Tuesday, January 17, 2017

And...The Day After

Turns out our ice storm wasn't very problematic and the snow never really materialized.  The intermittent power outage was due to a tree limb falling on a nearby substation but the city folks got power going again within an hour.  

Have to admit, there's a part of me that was disappointed I couldn't use more of my camping gear.  I think it's something genetic in us guys to want to jump into action and show how helpful we can be in a crisis situation.  

On the other hand I'll take handling slush any day over needing to clear away 3 to 5 inches of snow just to get to work today.  

I will leave you with a couple of memes relating to the winter storm (courtesy of Geogal):



Monday, January 16, 2017

Are We Ready?

Yesterday the ice storm cometh.  Today has the promise of snow.  

While we don't want to take these lightly we need not engage in behaviors reminiscint of late 1999 when plenty of folks presumed the tech nerds didn't have the Y2K situation well in hand.  

I didn't buy a generator then, nor did I keep weeks of bottled water and nonperishable food hidden away from the masses.  (In the interest of full disclosure I admit I did buy a Brita water pitcher so we could use our swimming pool water for drinking if necessary--hey, I kept it chlorinated properly!)  

But prudence has its place and winter on the Great Plains should involve some forethought.  

I've been keeping the camper plugged into house power to keep the battery charged.  That done, the recreational rig should give us the necessary backup should the worst happen (power lines snap and render us without electricity).  I'm reasonably sure I have enough propane to keep us warm for a couple of days.  The tongue has two 20-pound bottles and our camping this past year hasn't involved excessive use of the furnace.  If we have heat most of the battle is won.  Propane also allows us to use the range and I reminded Geogal just today that the refrigerator can run off of Hank Hill's favorite fuel if there's no electricity to be had.  

Yes, I know the absorption-type refrigerator and freezer in the camper takes several hours to get cold but with outside temperatures going below the freezing mark do you think that will really be a problem?  

We're even covered for entertainment.  Some months ago I bought a 24-inch Insignia LCD TV from Best Buy's web site (got a screaming deal) and having done my homework, learned even though it comes with the typical AC power cord the input jack is actually DC (the brick does the conversion).  In a pinch I can use a DC cord left over from a previous device that died and went to gadgets heaven. The camper's built-in radio/CD player also plays DVDs so no problem there.  

The only thing I'm lacking is a generator.  I've written before about doing my research and identifying the inverter generator I want, however since I want one with enough wattage to power the camper's air conditioner the price tag is a little high.  I'm putting the pennies aside and hope to get one in the spring.  

Worst case scenario I use the 300w inverter I bought for the Yellowstone camping journey back in 2010.  Take it to either my Ram or Suburban, start the engine, plug inverter into cigarette lighter socket and juice up laptop and other needed devices.  

May have to.  As I've been putting the finishing touches on this entry the power went out.  Came back on about 30 minutes later then went off again in less than 10 minutes.  Who knows how long we will play the flicker-flicker-on-again-off-again game?  Router is off now but I just enabled the hotspot on my iPhone so as long as the LTE stays active we can all be connected.  

Sunday, January 08, 2017

Old Sol

Last week we were greeted with about an inch and a half from Old Man Winter.  Granted, that's not enough to disrupt things (the schools didn't even do a late start, much less be closed for the day) but the accompanying Arctic temps prevented the stuff from disappearing quickly.  The wind chill for either Wednesday or Thursday morning--it's all a blur to me--was about 14 below.  

Speaking of blur, the snow falling on Thursday morning would have been nice for Christmas eve or day but when one has to work it just adds gloom.  I looked out of the window all day, waiting in vain for sunbeams that never showed.  

Friday?  No more snow but still a heckuva lot of gray.  

Finally yesterday we were rewarded with clear skies.  I enjoyed seeing the sunrise as I spent my weekend morning driving Geoana to Stockton (she was catching a ride to a 4H leadership event, a harbinger of things to come).  The truck's thermometer fluctuated between minus two and zero.  Even after a gorgeous sunrise over the prairie.  

Despite the chill there's no underestimating the therapeutic effect of bright sunlight.  

I sure felt better come sundown yesterday.  And with the promise of unseasonably warm temps forecast for the next three days maybe the white slop will turn into liquid and flow into the creek.  

How many more weeks of winter? 

Monday, January 02, 2017

The Day After (New Year's)

You could also refer to it as "get the Christmas decorations taken down and packed and return the house to normal appearance" day.  Or the "enjoy the last of the college bowl games" day.  Maybe "last day before both of us return to work" day.  You notice the labels just get more down and negative in connotation.  

I'll be returning to the salt mines after a week and a day of freedom.  Used the time well as Geogal and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  We went to Estes Park and relaxed at the higher elevation.  No, no skiing or showshoeing or winter sports of any kind.  

Just relaxing.  

We did take some pics just outside the Stanley Hotel.  And no, we did not see Jack Nicholson.


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As I alluded in my previous post I enjoyed watching Geogal opening her gifts.  I got her new dishes, square ones.  Now even when we eat the most rural, cheap meal it seems fancy on a square plate or in a square bowl.  

Her other big gift from me was an iPad Air 2 (128 gig).  Her old iPad was a second-generation model from 2011 that was on its last legs.  

Both gifts went over well.  

The actual day of Christmas was, for me, exhausting.  Geoana and I did a Meals on Wheels delivery around 11:30.  Normally it's no big problem except this Christmas day the clouds decided to open up a deluge of rare December rain.  Fortunately the cloudburst moved on out before our actual delivery time so it could have been worse.  

Then, after returning home, it was time to prepare the prime rob.  The digital thermometer helped greatly.  Instead of the medium-well to well-done roasts I've served on previous Xmases we enjoyed nice pink medium-rare slices of bovine.  And it made great leftover sandwiches, too.

However the stress of cooking seemed to take a toll on me.  By the time we did a FaceTime call to my family (in the evening) I was spent.  My tasks during the day combined with less-than-usual sleep the night before finally caught up to me.  

However I slept real well on Christmas night.  

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Since Geogal and I were in Colorado we took advantage of our location and came home with posole corn, red chile puree and pork tamales.  Yesterday I did another of our cooking traditions and prepared posole made with pork chunks from our half-hog we bought last month.  I also heated up both mild and hot red chile sauce to please each individual palate.  

Happy 2017!!