Boy did it get COLD

For those in the extreme areas, I don't know how you do it.  I have my little heating pad as I sit here in flannels and sweat shirt.  My DH is from Missouri.  One year he had to go back in January - snow and cold.  Suddenly, my California didn't seem so bad!  Good thing, because we are going on 22 years.

Marc, I think CC meant the hot water heater.  There is a draining faucet at the bottom of the tank.

Good luck to all you hardy souls.

sanderson wrote:...Marc, I think CC meant the hot water heater.  There is a draining faucet at the bottom of the tank...

I thought that odd too, but maybe he has an on-demand, instant water heater ie. no tank?  

CapeCoddess wrote:...Can you use the water in your water tank?  There's a faucet at the bottom of mine and I always figured I could use that if my pipes freeze...

Definitely a good idea, but be aware there will probably be a lot of rusty sediment to drain out before you get to the clean water.

It hasn't been that cold here yet, but predictions for the end of this week are in the single digits which is unusual for this time of year. We also had about 4 inches of snow on Friday; that is alot in one storm for us. Ours usually comes in 1-2 inch waves.

welp. Mr. Frost finally showed up and took care of our peppers, eggplant, beans and tomatoes. I consider us lucky compared to others! Stay warm out there!!

boffer wrote:

sanderson wrote:...Marc, I think CC meant the hot water heater.  There is a draining faucet at the bottom of the tank...

I thought that odd too, but maybe he has an on-demand, instant water heater ie. no tank?  

CapeCoddess wrote:...Can you use the water in your water tank?  There's a faucet at the bottom of mine and I always figured I could use that if my pipes freeze...

Definitely a good idea, but be aware there will probably be a lot of rusty sediment to drain out before you get to the clean water.

We do have an on-demand heater, but we have a tank of some sort too. I didn't look for a faucet at the bottom of it. We definitely aren't getting hot or cold water, now.

Re draining out all the rusty water etc, I'm glad that might be an option, but it sounds just as clean and drinkable to get snow from outside and let it melt, like I did yesterday. I boiled a couple of pots of it on the stove, just in case, filled up a gallon jug, and put a pitcher of it in the fridge, to.

What I really find irritating is that if I have to do serious potty, I'll have to run to the neighbors or take my butt out into the freezing woods behind the house, both of which sound quite uncomfortable, especially considering I have a short countdown before take-off, if you follow my meaning.

sanderson wrote: My oranges are ripe (second photo) whereas last year they weren't until January.  I need to pick them just to make sure I have some for my orange cookies for Christmas.

sanderson, one of my favorite treats during the summer is a frozen orange. Shame if you lose all your crop, though. I'd be happy to have plenty of frozen ones in my freezer, though.

Marc Iverson wrote:...What I really find irritating is that if I have to do serious potty, I'll have to run to the neighbors or take my butt out into the freezing woods behind the house, both of which sound quite uncomfortable, especially considering I have a short countdown before take-off, if you follow my meaning.

  

I find it odd that our local newspaper has printed no feature articles about this cold wave, just notices of cancellation of school and the annual Christmas parade.

Supposedly, the low temperatures here were -24F and -27F over the weekend. Shouldn't that be newsworthy?

donnainzone10 wrote:I find it odd that our local newspaper has printed no feature articles about this cold wave, just notices of cancellation of school and the annual Christmas parade.  

Supposedly, the low temperatures here were -24F and -27F over the weekend.  Shouldn't that be newsworthy?

Everyone probably already knows, unless there are cold related deaths or it's record cold, I cannot imagine it's news. Was it a record over the weekend?

http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx?location=USOR0031

http://weatherspark.com/#!dashboard;q=Bend%20Oregon

Camp,

According to The Weather Channel, a record was broken for December 9:

http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/97702

Donna, it looks like your average winter lows in Dec is 24°.  I also think a temp that is 50° colder than average is newsworthy.

Puget Sound media are going crazy about our temps in the teens, warning about exposure dangers and listing available warming shelters for homeless people.

Of course, around here, people go nuts just at the thought of snowflakes!  

Donna I agree, it's odd that it didn't make the news.  The news stations here take the weather very seriously - often going into full time programming when we get some snow or ice, overriding regular broadcasts for hour upon hour of shots of bundled up newscasters at various locations around the city, pointing to a car in a ditch or scooping up a handful of snow.  

My sister is getting married June 21st in Alaska.  The kids' last day of school was scheduled for June 17th, so we were going to be able to go but without much time to spare.  Two weather cancellations this year already means school isn't getting out until June 19th.  Phooey.  There wasn't even any more snow overnight. Seems like they used to just put chains on if it's ice they were worried about. Hope there aren't any more cancellations.

BTW, I have a friend from college who went back up to Montana a few years back to take over the family cattle ranch.  This was his facebook post a few days ago:
Ha! Now THAT's cold!

I was thinking that perhaps the media is being pressured in some way to avoid publishing such news in order to prevent people from questioning Global Warming.

However, the Bend Bulletin finally ran an article today about the cold weather.

