It was 17 degrees, cloudy, and calm when I took Colin out at 8:15.
Still home. Just running late this morning. Nothing new to report.
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Good morning all, I’m assuming Barbara is on her way down to see Bob, and hope we’ll get an update later.
In the mean time, it is BITTERLY cold by Houston standards, at 24F with a ‘feels like’ of 19F. That’s well below freezing. Fortunately it isn’t windy this morning.
I’ve still got my citrus trees covered in black plastic with a 60w incandescent light bulb under the cover to heat the tree. I expect I’ll lose some leaves or a small branch or two where they contact the plastic and get too cold. I brought the potted grapefruit inside last night. Grid down, I’m not sure what I’d do to keep them warm, but I could certainly keep them covered. I suppose I could put a small backpack stove, sterno can, or single mantle lantern under the tarp. It would be worth the effort to keep mature, producing citrus trees.
I’m gonna order one of the propane fired, on demand water heaters someone here linked. I haven’t decided if I want one with a pump or not. I think it’s probably much more efficient in fuel, and certainly in time and personal energy to use one to heat water grid down than my boiling ring and big pot. In the mean time, it can be used for camping, for heating cleaning water, or for warm water in the spring at our swim meets. At <$200 they aren’t that much more than a ring and big pot anyway.
I put the exclamation points in the post title because I can’t really believe the year. It seems incredible to me to be living in this year. I grew up with shows like “Space:1999” which had Moonbase Alpha and alien contact in the unimaginably far future of 1999 and here we are, far past that.
I blame the proto-SJWs and the progressive movement for sidetracking space exploration, and denying me a moonbase. Bastards have stolen the future, ideologically, financially (by borrowing for social programs), and spiritually (with their toxic version of feminism, and destruction of the Individualist American Male- known in SciFi as “the competent man”.)
Well, they’ve stolen the future would could have been living in, and left us this one. Still better than lots of futures that could have been headed our way…
And with that,
nick