Interesting Happenings

[Cory Wolfe]

What a lovely day in the village of Ramsaytown it is, today. Snow storm. Electical short. Limited heat. No water. No car. That's what I'm experiencing at my house right now. Starting last night around midnight, we recieved a snow storm. It was enough for Brookville to cancel school today. There's about 6" of new snow over the few inches we already had. My mom's Blazer had trouble making it out the driveway this morning. It's very cold as well. Earlier last night, a wire shorted out somewhere in our house. The entire second story as well as the ceiling lights on the first story and a few other things are now out. It has happened before, but it was always a fuse. All fuses are fine so the only conclusion my dad and I can come to is a shorted out wire somewhere. This has caused a limited source of heat. A wood furnace. It can only heat the first story. The second story is heated by using several electric heaters, which are now useless without electric. It was cold night in bed last night. According to how I felt and what my alarm clock with a built in thermometer read: 55 degrees. We have no water either. Sometime during the night we lost it somehow. We have a well, so I'm not sure how unless something froze or the system's backflushing when it shouldn't be. If it's the latter, that takes almost 12 hours usually. If all of that wasn't bad enough... I still have no car! :P Meh... It's okay, though. I moved my stereo downstairs and am taking cold medicine. :D I'm satisfied.

[balthazar]

Well pumps are commonly electrically-powered, as opposed to -say- windmill-powered. :P Sounds like a sucky time out there. I have my wood stove going today, so my furnace won't run until probably 2 or 3 AM if the stove runs until say 11PM. Otherwise, my house is intentionally set for 60 at night: not far off your 55. One of the benefits of living in an endless suburbia with limited pockets of rural, is that I live right off a major US Highway, and apparently I am on the commercial powergrid: in 12 years living here the power has only gone off for more than 2 minutes 1 time.

[the_yellow_dart]

My water wasn't running the other morning either. Had to head in to the gym and shower there before work. My apartment building is heated. Too much heat, actually. I have to leave the window open a crack or it's just uncomfortably hot.

[Cory Wolfe]

Well, Balthy... 55 is freezing to me. Usually it's about 75-80 throughout the entire house... :D As for the water pump... well, not all the electric was out. It was just certain things and the everything in the basement didn't look to be effected. It was mostly the second story, as mentioned. I guess that could be why, though... I mean, I don't know what circuits lead to what. :P

[MyerShift]

Man, we received a load of snow overnight! I thought those weather guys were just fooling around, because usually they blow these sorts of things way out of proportions. Not in this case, I guess! Luckily, we haven't lost power in Coldwater among other things. School was probably cancelled, don't know.

[Justin Bimmer]

Out here in California, specifically the Central Valley, we are currently in an unhealthy air day where all wood buring is banned. So enjoy those fires, and I'll be sure to enjoy my nice high 60 degree weather and sun..... Oh California, I'll take the smog if I get to live with weather like this.

[Croc]

I like the smog. It makes everything glow kinda. And the sunsets are amazing. And before you ask, yes I have asthma and no I do not have issues with it at all.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Oooh, that sucks. I can't stand a room to be less than 80 degrees indoors. Even if it's 75, I just can't tollerate it. As a matter of fact, I usually have a ceramic space heater running in my room, even with the heat on. As a bonus, the thermostat for the entire house is set at 75 right now and I'm wearing one short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved shirt, and a zippered hooded sweatshirt. Heh, I'm a guy who likes warm climates, yet likes living in a place with a sort of cold to mild climate year round. I guess I'm going to Florida when I retire. :D

Nothing really much happens where I live. Sometimes, the forcasts are pretyy much dead wrong. And there's a lot of rain... Yeah. It just rains, snows sometimes, and if it's winter, the rain sometimes freezes to ice. makes the snow stick and also makes the roadways slick, ya' know.

Well, I'm rambling... Over and out.

[Croc]

Oooh, that sucks. I can't stand a room to be less than 80 degrees indoors. Even if it's 75, I just can't tollerate it. As a matter of fact, I usually have a ceramic space heater running in my room, even with the heat on. As a bonus, the thermostat for the entire house is set at 75 right now and I'm wearing one short sleeved shirt, a long sleeved shirt, and a zippered hooded sweatshirt. Heh, I'm a guy who likes warm climates, yet likes living in a place with a sort of cold to mild climate year round. I guess I'm going to Florida when I retire. :D

Nothing really much happens where I live. Sometimes, the forcasts are pretyy much dead wrong. And there's a lot of rain... Yeah. It just rains, snows sometimes, and if it's winter, the rain sometimes freezes to ice. makes the snow stick and also makes the roadways slick, ya' know.

