Thank you Heather.
I have friends who live throughout Texas. All of which purchased generators due to the changing climate challenges these last few years. They throughly understand the consequences of an underserviced power grid and the unforeseen weather patterns, so they are managing fine and helping those that aren't.
I have friends who live throughout Texas. All of which purchased generators due to the changing climate challenges these last few years. They throughly understand the consequences of an underserviced power grid and the unforeseen weather patterns, so they are managing fine and helping those that aren't.
Rush Limbaugh, hum. I think of the adage, live your life in such a way that people don't rejoice in your death. I can think of others, but perhaps wouldn't be appropriate at this time.
I live in Maine and lose power frequently . Yes I am one of the few on my road who does not have a standby generator. I tried to buy one this summer but there is a huge shortage of generators because there has been an unusual high demand from all over the country. The cost for these standby generators are 10000 plus. I have a generator which you pull outside of the garage which has a pull chord which is difficult to start when you are 40 and in great shape. I am lucky my son in law comes over and starts it. You run it for a few hours then go without power. My heart goes out to the people in Texas. It is hard to go with out heat and power. So the people with means can be-comfortable and those without suffer. Twenty years ago I had an AFS student from Sweden live with us. We lost power for over a week and did not have a generator. She was shocked and had never experienced losing power in Sweden. their power lines are underground so they never lose power from trees falling. Just think of all the fires that could have been prevented in California. Maybe investing in our infrastructure is a better solution.
I’m glad you have a young buck nearby, Susan. Not only per this issue, but for many others regarding winters, autumn leaves, property care, a hammer-and-nail issues, etc.
We moved from South Portland, ME., to our current location in the autumn 2018. One month later, that tremendous wind storm swept through Maine, and our welcome to the neighborhood was an uprooted Norway Maple, measuring some 90 feet. luckily our ‘back 40' is appx 110 feet in length. I just have stacked more than 200 logs, as a friend sawed that thing to pieces.
Immediately after the power blackout, we heard “whirring” all around us. It was the sound of neighbors’ generators, powered by small propane tanks, w/ automatic turn-on. Luckily, the season was mid-autumn, and we managed without heat and electricity for about a week.
WE decided to take the leap and by a generator. Of course, we have not needed it since. Just having that thing, I realize now, is relief (in a way, an immediate “turn--on”
Oh, if we could only be half as smart as those Swedes!
We've lost power more the past several years too. I had a small generator, key start but it wasnt all that easy to get going AND my son would come over & start it for me (he lives about 5-10 minutes away) The kicker was a couple years ago, he almost didnt get here because we had a doozie of a snowstorm - and he was driving his plowtruck!! So the following summer I finally did invest in an automatic gen. (6000 loan) electric box install. hooked up to my house propane tanks. A relief, like Frederick says! But honestly, any kind of generator sure does make a difference when the power goes out. Imagine - not having all these wires & transformers all over! Cant imagine actually.
Linda, I, too, know a lot of people who have family in TX or who are there now. The situation there is absolutely terrible--and it was significantly preventable if maintenance of infrastructure had been a priority. However, the pols in TX think that their main ace-in-the-hand is low taxes--which means very little money for things like infrastructure maintenance and education. I heard this morning on NPR that while power plants in TX were being idled because they did not have the necessary natural gas to generate electricity, the companies were still selling natural gas outside the state. Because profit, y'know, is far more important than people actually not dying. Nevertheless, the yutzes in the state legislature are screaming down the house about the suggestions that maybe they should invest some funds in infrastructure, because it is "socialist." We have reached the level of lunacy when basic human empathy is now rejected by elected officials and their blind followers because it does not gel with their 18th-century Ricardian notions of what "capitalism" is. And to tie in your two thoughts: that is the legacy of the despicable self-aggrandizing balloon-of-methane who died yesterday. He made millions by encouraging the absolutely worst instincts in humanity.
In contrast, AOC this morning starts a Lenten project in honor of Tom Raskin, the son of Rep Jamie Raskin of MD, who was an artist and humanitarian activist--and who committed suicide on Dec. 31. She is asking people to go vegan for Lent--in some way (such as one day a week)--in honor of Tom's memory. And she is asking people to tweet vegan recipes to her. When human empathy becomes visible only on one side of the scale, and that empathy is vilified by the other side (as in our two trolls who jumped out asap to glorify the person who died yesterday), we have reached a level of bizarre in public discourse that I, for one, find incomprehensible. https://plantbasednews.org/culture/law-and-politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-urged-go-plant-based-ditches-meat-for-lent/
Linda, I agree. It was preventable. Certainly to the degree that as long as the climate is changing, we must adapt. The situation varies from friend to friend. My partner has a cousin that lives outside of Houston and they are doing fine. She and her husband are from Central New York so, a little snow and cold does not devastate them. I grew up in CNY, and like this morning when I got 5" of unpredicted snow. My only thought was, damn I better brush off the car. 😄.