Nevertheless, others around the country have noticed an apparent paucity of such news.

Marc, have you gotten your indoor water running yet?

Nope. Called the local well service today and they told me there were 200 people ahead of me, and that they'd try to get to me on Friday.

Took a closer look at the well head, which has a doghouse-sized wooden enclosure with no accessible openings. Could still stick half a face under the eaves to see the well pump where it meets the pipe that goes into the ground. Looks like an inch or so of insulation is still right by the join, but the rest of the pipe goes bare into the ground. My guess is someone got in there to repair something at one point, tore off the insulation, but was too foolish or lazy or cheap to re-insulate it. There's plenty of unsealed space around the well head, and no heat source is nearby, so the whole area is basically ambient temperature. Which was getting into the low teens. D'oh! I guess problems were inevitable once we got a cold enough winter ... which is now. Really poorly done. *sigh* Oregon workmanship.

The culprit could be a rodent or Oregon workmanship.  The pump should be way, way down in the casing, so it is at least protected.  The cold weather wells I inspected when I worked usually had an electrical heating wire to prevent freezing.  Then plenty of insulation wrapped around the pipe and heating wire until the supply pipe was well buried.

Caution:  sticking your head into a well shed/box could result in. . . wasp sting in the summer, black widow bite, startled rodent, etc.   

Okay, another sanderson work story:  I almost cold-cocked myself twice with rodents.  One, I was creeping into a small, short area to check out rat control effectiveness in a restaurant.  My flashlight caught 2 shiny beady eyes staring at me.  'Whack' when I jerked upright.  The rat was dead in a trap but facing me.  Second time, I was checking a condiment cabinet for mice.  I don't know who scared whom the most, but when the mouse jumped straight up, I jerked back and . .  waiting. . .waiting . . whack!  It's so hard to be dignified when you feel like passing out.

Oh, duh. Marc, do you have a top-mount turbine well pump? I re-read your post. That style is rarely used on domestic wells so I didn't think of that.

Hey all we survived the server cold and even broke the record a few days to boot. My kids have yet to go out and play in the snow due to a stomach bug that was passed around last week and me having surgery this week. Think I might send them out tomorrow with the hubby so I can get a nap in. Glad everyone is staying warm.

Marc Iverson wrote:Nope.  Called the local well service today and they told me there were 200 people ahead of me, and that they'd try to get to me on Friday.  

Took a closer look at the well head, which has a doghouse-sized wooden enclosure with no accessible openings.  Could still stick half a face under the eaves to see the well pump where it meets the pipe that goes into the ground.  Looks like an inch or so of insulation is still right by the join, but the rest of the pipe goes bare into the ground.  My guess is someone got in there to repair something at one point, tore off the insulation, but was too foolish or lazy or cheap to re-insulate it.  There's plenty of unsealed space around the well head, and no heat source is nearby, so the whole area is basically ambient temperature.  Which was getting into the low teens.  D'oh!  I guess problems were inevitable once we got a cold enough winter ... which is now.  Really poorly done.  *sigh*  Oregon workmanship.

It must have been done by a Welshman from Ammanford South Wales UK because it is the identical standard here & has been for donkey's years    

Marc ,you'll have to construct a bigger dog kennel to go over the present one and this time double skin it say three inches between the skins so there are no cold bridges .

Fill the skin with a quality aerosol of injected expanding foam for a bit of insulation .

My low today was 10.4 degrees; it isn't supposed to be anywhere near our average low of 28.  We have already had more snow so far this late fall (it isn't even officially winter yet!) than we did the entire winter 2 years ago!

After a solid week of below freezing temps. it finally got to 36 degrees last Wed. and yesterday it hit 52 degrees. I was out throwing the ball to our ballaholic lab. and went out to the garden. Low and behold the spinach is still alive and I have new growth on a parsley plant I had left this fall. No protection on any, just some snow.

herblover wrote:...  We have already had more snow so far this late fall (it isn't even officially winter yet!) than we did the entire winter 2 years ago!

And here we are Herblover, more unseasonable cold with snow on the ground and another 1-3+ inches expected tonight.  The llamas and barn cats are spending a lot of time sitting outside on the dry rubber matted porch, under the extended barn roof, staring at the snow.  Llamas eventually start neck wrestling matches. One pair will start up and it will get the others going sometimes.  Then it looks like a playground out there.

LM; I am in the 4-6 inch snow range and we haven't seen the ground for days!  My DH keeps whining about getting the last of the leaves picked up; I do think he has finally accepted that their will be no final mowing though!  Stay safe and warm; the llama wrestling would be well worth some pics!

Herblover
I'm ashamed to say I didn't finish my composting.  Have to roll with mother nature's punches.  Re: llamas, there is video capability on the camera, haven't used it in awhile and should reacquaint myself with the feature.  May be fun and entertaining to share a neck wrestling match on the forum, since things are a little quiet compared to summer time chatter.  
 

Please do, LLM. Our very own exclusive UTube Video. Unless it goes viral.

Sure Kelejan, I'll keep an eye out for their playtime antics.