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Get lagging and insulating I suggest :) and stay safe.
The home improvement stores are out of everything. We did place an order on Amazon for

2 thermal sleeping bags (good for life up to below -15)
2 new LED lamps (my current ones eat batteries way too quickly)
A tool to shut off water valve
2 indoor/ outdoor thermometers
1 more space heater
1 portable charger generator

None of it will be here in time, but it will help for next time

We also plan to get a light installed in the garage attic
Pipes insulated
and a new electrical outlet in the garage to handle bigger electrical equipment
 
Thanks! We did exactly as you suggested. The heating pad across the two of us and all the blankets on top. It worked out very well.
We would put the heating pad down under our feet (Warm feet = comfort). Also, if you have a wool stocking cap, wear it to bed. Most body heat is lost through the head. It helps!
 
The home improvement stores are out of everything. We did place an order on Amazon for

2 thermal sleeping bags (good for life up to below -15)
2 new LED lamps (my current ones eat batteries way too quickly)
A tool to shut off water valve
2 indoor/ outdoor thermometers
1 more space heater
1 portable charger generator

None of it will be here in time, but it will help for next time

We also plan to get a light installed in the garage attic
Pipes insulated
and a new electrical outlet in the garage to handle bigger electrical equipment
Good for you! We have a saying here in Montana," Closing the barn door after the horse get out." Sincerely
I wish you the best. I worked in Puerto Rico for a while and some of my technicians took me for a tour of the highlands. I looked out over the city of San Juan. I said "I don't see any stove pipes". " What are those?" I replied so you can burn wood in your house, they asked. Why would anyone ever want to do that?
 
I know back in the day my dad would wrap exposed pipes outside with old rags and newspapers help insulate with a black garbage bag on top. Think something like that would help if you have those items available. Right now we even have a heat lamp plugged in under the house for the North East kitchen sink pipes. That the only one that has been effected so far. We have copper pipes here.
 
We would put the heating pad down under our feet (Warm feet = comfort). Also, if you have a wool stocking cap, wear it to bed. Most body heat is lost through the head. It helps!
We actually did wear hats to sleep. I felt like a homeless person in a hat and the blankets pulled up to my nose, but hey, it worked.
 
I know back in the day my dad would wrap exposed pipes outside with old rags and newspapers help insulate with a black garbage bag on top. Think something like that would help if you have those items available. Right now we even have a heat lamp plugged in under the house for the North East kitchen sink pipes. That the only one that has been effected so far. We have copper pipes here.
We have a green towel wrapped on the pipe outside in the backyard.
 
What kind of wood do you have? Mesquite? I pay a dollar per pound to buy mesquite for my smoker!
We use both oak and pecan for smoking purposes since they are both native here. The oak can be found easily but a treat is the pecan. Both of these are picked up for free. Just got to keep an eye out for trees on the side of the road or dead ones that need to be taken down. Normally if you ask the home owner, they are more than happy for you to either take down to haul or just haul away instead of waiting for the county to come pick it up for them.

I thought that $1 a pound was expensive for mesquite so wanted to check with our local store. (Why I waited till I could get on the big computer tonight before I answered)
192 cu inch Mesquite Smoking Chips $3.03 - dosent say what the poundage is.
720 cu inch Mesquite Wood Chunks $6.15
30 lbs mesquite cooking logs $8.22
 
We use both oak and pecan for smoking purposes since they are both native here. The oak can be found easily but a treat is the pecan. Both of these are picked up for free. Just got to keep an eye out for trees on the side of the road or dead ones that need to be taken down. Normally if you ask the home owner, they are more than happy for you to either take down to haul or just haul away instead of waiting for the county to come pick it up for them.

I thought that $1 a pound was expensive for mesquite so wanted to check with our local store. (Why I waited till I could get on the big computer tonight before I answered)
192 cu inch Mesquite Smoking Chips $3.03 - dosent say what the poundage is.
720 cu inch Mesquite Wood Chunks $6.15
30 lbs mesquite cooking logs $8.22
I just double checked 4 # $8.00; And it just lays on the ground and you just haul it away? Treasure!
 
The home improvement stores are out of everything. We did place an order on Amazon for

2 thermal sleeping bags (good for life up to below -15)
2 new LED lamps (my current ones eat batteries way too quickly)
A tool to shut off water valve
2 indoor/ outdoor thermometers
1 more space heater
1 portable charger generator

None of it will be here in time, but it will help for next time

We also plan to get a light installed in the garage attic
Pipes insulated
and a new electrical outlet in the garage to handle bigger electrical equipment

If you do the ugrades properly there wont be a next time. Consider a secondary heating source as well.
 
