COLD?

[Wildcat]

Since it has been a bone-chilling 38 -50 F here in the Florida Panhandle, I assume you folks up north must be freezing.  I have seen on the news that a lot of folks have been without power due to the ice.  That would be bad not to be able to smoke and burning the dining room furnishings to keep warm to boot.  I hope the ones without power are OK. :(

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Other than killing off the citrus crop over here in California, we're fine. 

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Vampyr]

My parents live in San Antonio TX and they say it is like a glazed doughnut there.  When that weather was up here in AK it was -25 for a week.  Little rough starting the truck   ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

During the winter months, in the state of New York there are too many weather climates, so I can only speak about the small corner of NY in which I live. For the last few years the majority of our winter storms have been ice storms (which is unusual). We didn't get hit with the ice storm that is effecting the rest of the nation. I got rain, though some in northern NY got hit with the ice.

Do to past experiences, most can hold out 3-4 days without power, but that also depends on the current outside temperatures. This reminds me; I still need to get a generator. This year the temperature have been way above average and most of the storms have been rain. We didn't get a measurable snow until about a week ago, and that melted by the afternoon. Today I'm getting some lake effect snow, but the accumulation is not expected to exceed 1 inch.

[manxman]

Well here on this side of the pond, the first of this years snow has hit Scotland but here it is just wet and very windy.

We were completely cut off by sea and air yesterday and the hospital where I work had to call in an RAF Search and Rescue helicopter to airlift out a sick baby to Liverpool. Watching the SeaKing helicopter come in and take off again in violent storm force winds was interesting.

Several people were killed in the gales in the UK yesterday and 50 miles off the English coast a large container ship sank although all 26 crew were rescued.

I was driving in the mountainous area of the Isle of Man a couple of days ago and a SUV was blown off the road and onto it's side right in front of me, with the driver trapped inside although relatively uninjured.

After dialling 999 (911) and getting police, fire and ambulance on scene my young 5 year old son had a birds eye view of the paramedics and fire crew working their magic, one of the coppers even came over to talk to him and explain what they were doing..... and with a couple of police cars, ambulance and 4 fire trucks all on blue light in attendance he was really in his element!  ;)

Roll on the spring and summer though...............

One question I have been dying to ask Habs, when do you actually sleep!!?? It always intrgues me that you are often on the forum when I have my first look of the day at around 10:30 GMT.

[Wildcat]

After dialling 999 (911) and getting police, fire and ambulance on scene my young 5 year old son had a birds eye view of the paramedics and fire crew working their magic, one of the coppers even came over to talk to him and explain what they were doing..... and with a couple of police cars, ambulance and 4 fire trucks all on blue light in attendance he was really in his element!  ;)

This was a good learning experience Manx!  It was nice that one of them explained to him what was going on.  This should give him a real appreciation of real life.

This reminds me; I still need to get a generator.

IMO a generator is a must.  I was going to get one myself for when the big storms take out power here, but decided against it since I now have an RV with a generator.

[Oldman]

I have currently a 12000 watt tri-fuel generator--runs on natural, LP, or gas and can be switch from one fuel to the other on the fly.

However, we are looking at a 35,000 watt standby and we may do that this year.

[Habanero Smoker]

.......One question I have been dying to ask Habs, when do you actually sleep!!?? It always intrgues me that you are often on the forum when I have my first look of the day at around 10:30 GMT.

The problem is I sleep too much. :) I keep forgetting to look to see who is online when I log in so I didn't realize you are on about the same time. I don't have much time to spend on the forum these days so I just check to view my unread messages and if I can provide a short answer I will. These days I generally check the forum at around 5AM; 12 noon; and 5PM.

I'm in New York so 10:30 GMT is 5:30 AM EST. I generally get up around 4:30 AM - 5:00 AM; and log on about 30 minutes after I wake up. After that I get caught up in a million tasks. Since November the majority of my computer time has been spent researching my family tree. For some reason I've been coerced into doing it. I've been thrust into it because I'm fairly good at piecing information together, and because I am real close to an to a regional National Archives. So if my responses lack information or appear to be rushed, it just that I get tired of looking at a screen and typing.

[West Coast Kansan]

HABS, always enjoy your seasonal smoker avitar.  This one is great for a COLD? thread.

[MWS]

Since November the majority of my computer time has been spent researching my family tree. For some reason I've been coerced into doing it. I've been thrust into it because I'm fairly good at piecing information together, and because I am real close to an to a regional National Archives.

Hab, My wife is into geneology and spent 2 years researching my family lineage as well as her own. I can't tell you how much I appreciated her efforts  because she uncovered information that would have been lost forever about my family. My side is not the expressive type and without her efforts I would never have known about the acheivements of my Great Grandfather who captained this sternwheeler on the mighty Fraser River over 100 years ago. The below picture shows my Great Grandfather at the top with my Grandmother and Great Aunt. That photo will be 100 years old this summer. So Hab, It will be alot of work but your family and yourself will benefit greatly. Good work.......

[tsquared]

Very cool pic, MWS. I'll have to post a pic of my great grandfather and his schooner from Nova Scotia.
T2

[LilSmoker]

As manxman said, we've had some severe weather here in the u.k., on thursday i went to work, but it was chaos, there were trees being blown down, rooves being ripped off etc. So after an hour we had to abandon work, and head home which was an adventure to say the least.
On arriving home, i discover part of my fence has been taken out, and i get a call from my pal saying he can't get in his driveway, as there is a tree laying accross it. so i tidy up the fence a bit, i'll fix it properly tommorow, then i head round my pals house with a chainsaw etc, and we eventually got the tree cleared ::)

Quite an eventfull day in the end, our troubles were nothing really, as manx says some lost their lives, just reminds us all how powerfull, and cruel nature can be at times.  ;)

[Habanero Smoker]

HABS, always enjoy your seasonal smoker avitar.  This one is great for a COLD? thread.

The avitar I have right now I had to recall from memory :) We've had a few days of cold weather this year, but haven't seen much snow in the last 3 to 4 years.

MWS;
It's great when you learn pieces of history as your wife discovered. Thanks for the encouragement.

[manxman]

The problem is I sleep too much.  I keep forgetting to look to see who is online when I log in so I didn't realize you are on about the same time. I don't have much time to spend on the forum these days so I just check to view my unread messages and if I can provide a short answer I will. These days I generally check the forum at around 5AM; 12 noon; and 5PM.

I'm in New York so 10:30 GMT is 5:30 AM EST. I generally get up around 4:30 AM - 5:00 AM; and log on about 30 minutes after I wake up. After that I get caught up in a million tasks. Since November the majority of my computer time has been spent researching my family tree. For some reason I've been coerced into doing it. I've been thrust into it because I'm fairly good at piecing information together, and because I am real close to an to a regional National Archives. So if my responses lack information or appear to be rushed, it just that I get tired of looking at a screen and typing.

Thanks HS, just intrigued me that we both seemed to hit the forum about the same time but didn't realise you were such an early riser. :D

Just started doing a bit of research on my ancestry, ancestry.co.uk is a site that was recommended to me by someone who has gone into it in great depth and has an American counterpart site. Apparently there are also links to ship's passenger lists of people emigrating etc which is useful as I know I have some distant relatives in Pennyslvania.

[Wildcat]

Nice picture MWS. ;)  I am also glad to see that everyone is coping. :)