Thank you so much for all of the well-wishers and worrying. We are okay. Kid 1 made it home safe. Kid 2 made an 88 on her latest cellular biology exam, which is some sort of miracle considering everything that went on. Batty and Boots, the semi-feral and the feral cat, made it through, and so did the opossums, skunks, foxes, and the raccoons.
We are going to look for a house inspector today to assess the damage. The property mostly was okay, but the pipe between water heater and the kitchen must’ve frozen, because we had no water coming out of it at some point. We need to make sure there are no weird leaks in the walls.
If you’re waiting on the books, everything went out today from us. Today is the first day the Post Office was open in a week. Also, the city picked up our trash. Yay, garbage service being back on.
If you would like to help Texans, I am going to shamelessly borrow Jessie Mihalik‘s newsletter. Texas needs help in the worst way.
| I know times are tough all around, but if you have a few extra dollars to spare here are three places in Austin that could use your help: Help people: Austin Area Urban League Provide food: Central Texas Food Bank Help pets: Austin Pets Alive! If you want to spread your donation across more of Texas, AOC is raising money for twelve charities via ActBlue. |
Gordon and I donated to Hays County Food Bank before the storm and HOME after. HOME is our local organization for the homeless. The number of our homeless exploded overnight, because some houses are now uninhabitable. HOME is trying to put families into hotels.
And now we’ll make a 180 degree turn.
Those of you who signed up for Jeaniene Frost Zoom party tomorrow at 8:00 pm EST, don’t forget to show up. We are still on.
Glad to hear you all are well, pets and kids included. Good luck with the inspection!
+1
+1 ????
+1 ????
I’m used to whiplash weather here in CO (low 60s and sun today with snow still on the grass from the last storm then teens and 4-6” of snow by Thursday).
Sympathies to you all who have had to deal with these extreme weather changes. ????
Glad to hear that you are all okay! Thank you for sharing these resources to help others in need.
And +1 on the resources as well.
My brothers all made it through, too. Haven’t asked yet if they had any damage. We were all raised in Michigan, so somewhat knowledgeable about what to do in a power outage, but still…
Also read the sad story of 3 generations who died in a house fire. There was a note in the article that some TX fireplaces are not designed to be used for that long because they’re more decorative. Sounds like they were leaning toward that being the cause of the fire. I had never heard of a fireplace that could not be used for days/hours at a time. Yet another thing that would never have occurred to me to ask a home seller/builder/inspector about.
I have been watching the news & the snow from London. It’s shocking and sad.
Glad to know you are safe. One step at a time.
Sending best wishes for your continued safety.
So glad you’re ok!!!
Glad everyone is safe. Thank you for the donation sites.
I love and have all your books. Please consider a short (or long!) story about Maud’s wedding. That would be so much fun. And, even though the BDH doesn’t need the incentive, maybe with a percentage going towards Texas charities?
Thank you for the many, many hours of escapism you have provided to all of us during these difficult times.
Or an Alessandro POV ????
Glad all your family (2 and 4 legged ) are well, and thanks for the links.
Glad you’re okay!
And kudos to Kid 2 for her exam mark!
+1 ????
Good to know that everyone is okay. Hopefully no leaks.
Smart idea to have things looked at. We also had one pipe freeze. We were able to unfreeze it and are on a wait list for a “health” check. Glad to hear some things are setting down. I hope the tongue in check statement that we might have one more frost, freeze, or snow event in March was just wishful weatherman thinking.
Thank you for the update. Happy that all people and animals made it safely through the storms and the aftermath. Congratulations , kid 2 on test score ,88 great grade.
Thank you for all the information on helping out .
It snowed again in NYC. Then turned to rain. Long winter.
Thank you for the update! I’m so glad to hear that you and your family (including all the pets, indoor and outdoor, domesticated and wild) are doing well. I can’t believe how sunny it is in your backyard now…like nothing ever happened. Good luck with getting everything back on track, and hopefully you don’t need repairs to any of your plumbing.
I’ve heard bad things about how available plumbers are in Texas these days. I hope things go well for you.
Being a regular on Daily Kos guarantees I can find organizations to donate to. My next deposit is on the first, and I budget for donations – I’ll be sending money to more than one of the organizations dealing with your aftermath.
I knew as soon as I heard that the power was going on again that you guys would get caught up. I’m looking forward to the next release – will pre-order for my Kindle as soon as it’s available to do so.
I have been amazed this past week or so to find out that I know about three times the number of people who live in Texas as I thought I did. And I thought I knew a fair number.
I wish you all safe, warm and healthy.
Thank you for proof of life.
To check for a leak, if you have a water meter, is turn off all the water in the house and see if the meter shows water being used.
I am happy to read that everybody is safe. Congratulation to kid 2 for her exam, 88% it’s a very good score. I hope the pipe has no leak. Here it’s 27F and snow but it’s Quebec so…
if you dont know or realize that a fireplace needs to be cleaned. The chimney gets coated in crap and it catches fire.I can see how being someplace warm that its used enough but maybe had never been cleaned in years if ever and never thought about of it. we have clean the chimney commercials here in Canada not sure what Texas would have since this was a fluke it may never happen again.
Great! So happy for your family!
