Officially most of the outages should be back up today, but not us…at least so far:
The good news is the solar is really cranking and sun is in the forecast.
Rany lines out and started cutting wood – tons of it to clean up.
Food is good, doing the odd post of Kindle is a PITA.
Elaine’s in good spirits, but this whole “going camping, kinda-sort off in your 70’s is not what we had in mind, low.
Batteries are charging nicely. Blew out the Black and Decker 20v chainsaw, but the Chinese one I told you about is doing really great. Just ordered a second one. And the big Oregon electric? Totally rocks with the built-in sharpener. Will have a million notes and pictures… if/when the power comes up over on the subscriber side.
But minimally should get our market view up tomorrow. Just on the solar.
Looks like a weak close, but hey! I’m glad I wasn’t trading this pig of a rally. Out here sounds like the world’s going to shit and people are in denial so have a good final hour with the deck chairs on the…you know. movie?
Write when it warms up
George@Ure.net
George, glad to hear you are soldiering on. We have endured 5 days sans electric and it wears on ya, to live without what are conveniences / necessities. Hang in, stay warm. Egor
Glad that you, and Elaine are doing fine!
After my Aunt and Uncle went through that a number of years ago, several times, (in rural New England) their kids finally imposed upon them the need to add an automatic Whole House Generator System running off a much enlarged propane tank (their house heat was oil, like many in the rural NE, but stove and hot water heater were already propane).
Served them well through a number of power outages, including a couple of over a week of length in mid winter, until they finally passed away.
Stay WARM … and hope your power comes back on soon!!
Sing along with Elaine, it will cheer you up!
“A camping we will go… a camping we will go…”
https://youtu.be/bZNwaAGxYdo
After 40+ years of being a homeowner near Houston, I remember the hurricane issues. After Alicia, we went 1.5 days without power, but 6 days without water. After Ike, it was 6 days without power, but the water stayed on. My experience tells me that it is much easier to go without power than without water, at least for those of us with some camping supplies.
Since then, I bought a small 2kW generator. This will run the refrigerator and freezer or the microwave. The wife wanted a larger one, but I bought a small one that will go 8 hours on 1 gallon of gas. I think that if my power goes out for days, the power will also go out at the corner gas station and we will have to use only what we have stored up. Because of the fire danger, I simply don’t want more than 5 gallons of gas around the house (10 gallons during hurricane season) – which I pour into the car’s gas tank every 4 months to keep the gas fresh.
” I think that if my power goes out for days, the power will also go out at the corner gas station”
Look around…
In the North and Midwest, a lot of gas stations and cstores have put in natural gas or CNG/propane generators. You guys don’t get the cold stuff the way we do, but we don’t get hurricanes, so I’d not be surprised if the easternmost third of Texas would have stores that’d be doing this.
exactly.. that is what happened to my friend.. he had a big generator whole home.. and a big tank of fuel.. the hurricane took out the power for an extended time.. he ran out of fuel … and then discovered he couldn’t get any..
and no way to fuel it.. if the gas companies can still pump the gas to homes.. and there isn’t any damage to the pumping stations you could still be getting natural gas.. but if the shtf and there are a few HEMPS that take down the countries grid.. then we are all screwed.. because the gas will not flow.. if you have a system set up to make your own fuel you could .. but on average most people don’t have a biogas digester and if they do at home.. it is to small may make enough gas to cook a few meals but that is about it.. not enough raw waste to keep it working..
if you make alcohol for a fuel.. then you have to have tons of raw goods and a huge still to make the fuel needed to run a generator.. if you make LPG.. then you need the fuel and the system to convert it to LPG.. most people don’t have any of this.. WOOD GAS .. same thing.. as alcohol.. I have built most of these and can do it.. but the energy needed to keep it constant.. no way.. you cannot do it.. if you own a big farm and have a lot of cattle and chickens etc.. then yes.. the dairy farm here makes more money on the gas they produce than the milk products.. several billion feet of gas per year.. great setup.. huge bio gas tank..
NOW solar and a backup generator for the times that the sun doesn’t shine to keep the battery bank topped off.. that is doable.. and even though it is an expense it is something you could need.. if you made the changes.. at our age would it pen out.. well my grid tie system paid for itself in five years.. but that was for the grid tie system.. a backup system.. that may not pen out to pay for itself.. because its use is just for shtf scenarios.. if the time comes where that happens then its cost is priceless.. and would save you a lot of misery
George, How did your Starlink link budget and QOS hold up during and immediately after the Ice Storm? Asking for a friend who needs a dial backup:-)
I’m not even sure that dialup service is useful today. Most web sites and apps require much greater bandwidth. Starlink advertises much more than that, and I’ll be curious to hear about George’s experience with the comms sans serious power.
I still think it’s a good idea to set up a cheap generator with a three-point mount and drive. A spare engine of any kind can drive it, as can the tractor. There must be many of these generators at auctions with good windings attached to defunct engines.
Meanwhile, my best wishes for a comfortable next few days for G, E, the cats and the plants!
I got a note from one of my contacts, at 2147EST, that there were fighter jets in the air over Billings, Missouri, reports of explosions, and a smoke trail, in the vicinity of a certain gasbag.
No report from the locals, on any shootdown.
However, apparently another Chinese weather balloon veered from its course and is meandering across South America…
BTW, I STRONGLY suspect these really are weather balloons. They would be “sounders,” designed to see what our response would be, and how soon it would occur… and collect weather data, of course.
AND be used to embarrass the shit out of us if we shoot it down. It is a brilliant military tactic and sets the stage for China to send HEMPs, directed weapons, or NBC warheads into CONUS at a later date, by balloon…