Cold. Low 30s. Damp. Dreary. Winter.
It was cold all day yesterday too, staying pretty consistently 35F all day long. It was 35F when I went to sleep.
Ran my errands, then headed over to pick up kid 2. Very un-usually and disconcertingly, my truck died several times during the trip. I first thought it might be low oil, but now I am wondering if the battery is dead from the cold. It had a really hard time cranking, and I don’t know if the truck will run without a functional battery. I’ll be dropping it off at my mechanic’s place as soon as I can. Truck repair was not on my radar. But hey, prepping wise, I had an extra quart of oil to add when it said it was low. That got me going again for a while.
In the mean time, I’ll drive the Ranger to do my pickups today, after my non-prepping hobby meeting. Yep, I’m going. I have stuff to sell, need to renew my membership, and it’s time to re-elect the suckers I mean Board Members who make it all work. Plus there is some crossover with my ham lunch guys, who I haven’t seen in months. I can touch base with two of my meatspace groups at the same time. If that’s not efficient use of time I don’t know what is…. 🙂
The wuflu restrictions make it much harder to meet and build networks in meatspace, and I don’t think that’s accidental. Especially as this goes on, the political aspects are outpacing the medical ones. Given TPTB’s other actions, it’s not hard to see the sinister in everything they do.
Almost every day I thank God I live in Texas, where we’ve been spared the most egregious of the nonsense.
Did an instacart order from Costco in the late afternoon. It’s very convenient to place the order and then go on doing other stuff on your list until it arrives.
While I was waiting I got all three of my mature citrus trees covered, and the other potted trees and plants either under cover or indoors. The citrus got heavy black poly sheet over them, secured like a big balloon, with a 50 or 60 watt incandescent bulb in the center to provide some heat. I’m as ready as I can be garden-wise. I am going to try to get some more gas cans filled just in case. After hurricane season, I usually draw down my gasoline at home. If we end up running a gennie, I want to be ready. I’m kicking myself once again for continuing to put off the connection of the whole house gennie. Money, time, and access- they all need to be there together, and I haven’t made it a priority. That is a prepper fail.
I’m actually much more concerned about the plumbing at my rent house. It’s pier and beam construction with no insulation, and the pipes are under the house. We’ve had pipes crack from freezing there before. I’ll be confirming with the tenants that they understand about leaving taps running and cranking the heat. I may put poly over the screen that blocks the airspace under the house. Normally you want the air to blow freely, but I think stopping the air would help keep the temps up.
The school district has already cancelled all in person learning for Tuesday. They’re off Monday anyway, and the infrastructure is all in place for ‘learn from home’, so I guess it’s prudent. It feels like a huge over-reaction.
It’s hard to believe that it could be as bad as predicted. Like always, I guess we’ll see.
It may be we’re already sliding down the slope to civil war and economic collapse, but that doesn’t stop Mother Nature from putting the boot in. Get your short term house in order, top up your supplies, and get ready for winter…
And keep stacking. You don’t want to be one of the ‘french toast people’ do you?
n
FTP- the ones that rush out before every weather event and buy milk, eggs, and bread. Like they’re gonna live off of french toast alone….