When the weather gets better and you see a guy dressed in camo, in a pickup truck, with Montana plates and a gun rack with a hugely overloaded bed of mesquite tied down with baling twine, wave, that will be me.
We have a lot of choke cherry and wild apple trees around here. Both make excellent smoking wood. We also have vine maples around the springs, but haven't tried them for smoking yet. My son has a lot of alder on his place that he brings sometimes. Alder is best for fish.
For my taste, mesquite and hickory are too strong for smoking most foods.
 
We are on a fixed monthly rate. This is scary for the ones who aren't though. . . .
https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/...torm/287-14a54a65-39cb-4d1c-931c-0d003002f529'How in the world can anyone pay that?': Some seeing electric bills as high as $17K in wake of Texas winter storm

If you were on a variable or indexed plan, your rate — and therefore, your electric bill — may have skyrocketed.

DALLAS — The Texas power outage has become the Texas power outrage. Electricity supply and demand in Texas has really stabilized now. But when it was grossly out of whack over the past several days, the cost of power in the wholesale market went crazy. It went from about $50 per Megawatt to $9,000. That didn’t affect retail many customers because they were on a fixed-rate plan. See explanation of plan types here.

But if you were on a variable or indexed plan, your rate — and therefore, your electric bill — may have skyrocketed. One customer messaged us:

“Mine is over $1,000…not sure how…700 square foot apt I have been keeping at 60 degrees."

Another couple tweeted at us:

“Using as little as possible 1300 sq. ft. house and this is my bill. How is this fair. I only paid $1200 for the whole 2020.”

That tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of their bill, which now stands at $3,801.16.
1613779570466.png


Then, I spoke with a guy named Ty Williams. He sent screenshots of his three electric meters (one for his home, one for a guest house, and one for his office). Last month, his bill for all three was $660. So far, for this month’s electricity, he owes more than $17,000.

Williams wondered: “How in the world can anyone pay that? I mean you go from a couple hundred dollars a month...there’s absolutely no way...it makes no sense.”

He was on a variable-rate plan with Griddy, which made news this week when it tried to head off devastating electric bills for its customers by encouraging them to leave and find a fixed-rate plan with other providers. The problem is, during all the electricity craziness, Williams says no one would take him until Feb. 26.

“Pretty much you are being held hostage and there isn’t anything you can do about it," he said.

Good news, though: Williams says Reliant Energy agreed to switch him to one of its fixed-rate plans starting Friday. But what about that bill Williams still owes his provider? What about all the other inflated bills so many other Texans owe their providers? That will all still have to be sorted out. Note: You can shop for electricity in Texas here.

Griddy didn't explain what kind of relief might be available for customers with tremendously inflated bills, but the company had a lot of criticism for some players in the Texas electricity industry and for state regulators, saying, in part, "We intend to fight this for, and alongside, our customers for equity and accountability – to reveal why such price increases were allowed to happen as millions of Texans went without power. More to come."
 
We are on a fixed monthly rate. This is scary for the ones who aren't though. . . .
https://www.wfaa.com/article/money/...torm/287-14a54a65-39cb-4d1c-931c-0d003002f529'How in the world can anyone pay that?': Some seeing electric bills as high as $17K in wake of Texas winter storm

If you were on a variable or indexed plan, your rate — and therefore, your electric bill — may have skyrocketed.

DALLAS — The Texas power outage has become the Texas power outrage. Electricity supply and demand in Texas has really stabilized now. But when it was grossly out of whack over the past several days, the cost of power in the wholesale market went crazy. It went from about $50 per Megawatt to $9,000. That didn’t affect retail many customers because they were on a fixed-rate plan. See explanation of plan types here.

But if you were on a variable or indexed plan, your rate — and therefore, your electric bill — may have skyrocketed. One customer messaged us:

“Mine is over $1,000…not sure how…700 square foot apt I have been keeping at 60 degrees."

Another couple tweeted at us:

“Using as little as possible 1300 sq. ft. house and this is my bill. How is this fair. I only paid $1200 for the whole 2020.”

That tweet was accompanied by a screenshot of their bill, which now stands at $3,801.16.
View attachment 12251

Then, I spoke with a guy named Ty Williams. He sent screenshots of his three electric meters (one for his home, one for a guest house, and one for his office). Last month, his bill for all three was $660. So far, for this month’s electricity, he owes more than $17,000.

Williams wondered: “How in the world can anyone pay that? I mean you go from a couple hundred dollars a month...there’s absolutely no way...it makes no sense.”

