Texas Heat

[Pete_C]

As others mentioned it has been in the nineties recently here in Texas.

In fact yesterday it was 96 for Easter.

Today it is 101 out and when it was 98 the heat index was 105.

The real bad thing is the electric grid underestimated the demand.

There is a 1000Megawatt (1Gigawatt) shortfall between capacity and demand so they have begun rolling blackouts throughout the metroplex.

I just got a call from a friend that all the lights on the main road a block over have gone out.

That is the big news, that traffic is backed up everywhere in the Dallas, Tarrant, Colin county areas because of it.

[TheTerrorist_75]

I'll stick with my nice and sunny 60 degree spring day. I actually dusted off my bicycle, aired up the tires and went for a ride today. After the initial shaky start and needing to readjust the seat it felt great. I'm glad we only get 1-2 weeks of 90+ degree days here.

[bearskin]

was 92 here in SE oklahoma...

[Pete_C]

Last week I did some roofing and in a couple hours around noon, I got a sunburn on my back and old bald head.

It might be spring officially, but it sure seems like summer in Texas.

[Bubba Bob]

Last week I did some roofing and in a couple hours around noon, I got a sunburn on my back and old bald head.

It might be spring officially, but it sure seems like summer in Texas.

Low 80s starting Mid-week (thank God)

Only mid 90s here today. I guess all that concrete boosts the temps up around your part.

What Im worried about is the rain. (or lack of) I hate to keep watering my yard this much

[X-Cannon]

We had 15 C (59 F) and with the sun hitting you it felt like 20 C (68 F) I remember about 2 years back in August when the light were out for 35 hours. And now the government is increasing the price of electricity AGAIN. The electricity and Gas have gone up each year, that on top of paying for increasing fuel and taxes on EVERYTHING and income tax. And what do we get from all the taxes? Free health care I have only been to the hospital once in 3 years and that was for a check up. I don’t need it. And also the new prime minister is cutting taxes by get this 1% OMG great. To all People outside Canada, DON’T COME HERE. Go some place like Poland or Sweden taxes are lower much lower. I'm only 19 but have to see my parents and friends parents pay through their teeth. I work and have to pay $15 on each paycheck for "Insurance" WTH do I need that for if I get hurt helping some old guy with something, the company wont pay me 1 cent. All this place is a rip off. I get taxed on things I don’t need or don’t even want. The government should pay more attention to poor and immigrant people then to tax middle class people and give the corporate class more money. Our government shrugs any comments that it’s a corrupt system but it is. Not corrupt as say the Bush administration but corrupt for hard working people. People make $600 a month and their rent is $700 How does that work? What kind of F'd up world are we in to just care about money, when poor innocent people are dying and the rich get richer. Galileo said that democracy will only work if the richest of the rich is only 4 times more then the poorest of the poor. In today world its more like the rich are billions of times richer then the poor. Democracy is a lie and anyone who believes in it is one stupid piece of (u know what).

Sry I went off subject, I just got off work and fell a little stressed

[KeithLDick]

With the heat and gas prices I'm not sure I'll be going to Houston anytime soon... And I was planning on it..

[blim]

I haven't been able to concentrate on reading any further after Pete said "gigawatt". Here I thought that was a made up term for Back to the Future Movies (and my unique measurement for anything in the computer!)

Gosh, such a heat wave so early in the year! Take care, Southerners. Just remember, Pete, Vitamin D from sunlight is GOOD for you Just wear a hat when working on the roof (ouch!) and don't sit on roofing tar while wearing shorts (yup.....I did.....)

*hugs* to Xcannon, I agree, insurance is a "necessary racket", but $15 week is dirt cheap--Hubby gets $35 week taken out of his check and it's basically hospitalization insurance (super high deductables, doggone it, we are a healthy bunch!).

Liz

[X-Cannon]

I only work 40 hours in 2 weeks so that’s why its low, plus I'm working for minium wage $7.75/h (yep they raised the damn thing from $7.45) took em long enough.

Good to see some people agree with me, others just say well... ya but what ya gonna do.