Well, I'm rambling... Over and out.

[post="57694"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

You should consider Arizona. It gets VERY warm there. FL gets cold in winter, sometimes it snows.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

One would argue that snow in F-L, is sort of rare, but I see your point. Arizona is a better alternative, true. :D

[balthazar]

My internal thermostat must be set high: I can't stand indoor temps around 80: stifling. Highest it's ever regularly been via the furnace is 72, recent years we have set daytime/occupied temps at 68. My wood stove has gotten the central portion of the house up to 84, but the extremities stay much cooler, so at least I can get away from it for some relief. When you have to pay the heating bill, you learn to put on warmer clothes. ;)

[Cory Wolfe]

What I would like is to live in PA during the summer and some warm southern state in the winter. Still rural, though. No cities for me. I think that would give the warmth I crave in the winter and still have reasonable summers (not too hot but still perfectly hot). :D Anyways, I have another story to tell of something that happened tonight. Well.. After supper me, my mom, and my brother went to my aunt's place. She lives in a recently "built" (put together) double wide trailor in the middle of the woods. It is where she and my uncle used to have a camp. I have many drunk stories because of that camp, btw. Haha.. Anyways, the recently made driveway has ditches to each side and you have to back the entire way out; you can't turn around. As you know, the Blazer's 4WD system doesn't work (for the 3rd time, stupid POS). There's a good 6 or 7 inches of snow on the ground. Well, when it comes time to leave, my mom starts backing up. We get to the end where we have to back onto a dirt road uphill. The rear tires do what they do best with RWD: spin. She tries to pull up a little and backs up again. Tires spin. Does it again. Tires spin. This time, since each time the tires spun the Blazer slid down a bit, she pulled forward and into the ditch. Great. Just great. She tries going forward and backword, but the tires once again spin. Spin, spin, spin. SPIN! She calls my aunt and she walks out to the Blazer. First I get in, while they all try to push. (I know it isn't going to work) So I get on the gas as easily as I could... I hear the tires starting to spin (again) while my mom's yelling to give it more gas (I know that's definitely not going to work) (it doesn't). So my aunt gets in while I help push. (I know " " " ") Woo! She must've had that thing at the redline! That didn't work (what a surprise). So she calls my dad to come out. Afterwards I suggest for someone to get on the back to add weight (Ofcourse; RWD) while the rest push. She shrugs that off and says that isn't going to work (as if just pushing and flooring the gas was a better idea). I also suggest to try to go forward while turning the wheel to try to get loose that way and just drive through the snow and try to get back onto the road that way with again having someone on the back (run-on sentence). She, again, shrugs that off (even if we got stuck that way, my dad was still on his way...). I say whatever then. I get back into the Blazer as I'm freezing my nuts off (literally). I see that the compass thingy on the ceiling says it's 5 degrees F out. At this point I'm basically hugging the dash to try and get all the warm air I could as quickly as possible. I'm shaking like a love bed in a motel. Goddamn. My dad finally arrives and (what do you know) suggests what I suggested while my mom cursing 2WD (RWD) and taunting him. He just chains the Blazer to his F150 and pulls it out. Simple as that. We then go on our way... Sounds like I had fun, huh? <_< :rolleyes: :D

[Robert Hall]

When I was growing up, my family did the Midwest & Florida thing for about 6 years...we spent the school year in Marathon, Florida (50 miles north of Key West) and then the rest of the year between two homes in Eastern Ohio (one in a city of about 35k on the Ohio River, the other on a farm about 50 miles west of there in Amish country). It was a fun way to grow up... I hate Midwestern/Eastern winters (after spending my college and grad school years in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois)....I can't stand the constant gray, the dampness, the bone-chilling cold. Winters here in Denver are great...not too much snow and cold weather, very dry and sunny mostly.... ultimately, I'd like to spend my winters in Phoenix and summers in Colorado and some part of the year on a beach..

