2022-2023 Winter Weather Thread

[YGIFS 19449]

I know many of y'all are making due as we did from Tue-Fri night.  My offer still stands, if you need help  hauling limbs/brush to your curb and making cleaner cuts outta the splits/painting, lemme know.  I've got some time this week.  Well I don't, but I need to get outta the house after 5 straight days of cabin fever.  

And most of you are charging your shit in your car and doing extra time at the office.  But one suggestion I'd give for a "surly spa day" is get yourself a RecSports DayPass from UT.  $12.  Use the equipment, take a swim, sauna, hot shower, badass wi-fi, nice eye candy, grab a smoothie or coffee.  I saw a buncha guys my age doing it late last week and they all looked quite content to be outta the house and moving around.  I'll even let you borrow my parking pass and treat you to a drink at the UT Club if your power is out.  

[Brisketexan 104907]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Just put it in the spare bedroom.

Well, the carbon monoxide would go well with the smoke from our fireplace, which is now apparently backfeeding into the house (yes, flue is open, yes, we had a full chimney sweep workup done last year).  So, when I get home tonight, I get to:

- get more gas for the generator, fill it up, and get it running.

- buy a lock for the generator so it doesn't get stolen

- try to figure out why our fireplace isn't working right (in the dark, using a headlamp, that's always fun)

- come up with a dinner plan (no fridge, so it's either dry goods, or go out to eat...again).

But, you know, I probably need to run all that by @Texas Jeff to make sure none of that offends him.

[jimmyjazz 45821]

11 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

And most of you are charging your shit in your car and doing extra time at the office.  But one suggestion I'd give for a "surly spa day" is get yourself a RecSports DayPass from UT.  

That's a good idea.  Any idea if parents of UT students can access any facilities, more like a gym membership?  

[Brisketexan 104907]

3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's a good idea.  Any idea if parents of UT students can access any facilities, more like a gym membership?  

I've just been standing outside Kinsolving, asking random girls if I can join them in their room for a bit.

I may need to refine that plan just a tiny bit.

[YGIFS 19449]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

That's a good idea.  Any idea if parents of UT students can access any facilities, more like a gym membership?  

They opened it back up to "Community Members" which means alums, parents of students, donors, et. al.  You need to sign up for a UTEID which will take a few minutes/credentials.  From there you can sign up for the RecSports/Gregory daypass in seconds.  You can pretty much use all the facilities across campus/Whittaker Fields/Caven Fields.  You can't obviously partake in intramural sports, though Surly would field a very humorous squad.  I swim at Gregory and suggest if you do go---the faculty locker room downstairs (SW corner by racquetball).  Nice sauna, plenty of room/lockers, not-crowded showers, etc.  Then after, I sometimes I head up to the open areas to grab a table, something to drink, and jump on wi-fi/watch the yoga parade.  I saw some folks taking advantage of the daypass who you could tell had no power late last week and they looked like they were living their best life.  

[jimmyjazz 45821]

Looks like just about anyone can get a monthly pass for $41.  At family scale, I'd probably just rejoin the Dell Jewish Community Center.

[Brisketexan 104907]

2 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Nice sauna, plenty of room/lockers, not-crowded showers, etc. 

Nice way to tell us you run the "old man airing out his balls in the men's locker room" routine.

[texasdago 7554]

19 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, the carbon monoxide would go well with the smoke from our fireplace, which is now apparently backfeeding into the house (yes, flue is open, yes, we had a full chimney sweep workup done last year).  So, when I get home tonight, I get to:

- get more gas for the generator, fill it up, and get it running.

- buy a lock for the generator so it doesn't get stolen

- try to figure out why our fireplace isn't working right (in the dark, using a headlamp, that's always fun)

- come up with a dinner plan (no fridge, so it's either dry goods, or go out to eat...again).

But, you know, I probably need to run all that by @Texas Jeff to make sure none of that offends him.

Look on the bright side... with our fireplace on, temp in our house got down to 55 degrees whereas our neighbor who did not have a wood burning fireplace got down to 42.  At least its "something."

As for Kinsolving, try SRD.  

[Hate 20105]

My aunt that lives off of Far West just got her power back on. There is hope if you are in that area.

[Wally Pryor 5260]

1 hour ago, yoladu said:

They should have resources from the rest of the state and/or neighboring states helping out, pitching in.

 

Yeah, I don't get this and haven't heard it addressed. Seems like there would be trucks in from 1/2 dozen other cities or the like. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Yeah, I don't get this and haven't heard it addressed. Seems like there would be trucks in from 1/2 dozen other cities or the like. 

I know Houston and San Antonio are pitching in. Others? Dunno. 

[Deej 76733]

[Wally Pryor 5260]

1 minute ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

I know Houston and San Antonio are pitching in. Others? Dunno. 