I know that weather and conditions are relative, but as Ron's cousin pointed out, if they get 2" of snow, the city grinds to a halt for days. I read an article that stated the top selling vehicle in Texas is the F-150 pick up. This does make me think of the well worn expression from the late Anne Richards, "all hat, no cattle".
I did hear AOC's statement regarding Tom Raskin. I will most certainly go vegan in Tom's memory during lent. I immediately saw discourse from the GOP regarding that. It is diabolical and disgusting the act of being contrary for no reason at all. Speaking of which, the aforementioned trolls have certainly taken the wrong exit when they decided to post on this page. 😉
I lived in western NY for 17 years--about 100 miles south of Rochester, 100 miles east of Buffalo--in an area that gets lake effect from both Ontario AND Erie. The only time things were problematic was when there was an ice storm in the spring or more than 2 feet of snow fell in one day. Where I live currently, 2 inches freaks out everyone, but the problem is there is no infrastructure to handle snow, so it is disastrous and problematic--and I am not in Texas! Half of my neighbors won't shovel their sidewalks (we have about 8 inches on the ground at the moment) in order to help out those of us with dogs to walk. Lack of neighborliness is one of the biggest problems I am experiencing in the "nice" Midwest.
I love the Anne Richards quotation! And I also wonder about people who are dying in TX because they think it is a good idea to turn their cars on with the garage door closed and sleep in them. The Darwin Awards folks are I am sure rolling their eyes. At the same time, elderly people with no resources are dying of cold and hunger--because their neighbors are not checking on them either. Beto has been organizing phone banks to call and rescue old folks who need help. While the piece-of-excrement Cruz goes to Cancun.
I heard about the people sleeping in running cars with garage doors closed. That's not being unfamiliar with cold weather, that's a complete lack of common sense. SMH. It is a shame that helping others is the exception and not the rule.
Hats off to Beto and a swift kick in the nuggets to Cruz.
Less than an hour ago, ERCOT had a live zoomed meeting with reporters to "explain" how things stood right now (ice, snow, power on and off - or none at all - boiling water). They had the audacity to report that they had been in touch with their operators and instructed them to return to providing power as they had been before being told to "shed" users, because NOW, they had determined it was "safe" to do so. Now, what has happened between now and Sunday? Anyone? I suspect your point about profiting off sales while being shut down may have something to do with this new decision. I guess their operators (read private owners) had made enough money to justify going back in service. Call me cynical, but I do live in Texas and one cannot help but always question the white male pols in this state.
Thank you Heather.
I have friends who live throughout Texas. All of which purchased generators due to the changing climate challenges these last few years. They throughly understand the consequences of an underserviced power grid and the unforeseen weather patterns, so they are managing fine and helping those that aren't.
Rush Limbaugh, hum. I think of the adage, live your life in such a way that people don't rejoice in your death. I can think of others, but perhaps wouldn't be appropriate at this time.
Be safe, be well.
I live in Maine and lose power frequently . Yes I am one of the few on my road who does not have a standby generator. I tried to buy one this summer but there is a huge shortage of generators because there has been an unusual high demand from all over the country. The cost for these standby generators are 10000 plus. I have a generator which you pull outside of the garage which has a pull chord which is difficult to start when you are 40 and in great shape. I am lucky my son in law comes over and starts it. You run it for a few hours then go without power. My heart goes out to the people in Texas. It is hard to go with out heat and power. So the people with means can be-comfortable and those without suffer. Twenty years ago I had an AFS student from Sweden live with us. We lost power for over a week and did not have a generator. She was shocked and had never experienced losing power in Sweden. their power lines are underground so they never lose power from trees falling. Just think of all the fires that could have been prevented in California. Maybe investing in our infrastructure is a better solution.
I’m glad you have a young buck nearby, Susan. Not only per this issue, but for many others regarding winters, autumn leaves, property care, a hammer-and-nail issues, etc.
We moved from South Portland, ME., to our current location in the autumn 2018. One month later, that tremendous wind storm swept through Maine, and our welcome to the neighborhood was an uprooted Norway Maple, measuring some 90 feet. luckily our ‘back 40' is appx 110 feet in length. I just have stacked more than 200 logs, as a friend sawed that thing to pieces.
Immediately after the power blackout, we heard “whirring” all around us. It was the sound of neighbors’ generators, powered by small propane tanks, w/ automatic turn-on. Luckily, the season was mid-autumn, and we managed without heat and electricity for about a week.
WE decided to take the leap and by a generator. Of course, we have not needed it since. Just having that thing, I realize now, is relief (in a way, an immediate “turn--on”
Oh, if we could only be half as smart as those Swedes!
Yeah.. the socialists! Lol
We've lost power more the past several years too. I had a small generator, key start but it wasnt all that easy to get going AND my son would come over & start it for me (he lives about 5-10 minutes away) The kicker was a couple years ago, he almost didnt get here because we had a doozie of a snowstorm - and he was driving his plowtruck!! So the following summer I finally did invest in an automatic gen. (6000 loan) electric box install. hooked up to my house propane tanks. A relief, like Frederick says! But honestly, any kind of generator sure does make a difference when the power goes out. Imagine - not having all these wires & transformers all over! Cant imagine actually.