That’s why we have mayors, premiers and MP's. I'm actually going to complain about this damn thing like other people my age should do.

[JSKY]

Upper 80, low 90 yesterday . Now into the low 20 and a full fledge blizzard outside.

AAAaaaa. the great upper midwest. If you don't like the weather....just give it a day or two.

[blim]

Keep that cold stuff away from me, Jsky! (I know....West-to-East prevailing winds....we'll probably get it!) Today was "almost hot". Hope tomorrow is the same, I NEED to get the rest of the leaves raked at my parent's house, and maybe, just maybe tackle MY yard! Been warm enough but too windy. Give it a day?? Ha! In Michigan, we say, "give it an hour"

And you go, Xcannon! Squeaky wheels DO sometimes get results!

Liz

[martymas]

are these temps usual for the area

you lucky buggers

down here we had 35cel once

in the city ilive in the average temp is about 25-30

in the mid summer

ive nevere experience any thing near 40

in a town north of here

and that was pretty hot. does americans

gauge their temp ,

in farenheight or celcius

marty

Edited April 19, 2006 by martymas

[Pete_C]

Just so I could say Gigawatts again;

Texas has a generating capacity of 77Gigawatts , but only 60Gigawatts were online Monday since the rest was down for spring maintenance to prepare for the expected summer load.

Cold front headed this way, next few days expected to have highs in upper seventies, low eighties.

Marty, we use Farenheit for the most part.

Down here the soil is so poor (either black clay or limestone caliche from the old permian seabed) that I prefer to mulch the leaves and lawn clippings and never bag or burn anything.

If the build up seems to be heavy (thatch?) I mix some of that powdered Roebic septic tank cleaner (bacteria which break down cellulose) with the fertilizer and then water to get it going. That usually breaks any waste clippings and mulch down into loam in about two weeks. Generally once you get it established you do not need to repeat and it cuts down on the need to fertilize or water significantly.

(So my tip of the day is to mix some Roebic in with the fertilizer and water it in as normal . Just make sure to wear a dust mask when applying. They do not say it is dangerous; but since this is an "unapproved" use I do not want to be breathing it in. I wear a dust mask when mowing anyway due to allergies.. It also works great on compost piles.).

[JSKY]

Well. Day 2 of our blizzard Most of the major roads are shut down. Parts of I-90 from the Wyoming border to the east are closed. (about 100 miles). All North-South roads are closed. State and county won't even try to clean roads until the winds die down. Have snow drifts as high as my pickup truck. Everything is closed. Still haven't plowed by my house. So no work today.

Expected to keep on until tomorrow night.

And to think I mowed parts of my lawn on Monday. And the wife started planting flowers.......

But they are saying highs will be back into the 70s by Saturday.... I expect flooding of the low lying areas if it gets that warm that fast. It's a wet heavy snow. We are having a full fledge "Snowacane" here. (that's what the wife and I call them. They get into that counter-clockwise spinning pattern). We still have power, but it was touch and go last night. Light were dim more then full brightness. And listening to the police scanner. It could still go out. A couple of places lost power last night. And they say a couple of days before they can even get to where the power lines went down.

At least we made the National Weather Channel Headlines.

Well, out to get in another load of firewood to keep nice and toasty.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Nice and balmy 67F today with a slight breeze from the north. Rain expected all weekend. Stay away snow.

[Naming is hard]

Yeah, its to f-ing hot here in texas =/

[JSKY]

Some snapshots of the area.

This is the top of my four foot fence.

If anybody wants some snow......Come and get it.

[Naming is hard]

Some snapshots of the area.

This is the top of my four foot fence.

If anybody wants some snow......Come and get it.

ohhhh how you tease me

[blim]

Oh my gosh, Jsky! That's awful! Looks like your trees are already leafed out, too? Hope you don't get any plant damage.

*does a Sun Dance for Jsky*

Today was another day for a tshirt! Hoping it stays warm, finally finished raking my parent's yard and I so want to go out to play in mine (I'd be out there now, but I'm waiting for a couple blisters to go away!)

