The First Cold Weather of the Winter Season

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Very similar lows here during the cold snap last weekend. I got a call from an Elder and went and picked up bags full of new blankets, some gloves, some smoked salmon, dried blueberries & candied ginger. I added my old drysuit to the cache and took them down the ~500 stairs to the beach to two of our homies that live there right on the ocean facing the elements a couple Thursday's ago. The younger one will survive for sure (and I think he may have gotten a room somewhere recently) but the older one.. as many years as he's been an outdoorsman; he's awfully thin these days and has No insulation. I'm sure the extra blankets - most of which went to him - helped.. but still, I Hope he's alright. Hard to make a fire when all the wood is under a foot of snow and I don't Think these guys typically stockpile any in the woods - usually it's just daily gathering from the high tide line.

We've been totally more than fine here at home. I turned the thermostat down in my room a couple times - been warm.. definitely have extra fat on me this Winter. Car has pretty good Winter tires, truck has brand new snow & ice tires + 4x4 = I had no problem getting around to finish a contract job on time.

It's been raining off and on the last day or so so most of the snow is melted/compacted.. down to about 4" left on the ground and nothing on the trees. It'll all be gone in a few days or so, probably flooding anything prone to flooding.

Of course there were TONS of people completely unprepared to drive in the snow who tried to do it anyways. Tons of accidents and stuck cars. On my way home on one of the snowy road nights I saw a double decker car hauler on either side of a hill on the highway each picking up stranded cars because there aren't enough tow trucks in the city to collect them all! Never seen that before.

Pretty much the entire rest of Canada has laws requiring Winter tires on cars in the Winter with the exception of Vancouver and surrounding area here in the bottom left corner of the country. Every highway out of town or up any of the mountains requires minimum M+S rated tires, though. But not for the city.. in part because we typically only get a few days or a couple weeks of snow on the roads, but it does still get cold and sometimes a bit icy. Signage and radio ads all say we're supposed to switch to Winter tires when temps drop below 7C. It is RIDICULOUS that we don't have a law her requiring them. 80%+ of accidents and stuck cars in the Winter could probably be avoided with proper tires. I run Winters year round on my car and just replace them with lightly used tires when they wear out -> cheaper than multiple sets and paying to switch them around and having to store them etc.

Michelins .. Mudd & snow rated year round where I live . Much fewer cars out ,during snow storms, but most of these folk here live through some pretty tough Winters everyfew years . ... Oddly enough people with the snow mud driving experience do go out in freezing temps . And due to the density of smaller businesses that deal with the Public, to keep alive as a business require their employees often to show up unless terrible weather conditions. So working class folk, do not get a choice but to learn.Bad weather driving skills .Everyso often families will keep a snow car extra to use in snowy/ road salt weather . Special tires and body rot a plenty . With those cars.

There are many ways to put humidity back into the house. Since we heat with wood, all one has to do it put a pot of water on the wood stove to generate steam. But other humidifiers use different methods. There is a little bit of contaminants in water and they can accumulate in time and plug up the humidifier. That is why some types require distilled water (which removes the contaminants and makes water pure).

Kudos on the Goldfish .::::quote :
Very similar lows here during the cold snap last weekend. I got a call from an Elder and went and picked up bags full of new blankets, some gloves, some smoked salmon, dried blueberries & candied ginger. I added my old drysuit to the cache and took them down the ~500 stairs to the beach to two of our homies that live there right on the ocean facing the elements a couple Thursday's ago. The younger one will survive for sure (and I think he may have gotten a room somewhere recently) but the older one.. as many years as he's been an outdoorsman; he's awfully thin these days and has No insulation. I'm sure the extra blankets - most of which went to him - helped.. but still, I Hope he's alright. Hard to make a fire when all the wood is under a foot of snow and I don't Think these guys typically stockpile any in the woods - usually it's just daily gathering from the high tide line.

