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Post by beth on Feb 23, 2021 16:04:51 GMT -5
A week ago, we couldn't get the temps above freezing and people were without power. Today, power is back -- hope most folks have water or repairs in progress, but it is 78 degrees and I am sitting outside on the back porch. Looking out at the shriveling plants and wondering what will come back from the cold. I think my least favorite thing about gardening is waiting and seeing after a hard freeze. And it;s always a brief spell here -- then, boom! Spring is back.
Hope the rest of you are doing well after that blast. We did lose power for a while and we had a frozen supply line at the kitchen sink, but it didn't break. We were fortunate. So many have had extensive damage.
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Post by wallycat on Feb 23, 2021 21:15:09 GMT -5
The news was reporting 8,000+ utility bills. Talk about a slap in people's faces.
I am happy to hear you did OK.
We had our first crocus pop and the daffodils are about to pop....is it October yet?
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Post by PattiA on Feb 24, 2021 11:57:52 GMT -5
The weather is absolutely crazy. I was very frustrated last week when it was 40 in NH and my TX friends were without power, water, and it was 10 degrees. This week they are posting pictures of sitting outside.
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Post by beth on Feb 24, 2021 15:20:23 GMT -5
It is warm and muggy today. Always something different here in Texas. Was wondering if any of others from this area still check in and how they are doing. I have a friend whose daughter is a grad student at UTA. She was without power for 3 days, no water for a week and her apartment flooded from burst pipes above her on 3 different occasions. Yesterday the management told her she would probably need to move out -- but they would give her her deposit back. There are only so many apartments near campus. She is a doctoral candidate -- not sure is she has classes so much as lab work, teaching and probably some other meetings. I hope the university is working out ways to deal with students who are displaced. Such a mess. I will say I am glad this came at the end of winter rather then early on. Can you imagine dealing with all this and it getting cold again and again? At least we know how to handle warm and muggy, even if ew don't love it.
The power bills remain to be seen -- I don't think we or our son have variable rates, but we've been told to expect higher bills. The variable rates apparently went into several thousand dollars for those few days, but there is talk they may be set aside. Not sure how that will play out. Not sure how you can change the rate to hundreds of times normal cost in the face of a major storm and who profits from that. I think that is part of the ERCOT disaster and not the power service companies or ultimate suppliers. There were bills sent out that showed over $20K in this same time period and those were a billing error -- one person checked her account online and saw her amount due was less than $60. They have been told not to pay those bills -- but I wonder if some folks know which is which. This legislature needs to own up to their failures to act and set it right. Before we have another disaster. Hurricane season is just over 3 months away and recent years have seen one or two early.
Wallycat -- crocus and daffodils up there already? Wow! I don't think I've seen daffodils down here in a long time. They may have been sogged by the spring floods we've had in recent years. They used to be one of the early signs of spring. We only get tulips and crocus if people dig them up, chill them and then replant, but there are naturalizing daffodils for this area. I wonder if people still plant them. Enjoy the first signs of spring!
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Post by wallycat on Feb 24, 2021 16:23:24 GMT -5
LOL, I would rather have the freezing cold and no power (though the burst pipes and no water, not a fan). I do cold very well. Warm, not so much. Enjoying spring is an oxymoron for me....I hate it. I hate the first hit of pollen all the way to the last day of the long warm/hot weather. I'm in my element in the cold and dark. Maybe I was a bat in a previous life, LOL. Is it October yet?
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Post by beth on Feb 27, 2021 16:29:15 GMT -5
wallycat, I don't mind the cold as long as I don't have to drive in nasty stuff (it takes so little to get nasty here, esp since ice is more likely than snow), and there is some form of heat that allows safety indoors as needed. I've grown up wth and lived with the heat -- and honestly it is the same thing that makes it (and the humidity -- especially the humidity) bearable. Power -- for fans and/or AC. LOL
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