Wednesday, February 17, 2021

cause things weren't bad enough


Believe it or not things are even worse even though the coldest nights are behind us though still getting down in the 20s. Today and the next two...35˚/28˚, 34˚/22˚, 41˚/20˚. Saturday we start warming up. Woke up to light icy rain this morning. The town sent out a text asking people to conserve water during the day and not let faucets drip or run while they make repairs to the water system. Got a text from Autumn in Austin about midnight, she's lost water. Got a text from Jade in San Antonio about 6 AM, second floor of her building had a broken pipe with water pouring down to the first floor. She lives on the third floor and thinks she still has water. Text from Robin in Houston about 10 AM, she's lost water and power again. Mikey and girlfriend Audra and their dog and Robin and her cat are in route out here to their parents' house. They have power but no water.

We still have both but we did have a water incident yesterday. We've been turning the water off at the meter at night and back on during the day which we learned later produces pressure problems for frozen pipes. So yesterday I was rinsing my plate off in the kitchen after lunch when I hear water sounds in the little bathroom. You might remember those pipes are in the attic and were frozen so while we had water in the upper house, we did not in the little bathroom. I went to check and the floor in the house studio room had water spreading out on it from where it was pouring out from under a wall in the little bathroom. Hollered at Marc to turn off the water, the house was flooding. Texted Gunnar (plumber) and started mopping up (7 or 8 gallons we think), waited a few minutes and called Rocky who came immediately, heard from Gunnar, swamped with 13 calls and for us to turn off the water. Rocky pulled the medicine cabinet out of the wall for a looksee, determined the leak was in the attic so up he went and good news was, no broken pipes, yay, but the connection from the old galvanized insulated pipes to the new uninsulated pex had come loose and he didn't have the necessary (expensive) tool to make the repair so he capped off the galvanized pipe and we had water in the rest of the house. Texted Gunnar, easy fix so he and his helper came by this morning on their way out to now over 20 calls and got the repair done. It was probably the turning the water off and on that caused the pex to come loose from the galvanized pipe, he removed the ice plug and now we have water in the little bathroom too. Don't shut the water off at night he says, just let all three faucets trickle. We weren't the only one this happened to here.

Statewide, millions of people are still without power and/or water and have been since Sunday night. People are dying from having their oxygen batteries die with no way to recharge, from carbon monoxide poisoning from sitting in their cars trying to get warm, if not dying yet being unable to get to dialysis centers that are closed anyway or get life saving drugs.

So, of course, our stupid republican senators and governor are lying and passing the blame for this catastrophe onto the Green New Deal, a policy that is not in effect, has not been voted on, has not even been sent to the floor of the House for a vote, and AOC who is sponsoring it. Also blaming the frozen windmills that provide only about 20% or less of our electricity. What they aren't telling people is that the coal and natural gas pumps and plants that we get the lion's share of our power from are also frozen up. The tin foil hat people are circulating an image from years ago in Sweden of a helicopter melting ice off a windmill passing it off as Texas.  The fact is that Texas has an independent privately owned power grid to avoid federal regulations and so we are not interconnected with any other states for power sharing and as usual, our republican policies put profit over infrastructure and the powers that be saw no reason to insulate or provide built in heaters at crucial points for cold weather while ex- Texas governor ex-energy secretary Perry is telling reporters that Texans are happy to suffer a little cold to keep regulation out of the state (I guarantee neither Perry nor any of our politicians are suffering outages). And while this weather is quite unusual, it's not the first time this has happened. In fact there was a commission after a hard winter in '79 or '80 that recommended winterizing that was never implemented. As many people have pointed out, windmills work just fine in places that get much colder than we do.

Pictures from today:


banana trees


flowering senna

ground orchids, pink angel trumpet, hibiscus, plumbago; I have no idea what it looks like under there but I'm pretty sure I lost the gardenia from what I could see through the clear plastic covering it

heritage rose

jasmine, every bud is encased in ice

pansies and violas

night blooming jasmine, ginger, leather leaf fern, fire spike, aspidistra



30 comments:

  1. Oh those poor plants. So damn cold, and for so long.

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  2. I feel so badly for you. When you're unaccustomed to this kind of weather, it's got to be do difficult to encounter all of the problems it brings with it. I'm so sorry that you're struggling with all of this.

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  3. Total bummer in every way. I'm glad that temps are starting to warm up there. I am so sorry that you and so many people are having to deal with this crisis. I wish the Republicans wouldn't politicize and lie about it, but that's their ignorant way of handling their jobs.
    Take care there. Stay safe and warm.

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  4. This will more than likely be happening every year from now on, so they have no choice but to beef up the rickety ladder called ERCOT. They won't, though.

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  5. Also, Rush Limbaugh has arrived in Hell

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  6. All I have to say is- What a fucking cluster fuck.
    Oh, Ellen. You'll live through this but you won't forget.
    We're all thinking about you.