Pretty nice you keep an eye out for those folk

I remember going out in the snow to return marker plates to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Called them and they said there were no exceptions to rules because of the weather. They had to be returned within a certain time period after transferring a vehicle. Of course the guy I handed them to was surprised I was there despite the nasty weather returning the plates!

Pretty determined....to be honorable with the DMV . Not sure , i would be that willing under current weather conditions !

This brings to mind the Blizzard of '78.

In 1978, the year we moved to Indiana, it was hit by one of the largest snowfall in the state.



According to one report from Indianapolis, the storm lasted 30 hours with winds 50 mph and produced drifts that were 20 feet high. I arrived in the state a few months after the storm. But many of the people in my office told me how severe this storm was. They were snowed in at work for 3 days. They couldn't get out because the wind made these giant drifts. Some were as large as 50 feet high. There was no food, so they smashed the vending machines in order to eat.

According to another source, the Jan. 25, 1978 snowstorm still holds records for most snow in a month in Indianapolis, 30.6 inches.

One of my co-workers lived through the blizzard of '78. He lived about a mile (as the crow flies) from where I built my home. When the blizzard hit, his electrical power went out for about an hour. But he was heating his house with heating oil. Heating oil can coagulate or “gel” if extremely low temperatures occur. So when the electricity came back on, his heating fuel was now a gel and it wouldn't flow. So he had no way of heating his house. It was dark and in the middle of the night. He gathered his 3 children and his wife and drove to his mother's house. But he never made it. A few miles down the road, he blew a tire, but not just one tire but two. He was trapped in the blizzard. He left the car and saw a light on in the distance. He walked to the home and explained his predicament. They told him come in and bring your family along. They housed them for 3 days, until the storm ended and he could get free.

Alittle humanity in a disasterous storm situation.Can go along way ...in life saving situations .
Kinda restores your faith in humanity ..

I kinda think people were a little bit more helpful back when I was young. They would help strangers in the street. I am an old timer, 75 years old. I remember when I was around 18 and had a flat tire. A few people passed by and stopped their car and went out and asked if they could help me change the tire. They were total strangers but they were good people deep down inside.

Late Hubby had a saying , that he was raised with and I saw him apply many times. "Never pass up a chance to be a Hero"...very old school . And yes indeed actually saw him help two different people with their flat tires .

It is good when people can work together and help each other out in a pinch.

Another winter storm. Last night it snowed 4.5 inches. My wife and I went out and cleaned off some of the snow from the steep side of my driveway. I couldn't tell how cold it is because my outdoor monitor is covered in snow and I have lost communications with it. I do not think it is below 0 degrees F. But it is cold, much more than just chilly. The weather forecast indicates that it should warm up quickly in a day or two.

This morning I will make a large pot of Chili. It is not a Chilly or cold meal, but rather a warm food with plenty of protein, vitamins and minerals. The way I make it is to take hamburger meat and cook it and then add in tomato soup, dark red kidney beans, and a few large bowls of homemade canned cherry tomatoes. When I was young and went to work before I was married, I use to make this for around 3 years. I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One bowl would last for about a week. It was my go-to food of choice. A bowl of chili, a slice of bread with some butter, and live was good.

The above meal sounds lovely..but with some spatial difficulties and coordination, been using canned stagg chili for years ,, when it gets this cold ..Surprise snow fall few days ago , not melted off yet, was 28 f. last night
The Stagg chili is a good base to start with . Little extra basil ..and peppers .Can make a mess cutting these more fresh foods veggies and just dump them in . along with some fresh onions a pre grated cheddar cheese, and very very filling .
No bread needed unless your gonna sop up the gravey from chili.

^^^^. Just what you need if your gonna have to go out into this kinda weather.^^^^
and do something physical ..but its almost a comfort food . Seriously not so sure about its health benefits . but
its cheap easy fuel to get into you. And they have several varieties .. ( not all are hot ) ....and a fair amount of protien and you can add extra veggies and the shredded cheese does raise its protein numbers as well.