Part of the haste with splitting another load of firewood the other day was the predicted approach of yet another Alberta Clipper storm into the plains. These Winter formations of frigid air and snow are the single worst we get as far as Winter storms go around here. Generally pushing the temperatures down 20 or 30 degrees below our average and really testing our preps and requiring those of us in the middle belt of states to pretend we are actually Northerners for a couple of days.
This plays right along with what I have said about bee keeping in the border states before. Those of us along that line have to learn to keep bees and livestock equally as not only our Southern neighbors do but as the Northern ones do as well. It also plays merry hell with water storage solutions and adds costs to building solutions that our Southern peers don't have. Of course come Summers however we have heat issues our Northern peers don't have either. Makes for a unique trade off we have to consider but as I mentioned adds a lot of costs that can basically sit idle for years at times. It also means you can live in the area for decades and still not experience the worst extremes of conditions and not even know you need to be prepared for them.
Typically when we are struck by one of these Canadian freeze attacks it doesn't last more than 3 days before things begin to warm up again. During the Winter of 2013 - 14 we got these things like every week for months and it was one of the hardest Winters I ever remember having around here. We had pipes freezing and cold air rushing into places I had never experienced before and a new development when the clippers retreated and we got frigid air coming up from the South. Never seen 40+ MPH winds at single or sub-zero temps from the South in my life. Nor had many of the old timers. The natural progression of storms around here lead everyone to naturally be protected from the North and West when the clippers came screaming back from the South it caused havoc on everyone that year.
This Winter however these storms have been relatively tame, pretty few and spaced far apart and the best part they should be coming to an end within the next two weeks or so. They seem to be mostly a December through February phenomenon.
Can't wait for them to be over though. We use about 5 times the amount of firewood when one comes a callin.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!
The good news is that everytime you get an Alberta clipper those of us in Alberta fet a chinook. That means our temp goes up up 20 to 30 degrees. Today it's +7C, all the snow has melted and it's the kind of weather we normally only once May rolls along. I actually have windows open.
ReplyDeleteSo PP thanks for talking one so ys Albertans can experience warmth and sun in February.
Exile1981
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Bah... This would be were in real life I would say FU with a smile. I absolutely hate these Alberta Clippers. The cold and wind are so bad it just ain't possible to stay warm. Looks like the wind is starting to finally die out some this evening and taking the edge off the cold. Used probably 3/4s of a truck load of firewood in 2 days this time. Normally a truck load will last me a week.
DeleteWe are supposed to get it over here in a couple days. I will probably have 3 stoves going when we get the single digits. Someone was dumb enough to put me on jury duty, I feel like I am wading in the shallow end of the gene pool. I hope I am not there in the cold weather as it is a time when we need to tend the fire.
ReplyDeleteSf - That's too funny because I just got another jury duty summons Saturday in the mail as well. Like any defense team would allow me to pass the screening lol.
DeleteI know how you feel I hate it when I have to work on these days when I really need to be feeding the fires and watching the temps. When it gets this cold it requires every trick in the book to keep the house comfortable.
Oh by the way, here is what cubs go for here 1200 obo.
Deletehttp://roanoke.craigslist.org/grd/5440711187.html
Around here they could probably get at least twice that for that little cub maybe even three times that. Cubs here go fast as everyone wants em for some reason.
DeleteIt got super cold and windy here today. Causes extra hassle when dealing with the water for the chickens and rabbits, but at least the stream the horses use in the winter has never frozen.
ReplyDeleteLisa - The wind here is the biggest issue. It comes screaming off the plains like daggers. My son said today we live in a place where the air hurts us. :)
DeleteSunny here today & 61.8*. You have my sympathy. Saw a daffodil in the yard.
ReplyDeleteI hate you :)
DeleteI noticed the daffodils are peeking up and the briars are budding out so I hope Spring is just around the corner. I have been looking on eBay for lead ingots and with shipping $1.50 a pound for dirty lead is about as low as I see. For Lyman clean lead it's more like $2.00 a pound. How do those prices seem to you. I looked online at Lowe's, Home Depot and Ace Hardware and ingots are 4-5 dollars a pound. Do you think that dirty lead will be good enough for plinking?
ReplyDeleteSd - By dirty do you mean has a lot of oxidation on it or is possibly mixed with something? For cartridge shooting with smokeless powder you don't want pure lead. Wheel weights and tinotype come out to about the perfect hardness for lower velocity pistol bullets in my opinion. Higher velocity stuff either needs a gas check or perhaps some higher antimony or other metals in the lead to up the hardness. Stay away from anything with zinc in it though as it gets too hard and will damage barrels.
DeleteThey refer to dirty lead as melted wheel weights or reclaimed range lead. Both of those would have unknown content and hardness. Those people are probably wanting to cast something with better and more precise ballistics than what I will care about.
DeleteSD - Well wheel weights are perfect for pistol bullets. Check to make sure they are lead and not steel or mixed though.
DeleteWe call them Blue Northers around here, where the temperature can drop 20-30 degrees in a few hours (there is nothing between us and Canada except flat, for the most part. Embarrassingly our temperatures are back to the mid-70's to mid-80's during the day. And it is the middle of February. Strange days indeed.
ReplyDeleteits freaky cold here too. And whats funny is this coming Monday, aka Presidents Day. the kids are suppose to be in session for a weather make up day from the last storm, well guess whats predicted? Ice and winter weather here on the weather make up day... lol
ReplyDeleteMine are keeping their fingers crossed
PP,
ReplyDeleteThis weather sure is off the wall. Today it heated up to near 72 degrees. This morning 29 degrees. I'm not sure if the heat is suppose to be on/off or the a/c???? This is crazy!!! Makes me worry what Spring will be like when the tornadoes start dropping out of the sky.