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| This Week in Books, January 7, 2018 |
| 2018-01-07 |
| Happy New Year everyone, hope yours is prosperous. Guess what I found under the tree! The Lawdog Files - African Adventures 'D Lawdog' Castalia House, 2017 This is Lawdog's second volume of personal stories, beginning with his childhood memories of growing up in Africa. Like his previous work, this is a collection of short stories, making it an ideal book for the coffee table or the water closet. To sit down and read this book in one sitting would be like taking a chocolate/chocolate chip cheesecake with dark chocolate/kirsch shavings and a coarse granulated sugar/graham cracker crust with a hint of cayenne (or cinnamon, however you roll) and eating the cake in one bite. It also makes the book tough to review without giving away a chunk of the content or the punch line of a story. All I can say, is one story had me laughing so hard my wife shook her head and asked what was so funny. I recounted the story, and she asked, "Well, isn't that dangerous?" Yes! "Boys." There are other stories and musings about life, some whimsical, some serious, some funny only after the fact. The dove hunting stories had me laughing, but if you have never been dove hunting Lawdog still tells the story, and all of his stories really, in such a way that you will get it. I believe other Rantburgers have read this work, would you recommend this book (without giving away spoilers)? I sure do; it is available in both electrons and tree gut. This Week in Emergency Preparedness I really do not have much to add to winter considerations at this point. And really, you are either (a) considering yourself prepared, or (b) hoping the Fates are not knitting for a couple more months. Probably more helpful would be suggestions from our friends in the Northeast. My first question would be, isn't this last storm what y'all call a Nor'easter? Sure, snow in Florida is a bit odd, but a winter storm with the weatherhead wailing about 30mph winds and 5" of snow, yeah bad stuff, but not Snowzilla or whatever the gin heads were screaming about. ZMG! swksFF, temperatures will be 100+ with 50mph+ winds! Yeah. We call it July. My point, I guess, is that if the media is going to bring out the meteorological equivalent of Green Helmut Man for normal weather in order to match the intensity of real dangerous events, it will be tougher and tougher to rely upon that report. Even worse, a lot of the weather winnowers are convinced, or put on that face, that they are absolutely correct. About got me the other day when a surprise fog ended my plans quite quickly. When you are driving 50mph and you have two seconds from spotting oncoming traffic to passing it (IF they had their lights on. One white car with no lights was past me before I saw it), that is dangerously thick. Add all the side road traffic (it was a cow day). Cold weather, humidity, no wind, near a front - I was not surprised there was fog. I turned out of it as soon as I could turn around safely. The fog contributed to a vehicle fatality that morning. No warnings from the previous night's weather report. So know your weather. |
| Posted by:swksvolFF |
| #9 The Water Drip was a suggestion to me by Guy-Whose-Mountain-Home-Loses-Power. Never had the luck to try it. Other advice given. "swks, you have a gas stove, right?" Right. "Fill a pot of water and boil it. You will have warm moist air and it will feel good." So, that opportunity finally presents itself one glorious ice storm. I come back in from removing Ymir's siege palisade and think what a great idea. After a brief quest for fire, see the igniters are electric har har, and some impromptu tortillion stumps got the gas going, water on, pokemon go! And it worked. Ice crystals on the windows were pretty, and eventually thick enough to help with the insulations. I think Hannibal Smith is on our power crew, because heat was back in about two hours. Then I notice the floor is wet. Looking about the window seams for the leak it occurred to me that my wet foot is standing on the carcass of the beautiful ice angel who was living on the window. One on every single window. Good thing the dryer was back on-line. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2018-01-07 20:43 |
| #8 Ten days? Did they do anything to keep the pipes from freezing? Presumably they let all the taps drip, swksvlFF, so there was always water flowing. At any rate, they did not have to repair plumbing afterward that I recall, though they did have to replace part of the roof including the plywood substrate after some major limbs from one of the maples fell on it. The trees were still in full leaf, so the ice build up was worse than it would have been later in the season. They used hot water from the water heater for hot water bottles and to fill a pot holding soup cans or coffee mugs. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-01-07 19:39 |
