October Snow

So I'm back online, sort of. I usually only check in a couple times a day while at work.Might be a while before power is restored in our neck of the woods. After the big ice storm of 3 years ago there were utility trucks from as far south as Virginia helping restore power, but this time the states south of us have as many problems as we do. On the back roads I take before reaching the highway there were many trees down, several leaning on power lines and no sign of town or power company trucks. I'm guessing we may have power back at home between Thursday and Saturday. The propane company has been alerted and will come out every few days to keep the propane tank filled up. For those who are curious, it costs from $50-100 a day to run a full house generator, not that much different from the cost of a motel, but with a full kitchen. Cable TV and Internet are also still out.--Percy

Got my power back yesterday afternoon.

Power was restored Tuesday, Internet and TV Wednesday. Back in business. Released a new feature yesterday evening that I'd completed last Saturday.--Percy

Here in the UK I've bee oticing a gradual shift in seasons over the last few years and I'm measuring that by the changes in the leaf fall time. We still have green leaves on some species of tree now. True autumn coulours only started about 3 weeks ago.During the 70s and early 80s we never had leaves left on the trees by Bonfire Night and we could expect it to be cold, even frosty for the fireworks. Even as late as the latter half of the 90s we still thought of October as the gale season, but the last few years have seen very few.Previously our winters had been tending to warmer, with very little snow and lots of rain, but the last 2 years have seen huge snowfalls, with snow on the ground for months rather than just days and temperatures down to -14C in the middle of the day. This has been caused both times by our prevailing westerly winds failing and cold air being dragged in from the east. It's forecast to do it again in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, temperatures in London are set to hit 17C today and 13C near Edinburgh.Very strange!

We used to work with a company in Edinburgh (Eucad), actually visited once. Got the ghost tour, the castle was closed the day we had free to see it. I remember calling over there one afternoon, it was 10 PM your time in the summer, he was still working on his car out in the driveway.Your weather changes are very similar to our own. Leaves used to change end of August, it was beginning of October this year. A big snow in October has never happened before - if the leaves hadn't still been on the trees there wouldn't have been so much damage.--Percy

We are seeing an increased influx of tropical critters as they move north.There is no doubt in my mind that the weather is changing, but I also doubt that our infrastructure and how Utilities are managed today will be able to stand up to the challenge.

Its not a problem of infrastructure per se, more of a problem where will we grow our food now when the weather where our farmlands are has changed so drastically.

Infrastructure, some big expensive infrastructure, involved there as well.

Here in upstate, Southern Tier, I live in a river valley. We were saved from the frost until late October. due to the river fog. I picked the last peppers and beans near the end of October.I had a loaded late pear crop, getting about 5 bushel from a relatively small tree. They were huge this year, the largest one weighing 1 1/2 lbs. They were so heavy that most fell off when ripe. I had enough mulch to keep them from damage. They are a late crispy variety. I still get Northern Spy apples from a tree over a hundred years old.I planted a 2nd planting of potatoes in mid August and a 3rd in early September, getting a good yield from both.Yes, we're having weather change. Global warming will increase. I predict that it will steadily get warmer and stormier, based on what I've read and the prophecies. The short haul will be devastating but the long haul good. Bring it on.

Power back last night.We managed well because we have good winter camping gear, including LED lanterns, propane stove, ventless propane tent heater (enough to keep one room warm), and lots of stored potable water (well--no power, no water) and dried foods.Fortunately, it didn't get cold enough to threaten the plumbing. I'm installing a drain and drain hose in the basement this weekend so we can clear all water when this happens again mid-winter and the pipes threaten to freeze. Nearly all my neighbors have emergency generators, most of them illegally and unsafely wired.We've spent almost two weeks out of the past two months without power. I'm calculating the savings in electricity and oil, searching for a silver lining.

Be sure to let your grandchildren know how cheerfully you gambled with their patrimony.

My guess is that you have an oil furnace why could you not run that?, with a converter a simple car battery should run the pump on the furnace for days they dont consume much power at all.

Most of our damage in CT came from trees.The state has massively reforested since the 18th and 19th century clearings for agriculture. Since the native tribes frequently burned off hunting ground understories, outside cities the state is probably more heavily forested than at any time since the arrival of homo sapiens.The past few GOP state administrations progressively (sic) cut state and utility budgets for tree trimming and removal on utility rights-of-way, largely to dodge the clear necessity of raising taxes and/or rates. Much of our once-productive infrastructure is crumbling for the same reason. A Democratic governor has raised taxes slightly on the wealthy (and nearly everyone else)--unfortunately, the neglect continued so long even the larger budget will probably be inadequate. Line crews are at about a third of the staffing level of a few decades ago: we have to import out-of-state contractors to restore service, spending many times the expense of regular maintenance. It's good for private corporations, though.This scenario is, of course, a standard neo-conservative tactic: cut taxes on the wealthy and corporate to starve government and fracture services to prove government doesn't work so that people will support further cuts favoring the wealthy and the corporate. Then when things get so bad a Democrat takes office, smear them as tax-and-spend liberals for trying to restore the commonweal--and demand to know why they can't repair a decade of neglect in one year.Works pretty well. I'm glad I'm old, because I weary of it.Our especially prolonged outage this time around was partly due to large transmissions lines being taken down by older (100-150') trees that were outside the high-tension corridor rights-of-way established among less mature forests.I'm a certified tree hugger, but that classic New England flavor of roads winding through a tunnel of trees is a recipe for disaster.

That's an excellent idea, frako. I'll look into it.

It should work at least for the pump that pushes watter into the radiators not sure how the oil igniting system works mine runs on wood. But the watter pump consumes very little power when i had to replace mine i was like wtf is this toy dooing on this massive furnace.