29 thoughts on “February 16, 2021: Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler”
Truthfully, I had no idea how much I’d miss Mardi Gras. It’s such a fundamental part of living in New Orleans, a city wide release valve if you will. The ‘ronas have shined a bright spotlight on crime, poverty, violence and inequality in the big easy, and have stripped away all the positive expressions of collective joy. Safe to say that this is a low point in the pandemic for dr. Chop and I.
He's got a PhD in Whistling. And the hair isn't that long
Had my team video call this morning; they're rolling blackouts in Nebraska.
I really feel for the people in areas where the infrastructure wasn't built for weather like they're experiencing.
I'm thinking that Nebraska is pretty well experienced with very cold, snowy conditions. This might be on the order of a 100-year event. Hard (expensive) to build for remote risks.
But, I dunno. There may be some maintenance issues that the utilities in many parts of the country have been neglecting Because Short Term Profits.
The Neb. rolling blackouts are because of OK and TX problems.
Friend in Austin had a pipe explode and his ceiling collapse. Good times!
One thing I haven't heard much talk about is that, at least here in San Antonio, is almost all houses have heat pumps instead of traditional furnaces, which are all electric. Even my new house being built will have a heat pump. Very few people have natural gas even for stoves or dryers or even hot water heaters, unlike SoCal, where it seemed like most people used gas for those things as well as heating their houses. The heat pumps are great for normal winter weather in Texas. They are more efficient than even gas furnaces. They work by drawing the heat out of the air and pumping it into the house. However, they lose efficiency when temps get below 40 degrees and become less efficient than furnaces when the temps drop below 25 degrees. We had lows down into the single digits a couple nights and a couple days that didn't get above freezing, so I think the electricity demand increase was exponential. Add that to solar panels being covered in a few inches of rarely seen snow, wind turbines being frozen, a nuclear power plant being automatically shut down due to a frozen sensor, and gas and oil pipes moving fuel to power plants, and it just became a perfect storm for a crisis. These were temps not seen here in 30 years. At least we're not getting extended blackouts because of wind events that happen every year like we were seeing in SoCal before we moved.
Natural gas frozen in the pipelines are the big issue.
I have crews in Longview and Jonesboro (among others), serving your employer, mostly shut down this week.
Ft. Worth was out of power yesterday, which is a whole other level of scary.
Diesel trucks in Texas are gelling up, too. Plans C, D, E in effect at this point.
My first winter in Minnesota (1977/78) was a real eye opener. I was working on the loading dock at Crystal Foods and it was way warmer in the egg cooler (45-50 degrees) than on the dock. We had a couple of big propane heaters running and that helped some, but mostly you just kept moving to stay warm. The trucks ran 24 hours a day to keep the diesel from gelling. A friend from work took me for my first car ride on a frozen lake and later took me ice fishing. I think we went about 10 days or so without getting above zero. And I bought my first pairs of Sorel boots and chopper mittens that winter. Except for this little polar vortex, we've had a mild winter this year and I'm not complaining. Out in Washington, Elder Daughter and her business partner had to rent a big space heater for their plant warehouse to keep the stock alive, and they were driving there every couple of hours to make sure the temperature stayed inside the tropical houseplant survival zone.
My brother reminded me of a MN cold weather tale.
We moved to the house by the lake by Park Rapids in the early 70's, this after living in tropical heat in Panama.
Dad was still in Viet Nam on his second tour. The house was heated by propane, which liquifies below -44F. It got there.
My uncle came down and lit charcoal briquets in a nest around the propane tank (I know this sounds like a very bad idea) to warm it up so that we could heat the house.
I once in college did something similar under the block of my car. In retrospect, perhaps not a smart idea. 🙁
My college roommate had the same idea as you. Sounds like you had a much better outcome. His story ends with him trying to get close enough with a hose to put the fire out.
It was on the order of 60 below (not windchill) and I didn't have a block heater. But, given that it was an old car and gasoline vapors are much heavier than air....
I also remember a weekend my freshman year when one of my roommates removed his car battery and brought it into our triple, hoping that that would allow him to get the car started the next day. I don't remember him needing a jumpstart, but...[shrug].
Last anecdote: Christmas 1993. We were at my brother's in the northern suburbs, slated to spend New Year's with my parents at the lake (~45 minutes north of Grand Rapids). They called down to say "don't come up. The septic system has frozen."
We drove home to Illinois instead. My son was born at the end of August. Those two facts are related. 🙂
Bringing in your car battery (or wrapping it in a blanket) is a thing.
I remember how -46 affects transmission "fluid" and shifting
His career assists/turnover is something like 2.3/2.1 and he’s at like 2.1/1.7 this year. No indication he can play a team-first game.
RHP Ian Hamilton cleared waivers, meaning the Twins can keep him in the organization without having him on the 40-man roster. He'll be a non-roster invitee to spring training.
