For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
Bill Gass wrote:
So cute Douglas...
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Merry Christmas All-
Merry Christmas Bill! I envy you guys on the west coast that you have hummers year round, and more than one kind. Where I am we only have one kind for about 6 months.
After more than 3 days, we have hot and cold running water. I have to turn it off when the temps get below 23° for more than 2-3 hours as that is apparently the max for the pipe insulation. Plus, we had to alter our family Christmas get together as the group in Phoenix couldn't make it in due to COVID. We will try again in January.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and was able to enjoy as many family and friends as possible.
Sorry to hear what you have gone through this holiday season, Ray. A lot of pipe bursting here in Maryland the last couple days, this Christmas saw the record temperature on record for Christmas, no snow though. Hope 2023 will be a better year for everyone.
We live in a 130 year old house we upgraded. Texas insurance laws being what they are do not allow for new construction to place water lines in the attic (I stripped the house of any water and electrical before I rebuilt it, so it was more like a new construction with old bones). In 1989 the TX gulf coast had a major freeze over Christmas similar to what we just had this last week. All of the older homes had their PVC water lines freeze and crack, then as they thawed, they flooded the homes. Many people were away from home for several days and came back to several inches of water in their homes. Since, TX insurance companies had the codes changed to no plumbing in the attic. Strangely, shortly after I had the plumbing installed, under the home in the crawl space, I decided to use spray foam insulation. The attic would have been the perfect location for the water lines since the foam is sprayed on the rafters vs the ceilings. My attic is usually +- 10° of our room temperature. A/C guys love working in our attic in the summer and winter. Anyway, I don't think a licensed plumber would have installed the water lines in the attic, even with the foam due to the codes.
Long story, but we go through this a couple of times during the winter. I fill the bathtubs with water to service the toilet tanks and buy plenty of bottled water for cooking and drinking. Body hygiene consists of a wash cloth and a bowl of warm water heated with the microwave. We use paper plates and plastic utensils to cut down on dish washing. When we went 10 days without water a couple of years ago I heated pool water for the dishes.
Sorry to hear all that Ray and the code's crap...OMG !
We didn't have water for 2 days last weekend, lady had to take a 5 gallon bucket of water in the shower stall. , boiled water on the stove for her.
Pipes are all wrapped up and wrapped together with he hot water lines so when the hot water is on it heat the other line up a little. And I did the dishes with 5 gallons of hot water...
Bill Gass wrote:
Thanks Dan, next round will be 3x better, wait and see you will
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I have the 24-70 2.8L but curious if the Mark II are that much better.
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I found a 17-40 F4L but not sure if that's wide enough for what I want...
Whew...yesterday was a NASCAR race!
I did not have v1. To be truthful I have never really found upgraded versions THAT much better for the cost.
Probably why I only have 2 EF quality zooms.
RD
Douglas L wrote:
Merry Christmas everyone!
Made my day Douglas! Is that you spaniel child?
Our cockers are gone and this time of year is especially hard on me. They were a huge part of my life. Eyes into my soul.
Great Christmas card!
Thanks!
Dan
Been very cold here. Sorry to here of those who have had issues with the weather. We had a wind chill of -40F a couple of days ago. Far from the record cold though. I think the record cold here is -27 actual temp and a -81 windchill.
Heading to Fort Worth this week to begin shooting for my new Oil & Gas client. They have about $300 million in initial equipment being delivered and they want imagery asap. Looks like actual on site work will begin early Spring in The Permian Basin and then spread out. This is going to be fun! "Drill Baby, Drill!"
Sorry to see folks struggling with the tough weather. But also glad to see that everyone seems to have had a nice Christmas. We weren't that bad here on the coast, got down to 11F with wind on Christmas Eve morning. Not Midwest cold by any means.
And Jim, my condolences on your loss of Charlie. Always heartbreaking.
My parents' two family has an add-on room that used to be a back porch. When it gets really cold I need to remind my son to turn on a fan that blows warmer air under there from the rest of the basement, but I forgot myself. I now have a copper 1/2-inch water line that needs fixing. Luckily no other damage, it's not a finished basement so a little water is no big deal. I'm taking this week off, so I'll take care of it in the next couple of days.
Meanwhile it has warmed into the low 30's during the day. Got a 17 mile bike ride in tonight that got me over 2,600 miles for the year. I'll take that! About 1,000 miles more than last year!
Here is a quick photo of us from Christmas Day. Still cold so nobody really wanted to stay outside for long, but I persisted.
Great shot Mark! Glad your water pipe is an easy fix. People all over Texas are having that problem, on Christmas Eve a friend of ours called frantically to ask if I could come over and do something about the waterfall in her closet. I did, and I did, but she was without water for a couple of days. Looks like this cold snap is ending today with temps in the 60's and nighttime lows in the upper 30's. I'll have to wait and see what the landscape damage is. I tried to cover everything but with winds reaching 55mph, it was a bit of a cluster and most of the covering ended up somewhere in the back yard protecting my fence......
2,600 miles, that's impressive Bud! Active as I am, I need some cardio and I still need to peel off my "COVID 19", which is actually more like COVID 25. Sheila still walks 6 or 7 miles a day but I don't have the time to do that every morning.
Hoping that your 2023 is wonderful and that we can put the last few years way behind us.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Hoping that your 2023 is wonderful and that we can put the last few years way behind us.
Thanks Jim, same to you and yours. As well as the rest of the MA2A family.
Time is the issue. To exercise, to work, to relax. Just not enough of it. I'm sure I'm not alone. I hope to retire in the next 3 years or so, maybe things will be better.
I'm seriously thinking about coming down to Dallas for the total eclipse on April 8, 2024. It's a Monday. Maybe we could organize a group? Easter is the weekend before. Probably need to start thinking about reservations now.
, boiled water on the stove for her.
