Weird Weather of '09 #14 Baby it's Cold Outside....

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1027985/

It is Cold out there and another year is almost done.

It's so pretty here at the holidays when all the Christmas decorations are silhouetted against a backdrop of evergreens rather than a bare cornfield.

I love holiday lights!! When I was a kid we would go to Oklahoma City to visit my Aunt and Uncle....they had a holiday light contest every Christmas. The highlight was getting to drive around the city and see all the beautiful light displays.

I love the light dispays, too. And that green is a nice backdrop for everything. I don't know what I'd do without it. Awhile back one of us on this forum was going to paint her shed green, but we all reminded her that green is one thing we have plenty of - we all suggested bolder colors as a contrast.

It is pretty here, no matter the season. The Northwest is a scenic place year round. :)

Thanks all for the concern.....we have just been busy with work and holiday stuff...still thinking about everyone but no time to play catch up!

We had just a dusting of snow on Friday night, and it is hovering at 20 right now. I think that we were one of the only places in the area that got snow, and it was less than 1/4", but thanks to the cold, it's still there, and the decks are deadly! The wind was awful as well, but fortunately has finally died down and we managed to retain power through the entire weekend. Odd as the wind was from the northeast rather than the southeast, which is usually good at dropping trees. Fortunately, just looks like a pine carpet, but nothing big down.

I am so not a fan of cold, as I have to spend a lot of time out in it when I am at work, and it is really hard to dress to be comfortable in the freezing cold outside, the really cold shop, and the slightly cold office. Layers are the key! Oh yeah, and remember not to wear boots with leather soles or the cold from the concrete will chill you in no time! I am the true whiney PNW person....nothing below 45 or above 75 please!

Julie I am with you on the temperature range unless I can spend all of the time next to a big toasty fire!

OK, cross posted with a few posts, and was going to post this on apropos, but since Christmas lights were mentioned here, I will vent here instead. I love Christmas lights...in the city or in the country. We always find time to drive through the neighborhoods with extensive lights, and I used to go light crazy myself when we were actually in a location that our house was visible from the road. I DO have a problem this year though, with those awful ugly balloon things. I thought that they were cute when they came out...especially the snow globe kind, although they lose their charm quickly here because they get so much moisture inside the balls. Cute IN MODERATION...... There are several houses on my way home from work that have grown their collections of these balloons to eight or ten.... IMHO goes from cute to horribly gaudy in one big jump! I have totally had to restrain myself from the impulse to be a Grinch balloon slasher............................................ OK, done now and sorry if I offended anyone.....

Yeah, those things are butt ugly. But my favorite are the inflatable Nativity scenes that are always askew, making the Holy Family look drunken & disheveled.

Can I just mention hute cute my polydactyl kitty Gemini is right now? She's curled up on the table behind the open laptop. I took my watch off and she apparently moved it over to where she was and now has is around her wrist with her head laying on it. She's sound asleep.

She wants to know what time it is when she wakes up. She probably has someplace to go.

Yeah. As soon as I got up to take the laundry out, she moved over to the sofa, where the heat comes up from the vent. Such a life. :-p

One of my cats is curled up beside me (she always goes where I go) and the other is in by the pellet stove, her favorite place lately. The really funny one is that half wild cat that lives in our garage. Went out to see if her heating pad was o.k. and saw not one but two cats!! There's been this other stray hanging around that I've been trying to discourage, it found the kitty door and was sleeping on the unheated bed that's sitting up on our golf cart. Didn't have the heart to shoo it out on a night like this, so I'm afraid we'll end up with another.

Really cold tonight, 19 right now. But it's not windy, thankfully, it was all day. Running water, hoping the pipes don't freeze. This could stop and go back to normal anytime now.

Bless you, Katie, for not running that hopeful little kitty back into the cold.

You should have seen the look I got when I walked in the door. I couldn't run it off, it was so pitiful!! They always seem to know where to go, don't they.

