Our SCC Texas Friends....

[northernlights]

We have many Forum members who live in Texas. I think I speak for everyone here when I say our hearts go out to you and your loved ones (and others affected) as you continue to endure through severe winter weather conditions and power outages.

Please reach out on the Forum if there is anything we can do for you.

You all are in our thoughts and prayers.

northernlights

 

[Chris Anderson]

What he said.

If there's anything we can do to help let us know.

 

[stonecreek]

Thanks for the kind tidings! Lots of our Texas members are understandably experiencing outages of electricity and/or internet, so there may not be too many responses for a while. My electricity has been on and off, and even when "on" there hasn't always been an internet signal (I guess that takes electricity, too!) We've even had outages of cell phone service due to either ice or lack of electricity to towers.

I have been lucky since my electricity, though off and on, has been "on" for more hours of the day than "off" for most of the last week. I also have a wood-fired stove for auxiliary heat and have been lucky to have had "only" one pipe in my well house break -- and it is PVC which I can repair myself when the weather warms enough for the glue to set.

Also, those of you who might have submitted requests for factory records please be patient! Our volunteer researchers who respond are all in Texas, too.

 

[L61R]

Hear Hear!

As said before, let us know if we can do anything to help!! Anything!

Jim

 

[kevinlg]

Dodged a bullet at my house(we're about 20 miles south of the Red River)........as it was -8 degrees(second lowest on record) two nights ago. We kept our electricity.........where many friends didn't(semi-rolling black-outs).
It hasn't been above 30 degrees for 9 days.......10 days would be another record.

On the bright side.....my 17 year old geothermal heat pump system passed an extreme test pretty well. At -3 degrees outside, it was blowing 90 degree air.

It's BAD out there!!........makes 110+ degree summers, a distant memory.

Stay safe guys!

 

[Josey]

Live in maine no stranger to cold. Good luck and god bless all you texans hope all is good soon.

 

[Bucktote]

Our prayers are with all inTexas and all those in the storms path. When I was stationed in Amarillo in the 50s it was a bone chilling cold !!. I know it will not help you now but we have Hurricanes here in GA and I invested in a Generac portable Gennerator. When we loose power I can plug it in and flip the switches to cut off external power and select what systems I want to operate. If a storm is coming I can take my unit & family to a safe place and return when it's safe. Plug in the Genn. & have power intil the power company is up & running.
It is gasoline powered & I store fuel for it in an outside storage area,If we don't use the Genn. I use the fuel in the truck. A wood burning stove or fireplace will get you by in the winter,keep wood readly on hand.
I wish I could do more to help .

Tony C, "bucktote"

 

[douglastwo]

This type of reaction is just one of may ways good friends and good neighbors are defined. My story is much the same as millions in Texas and elsewhere. No electricity Sunday to sundown Thursday, no gasoline or diesel from Tuesday until AM today, no bottle water, milk, eggs, bread, and so on, very very few restaurants open, Walmart closed Monday to Thursday, no propane available from Tuesday until today, no TV, landlines, computer, and very little cell service and no way to charge your cell other than the car, and with my WiFi and internet down and my electricity was off, the battery charge on my cell would last only 2-3 hours if I checked the weather and made a few calls. Enough crying. You guys are great !

 

[douglastwo]

And, one more, all the motel room were full by Wednesday morning.

 

[paulsonconstruction]

Having been a Civil Engineer, I am literally stunned by what I have seen happening in Texas. The politicians, commissioners, regulators & bureaucrats in charge of that state's infrastructure have, through their negligence & incompetence, allowed that great state to turn into a third world country overnight. What is happening there is absolutely inexcusable in the United States of America. Resignations should be forthcoming but, as we have just seen in Washington D.C., accountability seems to be a lost concept these days. Hopefully the great people in that state will clean house & rid themselves of these sleaze-balls. People melting snow on their grills for drinking water, burning furniture to stay warm, people freezing to death in their homes, for God's sake! If the people responsible don't pay a price for this, think what the future may bring. God Bless Texas!!

 

[stonecreek]

Paulson: I'm afraid that you're dead right. We in Texas have done things for years "on the cheap". As everyone knows, that works for a while, but will eventually catch up with you. The "Energy Reliability Council of Texas", ERCOT, was designed not to assure reliability of the electric grid, but to keep out-of-state generation competition from cutting into the profits of in-state generators. In turn, the in-state generators could shave their own costs (and pad their bottom line) by just a hair by forgoing standard engineering practices and designs which allow plants to operate in sub-optimal conditions, like freezing weather. If you don't insulate your water intake lines and put dryers in your gas supply lines and it gets cold enough, guess what? Your plant goes down.

Commercial builders are just as bad. From Houston-south, almost every spec house is built with the water lines running through the attic, not under the slab. This shaves a few bucks off of the cost of building, but is a guaranteed disaster sooner or later. Now, it's bad enough to be a homeowner caught unexpectedly with burst pipes spewing water in your attic, down the walls, and flooding your house as the drywall on the ceilings falls onto the soaked furniture. But apartment houses are built this same way. There is nothing a tenant can do about it, and the complex owner, usually a ghost corporate entity or LLP, may simply walk away from from a three-hundred unit complex because the cost of repairing it will exceed the revenues it might produce. The apartment dweller is left with soaked belongings, no place to live, and no recourse since the "landlord" may simply dissolve itself and disappear.

So, what was the very first reaction of our Governor? To blame someone else for advocating for green energy, which had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the electric grid debacle we experienced. Having been burned on that red herring, he is now proposing that the taxpayers foot the bill for "winterizing" the generating plants instead of the poor, downtrodden private utilities having to foot their own bill. As I say, you pegged it, Paulson.

 

[sws1213]

I live in North Texas, same as Kevin. Minus 8 one morning, minus 6 another. Record lows at least 6 straight days. 266 consecutive hours below freezing.
All the politicians and regulatory agencies blaming each other. It is unconscionable and unacceptable.
Folks have literally frozen to death in their own homes! Heads need to roll.
I’m starting a “Draft Stonecreek for Governor” movement. Who’s with me Texans?

 

[L61R]

I’m starting a “Draft Stonecreek for Governor” movement. Who’s with me Texans?

Hear Hear!

Can Swedes vote too? Count me in if so!

Jim

 

[Bucktote]

Perhaps I am getting too angry about the quality of government we seem to be dependant on. I was blessed and honered to serve in S.A.C. under the command of General Curtis Le May. No alabys or excuses. "if at first you don't succeed- your FIRED" To err is Human, to forgive is NOT S.A.C. POIICY " It seems to me that too many in big government jobs too many officials are asleep at he wheel, at ease with their comfortable positions and are far too short sighted. Example Pearl Harbor, commanding Admiral and General playing golf and their subordenates not being abreast of the worstening dealings with Japan, 9-11 government departments not in touch with each other, not connecting the dots!!. I still remember all the excuses given by those in charge. Have we as a people become so dependant on others to be our savior, protect us from all dangers that may come to us via natural disasters or malevelant people and governments. Where has our self help and confidence gone ?? It is our obligation to take reasonable care of those we are entrusted to take care of and of others that we can. We were once a strong self reliant people, but have we gotten too complacent? Plan ahead, plan for the worst, be prepared. Forgive me if I seem too angry and disapointed at the direction we seem to be going, I just can't help thinking was all the blood, treasure and lives wasted as we tried to save our country & the free world from evil ?? I probly said too much so I'll close.