I hate ice

[Possom]

Well I am up this morning. Still no power. Most of the trees in my yard are down. You can constantly hear them breaking down in the pastures as well. Will probably be a couple of days before we get power back.

I have the generator running. Pellet stove on kicking out heat. Coffee pot making coffee. Could be worse I guess.

Will go take count on the livestock later. Hope they are all still alive.

[piranha2]

Hang in there. Possum.

[ak474u]

Just got done breaking ice off of my peach and plum trees, they were bent over pretty bad, but they're ok now, had to prop up my pomegranate trees with shovels, and broke lots of ice off of my front yard oaks so they won't break off or fall over. I can't afford $2000 to buy new oak trees, and these things are good size. We have an HOA, so I have to have 2 trees out front.

Weather man said 1/2" of ice here, BS! I've got at least 3-1/2". I can't see the grass, and the driveway is 3" of ice pellets so hard I can't dent it when walking on it.

[Stormfeather]

Sounds like you guys got hit pretty good, Im sure it goes without saying, if you need anything, just ask!

Any chance we can get some pictures of what its looking like down there? Ive never seen a "ice lawn" before!

[msomnipotent]

That sounds like it sucks a whole hell of a lot. Good luck, everyone.

[ak474u]

Here's a pic of my house this am.

http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y507/Wilco2a/ice%20storm%202013/5f52fa036911046324f731ed5a8024df_zpse445c76e.jpg

This is NOT snow. Solid ice

[Possom]

Side yard

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz87/cox-adam/B9924711-78B7-415F-AA82-8FB35D1D8A9B_zpswtksujqr.jpg (http://s816.photobucket.com/user/cox-adam/media/B9924711-78B7-415F-AA82-8FB35D1D8A9B_zpswtksujqr.jpg.html)

That's the only pic I can get to upload at the moment. Cell phone service is in and out. I guess the towers are either iced over or knocked down by falling trees.

We lost a bunch of trees today. The white you see isn't snow. It is ice. It rained here for a full day and froze on everything above ground level. Will probably be 3 or 4 days before we get electricity back.

I cut my way out of our county road (downed trees every 20ft or so) and went into town earlier. Looks a lot like it did in 2000. Whole county is out of power. My next door neighbor has his gas station open running off generators so we can at least get some gas for our generator if need be. Everything else is closed down here.

Gonna be a long weekend.

[Sniper-T]

Ouch! I can commiserate guys. that ain't out of the norm for up here. nothing you can do about it, just deal with the mess after. should be good firewood to be had for a few years.

[ak474u]

Ouch! I can commiserate guys. that ain't out of the norm for up here. nothing you can do about it, just deal with the mess after. should be good firewood to be had for a few years.

Yep, I've got my eye on a mesquite tree that fell last night in the park across the street. It's been dead for a while, so I'm gonna team up with the neighbor and split the wood. BBQ wood coming my way.

[ElevenBravo]

Here in SW VA, were bracing for the storm coming to us Sunday.

Got plenty of propane for heat, enough gas right now for 40 hours of genny, etc.. etcc..

Im ready, bring it!!

EB

[bacpacker]

Wow guys. That is a bunch of ice. Glad everyone is doing good so far. We probably have several more Ants in the bullseye. Hope everyone is ready.

We are south of the ice line, but have had 2+ inches of rain so far and it's pouring right now. More rain expected over the next 3 days of somewhere between 2-4" to go. They are calling for flooding in some areas. We are good where we are, but low lying areas will get hit hard.

[Possom]

Tree in the front yard of the original homestead house on our property.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz87/cox-adam/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0030bd93.jpg (http://s816.photobucket.com/user/cox-adam/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0030bd93.jpg.html)

The tree in my front yard. One of 3 old growth trees left on our place.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz87/cox-adam/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1862e45a.jpg (http://s816.photobucket.com/user/cox-adam/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1862e45a.jpg.html)

I will get some more pics of the damage once I have power again and can upload them from the wireless. Cell service is still spotty at best here.

[ditchmedic]

No pics but we got hit good in southern Indiana. Not near as bad as past years (never lost power).

Learned a few things with snow at the new house.

1. Dont put off getting tires when the only way out of your neighborhood is up hills.

2. Tires are irrelevant when there is 2 inches of ice on the hill.

3. Befriend the owner of the local NAPA that is 2 blocks away at the top of the hill and park there.

4. Park at NAPA and walk home as opposed to battling the hill again later (people seriously cant figure this out). Or in my case from here on out, I'll move cars there prior to the storm.


