What is the weather like there? General Chat

Yep. Mine starts running warm air instead of cold after a while. And one of the fans is dead. My bedroom one is less than a year old, so I can sleep well, but the downstairs is sitting at around 90 degrees.

Opening windows doesn't work because there is absolutely no breeze after the sun sets (and when the sun is up, any wind is hot air) and the outside temp is still in the 90s all night. Once the temps get to under 100, the delta breeze kicks in and brings cool air at night - then opening windows works. The house is brick so as long as nighttime temps are cool, the house cools down nicely.

We also have the fire just up the road, so opening windows is unhealthy.

I agree about our screwing up the earth. Between the heat and our having used up all our water reserves (our underground water table has been depleted), we are in very bad shape.

I’m pleased (and a bit guilty because I know it’s still hot for @Toedtoes) to say that it’s all the way down to 64 outside, and it’s only 9:30. My phone is saying it could drop to below 60. That would be amazing. It’s 72.5 inside. It’s been a long week (or more) of excessive temperatures, and I’m worn out. And a bit cranky. My dogs are cranky too, being cooped up inside, albeit with AC, for so long. I’m feeling a wee bit guilty for not putting on a headlamp and taking them for a walk. It’s been just too hot. But I’m going to lay down on watch some TV, and feel the cool air drafting through the windows. How much I appreciate that now, having been without for a short while.

It's OK. I'm glad you're getting cool. It means we'll see it here shortly.

It's about 85 now. Supposed to be in the 70s by midnight and tomorrow shouldn't get warmer than 85.

The new AC unit arrives tomorrow. This one is hanging on. The fire has made the air icky. I'd wish for a good breeze, but that will cause problems for the firefighters. So I'll just be happy with the cooler temps.

We got a very welcomed inch of rain yesterday. It’s nice to enjoy that moist smell in the air after a very dry, hot summer!! Need a bit more rain to clear up the smell of dog pee….

The rain hit a little yesterday during the day. Pretty steady but light throughout the night. Today we saw some blue sky for a while and has now clouded up again. I even went so far as to have a fire all yesterday and today - just wanted the atmosphere as it really isn't that cold out.

I had a little fire in the woodstove yesterday too, just to get rid of the dampness. A little smaller would have been better. It is nice that things got wet, so it feels safer using the stove, just incase any sparks escaped the chimney and the screened cap. I guess it’s time to bring in a stash of wood. I fill up a closet. But I didn’t tarp my firewood, so I’ll let the sun dry it out again before I bring some in. No rain in the 10 day forecast

We had our first overnight frost last week. Although we have had some intermittent sunshine there is no heat in it. Temperatures hover around 60 but after the glorious Summer we have had, it takes a bit of adapting to - especially given the need to be frugal with the heating. (Thanks for the lesson in restraint, Vlad!).
I do hope our government has a superplan in mind. Unless we receive some kind of subsidy, people on the national basic wage will struggle to be able to eat and heat their homes this Winter, and manufacturing jobs are bound to suffer too. Food prices are rising every week.
Has the energy crisis had any affect on those of you in the US, or you in Israel @Malka?

I don’t have an actual electric bill per se, as I live off grid and use a small generator for electricity. So gas prices are up, so my “electric bill” is up. As well, the days are getting shorter so I tend to start running it earlier, so that will cost more.

Sometimes I just have candles or some low power battery operated led string lights. I also have a flashlight that came with some battery tools, and that has a big rechargeable battery (I have three 18 volt batteries), that lasts for over 100 hours.

Food prices keep shocking me, and dog food has really gone up. A bag that was $40 is now $58, and I go through a 25lb bag every 17 days.

I’m old enough to remember when gasoline was under $1 per gallon. When it went over $1 per gallon they had to start selling it by the 1/2 gallon, until they upgraded the pumps to be able to show prices of more than $1. This was before things went digital on the pumps. Hmmm, now I feel like one of those old people that tells stories about how it used to be… like when we had a dinosaur as a pet, back in the day, before the wheel was invented.

@who owns who how are you doing with the current storms? Staying warm and dry?

Saturday night was really bad here. Gale force winds and heavy rain. Trees downed all around my neighborhood and power outages all over. Some still don't have power back. Fortunately I haven't lost power yet.

Have a second storm tonight. Then another one coming in Wednesday and Thursday. And then a big one coming in Saturday bringing steady rain through at least next Thursday.

The yard is flooded. And Tornado-dog's peke/shih tzu brains are fighting the "dogs go outside to potty even in the rain" rule.

Not easy keeping dogs comfortable and happy in conditions like those. Our winter has been a mix of freezing and soggy - thankfully none as cold as December 17th., when my boiler rebelled at the years lowest temperature. I went through to the kitchen at midnight to turn off the heating, to find the whole floor flooded! I don't think the plumber was thrilled to get a call at 12.20am, asking which way I should be turning the stop tap. He said he couldn't come out the following day, and I should ask someone else. I certainly missed having a man about the place that night!
Next day, after one or two absolute 'rip off' quotes from large companies, I found a local chap who said he would pop round later - he was as good as his word, and reasonably cheap. The boiler did continue to drip for a few more days, but he didn't seem as keen to investigate that, and gradually it does seem to have righted itself. The plumber has advised me not to turn the boiler off at night when the temps. were sub-zero. However, in the UK we are struggling with really high energy charges, (thanks of Mr. Putin), so that is not an easy decision.

A Happy New Year everyone.

Plumbers... Don't get me started. After the house burglary, I had to deal with one complete psycho and then another who just shot himself in the foot (figuratively) by lying to me instead of telling me the truth. If he had told me the truth (Covid had just hit and he spent my money for parts on other things), I would have worked with him.