Ah, thanks. 

[Gale Snoats 242]

My parents are off of Spicewood Springs and their power just came back on.  

[Armybrat 40797]

21 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Yeah, I don't get this and haven't heard it addressed. Seems like there would be trucks in from 1/2 dozen other cities or the like. 

The hotel parking lots in Round Rock are full of power utility trucks from a multitude of different places. 
Some of those crews are working overnight.

[Brisketexan 104907]

2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

The hotel parking lots in Round Rock are full of power utility trucks from a multitude of different places. 
Some of those crews are working overnight.

Austin probably has them dedicated to working round the clock to clear the bike lanes. 

[AUS-97HORN 11752]

yeah... kind of pissed that 2-3 days ago once the full impact was really known that austin didnt put out a call for electric and tree trimmers from as far away as 1,000 miles (basically a full days drive away) werent called to be here.

when Harvey hit houston there were huge chunks of crews from nebraska, Kansas, new Mexico, Tenn, Illinois, Ohio that showed up in Houston.   many of those were 1,500 miles plus from Houston.  

why the fuck did the city not put out that call already.     I understand any state city within 500 miles that has available workers sent them. but fuck, this is nuts that they are saying 12 days is totally cool for a city whose entire infrastructure is fully intact (i.e. all roads work, 99+% are lit)

[Brisketexan 104907]

4 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

yeah... kind of pissed that 2-3 days ago once the full impact was really known that austin didnt put out a call for electric and tree trimmers from as far away as 1,000 miles (basically a full days drive away) werent called to be here.

when Harvey hit houston there were huge chunks of crews from nebraska, Kansas, new Mexico, Tenn, Illinois, Ohio that showed up in Houston.   many of those were 1,500 miles plus from Houston.  

why the fuck did the city not put out that call already.     I understand any state city within 500 miles that has available workers sent them. but fuck, this is nuts that they are saying 12 days is totally cool for a city whose entire infrastructure is fully intact (i.e. all roads work, 99+% are lit)

As I understand, the calls to out-of-state resources are usually made from the governor's office.  And this governor's office has boldly and authoritatively proclaimed that it is the supreme authority, trumping all others, pursuant to its (way overbroad) reading of the Texas Disaster Act.

A large-scale disaster.

With the governor's office not lifting a FINGER to do anything about it, even though that office has spent the last three years telling every court in the state that its authority is supreme and total.

Gosh, I wonder why that is?

Edited February 6, 2023 by Brisketexan

[Trey3216 15335]

4 minutes ago, AUS-97HORN said:

yeah... kind of pissed that 2-3 days ago once the full impact was really known that austin didnt put out a call for electric and tree trimmers from as far away as 1,000 miles (basically a full days drive away) werent called to be here.

when Harvey hit houston there were huge chunks of crews from nebraska, Kansas, new Mexico, Tenn, Illinois, Ohio that showed up in Houston.   many of those were 1,500 miles plus from Houston.  

why the fuck did the city not put out that call already.     I understand any state city within 500 miles that has available workers sent them. but fuck, this is nuts that they are saying 12 days is totally cool for a city whose entire infrastructure is fully intact (i.e. all roads work, 99+% are lit)

Well, this ice storm also hit Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and the northernmost parts of LA, MS, AL as well.  It's not a totally localized ordeal.  

[gsoda3 3243]

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

 You can't obviously partake in intramural sports, though Surly would field a very humorous squad. 

ACTUALLY -  you might be able to.  up til 2010 at least if you had a valid rec sports monthly membership you were able to participate.  i know because a group of us did it.  

[Wally Pryor 5260]

2 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Jackie Sargent is as good as gone. 

The really interesting part will be to see if Cronk gets the axe. He's had other issues so this may be the icing on the cake for him. Poor choice of words, oh well. 

Special city council meeting on Thursday to evaluate Cronk's job performance. 

Probably means he's getting a raise. 

[Trey3216 15335]

4 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Special city council meeting on Thursday to evaluate Cronk's job performance. 

Probably means he's getting a raise. 

Maybe a bike lane named in honor.  

[YGIFS 19449]

Firing him won't change the fact that they are going to do nothing to revert back to better pruning policies.  This is complete reactionary bullshit and will do absolutely jack fucking shit to mitigate the next time this happens.  Cronk should go, but not over this.  

What was so unique to Austin that we're the only large city in Texas hit by this storm having these issues that'll take two weeks to resolve?  Hmmmmm, are we the only MSA with fucking trees?  

[Skipper 6117]

12 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

 

What was so unique to Austin that we're the only large city in Texas hit by this storm having these issues that'll take two weeks to resolve?  Hmmmmm, are we the only MSA with fucking trees?  