Truthfully, I had no idea how much I’d miss Mardi Gras. It’s such a fundamental part of living in New Orleans, a city wide release valve if you will. The ‘ronas have shined a bright spotlight on crime, poverty, violence and inequality in the big easy, and have stripped away all the positive expressions of collective joy. Safe to say that this is a low point in the pandemic for dr. Chop and I.
Maybe this will help.
NBB, throwing food at the problem.
(It could help...)
Take your drunken ass home.
Because
Dude has a prodigious belly.
He's got a PhD in Whistling. And the hair isn't that long
Had my team video call this morning; they're rolling blackouts in Nebraska.
I really feel for the people in areas where the infrastructure wasn't built for weather like they're experiencing.
I'm thinking that Nebraska is pretty well experienced with very cold, snowy conditions. This might be on the order of a 100-year event. Hard (expensive) to build for remote risks.
But, I dunno. There may be some maintenance issues that the utilities in many parts of the country have been neglecting Because Short Term Profits.
The Neb. rolling blackouts are because of OK and TX problems.
Friend in Austin had a pipe explode and his ceiling collapse. Good times!
One thing I haven't heard much talk about is that, at least here in San Antonio, is almost all houses have heat pumps instead of traditional furnaces, which are all electric. Even my new house being built will have a heat pump. Very few people have natural gas even for stoves or dryers or even hot water heaters, unlike SoCal, where it seemed like most people used gas for those things as well as heating their houses. The heat pumps are great for normal winter weather in Texas. They are more efficient than even gas furnaces. They work by drawing the heat out of the air and pumping it into the house. However, they lose efficiency when temps get below 40 degrees and become less efficient than furnaces when the temps drop below 25 degrees. We had lows down into the single digits a couple nights and a couple days that didn't get above freezing, so I think the electricity demand increase was exponential. Add that to solar panels being covered in a few inches of rarely seen snow, wind turbines being frozen, a nuclear power plant being automatically shut down due to a frozen sensor, and gas and oil pipes moving fuel to power plants, and it just became a perfect storm for a crisis. These were temps not seen here in 30 years. At least we're not getting extended blackouts because of wind events that happen every year like we were seeing in SoCal before we moved.
Natural gas frozen in the pipelines are the big issue.
I have crews in Longview and Jonesboro (among others), serving your employer, mostly shut down this week.
Ft. Worth was out of power yesterday, which is a whole other level of scary.
Diesel trucks in Texas are gelling up, too. Plans C, D, E in effect at this point.
My first winter in Minnesota (1977/78) was a real eye opener. I was working on the loading dock at Crystal Foods and it was way warmer in the egg cooler (45-50 degrees) than on the dock. We had a couple of big propane heaters running and that helped some, but mostly you just kept moving to stay warm. The trucks ran 24 hours a day to keep the diesel from gelling. A friend from work took me for my first car ride on a frozen lake and later took me ice fishing. I think we went about 10 days or so without getting above zero. And I bought my first pairs of Sorel boots and chopper mittens that winter. Except for this little polar vortex, we've had a mild winter this year and I'm not complaining. Out in Washington, Elder Daughter and her business partner had to rent a big space heater for their plant warehouse to keep the stock alive, and they were driving there every couple of hours to make sure the temperature stayed inside the tropical houseplant survival zone.
My brother reminded me of a MN cold weather tale.
We moved to the house by the lake by Park Rapids in the early 70's, this after living in tropical heat in Panama.
Dad was still in Viet Nam on his second tour. The house was heated by propane, which liquifies below -44F. It got there.
My uncle came down and lit charcoal briquets in a nest around the propane tank (I know this sounds like a very bad idea) to warm it up so that we could heat the house.
I once in college did something similar under the block of my car. In retrospect, perhaps not a smart idea. 🙁
My college roommate had the same idea as you. Sounds like you had a much better outcome. His story ends with him trying to get close enough with a hose to put the fire out.
It was on the order of 60 below (not windchill) and I didn't have a block heater. But, given that it was an old car and gasoline vapors are much heavier than air....
I also remember a weekend my freshman year when one of my roommates removed his car battery and brought it into our triple, hoping that that would allow him to get the car started the next day. I don't remember him needing a jumpstart, but...[shrug].
Last anecdote: Christmas 1993. We were at my brother's in the northern suburbs, slated to spend New Year's with my parents at the lake (~45 minutes north of Grand Rapids). They called down to say "don't come up. The septic system has frozen."
We drove home to Illinois instead. My son was born at the end of August. Those two facts are related. 🙂
Bringing in your car battery (or wrapping it in a blanket) is a thing.
I remember how -46 affects transmission "fluid" and shifting
Ayyup.
Is elder daughter growing smokeables?
Current temperature in Eagan, MN: +3. Yahoo!!!!
Banana belt!
In case you were tempted to miss Andrew Wiggins
His career assists/turnover is something like 2.3/2.1 and he’s at like 2.1/1.7 this year. No indication he can play a team-first game.