What's more current than the weather?

[DanaC]

I heard how eyeballs can freeze it's so cold.

Terrible time to be homeless.

[Griff]

The local shelters tend to run at about 80% capacity. They are over-full now so they've opened overflow facilities. There is room, unfortunately getting the word out is difficult.

[infinite monkey]

glatt, was your kids' schhol cancelled yet? all schools, including colleges, cancelled areound here. if the cold front stays how it was here, 10-15 degrees is optimistic.

still minus 7 here, sans wind chill from high gusts. i can't wait for the big warmup...24 degrees tomorrow. up to 40 by friday. maybe pipes will thaw? maybe not burst? no water coming out of bathroom when i turn the hot water thingy. cold water comes out when i turn the cold water thingy.

[glatt]

School's only delayed. Mrs. Glatt will drive them and pick them up. She subs at one of the schools, so it works with her schedule. Normally, one would have a 1 mile walk and the other would have a 1.95 mile walk.

I walked 1 mile to the subway this morning. I bundled up, so was fine. 6 degrees when I left the house. But the long johns and hat and scarf and hood of my puffy ass down coat helped a lot.


Significant delays on the Metro. Our stop is the first one underground. The trains have about 10 miles above ground before they get to our stop. And when I got to the station, what would have been my train was disabled and off-loaded. Maybe you can see the thousand or so people standing on the platform next to the train. I stayed on the upper balcony with a bunch of other people until things got sorted out down there. The platform to the right was empty because there was a medical emergency on that side of the track at the next station. (An above ground station.) And traffic had been stopped.

Waited around for a half hour while it got more and more crowded. Then they made an announcement that they would be single tracking trains (sharing the same track, and taking turns) to go around the disabled train. Huge stroke of luck for me, because I was one of the first people down onto that empty platform, and I got onto the first train to come into the station. It was packed like sardines, but I made it in to work.

Anyway, it's not normally like this on Metro. And I blame the severe cold. At least I was inside for all my waiting.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

maybe pipes will thaw? maybe not burst? no water coming out of bathroom when i turn the hot water thingy. cold water comes out when i turn the cold water thingy.

Keep the cold water one open a teensy bit, and also open the hot water a teensy bit.

Don't open them all the way and leave. I had a friend do that. They were not producing any water, so he opened them all the way and went to work. He figured it was fine because nothing was coming out. Came home hours later to an overflowing sink and a waterfall coming down his hall steps. Oops. The drain couldn't carry the water away fast enough.

Last night, I took the sensor from one of our indoor/outdoor radio thermometers and put it on top of one of the pipes in the basement right next to the uninsulated concrete block exterior wall. And put the reader on my bedside table. I peeked at it during the night a couple times. It hovered around 45, but I was letting the basement sink quickly drip anyway, just to be safe. We had set the heat a few degrees higher than usual, and it ran frequently. I think that kept the basement "warm," even though there are no radiators down there.

[infinite monkey]

The temp is rising! It's minus 6!

Now that I've had some coffee and some help with the anxiety, I'm feeling a bit more optimistic. Also, I did some creative heater placement, and it's already warmer in here. I should teach a class: The Modern Pioneer: Getting By With Inconvenient Crap. It would be designed to appeal to people like me: afraid of being a consumer, tired of being ripped off, living alone or with others who also have these irrational fears of 'calling' someone to come to my home...so we deal with crap because it seems easier.

Mostly, I want to move. I'm just not happy here anymore. Like, hardly ever.

[Gravdigr]

Auntiedigr called from Indianapolis, she casually mentioned the -36 windchill...

[BigV]

that is too fucking cold. good luck to all of you. im, I hope your pipes are ok.

[DanaC]

Sheesh. That's crazy cold.

[fargon]

-8F no wind, they say 33F Friday. I can't wait.

[infinite monkey]

It's 11 degrees above zero! My house is at a normal temperature. The hot water came back to the bathroom. I'm hoping with the increasing warmup that other pipes thaw too, that nothing is busted, but we'll see.

SUCH a relief. After creative heatering yesterday, and with the wind down, I was much more comfortable yesterday but Monday was brutal. Really brutal. I forget to respect the dangers (and pains) of cold.

[glatt]

That's good news. I hope as it continues to warm a little today, everything in the infinite monkey abode returns to normal.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

snip--

SUCH a relief. After creative heatering yesterday, and with the wind down, I was much more comfortable yesterday but Monday was brutal. Really brutal. I forget to respect the dangers (and pains) of cold.

Glad you're OK!

Hypothermia is dangerous, can be life threatening in some conditions. One of the first effects of Hypothermia is to affect one's judgment. Respect, and training, and proper action and all keep you safe.

[infinite monkey]

Thanks. I feel so much better today. My friend is going to start replacing my bathroom floor today, though. Since it's winter his construction work is scarce and he's going buggy sitting at home, and also only having his wife's income...so I may be scooting out a day or two anyway. Not convenient but maybe this all has been the catalyst for me to finally get this crap done.

Now if I could only channel a neat-freak-home-decorator persona...maybe I could stand it here a while longer.

[glatt]

If you could move, where would you move to?