Temps were a little cooler than expected in Dallas/North Texas so the first round of heavy precip in DFW area was daytime and mixed with sleet which helped significantly.  No doubt Austin still would have performed worse (they seem to be pretty proactive about pruning trees near powerlines in my area at least) but ice accumulation seems to also have been the worst in Austin.

[Brisketexan 104907]

5 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Temps were a little cooler than expected in Dallas/North Texas so the first round of heavy precip in DFW area was daytime and mixed with sleet which helped significantly.  No doubt Austin still would have performed worse (they seem to be pretty proactive about pruning trees near powerlines in my area at least) but ice accumulation seems to also have been the worst in Austin.

Correct.  The bullseye of largest ice accumulation in the state was pretty much right over Camp Mabry.  If it had been 10 miles east or west, it would have had a much smaller impact.

[crash_davis 23091]

The last 2 years have taught me that when I build my retirement home in Colorado, I'm going to spend the extra money to build it to handle total off grid conditions for water, gas, and solar. Fuck relying on utilities, cities, state and federal governments. 

 

[Skipper 6117]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Correct.  The bullseye of largest ice accumulation in the state was pretty much right over Camp Mabry.  If it had been 10 miles east or west, it would have had a much smaller impact.

Yep.  We got lucky that temps were colder than expected Tues resulting in sleet (after initial freezing rain) as there was a ton of precip on Tues.  Then on the backside we didn't get as much precip as there could have been. I lost a few limbs (one crashed damaging pool fence) but nothing too bad.  Most escaped with no damage or any power issues.

[Eskimohorn 5626]

Can not believe they’re saying another week or so. Heads should roll for this. We get ice storms EVERY YEAR, how are we not a little more prepared for them?

AE didnt instigate the ice umbrella fast enough. They also failed to bum rush everyone’s backyard to clear trees over the past 20 years against wishes of the NIMBYs. And, they failed to find $25 billion to bury lines. And their workers weren’t forced to work Wed night during an electrical storm.

This is an unprecedented natural and manmade disaster. Manmade by homeowners who neglect trees and overplant. And fought against tree butchers. No easy solutions here.

[Deej 76733]

25 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Correct.  The bullseye of largest ice accumulation in the state was pretty much right over Camp Mabry.  If it had been 10 miles east or west, it would have had a much smaller impact.

I need to get over to fish that pond at Mabry to see how many of those trees got pulled down by the ice. 

[texasdago 7554]

It kind of sucks that our neighborhood is completely buried... all lines in our community of sub-200 homes are buried... all of it... BUT the power has to get to us and its not buried.  In theory, at least they can fix the issue to the hood and then there aren't individual house issues like a branch falling on the line from the pole to the house.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Wally Pryor said:

Special city council meeting on Thursday to evaluate Cronk's job performance. 

Probably means he's getting a raise. 

Holy shit, I think this is actually big news.

I don't envy Cronk's job. Seems hard as fuck. But if they fire him a month into the new city council's term, I think that's huge. I can't really think of what he's done well, but admittedly when things work right you don't hear about them. 

I still can't believe the garbage they pulled when hiring him with the secret meetings and running all over town. 

I also don't think that Adler gets enough criticism for how crummy a mayor he was. Again, hard job, but he wasn't the man for it at all.

[sidis 9806]

i am in the heart of westlake.  i have buried lines and and am on the same circuit as the water plant.  i'm a lucky mother fucker...never lost power or water during storm uri or this ice storm.  but holy shit my lot was wrecked on trees.  spent a lot of wednesday and thursday, and then all of friday chainsawing/polesawing/hauling some heavy ass live oaks...including three complete trees.  really sad.  spent half the day yesterday clearing my daughters' elementary school which was a shitshow as well.  when i sleep, i feel polesaw vibrations right now.

[YGIFS 19449]

DAD(‘s club)?

[sidis 9806]

16 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

DAD(‘s club)?

i don't believe in any ism, i believe in myself.  i quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." good point there. after all, he was the walrus. i could be the walrus. i'd still have to bum rides off people.

that said, it was seriously bad and most of those middle-aged, overprivileged goobers who either grew up here or in river oaks/hyde park were going to fucking cut their own arms off or drop trees without taking weight out first on top of each other.  so i lent my east texas, white trash formative years skillset doing that awful shit to try and help avoid catastrophe.  lots of widow makers and hangers around an elementary school...not so great.  got it cleaned up though.  the amount of shit we cleared and sawed up will completely melt down even an industrial chipper. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by sidis

[Longhorn_Fan68 33857]

Finally have line crews here today. There is hope!

[Brisketexan 104907]

2 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Finally have line crews here today. There is hope!

Hope is for suckers.

You're fucked.  You'll stay fucked.  Because fuckery.

