Hey All,

Hope everyone is ok with the storm that just went through. We have our power back on (hopefully for good this time) again and have done ok. We do have a generator that we ran the greenhouse with yesterday and again last night when the power cut around 3am. Fortunately everything worked well and our temps didn't get down below 58* in the gh. Some orchids get downright perturbed if they get chilly. Heat in the house is gas, no electric required, so that wasn't an issue. We stayed warm, the pups are just fine although the youngest has been a little miffed at being in 'jail'. Still hearing generators down the road from us, so we're fortunate to have the juice back on. The benefit of living at a main crossroads.

Rube, y'all ok? Did you get the ice or are you far enough south where it wasn't too bad?

 

I got like 6-8 inches of snow yesterday, and the roads are still covered in hard-pack in spots. Kinda messed up the plans I had to take my wife out to a movie, I went today, but the plans were all laid out for yesterday...

 

Hope you are all ok out there. I think Tennessee got hit hard w ice. I may try to call Rube tomorrow AM to check on him.

I found out while living in Wisconsin, it's all about the philosophy of maintaining the roads and having enough equipment to handle it. Sure a state like WI should and will have more plows, salt trucks, and the like. My point is, they do what's necessary to keep the main roads clear and do a decent job on the secondary roads.

That, and people knew how to drive in the snow. KEEP MOVING. Momentum is your friend...

Outside Pittsburgh where I live SUCKS even though the main highway is a US Highway (maybe that's the problem). I just don't get it. Whether it's 2 niches or 6, they just don't seem to have either enough equipment, don't know how to handle the logistics, or don't care.

Bonestock, I gather you live near the center of nowhere WV where many of the roads are rural (gravel, dirt) and therefore more difficult to plow. There is no excuse for hard pack buildup just b/c you're off the beaten path. You pay your taxes just like everyone else.

 

Yeah, Ginny, we're good. We didn't get snow the first go round, just ice. Got between 1/4 and 1/2 inch on the trees and power lines and on the cars. I spent most of the day yesterday clearing the cars and then my driveway. Last night we got about a half inch of snow, but it's no big deal now. I did manage to get to the grocery store yesterday and was amazed at how little meat I could find. Milk was almost all gone too and the bread isle was barren. Luckily, I didn't really need any of that. We were just about out of toilet paper! LOL I'm more towards the NW part of the state on the Tennessee River. Only about 40 miles from the KY border (as the crow flies).

 

glad you're ok Rube.

Never understood it.

If your power goes out, the fridge stops working unless you have a generator.
Sans generator, you have to put it outside to keep it from going bad --- where it gets coated with ice -- and freezes.

Bread. If my power was out for days, my bread would eventually get stale to the point that I couldn't chew it anymore. Unless i managed to wet it with some of the defrosted spoiled milk first.

Meat, I undersatand.

Hell, there are no incoming shipments of anything, but if little Johnny's gonna throw a spoiled brat tantrum because there's no milk for his lucky charms and no bread for his peanut butter and pickle sandwich, then this country is doomed worse than I thought

 

Actually, US 33/119 runs near me, and WV 4 is on the other end of my road. We are just nearly out of salt, so they salt the trouble areas(hills) and just plow/cinder the rest. I would actually prefer driving on hard pack, as opposed to ice or slush, because it's a consistent surface if parts of it don't melt, and there is a higher friction coefficient than ice, and not excessively difficult to drive on, just keep moving and don't ask for much grip, either lateral or longitudinal...

 

the lesser of many evils I do suppose. I thought you were implying they were half *** plowing and then ignoring and letting the cars do the rest of the work. Or maybe that IS what you're implynig

 

Yeah, it's down to a thin enough coating that they're wasting time plowing it, but still enough to make the road slick in places, I did have the car completely stuck today, when I pulled off and dropped into 10" of thick snow where they plowed it all off the road... Had to kick the snow our from in front/behind the tires and push while my weaker friend held the throttle flat, lol...

 

I have spent half of my life in snow storms such as those coming through the N.E. at the present and nailing the East Coast and still have one car left from that era. And it stays inside as it has been exposed to salt and the only way to keep it from morphing into a pile of rust dust, is to keep it from getting wet.

And, oh, by the way, it was 85 today. Which is why I moved here. And the A.C still works in my SC2 but I need to replace the lift motor in the passenger side window now that I am caught up with some things.


My list of projects keeps vacillating up and down, but the Isky cam came for my 232 cu in I-6 so I can start re-assembling that one.

 

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Unc/Anyone-- What's your stance on A/C stop leak? (I think I've asked before)

my 95 A/C can be vacuumed down and slightly overcharged (professionally, not me in the driveway), and will last about 9 months. I've been told that 90% of s cars develop pinhole leaks in the evaporators under the dash and that it is such a pain in the *** to replace that it isn't worth doing unless you REALLY want to do it --- and then you have to find parts.

I read somewhere that it might also be a worn compressor(leaky internal seal). Only way to test that is to buy another compressor.


So my 95 a/c system is full of air for about 1/12 years as I have not had it filled since I left Jersey. It was a slow downhill slide once the problem began, and here we are.

I've dyed the hell out of the system and cannot find anything under the hood except my glowing fingerprints.

Do I add stop leak and risk nucking up the system forever? Do I buy a junkyard compressor condition unknown (add one addl variable) and install it and have it vac'd charged , and not know for 9 months?

Do I pay to have them do a partial charge and use a sniffer to find the leak (or possibly not find it if it is internal to the compressor or too far under the dash??
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