Kaylee: H-how did you... g-get on...? Early: Strains the mind a bit, don't it? You think you're all alone. Maybe I come down the chimney, Kaylee. Bring presents to the good girls and boys.

'Objects In Space'


Natter 77: I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Toddson - Feb 17, 2021 6:13:22 am PST #3569 of 30000
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

On the news this morning I saw film of places where it had warmed up enough for the pipes to burst and water flood out - in several stories of a high-rise. I feel sorry for the people this has hit so hard - they weren't prepared for it, their infrastructure can't handle it. I hope they warm up soon.

In a related story, D.C. is one of those places that gets snow but handles it badly (there's a running joke about THE snow plow). Often really badly, One winter, This Old House was working on a house in D.C. It snowed ... less than an inch and the city shut down. The people filming, hardy Bostonians, thought it was pretty funny - in Boston, seemingly, this would barely be noticed.


meara - Feb 17, 2021 6:26:00 am PST #3570 of 30000

In Seattle people make fun of shutting down for an inch, but it’s so hilly here, and so often close to freezing causing ice...

Things I will do for a chance to get a COVID vaccine: wake up at 430am, drive an hour round trip to drop off my dog at a friend’s, to show up to volunteer at 615am. Fingers crossed.


Laura - Feb 17, 2021 6:34:39 am PST #3571 of 30000
Our wings are not tired.

There have been a number of times we lost power for several days, or more, but it was hot and sticky, not freezing. Big difference.

Frozen pipes, and frozen people. Very scary.


Toddson - Feb 17, 2021 7:11:56 am PST #3572 of 30000
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

A mayor in Texas posted a rather, um, stringent message about the people whining about not having heat or electricity. After the responses, he's resigned.


Dana - Feb 17, 2021 7:19:02 am PST #3573 of 30000
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

We're still okay here this morning. No power loss, no new frozen pipes.


Jesse - Feb 17, 2021 7:21:43 am PST #3574 of 30000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

I honestly don't know what I would do if the power went out for days, even here.

Yeah, I lost power for a few days one time, in the summer, when I was going to the office all day, and I hated it! And literally all it was was inconvenient and a little hot.

In a related story, D.C. is one of those places that gets snow but handles it badly (there's a running joke about THE snow plow). Often really badly, One winter, This Old House was working on a house in D.C. It snowed ... less than an inch and the city shut down. The people filming, hardy Bostonians, thought it was pretty funny - in Boston, seemingly, this would barely be noticed.

But that's because we are prepared! At this point in the winter, all of the roads and sidewalks are white with salt, and every truck has a plow on it. Our houses are insulated! We own snowboots! etc.


Toddson - Feb 17, 2021 7:24:55 am PST #3575 of 30000
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"

Texas wasn't prepared. One of the more compassionate comments I saw was about what if it was 120 in Minnesota in the summer?

I still remember when we moved from Louisville to northern New Jersey and it snowed for the first time. In Louisville, there was almost now snow - there were photos of me bundled to the eyebrows groveling in about half an inch of snow trying to get enough for a snow ball. Then, the first snow - 11 inches. My mother assumed we'd be snowed in until the spring thaw and kind of panicked.


JenP - Feb 17, 2021 7:44:40 am PST #3576 of 30000

Ooh, good luck, meara! Pulling for you.

I texted my aunt in Vienna, VA that we were coming home early because I knew she'd be worried but also assume we would leave early but also still be worried. I was correct on all counts, heh.


flea - Feb 17, 2021 7:50:09 am PST #3577 of 30000
information libertarian

We were out of power for 5 days after an ice storm when we lived in NC. What we did during that time was conceive a child, so. It did keep us relatively warm.

In Maine when I was a kid the power lines for the whole county were down for days once, but the majority of people there have wood stoves. I remember cooking canned soup on the wood stove.


Jessica - Feb 17, 2021 8:23:26 am PST #3578 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

This story from Seattle has been getting a ton of media attention, which is hilarious to me because I've known Fran Goldman my entire life (she was a close friend of my grandmother and has a cabin down the beach from my family up in Canada) and literally NOBODY who knows her was surprised that she chose to walk 6 miles in the snow for a Covid vaccine. Like, OF COURSE she did, how else was she supposed to get there? 3 miles each way? Pfft.