How about some coconut cookies and a glass of milk?
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
I almost made it a whole month without having the top of the page.
Good morning everyone.
It is warm here for the next week at least. I plan on spending ther next three days hard at work in the yard.
-Kevin
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, Chloe.
Kevin, I’ll have the glass of milk, but I’ll skip the coconut cookies. For some reason, I have never liked coconut. They were the only cookies my mother made I didn’t like.
Long, boring sick story:
On the flight home from the vacation, I started to feel ill. By the time I got to Dallas, I was sick. I went to the doctor there and had covid. The doctor said I should not fly for a week, so I spent that time at my daughter’s house.
The doctor gave me paxlovid. She said that it was an antiviral, and that I should take it because I was over 65. I took it. I was very sick, but felt better in four days. I flew home and continued to feel better and better. Then…
I woke up one morning sicker than I had been before. My wife convinced me to go to the doctor here. When I explained the situation, he wanted to know why I was given paxlovid. He explained that here, it is given only to someone with heart or lung issues.
He said that he has dealt with case after case of someone taking that medicine, and then getting covid again worse. He called it a ‘rebound’.
I can see why some states restricted paxlovid’s use. I was so upset. I’ve spent several weeks sicker than I’ve been in a long time. Finally, yesterday, I’ve begun to feel better.
Before someone goes there, I was double vaxed and double boosted! I am jealous of those of you who got covid and had just mild symptoms.
Now that I’ve been playing the part of an old man complaining about his health, I’ll make the New Year’s resolution not to talk about my health again.
A word of warning: if your doctor ever prescribes paxlovid, run the other way.
Good afternoon Diners. A cup of Darjeeling, some Christmas Cake with a slice of Wensleydale Cheese and a Coconut Cookie, Kevin left please, Janie.
That’s a story and half, John. Hope things change for the better now.
Trains and Winter Rains - Enya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE2dr8v-nh4&ab_channel=enyatv
David
Howdy diners! Flo, a grilled ham and cheese please.
Been enjoying the time away from work for the holidays. Leaving in a few to go to our annual bowling day with my wife’s family. Got some sort of knot in my back, so might only be one game for me. We’ll see how I feel after the first.
Otherwise, no news from my area of the woods. Later guys.
When I had Covid-19 a few months ago, Paxlovid was all in the news as a great thing. My doctor said that there were too many possibilities for liver side effects, and it was suggested I not get it.
I was told that since I was vaccinated and double-boosted, I would have mild symptoms.
That was me.
-Kevin
Good afternoon, everyone.
Kevin, I’m glad to hear you had only mild symptoms. This has not been fun.
I’ve started work on the layout for the first time in six weeks. I need to finish some bridge approaches and get my final bridge installed so I can run a train again. I have not bought anything for the layout in months. I’m getting anxious to buy something – anything – just for the good feeling of buying some train related item.
We’ve had a reprieve for two days, with milder temps, but now we are again in the target for ice and some light snow. It will be a white New Year’s Eve. I can’t complain. We need the moisture, and we’re not getting anything catastrophic. We’ll gladly take the ice and light snow. Daisy the Dachshund doesn’t like it, though.
I’m looking forward to the January diner. It will be fun to see what gets posted each day. It’ll also keep the waitresses on their toes.
Hope everyone has a good finish to this 2022!
Greetings from our southern command, we came to spend some time for new years,
we found a stray bullet had come thru our guest room windpw, breaking the window, the bullet was on the floor. it was a ricohet from prob the goobers up the road, now I must replace the glass. atleast no one was hurt, we filed a report with the SO, the deupty was goin got go have a talk with thes goobers.
Other than that , no issues, the pipes did not freeze during the big freeze we just had. So i would rather deal with window glass than plumbin any day.
That’s a little too close for comfort MLC. I’m glad no one was hurt, as ricochets can be just as dangerous as inline sometimes. Especially high velocity. There’s nothing worse than an idiot with a firearm.
During hunting season we’d hear shots going off all day at the resort. It wasn’t the locals we worried about but the Cidiots.
All those years we were lucky enough to dodge the bullet so to speak, in the lodge. There was a hole at an angle through both walls in the corner of the fish house though.
TF
OK… forgive me here…
If the weather falls below 32 degrees, how do the pipes NOT freeze? And… what is wrong if they do freeze? Wouldn’t they just thaw out?
-Kevin (Floridian)
Inside your house is (hopefully) warmer than 32F, and any external plumbing (either a well or city water hookups) will be dug below the frost line (in the places that get this weather often).
However, especially in older houses, pipes in exterior walls can freeze (I lived in an 1880s farm house for a while- almost no insulation and the bathroom was over a space on the first floor we didn’t heat so it happened a bit). At best, yeah you’d just end up with no running water until you thaw it out, but a bad freeze can fracture the pipes! I know people with houses on slab foundations who have had nightmares after their heat went out, they were able to stay with a friend but half the pipes in the slab froze and burst, basically had to have their entire foundation split open to repair.
Gidday Chloe, been a long hot frustrating day. I hate it when customers ask me for advice, ignore it, and then wonder why things have gone pear shaped!![banghead][banghead][sigh]
Still, all fixed now but…[:(!]
Getting low on my winter poster stash!!
Thoughts and Best Wishes to Al that need them. Kia Kaha.
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Good Morning Diners. Just a quick visit, so a coffee on the go please, Zoe.