[nyscene911]

BV, I've worked as an electrician for a few years--my first question is how old is your house? Since you said it has a fuse box, I'm going to guess its up there and has BX(read: steal sheethed) wiring through most of it. And if the wire inside of that steal sheething is coated with denim, then well you could have a much larger problem than you think. You're best bet--If you guys want to do it yourselves, or have an electrician come in for you, have him follow the circuit as much as he can throughout the house, and open up everybox on it to see if the short is in the box(which would be great). If the short(or open circuit--a hot or neutral could've came lose early in the circuit) is not in the box, then you're in trouble. That would be the denim covering over the wires inside of the steel is pretty much rotted away, and would have to be replaced. that could get to be a pain in the ass, and expensive. Edit: It might be even easier than that for a quick fix, if the short is not in a box. Most electicians will have a "sniffer" which is a device they use to follow a circuit. What can be done is you follow the circuit from the panel, to the first box on the circuit, and disconnect the leads coming out of there, and check if the fuse will blow again that time. If it does, the short is between that first box and the fuse panel. That can continue to be for most of the circuit, although it would be very time consuming, and annoying. Edited December 13, 2005 by nyscene911

[Cory Wolfe]

Well... I figure my house to be about 150 years old, but it was been through several renovations and updates (all relatively minor). Most of the electrical should be as old as the basement which was put in around the 60s (perhaps earlier or later). Some electrical could be older, but as far as I know it was part of a renovation that happened. Anyways, it started working again. My dad put new fuses in afterwards just in case that could have been the problem. It's been fine since.

[Cory Wolfe]

Another winter storm... Sleet, snow, and extreme cold. This one has so far caused school to have an early dismissal of about 2 1/2 hours. On my way to the bus, the sidewacks were slippery as hell. I had a hard time walking. I froze on the bus and am currently freezing (takes forever for my house to warm up because of the wood furnace). Brr... I'm still cold. :P

[ocnblu]

(Ahem, Nosinger, there's your cue. Duh! Offer Vipes your sweater!)

[chris]

It got down to 48 in my room a couple weeks ago. Now that is fun!

[NOS2006]

Hey, BV, cold? Here's this. I don't need it. You can have it. Warm up. :) HOOLLLLDDDD UPPPP. :blink: Edited December 16, 2005 by NOS2006

[NOS2006]

Really though, I drove the Durango to the VoTech Center for Auto class (1-3 hour). Then came home (I have an hour lunch) and decided not to go back because between 11 and 2 (when I get out) we were supposed to get a few more inches and it was bad enough for the Camaro at 11. Ain't no way it would've made it up/down my street after school. We're supposed to have constant snowfall from 6 this morning until past midnight tonight. Followed by freezing rain. Woo hoo!

[Cory Wolfe]

Hey, BV, cold?
Here's this. I don't need it. You can have it. Warm up. :)

Aww... thanks NOS. Now I'll be warm in no time. ^_^

HOOLLLLDDDD UPPPP. :blink:

[post="59297"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Come on... don't suppress those feelings you have! Just accept them! :lol: :D

Hahaha... anyways, I wish something like that would happen if/when I have someone. *tear runs down cheek* :P

[NOS2006]

With that, I assure you all I'll never move to Pennsylvania.. BV, care to move to MI? lmao Just kidding!

[Cory Wolfe]

Not move up there... but I'm sure I could make a trip up there... after the trip to Mute's and Sciguy's ofcourse... :lol: :D Haha... Maybe if something happens, more trips will be made. :P

J/K of course...

[NOS2006]

Why would you be kidding? If you found a sweet ash Fiero but had to go home for money, of course you'd come back :P Edited December 16, 2005 by NOS2006

[ocnblu]

(Jeez Nos, do I have to coach you every step of the way? Never use the words "ash" and "Fiero" in the same sentence when talking to Vipes!) :AH-HA_wink: Edited December 16, 2005 by ocnblu

[Cory Wolfe]

:withstupid: Yeah... :D Anyways... More Snow!!! More trouble!!! FWD haters are going to hate me saying this, but... The Blazer got stuck in our own driveway. It's flat. Those rear wheels kept spinning and spinning and spinning. My dad had to again tow her out. Pretty bad... the snow is only about 5 inches deep on the driveway. My neighbor with his 2wd F150 had the same problem. Couldn't get out of his driveway. My Grand Am... no problem. :P Sorry, FWD haters. :lol:

[Chris_Doane]

Hehe...you're wearing him down Vipes! :P :D

[Cory Wolfe]

Yay! :D Pretty soon he shall be mine! :lol: Haha...