Oh, I know that diligent, focused look from a little kitty smart enough to survive without a human protector: "Please please please please please please i'm not asking very much if there is any power at all in these twin green tractor beams please oh lord let her just not ..."

Sally - that's so sweet of you. Next thing you know, this kitty will have his own heating pad.

I can't tell you how many times I let my two outdoor cats out and then immediately in last night. Of course, they won't come right in - they need me to walk away and then come back.

My cats went out the door, sniffed the air, and came right back in. Conversely, my dog loves the cold and I had to beg her to come in. Yesterday I cut our daily walk short because my nose was freezing, and she was miffed.

Gaaaaaa! My pipes are frozen!!!

My mother had the beginnings of frozen pipes this morning...no hot water.... as did one of our neighbors. Maintenance got mom's going again fairly soon. This is a neighborhood of Duplexes...in both cases it was the North Unit that had frozen pipes. The owner just brought around notices to keep the faucets in the back part of the house running slightly, the laundry faucet running slightly, and the door under the kitchen sinks open to let warm air in to the pipes. I think I am in favor of returning to our regular 40's and raining weather:(

I don't think I have ever seen as many Law Enforcement personnel in one place as there are at the Lakewood Memorial right now. Nor so many from so far away.

Well, it's above freezing now & I've turned the heat up to 68. Not sure what else I can do. It's a one-story house with a crawl space, doesn't seem as if the pipes would be that vulnerable.

I did leave the fireplace stoked when I went to bed, so maybe that kept the heat from coming on often enough.

Yikes. I hope they thaw soon, Summer. You might need to insulate the more vulnerable parts... what a pain.

Summer you probably know but when it gets cold I open all sink cabinet doors and room doors and turn the heat to remain at about 65 at night rather than 58 as we normally do. I also turn on fans to blow into bathroom areas to keep the air moving. Also turn on the water in my basement sink and let it trickle. Houses in the Pacific NW built before the 60's had VERY POOR insulation and pipe placement.

Yeah, Sofer, it never even occurred to me, since I had the heat at 62 and the house was rebuilt about 6 years ago. But clearly something went awry -- there are 2 water heaters in this house so the pipes don't have to travel far. In fact, one just serves the master bath & yet there's no water there either.

Upside is, the cold weather appears to have gotten rid of the tiny ants that just would not die.

I've had my water running for three days now, just a trickle. Just did the one farthest from the main. We haven't been above freezing since then. It's 25 now, the highest I saw was 29 this afternoon. Didn't know about opening the doors under the sink.

summerkid .....hope you get things thawed out soon. Being without water is a pain.

I'm with you Trisha, it's time for this to go away. I'm sure some of my plants aren't going to make it. Hope the rhodies hang in there, they look so awful. Looks like it won't really warm up until Sunday.

And yep, our visitor was gone today but back now. Had to refill the dry cat food container I keep in the garage, it was licked clean this morning. If we go in the garage, we just get watched very carefully and try not to scare him/her off.

I am happy your little visitor has a place to stay in this awful cold.

All of the plants around here are looking pretty dismal right now... will be interesting to see what comes back in the spring...

If I have to be this cold I want snow....actually when we hae snow it seems like it is a bit warmer out than it is right now....

Snow is an insulator, both for houses & plants. It also prevents wind damage & rotting. The worst winter for my plants, outside Chicago, was moderate but wet & windy. EVERYTHING died.

I agree - if we have to have such cold we should have snow. Freezing rain is forecast for portland on Saturday, and tonight it is supposed to go down to 12 degrees. 12 degrees!!! Most of my basement is finished and there is heat so I'm not worried about the pipes there. I usually set my heat for 60 at night but tonight I set it for 62. I guess I should have wrapped the water pipes to the outdoor faucet but I forgot and I'm not going out there now!

Could you just open the spigot to prevent it popping off?
Sometimes it is a good thing to have to investigate your house when it's new to you. I just discovered that, while they are a tad unorthodox, the heat vents DO have adjustable baffles.