Linda, I, too, know a lot of people who have family in TX or who are there now. The situation there is absolutely terrible--and it was significantly preventable if maintenance of infrastructure had been a priority. However, the pols in TX think that their main ace-in-the-hand is low taxes--which means very little money for things like infrastructure maintenance and education. I heard this morning on NPR that while power plants in TX were being idled because they did not have the necessary natural gas to generate electricity, the companies were still selling natural gas outside the state. Because profit, y'know, is far more important than people actually not dying. Nevertheless, the yutzes in the state legislature are screaming down the house about the suggestions that maybe they should invest some funds in infrastructure, because it is "socialist." We have reached the level of lunacy when basic human empathy is now rejected by elected officials and their blind followers because it does not gel with their 18th-century Ricardian notions of what "capitalism" is. And to tie in your two thoughts: that is the legacy of the despicable self-aggrandizing balloon-of-methane who died yesterday. He made millions by encouraging the absolutely worst instincts in humanity.
In contrast, AOC this morning starts a Lenten project in honor of Tom Raskin, the son of Rep Jamie Raskin of MD, who was an artist and humanitarian activist--and who committed suicide on Dec. 31. She is asking people to go vegan for Lent--in some way (such as one day a week)--in honor of Tom's memory. And she is asking people to tweet vegan recipes to her. When human empathy becomes visible only on one side of the scale, and that empathy is vilified by the other side (as in our two trolls who jumped out asap to glorify the person who died yesterday), we have reached a level of bizarre in public discourse that I, for one, find incomprehensible. https://plantbasednews.org/culture/law-and-politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-urged-go-plant-based-ditches-meat-for-lent/
Linda, I agree. It was preventable. Certainly to the degree that as long as the climate is changing, we must adapt. The situation varies from friend to friend. My partner has a cousin that lives outside of Houston and they are doing fine. She and her husband are from Central New York so, a little snow and cold does not devastate them. I grew up in CNY, and like this morning when I got 5" of unpredicted snow. My only thought was, damn I better brush off the car. 😄.
I know that weather and conditions are relative, but as Ron's cousin pointed out, if they get 2" of snow, the city grinds to a halt for days. I read an article that stated the top selling vehicle in Texas is the F-150 pick up. This does make me think of the well worn expression from the late Anne Richards, "all hat, no cattle".
I did hear AOC's statement regarding Tom Raskin. I will most certainly go vegan in Tom's memory during lent. I immediately saw discourse from the GOP regarding that. It is diabolical and disgusting the act of being contrary for no reason at all. Speaking of which, the aforementioned trolls have certainly taken the wrong exit when they decided to post on this page. 😉
I lived in western NY for 17 years--about 100 miles south of Rochester, 100 miles east of Buffalo--in an area that gets lake effect from both Ontario AND Erie. The only time things were problematic was when there was an ice storm in the spring or more than 2 feet of snow fell in one day. Where I live currently, 2 inches freaks out everyone, but the problem is there is no infrastructure to handle snow, so it is disastrous and problematic--and I am not in Texas! Half of my neighbors won't shovel their sidewalks (we have about 8 inches on the ground at the moment) in order to help out those of us with dogs to walk. Lack of neighborliness is one of the biggest problems I am experiencing in the "nice" Midwest.
I love the Anne Richards quotation! And I also wonder about people who are dying in TX because they think it is a good idea to turn their cars on with the garage door closed and sleep in them. The Darwin Awards folks are I am sure rolling their eyes. At the same time, elderly people with no resources are dying of cold and hunger--because their neighbors are not checking on them either. Beto has been organizing phone banks to call and rescue old folks who need help. While the piece-of-excrement Cruz goes to Cancun.
Linda, then you definitely know snow and cold.
I heard about the people sleeping in running cars with garage doors closed. That's not being unfamiliar with cold weather, that's a complete lack of common sense. SMH. It is a shame that helping others is the exception and not the rule.
Hats off to Beto and a swift kick in the nuggets to Cruz.
They are just so many people on here who I love. Linda Mitchell with a cool Greek name we’ll never know, you are one of those people
“ the aforementioned trolls have certainly taken the wrong exit when they decided to post on this page.”
👌
As my gps says when I go the wrong direction, ‘make a U- turn as soon as possible!’
Less than an hour ago, ERCOT had a live zoomed meeting with reporters to "explain" how things stood right now (ice, snow, power on and off - or none at all - boiling water). They had the audacity to report that they had been in touch with their operators and instructed them to return to providing power as they had been before being told to "shed" users, because NOW, they had determined it was "safe" to do so. Now, what has happened between now and Sunday? Anyone? I suspect your point about profiting off sales while being shut down may have something to do with this new decision. I guess their operators (read private owners) had made enough money to justify going back in service. Call me cynical, but I do live in Texas and one cannot help but always question the white male pols in this state.
Cynical? Hardly. Practical. Realistic. Knowledgeable. You know whereof you speak.
Hear, Hear!