Other than that, my winter car kit was perfect for this storm.

[Metrocruiser]

sending good thoughts your way, be safe

[Sniper-T]

DM, you may want to invest in a set of chains, in case you don't see one coming and get stuck at the bottom of your hill. Tires may be irrelevant on ice, but chains rule!

[ElevenBravo]

Update: Sat 4pm...


Just mounted a ProCom 10K BTU blue flame heater, taking down the Portable Buddy.

The Buddy heater (Mr. Heater) has been a trusted source of heat for a few years now, but its starting to act up and.. it is either ON or OFF, sometimes you have to open the door because it gets too hot...

The ProCom heater has a thermostat, its running as I type and Im delighted to see it cycle on and off, this means a consistent temp AND save fuel too!

Got the heater and regulator at Northern and the fittings and gas line at Home Depot (Ill post a detailed thread on it later).

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200395466_200395466

I found the ceramic heaters to put off an "odd smell" so I went with the blue flame. Now I can rest easy, seriously.

Oh, and I do keep a window cracked at least 1/8" when it runs, and the house aint air tight either... plus mox monitor for safety... Never had any problems in the past but can never be too safe!

If I ever get the opportunity, I can plumb it into the NG line and not have to worry about propane tanks in the future.

Im also wanting to get a NG adapter for the generator from US Carb some time too....

If and when I move, I hope to have a "big" propane tank and run it all off LPG.

Drifting off into propane fridges, its on my want list, but expensive so not now or any time soon!

https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=propane+refrigerator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

That is all for now.

Im pretty sure it's gonna hit us, Ill have vid when its over.

EB

[Katrina]

Keep safe everyone

[Possom]

Earlier this week I was trying to get my old generator to run and it just wouldn't do it. So, I told the wife I was going to get a new one. She scoffed at me a little and told me we really didn't need it. Now I don't hear a bit of complaint on the 4th day of using it to run the pellet stove, tv, coffee pot, charging cell phones, getting the internet up, and lights.

[bacpacker]

Amazing how that works out. What brand/model did you go with? Thoughs on it to this point?

[Possom]

5000 watt (6250 peak) Briggs and Stratton. We have put about 20 hours on it so far. Has a 5 gallon fuel cell on it. Rated to run for 10 hours on a tank of fuel at half load on it. So far it is performing as advertised.

Only advice I can really give on generators is to buy a name brand. The off brands might be cheaper but they are cheaper for a reason. Replacement parts are difficult to find at best. You really do get what you pay for. My other generator was an off brand bought from ace hardware (7000 watt). It worked well for a couple of years but needs a carburetor now and I can't find one for it.

[ElevenBravo]

Mine is 2.5KW constant, 3K surge... 2.5 gal fuel tank 10 hours of run, a 5 gal can will yield 20 hours of run.

EB

[Possom]

Well day 4. Still no power. Roads are getting a little better though. I can drive into town without having to use 4wd. Not much melting taking place though.

[bacpacker]

Glad to hear conditions are improving for you possum.

EB how you makin out?

[ak474u]

Lots better here, we had a slow melt today, and lots of spots are dry. My driveway is clean, and our street is clean, yard defrosted zero, so its gonna be a big slushy mess in a day or two.

[bacpacker]

Good to hear things are improving for you AK. I saw a video, I think from Plano, Tx this evening. It showed major snow and ice falling off a roof line and crushing a couple of cars. Made me wonder how you were fairing.

[ak474u]

4" of solid ice on the yard, idiots sliding off the road everywhere. The roof avalanches have been going on around here all day.

[ditchmedic]

Roads finally thawed in time for 2 more inches of snow. :mad:

[ElevenBravo]

We got skipped... Sorta. The truck was iced up Mon morning but the roads were simply wet, not iced. Thats the extent of it.

Never NEEDED the ProCom heater though I did have it on low for knocking off the chill and power was never lost.

I did change the oil in the genny Monday, needed to be done.

EB

[Possom]

We finally have power back as of about 1:30 today. Things are still slowly melting off. Then comes the weeks of clean up.

[msomnipotent]

Good to hear things are improving for you AK. I saw a video, I think from Plano, Tx this evening. It showed major snow and ice falling off a roof line and crushing a couple of cars. Made me wonder how you were fairing.

I saw that too and thought the same thing.

[ElevenBravo]

Pix or it never happened, Possum! J/K, though if you have pix put em up!

eb