I think usually the vulnerable parts of the pipes are at the outside faucets or the pipes coming from the main water source into te house or under the house. So, generally, I don't think it's keeping the house warm that helps as much as wrapping the pipes with insulation or keeping warm water running or dripping. That's what I've been doing at night. I run hot water (or do a load of laundry or dishes) before going to bed and then leave the faucets dripping.

I heard today that the pipes burst as they're thawing, so if your pipes are frozen, don't go to work without getting them thawed first.

I suppose I could just open the spigot but I don't want it running all night so close to the house.

I have no more spare blankets to give to the homeless. The shelters are full and many buildings have opened their lobbies to the homeless who cannot find room in a shelter. A sad and dangerous situation for many.

The pipes I unfroze today were leading from the pressure tanks into the soil to leave the building. I too agree that the friction of running water heats very effectivly the pipes in line from the water inlet to the fawcet used. I have traced the water in my house and use actually 3 different fawcets and have them dripping every 1/2 second to have floes adequate. Oh I have both hot and cold on to that drip. Then the hot water tank keeps my basement warm while its running. A few extra dollars of gas saves thousands of cash.

This is one of those times when I wish I had a man around the house.......

Yeah, I just didn't expect this! Extreme weather seems to follow me diligently. "Where is Summer? Las Vegas? Let's give that town its first-ever week that doesn't get above 30."

"Oh, is she skiing Mt. Hood at Christmas? Let's dump so much snow that the power goes out & Timberline Lodge has to close."

"Oh, she's in Languedoc-Roussillon, where it never rains in June? Ha ha, won't SHE be shocked if she's stuck inside for a solid week."

"Hee hee, she's moving to Oregon? Boy, they will HATE her there ..."

For what, Judi, to open the taps? YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Following the lines is easy, and I have no excuse for not having examined my own crawl space before now.

It may be easy, but it's certainly not as much fun as reading Harry Potter. Who knew it'd be this cold?

Judi, the faucets don't have to be opened much, just enough to drip. I did it last year, and other than the pesky ice patch in that corner, there was no real down side. Even dripping water doesn't freeze, they say.

Of course I can open the tap, and I know all about my house - I'm an architect for goodness sake. I just DON'T WANT TO GO OUT IN THE COLD. Maybe the man would be feeling manly and brave the cold for me. The pipe didn't freeze last night and it was 14 degrees so maybe tonight will be ok. I'll probably wake up to a big mess. If the man were here and feeling manly, and the power went off, he could be useful for warmth.

Ah, I see, Judi. Man as the cold-goer-outer & warmth-bringer-inner.

Well you said that you didn't want the faucet "running all night close to the house." I didn't mean to insult your education - I just wanted to point out that the faucet didn't have to run - just drip. That's all.

I still have to take the garbage and recycling down the road to the neighbors. I'm blessed that he takes it up the hill every week. Otherwise, I have to load it in the back of the Subaru . . . Sometimes I get it done early in the evening. Sometimes I put it off until just before bed. I guess tonight is one of those just before bed kind of nights.

Smart girl here left faucets running in the house last night so I had a warm shower in the AM. Not so smart girl here forgot to open the door to the unheated laundry room where we can't leave water trickle, and had a pipe break in the wall. DH has been fighting frozen pipe issues/prevention of frozen pipe issues between three houses...mine, Mom's, and G'ma's... all day today. He had a great start on it last year, trying to make sure that all stuff was insulated, heat taped, etc, but silly things like forgetting to open the laundry door or G'ma forgetting to let the faucet drip foiled all of his best laid plans. Sweet as he was to take care of it, he's not going to be much use in warming me up tonight...he's still a Donsickle from being outside all day! At least Mom treated us to a wonderful dinner to reward him for his efforts.

Good luck to all of you with water (or lack of) issues!

I am ready for the 40's again in a big way!