Liz

[thesidekickcat]

Wow JSKY, that looks miserable especially so late in the year. I hope there isn't any major flooding when it warms up!

I bet your storm is part of the cold front that came down our way from Alaska last week, we had nighttime lows in mid to upper 30's F. The snow level was down to about 1200 to 1500 feet, so even the Coastal mountains got some snow, and the Cascades got a couple of feet or more over several days of it. We had a cold rain with some wind here even some showers on Easter. Hubby mowed Monday even with the occasional showers. Sunny yesterday all day and warmer. Night before last was 36F here in Portland when hubby got up at 4 to get ready for work, last night was about 40 for low, yesterday and today daytime temps in mid 60's. Eastern Oregon still having nights in 20's, yet some areas mid to high 60's days. This was an unusual cold front for so late in the year for us, the low was wound up off the Pacific like a midwinter storm. I think some temperature records were broken, probably the snow events too for this late a date. Of course it moved to the east for all you mid-west folks.

Hope it is nice by the first week of May, hubby has a week off so may go to the coast.... or our vacation plans could jinx the weather back to winter storms? Oh well, we'll be warm and dry in Motorhome.

Liz, glad to hear you got parents yard raked, how come you don't just run the lawnmower over the leaves to bag them easily? That's what hubby does. Makes alot of trips to empty mower bag, but well worth it for mulching garden.

How did your jury duty thing go this week?

Thanks Pete for the Roebic septic tank enzyme idea, will give it a try. Sounds like it would work and be cheaper than buying special compost enzymes. I agree about using dust mask for it for safety reasons. As for using the masks to cut back on allergens, I usually am sneezing to hard to keep them on during worst of the season. Though have been better since using Quercetin with Bromelin, a natural antihistamine. Also seem to have fewer allergies since started taking MSM several years back....even honey locust trees aren't as big a problem for me now. Used to be so bad I was threatening to hire someone with a chainsaw to get rid of all the neighborhood honey locust trees, from littlest ones to the 40-50 footers. never could get anyone taking me up on the idea though. Sigh!

Marty here is a online conversion website to convert, among other things, Celsius to Fahrenheit or the reverse.

Online Conversions

Pat

God bless everyone.

Edited April 19, 2006 by thesidekickcat

[TheTerrorist_75]

If anybody wants some snow......Come and get it.

Those remind me of here the previous few years at this time. Knock on wood these spring temps stay. Now if it just doesn't rain constantly like the past few springs I'll really enjoy it.

[robroy]

We had a really mild winter and spring is great, though I'm sure they will be yelling drought if we don't get some good soaking rains. Of course they are forecasting that for the weekend, oh well

[blim]

Glad you reminded me of Pete's post about Roebic septic tank cleaner, Pat (those snow pictures made me forget!)

Pete!! Do you know whether Roebic septic tank cleaner is critter safe? Always looking for tips to make the compost pile work quicker as our warm season is so short. thanks! Murphy's Oil Soap is supposed to be good for compost, too, and a good way to dispose of it when your furniture is washed

Pat, yep, I mow my leaves, but my parents house has 4 absolutely huge oaks next door (must be over 4 ft diameter trunks!) and the leaves are knee deep in places--the poor lawn mower would burn up! But their city does have a leaf pick up program, so all I have to do is rake them on a sheet and drag it to the curb.

And !!! No jury duty so far!!! *dance dance dance dance dance*

Liz

[xxkbxx]

I only work 40 hours in 2 weeks so that’s why its low, plus I'm working for minium wage $7.75/h (yep they raised the damn thing from $7.45) took em long enough.

Good to see some people agree with me, others just say well... ya but what ya gonna do.

That’s why we have mayors, premiers and MP's. I'm actually going to complain about this damn thing like other people my age should do.

I think minimum wage is around 5.35 in North Carolina (I'm not sure if its the same throughout the country though)

[X-Cannon]

If you convert that into CDN its only $6.15. 7.75 converted into USD is $8.91.

Which is still inadequate, not enough to help feed someone on proper food let along pay for rent...Even if its full time work.