He was on a variable-rate plan with Griddy, which made news this week when it tried to head off devastating electric bills for its customers by encouraging them to leave and find a fixed-rate plan with other providers. The problem is, during all the electricity craziness, Williams says no one would take him until Feb. 26.

“Pretty much you are being held hostage and there isn’t anything you can do about it," he said.

Good news, though: Williams says Reliant Energy agreed to switch him to one of its fixed-rate plans starting Friday. But what about that bill Williams still owes his provider? What about all the other inflated bills so many other Texans owe their providers? That will all still have to be sorted out. Note: You can shop for electricity in Texas here.

Griddy didn't explain what kind of relief might be available for customers with tremendously inflated bills, but the company had a lot of criticism for some players in the Texas electricity industry and for state regulators, saying, in part, "We intend to fight this for, and alongside, our customers for equity and accountability – to reveal why such price increases were allowed to happen as millions of Texans went without power. More to come."
So hunny is telling me this was a "clitch: in the system and if you get a bill like this just ignore. . . Think I would still call. . .
 
1613879867708.png

1613879906846.png


Cascend: Data Shows Wind-Power Was Chief Culprit Of Texas Grid Collapse



With the worst of the Texas power crisis now behind us, the blame and fingerpointing begins, and while the jury is still out whose actions (or lack thereof) may have led to the deadly and widespread blackouts that shocked Texas this week, Cascend Strategy writes that "in case there was any doubt why the Texas grid collapsed, the data is clear"

Wind failed as “Ice storms knocked out nearly half the wind-power generating capacity of Texas on Sunday as a massive deep freeze across the state locked up wind turbine generators, creating an electricity generation crisis."

Natural gas made up the difference for a while

But then everything else followed down
A massive cold snap drove demand for electricity well beyond normal levels

Wind power failed to deliver it’s expected power – almost 40% of expected power – in part due to lack of winterized wind turbines
Coal and nuclear both underperformed, but not by much, due to non-winterized equipment

Solar underperformed for a few days but is back, although is far too intermittent to help without storage except during heat waves
And Texas’ grid couldn’t buy enough power from neighbors to make up the difference
Nor are power producers required to keep a reserve of power
The simple 5-step solution according to Cascend:
- Winterize equipment
- Require power reserve
- Connect the Texas grid better
- Add solar with storage (storage is key)
- And add more natural gas

As some others have summarized the Texas disaster best…

It is sad and ironic that in a state known for its huge petroleum and natural gas resources, the lack of reliability of wind power has brought the state to its knees in a time of crisis, not unlike that which California experienced in 2020 during record heat where wind and solar power could not keep up with demand and was near collapse.

The folly of chasing renewable energy as a means of mitigating “climate change” is making itself abundantly clear today in Texas. When will politicians wake up and realize that renewable energy almost always equates to unreliable energy?

Cascend: Data Shows Wind-Power Was Chief Culprit Of Texas Grid Collapse | ZeroHedge
 
Rely on the state to support you and you MAY be disappointed...rely on yourself and your knowledge, training, experience and self-support...you WILL not be disappointed in anyone but yourself...I just had to lend out one of my emergency propane space heaters to the widow down the street because her heating is only wood and the delivery is still pending for the coming days...gas in the house,,,but only connected for cooking, wood heating in the house with warm water connections to the other rooms...but no wood. No electric heaters in her possession and no alternative...Thank God glad I still have enough reserves to help others without hurting myself.
 
Does anyone know if you need to keep your faucets dripping ( if it’s freezing outside) if you have power in your home and it’s warm.
The city told us to only drip one due to the water shortage- our power stayed on the whole time thankfully- I was always told you open your cabinets under the sink and drip the one furtherest from the water meter-
 
Biden signs major disaster declaration for 77 Texas counties, but governor asked for all 254

Dallas Morning News
Biden signs major disaster declaration for 77 Texas counties, but governor asked for all 254

Reading the article, it basically includes all the big metropolitan Democratic areas. . . . ok counties included

Counties included in the major disaster declaration


Angelina, Aransas, Bastrop, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Brazoria, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Collin, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Denton, DeWitt, Ellis, Falls, Fort Bend, Galveston, Gillespie, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Henderson, Hidalgo, Hood, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Kendall, Lavaca, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Maverick, McLennan, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Nueces, Orange, Palo Pinto, Panola, Parker, Polk, Rockwall, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Scurry, Shelby, Smith, Stephens, Tarrant, Travis, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Wharton, Wichita, Williamson, Wilson, and Wise.
 
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