How's the weather in your area?

[crfriend]

G'day lads!

Sapphire and I are back online now after two days without power.

Fortunately, a neighbour was able to secure a generator from his father-in-law (who lives in an unaffected part of the state) and allowed us to jack our sump-pump into it. This allowed us to drain the 18 inches (46 cm) of water in the basement. Wading through it to find the extension cords and rewire the pump was not fun. We have a fair bit of water damage, including some of my historical computer documentation, although it could have been much worse.

We've also been without heat for two days, and the temperatures here plummeted to 11 degrees (F, -12 C) which means we've been intermittently draining the pipes so they don't freeze up and burst. Needless to say, we've looked like pillows for two days with all the layers of clothing we're wearing!

The cats are all fine; the adults can fend for themselves pretty well, and we made sure the kittens had a very warm "burrow" they could snuggle up in. As far as we're concerned, we're just happy that "the festivities" seem to be over, although there's still a LOT of work to be done before things are back to normal.

The next step will be to get the furnace and hot-water heater checked out (the water got up over the gas burners) and look into the condition of the clothes-washer and dryer (both submerged over some of the electrical parts) so we can do some laundry. Actually that can wait; I need a shower. I stink. Badly.

[Kris]

Wow, Carl, that sounds like a character-building experience! (Although I'm sure Sapphire would say you are quite enough of a character already! )

But seriously. I'm sorry to hear you had so much damage due to the basement flooding, and I hope you can get it straightened out without too much more time passing, or too much cost.

Kris

[Big and Bashful]

crfriend and Sapphire,
Welcome back and I'm glad to see you and your menagerie have survived, good look with sorting your house out!

[cessna152towser]

Welcome back Carl and Sapphire and glad to learn that things are now, albeit slowly, on the mend. Best wishes from Scotland.

[Kilted_John]

Carl,

Good to see that you're up and running again. A shame that the vitage 'puter docs were damaged, though.

Anyway, current weather here is 29 deg F, mostly cloudy, with about 5-6" of snow on various things and about 2" on the ground. More is expected Wed/Thursday, then, by Sunday, it's supposed to snow, then change to rain, remaining showery and near normal through next week.

-J

[Jack Williams]

Good to see you got through the emergency okay Crfriend & Sapphire. You obviously have good neighbours, as i fortunately have here. Hope the laundry equipment has not been destroyed,for instance the printed boards are up higher with with the controls. Jack.

[Mipi]

Oh well, we have to survive winter somehow....

[crfriend]

Update: 2008-12-17

Things internal to our house are almost back to normal, save for a whopping big soggy mess in the basement.

The heat is back on, as is the hot water; the main worry here was that the water got up above both the burner elements and the gas-control devices. Both devices re-lit properly, and no hint of unburned gas has been detected.

The washer and dryer seem to be OK, and I've successfully run a couple of loads through them. There was a bit of an acrid stink from the belt on the washer as it dried out from being worked, but that was it. Bear in mind that this was fresh water -- ground-water, specifically -- and quite clean. The fact that it was clean is important, because when I had to go wading to get extension-cords and to rewire the sump-pump, I had to sight, and remove, several pieces of broken glass that could have caused serious injury had I stepped on them. I've heard second-hand reports from an ex-colleague that she actually had snakes washed into her basement from the event; the only "livestock" I've seen downstairs was an errant salamander; I have no idea which of us was more surprised by the encounter.

Most of the historical doco is OK, and the stuff that got wet can likely be dried out and scanned at a later date. However, a bunch of my old 3/4" videotapes got submerged, and that does not bode well.

So much for the good news. Freezing rain is again falling, and is expected to continue for another hour or so, and the utility pole that supports our electrical service has a badly-compromised guy-anchor. If that pole drops, we'll be without power for weeks, which will require an evacuation. If that wasn't bad enough, the weather forecast is calling to 12 to 14 inches of snow on Friday afternoon, followed up by another six on Sunday night. Florida is looking really good about now.... I hate New England winters.

[Big and Bashful]

CR,
I see that your winters are really bad, we just get heavy gales and vast amounts of rain on the Wet, sorry, West coast of Scotland. What are your summers like? do they make up for the winters?
On the Scottish Wet coast the only real difference is the angle of the rain! in Winter it is horizontal, in Summer it gets closer to vertical.
We don't get snow often, just more bloody rain!
Glad to see you came through it reasonably well, if you are lucky and your player came through the floods ok once you have dried the tapes you may be able to play the old videos to dub them onto more modern and durable media. Just a thought!

[Milfmog]

CR,
I see that your winters are really bad, we just get heavy gales and vast amounts of rain on the Wet, sorry, West coast of Scotland. What are your summers like? do they make up for the winters?
On the Scottish Wet coast the only real difference is the angle of the rain! in Winter it is horizontal, in Summer it gets closer to vertical.

B&B you're underselling the Scottish summer; don't forget the famous critter that appears in the warmer season, the Scottish Midge is not a beast to be trifled with.

Carl, Glad to learn that you and Diana have come through relatively unscathed, hopefully the tapes are salvageable. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for the next few days.

Have fun,


Ian.

[Departed Member]

B&B you're underselling the Scottish summer; don't forget the famous critter that appears in the warmer season, the Scottish Midge is not a beast to be trifled with.

An occasion when skirts (especially Kilts!) win 'hands down' over shorts (tr*users, even!), as the midges are less likely to get 'stuck' (and really bite!) en route to the more, err, 'sweaty' areas, which bifurcation does magnify!!!!

[sapphire]

Seasons in New England
Winter: snow, snow storms, blizzards, rain, freezing rain, ice storms, short dark days (but not as short and dark as the British Isles)
When the sun comes out, the landscape is glorious. (mid November through mid April) (influenza, depression, frostbite)

Winter is followed by Mud Season. Rain, rain, flooding and lots of mud. Cold, raw days (April and May) (depression)

Spring is glorious but lasts about two weeks (May)

Summer: hot, humid, thunderstorms, poison ivy and mosquitos (June, July, August, September) (heat stroke and allergies)

Early Autumn: lovely weather and the most spectacular colors as the leaves change color (September, October, very early November) (town fairs, charitiy events and fun)

Late Autumn - see Winter

[ziggy_encaoua]

Here's how the weather out back of mty apartment

http://www.thedeviantlibertarian.net/snowy.jpg

I'm from the Southern Hemisphere I'm not use to this crap

[Mipi]

More then 1/2 m of snow and still snowing. Not really cold, 0 deg. C

[Cams]

Just come out of a record breaking hot spell. Last week we had 3 days of over 43 C in a row. It's cooled down now to low 30's C. Such a relief.