General Music Chat

Yep, sleet and snow. 2" snow the first time, sleet and snow mix that turned to slush second time, maybe a half inch. YUKK...but I got some cool pictures out of it...same weather you had, I think you had it a bit colder than we did but only by a couple of degrees. I was barely able to keep up with firewood, usually carried 1 or 2 at a time. But I made it, mostly back to normal now. If I didn't overdo it this afternoon I'll be ok, but had no choice, I had to get into lumberjack mode and get more firewood ready. More cold coming up...

I'm really glad my Super Reverb is already at Alan's house though, they want to have band practice tomorrow, I'm real glad I don't have to lug that 90lb amp around, just the Champ and a couple of guitars...

Welcome to winter. Things can get a bit out of hand. It's 20 degrees, right now. 5 foot snow piles everywhere, roads narrowed down to one lane, towns that have not budgeted enough money to deal with winter, and dangerous conditions at every driveway and walkway.

Last week I busted a radial arm spring in 5 degree weather... Pot holes everywhere. That was 2200 bucks for a truck I had serviced a few days before, to make sure it was safe and would even run in that sort of cold.

The price of all fuels for heating are climbing out of sight... That includes natural gas... People are really hurting spending as much as needed to just keep their homes from freezing.

Billy I'm glad your back is better, to the point you can split some firewood. At least that gives you a fighting chance to deal with winter. (just so you know there is a move under way to ban wood as a heating source).

Be careful out there, just a general bitch and concern. I loved that last video you posted... Don't get yourself hurt.

Welcome to winter. NOT FUNNY.

It's been hovering around 20 degrees in the day and single digits at night for a bit now.

The night after the superbowl, it snowed about 3 inches here and then all at once, rained on it. All of this going on in the wee hours of the night.

As a result I know people that are stuck in their houses because there is THICK ice on all roads that were not plowed by the NJ state rats.

We're hoping for some extended warmer weather by the 13th for long enough to melt some of it, but it's going to snow tonight.

(It pays to keep a cache of gear somewhere other than your main area, just in case)

Glen I read about the spring in another thread, that really sucks..been there done that. But nothing that expensive. I've replaced starters, alternators, U joints, flats, batteries and radiator hoses in weather below freezing. Plus probably some others I've forgotten about. And some of those were stop on the highway to help someone else...I can't believe people think they have to pay me and look so surprised when I tell them just stop sometime and help somebody else, keep your money...

I know in your part of the country you guys have it rougher than we do here, some places haven't seen double digits at night in 3 weeks. Not to mention the thousands with no power or wood stove...I don't know how you stand it. I've done a couple of winters in Virginia, Chicago and DC, no way I'd live anywhere north of here any more. Norfolk really sucked. On the coast, not that cold but constantly high humidity, made it really miserable. And I had to walk about 150 yards down a pier 20 feet off the water every morning about 7:30...wind almost always going at least 15mph...When it gets cold here I just think about that...suddenly it's not quite so bad...

I think the main problem is that like Atlanta, we don't see much of this. A bit of snow once every 6 or 8 years, 2 or 3 inches and usually gone by noon, although I have seen the mercury at 12 right after daylight here in this same yard...usually it's not that bad, we might get a half dozen nights a year below 30. This year is the worst in a long time. And it's not just here, the whole country. A lot of our power company people have spent half the winter in places like New York and Delaware getting their power back up and running, only to have it knocked out a few days later again.

Back is better, hurting a little again today but not bad, just a little sore from yesterday I think, should be ok tomorrow. Band practice yesterday was rough for us all, haven't been able to get together in a month, it was like starting over but we went over a few things and made progress so I guess it was good. Working on a tune we're having a lot of fun with, all acoustic and loads of vocals and changes, getting it in shape very well. I won't say what yet, but we have a couple on tap that we're really cranked up about.

Pete

Speaking of Atlanta - the town is shut down due to weather warnings through Thursday. Schools, salting roads, people advised to stay home.
(apparently nobody wants a repeat of the two week's ago fiasco)

Our problem is our temperate climate - we alternate between ice cold and mild. In Atlanta, an inch of snow rapidly becomes a half inch of ice.

The client site I'm working is shut down tomorrow. Sadly, my boss reminded us that we VPN and there is work to be done...

Talbot

I saw the news story about that earlier. The problem in Atlanta is that they get that kind of weather about as often as we do here, they simply don't have the experience to deal with it.

I saw either the mayor or the Georgia governor in an interview who said they have this many snowplows,this much salt and so on, but they don't have the knowledge and experience with using all of that. They don't know, from past experience, when to start salting the roads, when to decide it might be better to close schools, and so forth.

