1-4-14

8:55am

Stress levels have been running high around here

watching and waiting for this storm and bitter cold

temperatures to get here between tomorrow morning through

Tuesday.  People tend to forget about those that will have

to be out working in those type of weather conditions.

My husband will have the on call emergency

maintenance pager as of Monday morning.

What does that mean?  That means he will have to trudge to

work through bad weather day or night and work to fix

people's maintenance problems which could range

from frozen and broken water lines to no heat calls

and everything in between.

What you don't know is that many hot water tanks

on the property he works at are located outside

in sheds.  They tend to freeze up and quit working

when temperatures drop that low.

  That will mean trying to thaw frozen lines

outside, possibly replacing water tanks outside

and dealing with standing or spraying water outside.

So while everyone is home safe and warm please

pray for my husband who may have to work

outside in these below zero temps with snow

and near blizzard conditions with gusting winds.

I have been around apartment maintenance

for 15 years and hubby has been doing it

for almost 30 years.

Here are some tips for when the weather 

gets this cold...

1.  Let all your faucets drip or trickle water to keep

them from freezing up.

2.  Open cupboard doors that house

your plumbing in your bathroom and kitchen

to keep the pipes warm.

3.  Do NOT turn off your heat.

Some people go away on vacation and turn it

off to try and save money.  BAD idea this time of year!

Always have an emergency kit in your car

with a blanket, extra clothes (socks, pants, shirts, shoes/boots,

gloves, hats, scarves, jackets, food, water, 

tools, chargeable jump box and air compressor,

blankets, cell phone chargers, kitty litter, etc etc)

10:55am

Well I'm getting ready to head out with

hubby to do some grocery shopping and get gas for the 

upcoming week.  This ought to be fun because

I'm sure everyone is freaking out over this 

coming storm and will be raiding the stores.


3:30pm


Glad to be back home and getting all of our
running around done.
Stores are crowded more than usual
along with roads.
People are stocking up before the storm
and I'm just trying to get my usual
weekly groceries.
I went about $10 over my grocery budget
but had to get a couple things I don't normally get
like chapstick, muscle rub, birthday card,
and birthday ice cream.
My son's birthday is Monday but I think
we're going to celebrate it tomorrow.


5:00pm


With really cold temps I've gotten out 3 heating
pads, an electric lap blanket 
and a heated mattress pad for everyone
to use on their beds if they get chilled while sleeping.
It's cheaper than turning the heat up.
I think that by using a heating pad 
runs about 30 watts on low to 60 watts on high
compared that to turning
your heat up or running an electric heater
which runs anywhere from 750 to 1500 watts an hour.
I don't run electric heaters anymore unless
our furnace would go out.
They, to me, are too expensive to use.