good thing.

I have noticed thought that the days getting longer is improving my mood. Although this time change effectively undoes that...

 

[antiqueshell]

Tzu, Unfortunately if the cold is bothering you that much you're going to have to move, I doubt that polar vortex is going to let up much because climate patterns like this usually set up for many years sometimes decades at a time.

 

[Whitewolf]

We are, finally, supposed to be above freezing this next week.

 

[Kestas]

I'm getting older, and the Michigan winters are affecting me in ways it never did before. Around March, toward the end of winter, I typically develop a low level fever (verified by thermometer) that lasts for weeks. It won't go away until I go to Florida for vacation. Once in Florida, the fever disappears the first day. I pretty much spend the whole vacation in Florida warming my body. My neighbors in Florida can't understand why I don't use air conditioning when I'm down there.

 

[andrewg]

My father lives south of Buffalo about 40 miles. I've visited him from the west coast several times.

Summers in Buffalo...nice and sunny but a bit too humid for me. Spring? Late...but very nice. Fall? Extraordinary.

Winter.........? No way. I hated it. As a curiosity it was an experience to see a western NY winter as I've not been in snow more than a foot or so where I live (unless I go up to the mountains). It completely impacts your life. Cars rust out to with all that salt they put on the roads. Annoying and destructive. Not for me.

But really....you folks endure this cold and snow every year. I don't know WHY YOU DO IT unless a career and family prevent you from moving.

My father is now in his mid-seventies and suffers through it as some silly point of pride. I expect one day soon he will die of a heart attack from shoveling his walk or slip and break a hip. Ridiculous.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Tzu
... Nearby village unfreezing residential pipes 7 days a week....

There's stuff like this happening in our area, as probably everywhere else here in the great white north.

I imagine building codes related to the frost line will be rewritten.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: shinyWheels
Us folks in CA are getting tired of the water drought. We just need a pipeline to bring water in from the eastern states to the west coast.


During the summer, it rains 6 days a week and they drain water out to the ocean to lower the water levels.

 

[andyd]

Heh heh My shipyard nights in winter time were brutal. Cold and windy. Standing on cold steel, I could feel the heat being sucked out of the soles of my feet.
This February was extreme. Cold and wind is typical, but never for so long. Snow, in my life, I've never seen such a snow pack.
Usually by now, crocuses are pushing though the nearly melted snow. They would need 2 1/2' stems to cheer me. Cheer up, we're gaining 2 minutes of daylight. The sun is as high today as it gets in early October.
The good news has been my old Ariens 24" snow blower. The repower with a 6.5 hoss Predator has allowed me to keep the driveways and door paths clear. Yesterday, I cleared out the drift that has trapped the Rat for over a month. It was over 3' in parts. I would work the Ariens straight into the drift until it started to climb. Back out and repeat. When I had a section undermined, I'd knock it down with a shovel. I gonna finish the job and take the Rat down off the stands.
I used suffer from SADD. My happy pills fixed that