The mayor was treated pretty badly by some twit in an interview on CNN, I thought she should have been sent to the showers. He wasn't the one at fault, actually nobody was. Nobody was ready for something like this, nobody knew just how bad it would get...Government offices shut down, so a lot of businesses decided they might as well close too. Schools let out at the same time. 90% of the people there have no idea how to drive on iced over roads, and they suddenly had a massive load of traffic during a major winter storm. Nobody had any idea how to deal with that, and to be fair, no one person could be blamed.

The mayor didn't tell all those offices to shut down at the same time school let out, nor did the governor, although he later made a statement that basically said "the buck stops here" and let himself take the blame. I disagree, he wasn't to blame either.

It would probably be the same if Houston or Dallas was hit that hard with the same situation. Dallas has had some pretty crazy weather this year, and some serious ice problems, but nothing like what hit Atlanta. When my sister came home from Kansas in early January, roads from the Oklahoma border to here, about a 6 or 7 hour drive or so, were closed. They were stuck in one place not far from Dallas for several hours, should have been through that area in a half hour. 15mph tops for over 30 miles...still no match for what hit Atlanta.

So I think Atlanta may be over reacting, but maybe not. Depends on what this cold spell brings. Even if they are over reacting, it's probably best to play it safe, so I think it was a good call to close schools just in case.

Already getting cold around here, I think 39 was our high for today, and it was already dropping fast 2 hours before dark.

Like I said Billy it was just a general bitch... I guess I'm getting old and I'm getting tired. Heavy truck repairs all start at $1000 and just go up from there. New tires here run about $350 for 1122s new and recaps with good cases $275. Brake drums run @ $350 new for fronts and $400 for rears.
It's not cheap and it's not a pickup truck.

I am just glad your back is better. That has to be one of the most damn nuisances, painful nuisance, you can have. People who have never felt that kind of pain will not understand it.

By the way... Should we get some fake passports? I hear botswannaville is nice this time of year.

When I took Calculus IV at Boston University (the first time), the professor's semester-long classroom example was a city manager responsible for snow treatment/removal. Each week, the problem/blackboard example would get a little more complex. Yeah, right, like any snowplow manager is going to be a Calc 4 wiz! I dropped out of that class before the end of the term.

Glen - I had a close friend in Louisiana who had his own 18 wheeler, leased to a lumber delivery company. He told me about similar prices, so I know what you're dealing with. And with big rigs like that and dump trucks, 2 tonners and such, you have to really stay on top of maintenance, that's your paycheck sitting in the driveway. Break down on the road and it's $500 for someone to just go across the street in a big enough tow truck. He had his engine rebuilt at about 300 short of a million miles, I think he told me $8000, almost 10 years ago. And that was a deal...

Mike - I'm doing good to figure the linear footage of a trim job...lol

maldo573524 - See that little rectangle at the top rigth of your post that says "Ignore"? Consider yourself ignored. Also check the top of the page, there's a link there to report idiots like you. Consider it done...Bye now...

Actually, the mayor of Atlanta was criticized (justifiably) by nearly everyone in Atlanta.

He really pissed folks off having his limousine drive on the shoulder with a police escort to get to a TV station and defend his conduct in the fiasco. Meanwhile, the rest of us were stuck.

He announcement that 'We are ready for snow,' just prior to the city becoming totally paralyzed certainly came back to bite him. He was ready for doodly squat.

He is all over the place yesterday and today, doing photo ops and bragging about how prepared we are.

I guess we'll see.

Mayor or no mayor - when an ice storm hits Atlanta (as is prophesied) we can expect havoc.

Talbot

Welcome to winter. Things can get a bit out of hand. It's 20 degrees, right now. 5 foot snow piles everywhere, roads narrowed down to one lane, towns that have not budgeted enough money to deal with winter, and dangerous conditions at every driveway and walkway.

Last week I busted a radial arm spring in 5 degree weather... Pot holes everywhere. That was 2200 bucks for a truck I had serviced a few days before, to make sure it was safe and would even run in that sort of cold.

The price of all fuels for heating are climbing out of sight... That includes natural gas... People are really hurting spending as much as needed to just keep their homes from freezing.

Billy I'm glad your back is better, to the point you can split some firewood. At least that gives you a fighting chance to deal with winter. (just so you know there is a move under way to ban wood as a heating source).

Be careful out there, just a general bitch and concern. I loved that last video you posted... Don't get yourself hurt.

Welcome to winter. NOT FUNNY.

now, just who would like to see firewood banned from use? people delivering propane, heating oil, and natural gas I suppose.. and you still don't get it about the people in high places wanting fatter paychecks by banning one of the least expensive heating fuels, such as firewood.. they will never stop making laws to feed their greed..