News Howdy from Texas

[Geneva Olson]

So, the past week has been full of first for my entire family.
We closed up shop on Friday not really knowing what to expect. We live about 45 minutes from our shop (until my youngest graduates high school in a year). So, we couldn't check on our equipment. We watched our shop through the cameras until the power went out.
We lost electricity at home on Monday morning around 2 am. We lost water on Tuesday around 2 am. We had so much snow that we were melting it for flushing toilets. If you have ever been to Houston, our weather is hot and humid 300 days out of the year. At least it feels like it.
We spent 2 hours a day in our cars charging phones and looking at our shop making sure nothing was flooded or on fire.

My boyfriend's daughter lives 20 minutes from the shop. She had no power or water either.
On Wednesday after 36 hours of no power, we got it back. The water came on shortly after. I feel fortunate that we only roughed it for 36 hours. It never got below 62 degrees in my house so we didn't really suffer. (Especially me. I'm 50 and I'm always HOT).

We came into the shop today and my first concern was my beloved equipment. I fired up my printer and printed a job. ALL is well with the printer.

I have friends who tell me I must have starved in a previous life because even during a snow storm, no one will starve in my home. We had food to last. We had gas to cook with so all was well there.
We have not seen the shortage of groceries in our area as what is being put out on media. I don't doubt that it's happening at all, but not in my neck of the woods.
Texas_Signmaker STAY WARM AND SAFE! Hope you get back to normal quickly.

And Ted Cruz deserved that vacation in Cancun. Wish I had gone with him.

 

[Gino]

Glad to hear all is well. Stay safe, warm and healthy.

 

[Val47]

Thank you Geneva, for the update and the perspective! Texas is a big State! I watch the local news, and then the national news. I always listen, knowing they are sensationalizing the heck out of whatever the story is. So, I appreciate hearing from real people living in it right now.

Washington state, weather like your getting is (used to be) normal - on the east side of the Cascades that is. West side - like Seattle - no one knows what to do if it snows. so, now (had a real cold spell) we have a lot of snow, but roads are fine. it's just around 32 when it's sunny. It's supposed to get up to 50 next week... here comes the flooding.

And even worse on the West side. Rex and Fred, hope you built your house on solid high ground <3

 

[StratoJet]

So, the past week has been full of first for my entire family.
We closed up shop on Friday not really knowing what to expect. We live about 45 minutes from our shop (until my youngest graduates high school in a year). So, we couldn't check on our equipment. We watched our shop through the cameras until the power went out.
We lost electricity at home on Monday morning around 2 am. We lost water on Tuesday around 2 am. We had so much snow that we were melting it for flushing toilets. If you have ever been to Houston, our weather is hot and humid 300 days out of the year. At least it feels like it.
We spent 2 hours a day in our cars charging phones and looking at our shop making sure nothing was flooded or on fire.

My boyfriend's daughter lives 20 minutes from the shop. She had no power or water either.
On Wednesday after 36 hours of no power, we got it back. The water came on shortly after. I feel fortunate that we only roughed it for 36 hours. It never got below 62 degrees in my house so we didn't really suffer. (Especially me. I'm 50 and I'm always HOT).

We came into the shop today and my first concern was my beloved equipment. I fired up my printer and printed a job. ALL is well with the printer.

I have friends who tell me I must have starved in a previous life because even during a snow storm, no one will starve in my home. We had food to last. We had gas to cook with so all was well there.
We have not seen the shortage of groceries in our area as what is being put out on media. I don't doubt that it's happening at all, but not in my neck of the woods.
Texas_Signmaker STAY WARM AND SAFE! Hope you get back to normal quickly.

And Ted Cruz deserved that vacation in Cancun. Wish I had gone with him.

I wish you all the best, sounds like a nightmare! I’m in Minnesota and we’re always ready for anything but in places that this kind of weather hits, it hits hard.

Praying for all you out there going through these tough times.

Stay safe

 

[Geneva Olson]

Thank you Geneva, for the update and the perspective! Texas is a big State! I watch the local news, and then the national news. I always listen, knowing they are sensationalizing the heck out of whatever the story is. So, I appreciate hearing from real people living in it right now.

Washington state, weather like your getting is (used to be) normal - on the east side of the Cascades that is. West side - like Seattle - no one knows what to do if it snows. so, now (had a real cold spell) we have a lot of snow, but roads are fine. it's just around 32 when it's sunny. It's supposed to get up to 50 next week... here comes the flooding.

And even worse on the West side. Rex and Fred, hope you built your house on solid high ground <3

I have a hard time watching ANY news these days. They are giving way too much press to the WRONG things! I'd rather talk to people who have seen things with their own eyes. OH and who knew I had PEX pipes? I'm glad I did.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I wish you all the best, sounds like a nightmare! I’m in Minnesota and we’re always ready for anything but in places that this kind of weather hits, it hits hard.

Praying for all you out there going through these tough times.

Stay safe

do you guys have power outages? This was a crazy electricity nightmare. Thank goodness for a gas stove. We cooked the whole time.

 

[StratoJet]

do you guys have power outages? This was a crazy electricity nightmare. Thank goodness for a gas stove. We cooked the whole time.

Not that I heard. we had temps at -5 to -20 during the day for weeks but we’re set up for it since it’s every year. Normally at a trade show somewhere warm by now...neither is true

 

[zspace]

I picked the wrong weekend to visit Amarillo last week.

The normal 12 hour trip back to Houston on Monday turned into a sketchy 2 day adventure. Icy highways, closed restaurants and hours between open gas stations. By the time we got through Dallas we knew we couldn’t get close to home before dark. While I drove my wife made phone calls and searched the internet for hotels in every upcoming town. An hour later she found a hotel with 1 room left.

We pulled into the hotel parking just as the sun went down. As luck would have it, the lights went out as we got out of the car to register. Fortunately they gave us the room so we didn’t have to sleep in the car. The room thermostat showed 30 when power finally returned after a few hours and things seemed to be going in the right direction.

Tuesday had even worse road conditions but in the end we made it home safe. We had to stick out the next 2 days without power. I’m happy the bar was well stocked before I left.

 

[MikePatterson]

zspace,
Glad y'all made it ok. It was pretty bad out there.
I have seen it worse in north texas, but thankfully not in a long time. The other ice storms were just as bad, but I don't remember loosing power like we did this time. I did see quite a few people that didnt seem to prepare for it (IE didnt insulate pipes or get heat in their well houses). I prepare for the worst and hope for the best, so I had pipes wrapped up and alternate electricity (aka generator) for the house. I run a big 15kw unit on the bucket truck so we plugged in to that. It just seems to be getting worse with people unprepared for disasters. I hope everyone effected by the storm gets back to normal soon.