WhyFi

That's only because we're entitled and soft.

Bah Humbug

Yup. Oil heat and septic don't bug me, though well water would (because of supply concerns).

Oil heat would even be an advantage around here where it would mean no utilities dependence for heat in a storm.

datlas 

Yup. We had a NASTY winter storm a couple of years ago with no power for a couple of days...and luckily have a generator that is wired into the house grid, so we were able to run the furnace (the circulating fan needs electricity, obv).

The noise in the neighborhood from the generators was loud. Think everyone running their lawnmowers at the same time. It was like that.

big john

He said that like it is a bad thing.

Mojo31

And, that's because we are entitled to be entitled and soft.

genejockey 

Looks can be deceiving, but they aren't in this case.

genejockey 

When I was a kid, I never liked the heat in the summer, or the humidity. My sister, OTOH, loved both. Now she lives in Florida and I live in California. We each got what we wanted.

I can acclimate, but my preference is to limit how much I have to. Hence, not to far North, not too far South. I also prefer no tornadoes or hurricanes. People say, "How can you live in California, when there might be an earthquake?" Well, there WILL be an earthquake, sometime. And it will come without warning and wreak a lot of devastation. But if you have a huge hurricane that destroys your house, another one could come next year and do it again. With tornadoes, your house could be destroyed one day, and another could come through THE VERY NEXT DAY!

WhyFi

I've decided that the best thing about my fancy rice cooker is... steel cut oatmeal.

Mojo31

Living in tornado alley, I've never seen a tornado hit the same area twice in the 40 years I've been here. It's a real threat, but not a big one, and there are a lot of warnings from the storm watchers including weather sirens in the urban areas. I've never been in a situation where I've thought it best to take cover, that is hunker down in a windowless room. I did worry about the kids sleeping upstairs during bad storms.

Besides, tornadoes only seem to hit mobile homes so unless you are in a mobile home, you're pretty safe for the most part.

There is a joke in Oklahoma - what does a tornado and a divorce have in common? In both, someone's about to lose a double wide.

Bah Humbug

Right. By way of expansion, it's quite reasonable to run the thermostat and fan with a generator or PowerWall or the like, but much less so to generate winter-storm-level heat. Oil then means you don't have to worry about natural gas supply or neighborhood propane tank or whatever - all in your control, as long as you made sure to have plenty.

That said, not a thing where I'll likely be moving. But septic is, but I grew up with septic. Not much of an issue.

datlas 

Parody thread idea: Brazilian Waxing/It should be more popular.

Mojo31

Even I won't talk about waxing those parts.

datlas 

You prefer wet lube??

Mojo31

Undecided.

Tell me your experiences as that might help me make up my mind.

datlas 

I have been a fan of homebrew lately.

#thrifty

seypat

You must not have been in the state in 1964 or 79. It was a constant in the Wichita Falls area. I was in 3 tornados before I left the state in 89. The last one hit my house the night before I was leaving. It wasn't a mobile home. My car was hitched behind a U-Haul truck. I couldn't get it into the garage because of the wind and hail. Both the car and U-Haul got cratered like egg cartons. All the windows busted and the body panels cratered, but still driveable. It destroyed the north side of the house. Another one completely destroyed the shelter we were in in a park. The only thing that saved us were some exposed pipes. We wrapped our belts around the pipes and reconnected them. Held on for dear life as it went over the top of us. That was in Clay County. I bought that car new in 87. By the time I left the state, all of the outer body panels and glass had been replaced at least 4 times because of seasonal hail damage. I think the alley has moved to the east a few hundred miles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_R...rnado_outbreak

Mojo31

Moved to DFW in 1981, and have lived through some storms since then, but nothing to the first hand event your went through.

First big one was in 1991 or 1992. Had softball size hail. Every car in the neighborhood that was outside was totaled. Some houses had wood shingle roofs, and some of them had hail damage inside their houses where the hail went through the wood shingle, through the drywall shingle, and then into the house. One neighbor had a hail damaged fridge in his kitchen.

The next biggie was in 2000. I was working in Fort Worth, and as I drove home a tornado formed behind me to the west. It went through downtown and left a lot of destruction. It then touched down just to the west of a house we were building in Arlington, jumped over the new house, touched down again until it got to our rental, touched down again about a block away, and continued through Arlington. We did not even know that it took place until we got a call from a relative asking if we were okay.

At the time of the 2000 tornado in Fort Worth, we had just finished a long trial against EDS that resulted in a $56 million judgement for our clients. The firm representing EDS was on an upper floor of a building downtown that was badly damaged. Its entire case file was blown out of the building, and where it went nobody knows.

We've had a number of others touch down around our house, but the closest has been about a half-mile from us.

genejockey 

Average.
Wordle 430 4/6

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LesterOfPuppets

Above average (which is bad) for me

Wordle 430 5/6

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seypat

The one that hit in 79 would have killed hundreds maybe into the 4 digits had the kids been in school. Pull it up and look at it. There are videos online. It was a monster.

Mojo31

Always been a fan of organic lubricants.

Trsnrtr

We had 3” hail about 10 miles north of us over the weekend. The area is currently being inundated with roofers, siding companies, and dent removal companies.

seedsbelize2

I just had my BP checked. 140/80. Last week it was 100/60. Is it an afternoon thing? It's never been higher than 120/70, in the morning. Haven't had it checked after noon for many years

datlas 

BP often can be quite variable. I advise have it checked when you are fully rested. Don't get overly fixated on one reading, I tell patients I like to act like the olympic scorekeeper: look at a bunch of BP numbers, throw out the highest and lowest, and average the rest.

seedsbelize2

Spent the afternoon on local buses. To the city and then in the city. Way better than driving, tough it can be unpredictable, timing wise. In the waiting room at the dermatologist. Then more buses. Así es la vida.