What is your weather like ... today

[MitchM]

gosh not sure I would like the short summers there colleen .Still wearing shorts here and not going to be cold until saturday again only up in the mid 50 's by then but in the 70;s all week

No fair!
This is our front yard this morning, after a warm sunny day today!

 

[CountryEscape]

Dang, Mitch, I'm sure not ready for that white stuff either. We typically don't get much or any snow until after first of January. If we do, it doesn't usually stick around more than a day. Last 2 years have been very mild winters, so I figure we're in for a good snow storm this winter. 3 years ago was when I think we had the bad ice storm! I was extremely lucky that year, only lost power for about 8 hours, and all night time hours, so I was snuggled in my bed and stayed nice and warm. I have kerosene heaters for the house, but no generator. There is a full house generator, runs on propane, if electricity goes off, but they are around $5,000. Guess it improves the value of my house, but so far I have not felt the need to buy one. They kick on after something like 15 or 30 seconds of power outage. I know my outside fish would be fine, it's the 2 aquariums in the house that would be hurting. I would never have a salt water aquarium, unless I had the back up generator. Just have tropical and brackish, both are fairly cheap fish. :cheerful:

 

[HARO]

Today I cleaned out two bathtubs I use to start water lillies. Had to break an inch of ice to get at them! Damn, that cold water is hard on the arthritis!!!
John

 

[MitchM]

CE, I put in one of those whole house generators here, from Costco. Generac is the brand. It was about $3500, runs on natural gas.
Sometimes the snowplow doesn't get her for a few days and the longest we've been without power was 4 days. If we didn't have that generator, everything would have froze and the repair bill would have been many times that.
My aquarium deaths and damage would eclipse that, too!!

Haro, isn't that what kids are for?

 

[CountryEscape]

That's the brand I've heard about, Mitch, and around the price, but I would not be able to install it myself, so I figure it would cost me another thousand or more for the parts and person to install it. Does yours run your whole house, or do you just have it hooked up to part of the house that is needed during any outage? For instance, I would want appliances, furnace, elec upstairs and water pump to stay running. Guess I might need electric in the barn, too, to hook up battery charger, but would have to use long cord from house, as no way can I afford to keep electric on in there, too. Bad thing is horses would not have any water if no heater to keep tank thawed out. Not sure what to do about that! Pond would be frozen, and I always lock them off the pasture during the winter, so no worries about them falling through the ice, even though my pond is VERY shallow. Still would be a mess for them to fall through and not be able to get back out! Still thinking on the generator idea .... may check with my electric company, I think they charge more, but maybe they have a rebate available.

 

[sissy]

good gosh glad I don't deal with the white stuff that early .I dread it more and more each year .Bones are not getting any younger .I feel cold yet at 65 degrees .The jacket goes on .I thought of a generator but have been here over 10 years and electric only ever went off a few minutes a couple of times and 2010 winter for 1 day .I don't really want to put much more money into the house because I won't see any return on it as it is

 

[MitchM]

The generator runs the whole house. Depends how much demand you have, but you could run a separate single line to the barn, I imagine.
It came with all the panels, wiring and parts required. I needed to buy the car battery for starting.
I don't know what the trades and permit process are like in your area. That could add up if everyone is in high demand.
My tractor has a backhoe so I was able to do pretty much everything myself - unloading, digging for lines, ect.

 

[addy1]

I have one, hauled from arizona to colorado (never hooked up), back to arizona, then to maryland (not yet hooked up) whole house, luckily have only lost power once for any length of time since we moved. here.

 

[Big Lou]

During this regions most notorious weather auxiliary generators are of secondary concern. The primary concern is if your home still exists or has been relocated to parts unknown. Dark humor but fact based.

 

[addy1]

Agree lou, I don't know if I could live where there are constant threat of tornadoes. They are scary storms

 

[Big Lou]

Agree lou, I don't know if I could live where there are constant threat of tornadoes. They are scary storms

The only safety meaure we can get is a tornado shelter. Those usually cost $$$$$ and are difficult to have placed on a in-city property due to placement restrictistions.

In the deep south (our original homeland) you can evcuate before hurricanes hit but sometimes need auxiliary power. In my former assignments in desert regions and in the North Atlantic our buildings, utilities and way of life are planned around ultra extreme weather while during my posts in Europe weather wis varible a. In my way of thinking you folks in the heavy snow belt ideally have homes that are self sufficent but you are left to limited travel during massive snow storms. The far west, earthquakes. The great plains, drought and tornadoes. Many unknowingly believe the islands are ideal. Look at what havic typhoons reek. In each region, nationally or internationally, we all live with weather related risks of one type or another.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I have a wood stove and a portable generator if times get really tough, lets just hope it never happens to us.... The thought of winter scares me, who the heck want to freeze in the dark?? Maybe I should move south, but then my house might blow away! If I go west an earthquake is supposed to shape up that land sometime soon! Guess I will just have to stay with the threat of winter, oh but to not have a winter just one year would be soooo nice!

 

[koiguy1969]

just a reminder again....

oh ..cold here.... gonna be a cold and rainy halloween!!

 

[j.w]

Old man winter is arriving here as our temps go down lower each night. All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray is the song for today and many days ahead. During the day yesterday it was a warm sunny one but come the night grab up your hose nozzles and hoses or the cheapo plastic ones will crack like a bat hitting a grand slam like mine did. Thought I'd hook it up and test it just to make sure it was wrecked all the way through....................ha ha it was and I got sprayed a good one! Hoses were frozen solid but they managed to survive as the sun hit them and warmed them up. Bad me for not collecting them all before the first freeze. Was not expecting it to hit so hard so fast.

 

[sissy]

another nice sunny day and in the 70's gain but cold front is headed our way by the week end .Half the lawn is mowed and trimmed