Somerset & Dorset Railway just before closure. A railway line that should never have closed, but that is another (political) story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSDLZ6ZjN2k&ab_channel=PhilipFowler
Back Later
David
Hi Kevin,
If the air temperature around the pipes goes below the freezing point, then the pipes will freeze. Unfortunately, when pipes freeze they tend to burst. Why? Water expands as it freezes. That process has shaped our entire planet. Freezing water will eventually break solid rock. Given that, copper or plastic pipes are no match for freezing water.
One trick to help avoid having your pipes burst is to leave your taps open a tiny bit so that a very small trickle of water is flowing through the pipes. Moving water does not tend to freeze as readily as stationary water.
As you can imagine, burst water pipes can do a whole lot of damage! Our security service offers an option for monitoring excess water flow. Now that we are retired and rarely leave the house in the winter I don’t see a need to pay for that protection, but if we were to go for a holiday during our cold weather seasons, I would definitely sign up.
Cheers!!
Dave
Good morning
Good point Dave. My dad used to get pissed off if we didn’t leave the faucets at a slow trickle during the Sub-Zero temps near International Falls. Well water was free but bursted pipes wasn’t.
There was never a year we didn’t fluff up bales of hay covered with tarps over the septic system in the fall. And heat tapes around the sewer line exiting the basement in the lodge.
Otherwise the outhouse would be a cold walk down the hill and could freeze ones buns on arrival. We didn’t have no heat tapes down there eh? [(-D]
Ajan/Pinterest
Have a great weekend gentleman[swg]
TF
Good morning. The last Friday of 2022!
In New Orleans, we didn’t usually worry about frozen pipes. When we moved north, our first house had a large garage with a small bathroom in it. I didn’t really think about it until the first winter when the pipes froze. Lots of sheetrock to replace. I found out that before winter, I had to turn the water off to the bathroom and drain the pipes.
I have some earth-shattering news from our house. Yesterday my wife began to clean some of the junk out of the basement storeroom. It was so full you couldn’t even walk into the room. While she didn’t get rid of much, it’s a beginning, and it gives me hope for 2023!
This photo was about eight miles west of my house about 10 years ago.
I hope everyone has a great Friday!
Good Morning,
John, hope you are feeling better soon.
When we had the sailboat I carefully drained the block on the engine, removed the cover of the water pump to drain the water and blew out the intake hose to prevent damage from freezing over winter. The engine was a 1 cylinder Volvo diesel I named Helga. It had 7.5 HP and weighed 250 lbs.
Nothing new here. Tomorrow it will be warm enough to replace the car headlight. The lights are quite good on this car but not as good as the lights I had im '73 Nova. I installed Bosch H4 headlights that had 450,000 candlepower on high beam. Lit up the road like daylight. I had to be very careful when travelling in the US as they were illegal there at the time.
Still haven’t moved the U2g from the water tower. Maybe today.
CN Charlie
When I shared the first pictures of my irrigation system with my family, some people said I was not burying the pipes deep enough, this must be why they said that.
Not a concern of mine!
We have pipes burst down here, but for different reasons. The heat in our houses, attics and external walls, makes the pipes become brittle over time. Also, hard water eats copper piping.
This all sounds like too much work.
The Dream House had a full bathroom in the garage. The builder said it was a feature he had never included before. I wanted to shower and get clean before I walked into the new house after work.
I read processes for winterizing engines in a few service manuals… No thank you!
-Kevin
Kevin,
I shut off the water to the house here when we are gone, I drain the pipes each time starting in October, One time i forgot to drain one side and busted three faucets in the house and some pipes in the crawl space. Not good when you arrive late and no place is open to get parts till the next day,
we had teen temps here in Mississippi, but at my main house in KY it was -5 F last Friday morning. I have never had issue with my pipes freezing in KY because my basement is a semi heated space. I ran my Kerosene heater to supplemnet the heat down there. We were lucky we did not loose power during that cold. 1 week later and it was 65 degrees yesterday in KY, go figure. We did get a white Christmas , but you cannot tell it ever snowed now.
Good evening Diners. A Pusser’s Rum please, Brunhilda.
Flying Scotsman in Wartime Black.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itDIm5KY2Hw&ab_channel=theenthusiast101
Tanfield Railway North Pole Express. Many years back I was a volunteer here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoPoKA-9He4&ab_channel=Spike'sSteam
David
I’ve had many anxious moments at the GE plant I w**ed in for many years. We would get cold spells, -10 and lower were sometimes the norm, not so bad until warmer temps would then thaw the frozen pipes and everyone was looking at me, the pipefitter, to get the water shut off.
Ever see how much water comes out of a 6" pipe at 70 PSI?
Sometimes the steam heat trace lines were frozen (or the valve shut!) or the breaker would trip on the electric trace lines. This was basically a chemical plant on 30 acres. There were pipes everywhere!
Often I had to call the city water department to close the lines leading into the plant, never a nice option. Sometimes the sprinkler lines would burst and in turn, the fire department would respond when the ADT alarms went off.
Quite a few of the water lines were interconnected and you had to close three or four valves to isolate the leak. Sometimes these valves were thirty feet up, other times buried in manholes you had to chase the rats out of, and of course, at 2 AM you had to try to arrange a confined-space entry team when there’s only five people in the whole plant (during holiday shutdowns for instance)
I’m sure glad those days are behind me.
I blow out the water lines on the caboose and I have a rig I made up that I can pump the lines with RV anti-freeze for the duration.
Cheers, Ed
