Good Morning All. Right now at 0600 CST, it's cloudy and 42° with light winds out of the SW. Armageddon is supposed to hit in about 2 more hours. 30 mph winds from the north and a rapid drop in temperature that is supposed to drop the temperature to 10° by midnight, and then things level off with the winds abating to 15 mph. Quite cold for us. Things aren't supposed to improve until Saturday about noon when it reaches 32° or above. Mid to upper 60's by Wednesday! Christmas Day it should reach mid-40's; compare that to last year when Christmas Day was 81°. I do see that you guys from the northern reaches will be a lot worse off both temperature-wise and possible snow. Our wind chill factor has been raised to -10°, small consolation!
We generally don't have thermostat differences here. We both agree on optimal temperature between 72° and 75°. Bedroom is a bit cooler so she has an electric blanket on her side of the bed (not always on though) while I wear nature's PJ's. The living room where the wood-burning heater is located, sometimes gets a bit warm, but it is only in the winter and is easily tolerated. I can use the room to room fan mounted in the wall above, to blow excess heat down the hallway and open up some of the unused bedrooms to absorb it.
The grocery store was quite crowded yesterday. I don't know if it was because I went on Wednesday instead of my usual Thursday, or if all the Thursday and Friday shoppers were there yesterday. Bought gasoline, stocked up at the Vitamin Store, bought some supplies at Hobby Lobby, and finally got that plywood that I needed to complete the backdrop. Home Depot was quite crowded as well. I saw a lot of insulation going out the door.
Thanks to all who reacted to the progress scenes posted yesterday. Seemed to all be favorable.
I made the usual progress yesterday out in the train shed. Mainly ground cover.
I did more between the tracks on the other end, but no pictures.
I put up the piece of plywood backdrop and measured and marked where I need to cut it, but that won't happen until next week when it warms up. Not really much to show here, sorry
Ken.
After viewing several reports regarding the train/truck collision in Tennessee, it appears that the NS employees came away with only minor injuries thankfully. The truck apparently got caught by a red light and had just started forward again. I think that all the comments here about the safety team are right on. Somebody's insurance company is going to be really pissed.
Lee - Good to see you back in the Coffee Shop, and glad that you're still healthy. I have missed your trucking related scenes all across the forum.
Joe - Glad that the recovery is going as planned. Don't worry though about the lack of a shower, it wasn't bothering me!
Swal - You posted that your wife was settled in at home, but how is she doing with the recovery???
It's now 0700 and the wind just hit. It is ferocious. It dropped 5° in under a minute and will go down a lot more.
Todd - Nice scenes, I am so glad that it is your homestead and not mine!
Tom O - While I normally keep a good stock of Exacto blades, I also have a whetstone that I occasionally use to prolong usage.
David -
Willis from NS hasn't been seen here in just over three years. He's still listed as a moderator though.
OK, 45 minutes after it hit, the temperature is now 24°, an 18° drop in 45 minutes.
See ya later. Everybody have a great day. Stay warm and be careful out there.