I found several shingles off my roof yesterday afternoon, so my plans to create a hummingbird friendly front yard have to wait while I redo the roof once the weather lets up. Hopefully it won't leak before then. It's not worth having someone go up now and do a temp fix because tomorrow's storm will just hit the repair and rip it out before it can set. I do have a good roofer so that will be a smooth process once the weather calms down.

On the good side, I invested in a half face cord of wood for the ambiance of evening fires this winter. It's made things a lot more cheery inside. And as my main heat is a gas wall heater and my range is gas, even if I do lose power, I'll have heat and hot food available.

I'm glad you are OK Toed - sorry to hear that you have roof damage though. How has CatDog reacted to the storms?

Stay safe Toed.

The storms over your way look horrific and very, very scary

Thanks for the good wishes.

I'm pretty safe where I am. Even if the river floods, my house is built on a crawlspace foundation, so water has to be over 18 inches high to get in the house and that is unlikely. And the levees have been rebuilt in the last 20 years, so they are unlikely to fail.

Cat-dog is fine with the storms. She even enjoys going out to potty and check the yard even when it's flooded. She is a perfect dog. There hasn't been any thunder/lightning, but neither dog has had issues with those (Tornado-dog actually watches the fireworks).

The Twooney (cats) escaped the house before the first storm. Had a fun time running from me. I keep telling them they won't like being out in a storm, but they don't believe me.

Had a raccoon come through the yard the past couple nights - explains why Tornado-dog has been going scent happy. My hummingbird came through this morning looking for food (have a feeder for her - it's full). And the sparrows filled up from their feeder. Hopefully they'll all be OK.

The roof is due to be done, so it wasn't a big surprise.

Made it through last night's storm fine. I think it was less than expected - certainly not as bad as New Year Eve's storm was here.

Hope @who owns who didn't suffer any more damage...

@Toedtoes, Not that I’m aware of. I asked my neighbor to let me know if my tarp blew off. I secured the heck out of it, and I didn’t hear from them, so hopefully it’s good. I’ll go get some more stuff after work tomorrow or Saturday. I’m kenneling my dogs during the day, about 10 minutes from my house. This place isn’t open Sundays, unfortunately, and only 8am-4pm on Saturday, so I’m going to see if I can adjust my work schedule until I find housing.

Well late last night we had another bad storm come through. Very strong winds and then a bought of rain so heavy you couldn't see through it.

I'm sure I lost more shingles... Lost power for about 4 hours after midnight. My outside storage cupboard on the back porch got blown over. At least this time it didn't fall apart - it's a rubbermaid style. Having my yard guy come and bolt it to the house this time - he was certain it wouldn't fall again after last time when we placed it differently.

Yard is still flooded hours after the last rain. Patio table knocked over but seems OK. Patio furniture covers blown off a couple chairs. But no damage that I can see. Raining right now so waiting to go out and do damage control.

Hopefully that's the last of the winds and the rest of the week is just rain.

I hope you and your pets will soon be warm and dry. The poor dogs must have their legs crossed - nobody would want to have to pee outside in those conditions!

Fortunately it is only "hours" of full force winds and not days unending, so I've been taking the dogs out whenever it is not raining for a potty break. Tornado-dog has been doing very good.

Today we went out back to do a close up inspection. Neighbor was outside doing the same. We talked over the fence (actually a spot where Moose-dog had ripped the top of the slats off so he could see over the fence). As we were talking, Tornado-dog felt it was very important to join in. So he sat on the covered chaise and barked at us. He was saying that wet ground is yucky - unless someone would throw the stick for him...

Getting another wind storm tonight. Last night winds reached 68 mph. Tonight they are saying 65mph so it will be another bad one.

Leaving the storage cupboard on the ground - no sense picking it up to have it blow over again. Hoping gazebo fairs ok this go round. Have one fence rail broken off the post, so the fence will need repair.

Shout out to my dad: years ago he told me to run horse fencing all along my wood fence. It was basically to prevent my dogs from escaping if someone kicked in a slat (or drove into it as there is a parking lot behind me).

Well, that horse wire, 20 years later, is holding that broken fence section upright and keeping the yard secure.

Meanwhile I brought in some more firewood and Tornado-dog smelled a critter under my cement patio so he was digging and growling like a seasoned russell terrier on a hunt. I had to drag him inside and wipe off his muddy feet. Not sure if he smells old rat scents (haven't had any in about 19 years) or if something moved in under the house for the storms...

Washed my warm throw blanket, made a pot of chili in the slow cooker so I can just warm it up on the gas stove if the power goes out again. Will run the dishwasher as soon as the chili's ready. Got several new books on my kindle. Have several power packs ready to charge phones, etc.

Checked the neighbor's house on one side - the lady who lived there died last week and her grandson has been driving an hour each way every other day - so I checked everything outside so he doesn't have to drive in this weather. Checked in with some friends and made sure they are all OK.

The bird is unphased by all this. Last night Looney2 came and cuddled with me in bed during the winds - he was purring so loud! Looney1 was rather jumpy - he didn't like the wind. Which is all a bit odd as Looney2 is my scaredy cat and Looney1 is my butinsky. Cat-dog slept under the bed and seemed a bit nervous with the winds. Tornado-dog went under and kept her company.

Realized today that we should not have been sleeping upstairs with the winds...

So tonight we'll be sleeping downstairs. This will upset "I sleep under the bed always" Cat-dog but it's safer.

You are a good neighbour Toed. Hope conditions improve soon.