Laura

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troutbend
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Laura
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Estes Park, CO
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08/01
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Hotel - Hospitality

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This Oughta Be Good

Life & Events > Molasses
 

Molasses

The Internet here was so slow I couldn't post this last night.

Molasses in February

I think the expression is "slow as molasses in January" but it can also apply to February. It came to mind as I try to use the Internet - it's s-l-o-w-w-w tonight. I re-set my modem and router several times, but that didn't seem to help, and a neighbor emailed me that her Internet was also erratic.

An arctic front dipped down here from Canada and we had a few days and nights of 11 below zero. I was worried that my truck wouldn't start, but it did. There is about 6 inches of snow on the ground, and I wear hand-knitted gaiters over the tops of my boots to keep the snow out.

I was down on the plains Thursday and it was minus 10 all day in town, but then I drove up to Estes Park in the mountains, 8000 feet above sea level, and the temperature was 24 degrees - heat rises.

But weather is so fickle because overnight the front snuck out, and it warmed up yesterday to almost 35 degrees. The weather man on TV says that a big moisture-laden storm is coming from Hawaii - the Pineapple Express, but the forecast I see for my specific area doesn't look all that snowy.

Although I have been in my home with electricity since October, there are people downstream from me who still don't have power or have just gotten it back. Naturally, they are excited to be moving back home, but the newly restored infrastructure has not proved to be very robust: the day/night it was 14 below zero, their power was out for 30 hours. These people aren't on town water so they couldn't run their pumps to trickle water through the pipes, and their pipes froze. Frozen pipes don't automatically burst, but I've seen cases where someone trying to thaw them caught the house on fire and burned it to the ground.


posted on Feb 8, 2014 9:46 AM ()

Comments:

My dear friend just spent two days without water; the pipe under her street froze. She gathered snow and melted it to flush the toilets. Three water mains broke in the city this week due to the cold. Lordy, what a winter....
comment by marta on Feb 15, 2014 6:33 PM ()
It's remarkable what we find ourselves doing in order to get through weather-related adversity. The good thing is that it's usually temporary. Gosh, you'd hope so. I picture living in other countries, or even some parts of our country, where the infrastructure never gets fixed, and what a misery that would be.
reply by troutbend on Feb 25, 2014 10:04 PM ()
We have had three consecutive arctic vortices this year. My daDDy's natural gas bill is so high for January that he can't pay it all. The gas company doesn't care and won't accept a payment plan, so here goes... as he sez, "C'est la vie!"
comment by hobbie on Feb 9, 2014 11:12 AM ()
I know how miserable it is to have to ration heat in your own home. I'm thinking of you all.
reply by troutbend on Feb 9, 2014 4:18 PM ()
Tell me to never complain about summer heat.
comment by elderjane on Feb 9, 2014 7:11 AM ()
I keep thinking about the people who live in Alaska and are accustomed to sub-zero all winter.
reply by troutbend on Feb 9, 2014 4:21 PM ()
never mind where it came from---throw another log on the fire and more blankets on the bed
comment by kevinshere on Feb 8, 2014 10:59 PM ()
we do
reply by kevinshere on Feb 9, 2014 4:29 PM ()
So that makes me wonder if you get cold fronts creeping up from the south pole.
reply by troutbend on Feb 9, 2014 4:22 PM ()
Oh boy, I am glad I live in Georgia where we don't have to worry about that.
comment by gapeach on Feb 8, 2014 4:16 PM ()
It's definitely an experience that adds that extra dimension to getting through the winter around here.
reply by troutbend on Feb 9, 2014 4:35 PM ()
11 below--14 below--OMG!!! And I complain when it gets below 60!!!
comment by greatmartin on Feb 8, 2014 10:10 AM ()
Cold like that redefines temperature for me. 14 below means that 24 above is 'chilly.' And 60 would be 'time to get the spinach seeds planted outside.'
reply by troutbend on Feb 8, 2014 10:33 AM ()
Don't blame us for that arctic blast. I think it came from Alaska.
comment by nittineedles on Feb 8, 2014 9:53 AM ()
reply by nittineedles on Feb 8, 2014 11:25 AM ()
It came from Calgary and points north of there.
reply by troutbend on Feb 8, 2014 9:54 AM ()

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