I'll believe something is being done when I have actual fucking electricity at my house.

My father spent his first years in a ranch house that had defense towers built in, with gun ports to defend against indian raids.  My home presently has exactly the same amount of electricity running to it as that ranch house did. 

At this point, fuck it.  I want to make it past Wednesday morning at 5:00 a.m., so we at least get the "bragging rights" of being without power for a full week.  Maybe we can put a plaque on our door or some shit to celebrate the achievement.

[YGIFS 19449]

13 minutes ago, sidis said:

i don't believe in any ism, i believe in myself.  i quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." good point there. after all, he was the walrus. i could be the walrus. i'd still have to bum rides off people.

that said, it was seriously bad and most of those middle-aged, overprivileged goobers who either grew up here or in river oaks/hyde park were going to fucking cut their own arms off or drop trees without taking weight out first on top of each other.  so i lent my east texas, white trash formative years skillset doing that awful shit to try and help avoid catastrophe.  lots of widow makers and hangers around an elementary school...not so great.  got it cleaned up though.  the amount of shit we cleared and sawed up will completely melt down even an industrial chipper. 

Yes, but also are you a member of CC dads club or EE?   Or something different altogether?

[Deej 76733]

6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Hope is for suckers.

You're fucked.  You'll stay fucked.  Because fuckery.

I'll believe something is being done when I have actual fucking electricity at my house.

My father spent his first years in a ranch house that had defense towers built in, with gun ports to defend against indian raids.  My home presently has exactly the same amount of electricity running to it as that ranch house did. 

At this point, fuck it.  I want to make it past Wednesday morning at 5:00 a.m., so we at least get the "bragging rights" of being without power for a full week.  Maybe we can put a plaque on our door or some shit to celebrate the achievement.

Also, Dude, Indian is not the preferred nomenclature.

 

[royiv 9193]

14 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

The generator noise is getting to me. If it’s freezing cold then ok, keep your furnace on to keep your house warm. It’s a mild night it Austin but the generators just keep blazing away…

Imagine the sound if we all had them.

You poor, sensitive snowflake. How dare your neighbors want to have some modicum of comfort during a disaster. 

[sidis 9806]

4 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Yes, but also are you a member of CC dads club or EE?   Or something different altogether?

 

i am a "member" of neither.  but ee.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by sidis

[Hate 20105]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

Also, Dude, Indian is not the preferred nomenclature.

 

What if his ranch house was in India??

[YGIFS 19449]

Gotcha.  I was out there at CCE doing same yesterday and thought I was working next to you the whole time.  Yeah, quite a shitshow at those heavily wooded campuses.  Took us almost four hours just to clear the sidewalks and play areas 

[Deej 76733]

1 minute ago, Hate said:

What if his ranch house was in India??

Touche. 

[Brisketexan 104907]

1 minute ago, Deej said:

Also, Dude, Indian is not the preferred nomenclature.

 

Well, it was in Mexico, so technically, it was raids by "los indios" back then.  Fuck if I know now.  I never got to visit that old ranch house, it was completely in ruins by the time I came along.  The new ranch house had running water.  No electricity, but a windmill and a propane water heater meant relative luxury.

[Pato del Muerto 52459]

[Pato del Muerto 52459]

Power at my place of employment just went out again. Was off from tues morning until Friday afternoon.  
 

wonder what caused this one. Hanging limb let go?  Tree pruners prune a power line?  Linemen cut it accidentally or purposefully during a fix somewhere?

[Brisketexan 104907]

4 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Power at my place of employment just went out again. Was off from tues morning until Friday afternoon.  
 

wonder what caused this one. Hanging limb let go?  Tree pruners prune a power line?  Linemen cut it accidentally or purposefully during a fix somewhere?

Because you touch yourself at night.

Says the guy who's in his sixth day without power......

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19400]

6 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Power at my place of employment just went out again. Was off from tues morning until Friday afternoon.  
 

wonder what caused this one. Hanging limb let go?  Tree pruners prune a power line?  Linemen cut it accidentally or purposefully during a fix somewhere?

Don't know where you work, but there was a line crew on 2243 this morning looked like they were replacing a power pole. I'd imagine they had to cut power to do that. The old pole was leaning, but not broken all the way. 

[Pato del Muerto 52459]

2 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Don't know where you work, but there was a line crew on 2243 this morning looked like they were replacing a power pole. I'd imagine they had to cut power to do that. The old pole was leaning, but not broken all the way. 

Nah, sw corner of parmer and 45. 

[Texas Jeff 1940]

For the record, I’m on day 6 with no power. It sucks. Sorry I struck a nerve about the generators, but my neighbor fired up three of them yesterday .. the constant noise on top of no power is really frustrating.