| #7 My theory on the freezing pipes is to have a bit of water on at every faucet but I have only theory and I see some potential problems there, like water freezer in the sink trap. I have one of those fumeless heaters which runs off a propane tank, but it will be the last act of Henry the VIII before I use it in my house. It isn't that I don't trust the fumeless claim - I don't, drafty or ventilated shop, sure, not crazy about a well sealed structure with no air movement - but the radiant heat would concern me. It wouldn't necessarily need to start a fire, just start smoldering something plastic and now we have bad air. *** We get dust storms out here if upwind has been dry and a big front comes through, or downwind of a newly plowed field. Maybe just me, but I think they gobble up headlights. Worst one I was in the dust storm, an eh kinda dark strength, hit a stationary moisture line and suddenly it was raining mud. Not like a bad scene from a Volcano flick, but like that scene in Jurassic Park where the critter spits on the big dude. But constant. Smells like it too. Oh, that is wife as calmly as an air raid siren informing me it is time for a diaper change, the variety which can't be put off. Pull off the interstate and find a defilade so Christine doesn't murder me with her car doors - you big wind country people know what I'm talking about. That ain't happening, wind is 50-60mph at this point and everything bouncing off of my 'cover' hits the vehicle too. Wife performs a front seat over the arm rest back passenger poop step maneuver which had me in awe. Get back onto the interstate, starting to improve but deciding to take the next turn with the wind instead of across it when we come up to a checkpoint. We were front seat after the fire department closed the interstate and got to work on the car which was passing me before our exit. Someone too fast met someone too slow. Some didn't see the pileup until they were in it, some chose the shoulder and ditch. Watched helplessly as some of my Brothers were carrying people bags over to an upside down SUV. It was around the holidays, trunk busted open, presents everywhere. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2018-01-07 18:33 |
| #6 Michigan drivers have a quick solution for white out conditions on their interstates. They all seem to drive 85 mph until they hit a white out zone (always "unexpectedly"), then several dozen vehicles in the column of vehicles come to various sorts pf abrupt stops in few seconds or so. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-01-07 15:56 |
| #5 It seems to me that 10 days without power during a major winter snowstorm, for some situations, could be an end-of-life event. I know of a farm woman in Jan 1978 who had a healthy baby born in those circumstances, far from town in a house with no power or heat beyond a wood stove. Baby did well, mother got a fever, someone crawled miles across the frozen tundra to get a message out, weather improved enough for chopper flights, and she was whisked out by Air National Guard to a hospital for a life-saving hysterectomy. From that point onward, she did well. Baby was her first & last child. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-01-07 15:51 |
| #4 Ten days? Did they do anything to keep the pipes from freezing? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2018-01-07 13:21 |
| #3 I grew up in Buffalo, NY, and had a newspaper route during the Blizzard of ‘77. I fully stock my pantry before Thanksgiving* with unconcentrated soups, noodles and jarred sauces, packets of tunafish, salmon, and tea, Nestle chocolate Quick and tins of evaporated milk for hot chocolate, and chocolate chips — we ran out of chocolate in ‘77 after the first week, which was decidedly uncomfortable. If we are without power we can cook on the gas fireplace or the propane grill, or draw warm water from the 30gallon water heater** in the basement for a while if necessary — it is important to have hot food and drink. I also have enough ThermaCares set aside to keep us warm should we be without power and unable to drive out of our hilly neighbourhood for some days — that was never an issue in Buffalo, but in Cincinnati icy roads are more of a concern than snow. Medicines, of course, both Rx and over the counter. Snow shovels. I should keep a bag of coarse sand and a shovel in the trunk of each car, but we are fortunate that we can just stay home if it looks like the weather will be that bad. Everyone has a spare battery for their phone, and I have extras, charged, in the gift closet. I like this one. Warm clothes, warm ski outerwear, gloves and boots for all, though we are behind on stocking newest daughter in this direction — she came to us with very little and is a size 3X. * In Buffalo we have had several major snow storms at Thanksgiving, so that is my target. There was the October ice storm in about 2005 thwt left my parents without power for ten days, but that only happened once in my lifetime. ** Because hot water tanks take a long time to cool down, and because hot water bottles and pans of water in which to heat unopened cans of soup can be filled directly from the drain tap, I will never replace mine with an instant hot water device. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-01-07 11:23 |
| #2 Emergency prep is - should be - shaped by your specific personal, household and business situation and your specific goals. This book shows you how to evaluate them. |
| Posted by: Snoluting Phomoth8901 2018-01-07 09:08 |
| #1 Santa brought me a copy too! |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2018-01-07 01:17 |