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  7. Pretty sure we will all have to learn how to live in all sorts of weather, Running pipes, driving on ice, melting through the heat of summer. It is getting interesting for everything except rocks.

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  8. What a mess! Having a first hand account makes it real to us who live far away.

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  9. I absolutely echo your anger at the officials who let this happen to you all. So sorry about the suffering. And just hoping warmer weather gets there.

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  10. This is how our garden looks like at this time of the year, miserable piles of half/fully frozen leaves and covers. It's always a surprise to discover how much actually survives and how resilient some touchy-feely delicates really can be. So my hopes are high for your garden!
    Our news coverage is beyond surprise that you have an entire state electricity supply in the hands of private ownership. Lots of tsktsk here.
    Stay warm!

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  11. I notice that you didn't mention the batshit mayor of Colorado City. I'm so sorry you're having to go through all this!

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    1. right? what an asshole. what the hell did he think the job of mayor entailed? do nothing and get paid by taxpayers for doing nothing?

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  12. Hope it warms up soon and your garden bounces back. Take those same photos in a month so we can see how nature responded (before and after shots). Wishing you good luck with the recovery from this disastrous weather.

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  13. Given the number of broken pipes in the apartments flooding everything, it's hard to see how this is ever made right. Glad you don't have a bunch of damage. Those banana plants look so sad.

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  14. Yeesh. Your poor plants. :(

    I'm glad you have water back in the small bathroom, but what an ordeal! Who knew turning off the water would cause a problem like that?!

    When I read about Texas' independent power grid, I wondered if the Repubs/conservatives kept it that way with an eye toward potential secession.

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    1. No. It's been an issue for decades, and they're just cheap, and willing to believe 'it can't happen here.' All that secession talk is something the media loves to hype, but most Texans think those people are nutso, too.

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    2. it's all about escaping federal regulations so they can skimp on infrastructure and safety and rake in the profits.

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  15. I was thinking about you and wondering how you were faring. The news is so dismal. And we all agree that politicians should push, pull or get out of the way. Of course Ted flew to Cancun I see.

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    1. of course he did being the slimy little weasel he is. he wasn't planning on coming back til Saturday but changed his mind this morning when twitter and the press started skewering him.

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  16. So many people and other living things suffering in Texas. We are all so vulnerable everywhere. If it's not fire, it's ice or something else.

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  17. I wondered how you were faring. When I got up this morning, the bird bath had thawed, and a cardinal was singing. All good signs. Galveston Island really took it hard. Lots of broken pipes there, and a high percentage of people without power. It's better now. We're still under a boil water notice, but that may be ended by the weekend. I'm fine. I ended up losing power for just a couple of two-hour stints, and water pressure's good. The loss of cell service was the biggest problem for me. Somehow I'd never connected "cell towers" and "backup generators," but when those backups froze or ran out of fuel, down went the cell service. Sigh.

    Cruz is getting back in town this afternoon, around 4, I think. It's going to be interesting to see if he has a "welcoming committee" waiting for him.

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    1. we did finally lose power yesterday about 5 PM. a friend had warned me it was going to happen so I was prepared getting the candles and candle lanterns out. it came back on at 10 PM so it wasn't too bad. and that fucker Rafael thinking he could escape to Cancun and no one would notice with a police escort to the airport no less. his return ticket was for Saturday. it wasn't until he found out this morning that he was being skewered that he changed his flight to today. and then the lying fucker blamed his kids for the 'overnight' trip to take them to meet up with friends.

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  18. The news lead here on every channel is all about Texas. I am so sorry. Who is Rafael?

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    1. Rafael is Ted Cruz's real name. Ted is a nickname. He's cuban, born in Canada but wants to pass for a white good ole boy.

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  19. Poor self hating Rafael. AOC is doing more for Texas right now than he is. She's raised close to a million with 100% of it going to feed and shelter Texans in need.

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  20. I have no Words for the level of suffering going on due to the poor leadership in your State, virtual hugs is all I can offer. Privatizing utilities was a huge mistake, it does make me wonder how those Texans that thought they wanted to secede from the Nation feel now?

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    1. nobody wants to secede and it's not possible anyway. just a dog whistle to the crazies. tonight is supposed to be the last frigid night for us down here on the coastal plains.

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  21. Goodness... I have viola seeds coming to me right now. I wonder how yours will do when the cold is over... Hope all recover...

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  22. If you turn off the water at the main, you also want to leave the faucets open and drain the water from the pipes. Then you don't have the air pressure problem. This means you also temporarily don't have running water available, but if it's cold enough to burst pipes, not much choice. Pex is more forgiving then copper if it gets frozen so that probably helped. Hopefully you will never need to think about this again.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.