Glad Kid#1 made it home safely. Kid#2 88% is stellar! Potentially lesking pipies behind walls are the worst. My son in Minnesota didn’t know he had water pipes behind one of the walls in his garage. Left garage door open during cold, pipes burst, and water exploded out of garage wall.
I live in Austin and walked to the mailbox barefoot today. The ground was a little cold, but fine. I have emotional whiplash from this weather.
My “B” in college cell biology was a proud victory. Congrats to Kid 2 on that 88.
Hope nothing is wrong with the pipes and I’m glad all of you are safe.
I read the first two Night Rebel books during the power outage. At some point I had started reading Jeaniene’s Night Huntress series. I only read the first book and bought a few more to read, but who knows what happened I didn’t read them yet. When the power went out I couldn’t do much besides stay in bed for warmth so I read. I finished the book I was reading and couldn’t get the next in that series because no power or internet so, I decided to get back into the Night Huntress series. Somehow the next book wasn’t downloaded to my Kindle, but Shades of Wicked was. So I read it and loved it so much when I got power for a couple of hours I loaded Wicked Bite and read it when power went out again. Can’t wait for Wicked All Night. Guess I’ll need to go back and read all the books I skipped. I’m horrified I read them out of order.
Glad to hear you’re all okay! Thanks also for the resources for those less fortunate.
Hope the home inspection goes well!
Thanks for the hilarious photo caption. And thanks for the links. Just donated to the no-kill shelter through their PayPal option. No-kill shelters are where I volunteer!
Good to read everyone is doing fine down there. From the single digits to over 70 degrees today in Fort Worth. What a difference a week makes.
No water pipes broke in my place. Kept all the faucets dripping until the night time temperature was above 32 degrees. However, when I go out, I have to be careful of the roads. Water is still coming out of the roads. In one place, water has formed a small pond.
Now since the nice warm weather is back, mold is on the rise. My body is feeling it. ????
glad you’re okay.
Glad you are all doing well and that the weather has improved!! Chicago area is slowly thawing out, too. Temperatures in the mid to upper 30’s for the next few days!! ☀️☀️
Congrats to kid#2 on the biology exam! (I barely escaped h.s. biology class with a decent grade – the botany semester was better than the animal semester – the “identify the frog anatomy” test was not my finest academic hour….)
Hidden water leaks are a bad thing – hope you get someone soon to check it out. Crossing fingers!!
Hope you and Jeaniene have fun with the Zoom event. Should be an interesting evening!!
Glad to hear everybody there is doing well! I would recommend looking at a Flume water monitor to track potential water leaks – it is a device that you strap onto your water meter and it can track the water flow (no plumbing needed). You can look at the data in the app to see how much water you are using, but it will also automatically be constantly looking for leaks. It is apparently pretty darn good at finding them, and you can buy it for probably cheaper than a plumber’s visit – and you might get it faster with all the backlog the plumbers out there are having right now! No affiliation, I’m just an avid smart home technology fan lol.
I am so glad you are all doing well. Thank you for the list of charities. I am going to go donate something right now. Even if I can’t give much I am happy to help when I can!
So glad you are doing well and everyone is home safe. Congrats to kid 2 on her test score. Good luck with the inspection. Thanks for the links to help Texas.
Ecstatic you are all well. Thank you for the updates, I’m sure I’m not the only person checking on the blog to make sure you were okay.
Shocked how bad the infrastructure coped and very glad you agree well.
Thank you very much for all the news!
I’ll have a look at the links you gave me, thank you also for that!
Cheers
Glad to hear you all made it through unscathed. Everyone continue to stay safe and well.
Glad all is improving after such a scary time on top of everything else going on in the world right now. Big thanks to Jessie Mihalik too for her suggestions.
Thank you for keeping us informed: you have been more then even in our proyers. and thank you also for the link for donations especially for pets – unfortunately they are often the forgotten ones.
Glad you made it thru. We’ve had 10 feet of snow since Jan 18th but it’s been unseasonably warm the past few days, making it all the way up to 33!! Here’s a tip if you worry about freezing pipes (something we don’t have to do in this house usually because 10 feet of show is excellent insulation and we have a UPS on the furnace). Leave the water running a little. With Climate Change, now you know, the next time it freezes in Texas, leave the water (both hot and cold) at a dribble. (I get that most of the freezing was because electricity was out and pumps don’t work without electricity but that’s a different fix thus the UPS on the natural gas furnace which only needs electricity for the electric ignition). Good luck!
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post. Proof of life is always important.
You can easily check for leaks from water main by cutting off water if you have city water. Don’t forget hot water heater water line. I did once. If you don’t have a”Key” already you can get one at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Worth the investment. Mine gets borrowed regularly by family. But I suspect Gordon already has one.
Glad all are okay. Great grade in cell biology for kid 2. I don’t have any family stationed in Texas now so I appreciate the list of helping organizations. Thank you.
I am so glad that your family came through OK. I kept you in my prayers. Since my mother has been steadily going downhill since her covid shot my sister thought I needed a pet so I am getting a kitten. Her name is Alice but I am changing it to Kate (or Katie) then I can get a boy later whose name will be Curren. My sister knows they are favorite characters from my favorite authors. *L* BTW we haven’t had the bad weather you did. NC was fairly lucky in missing the nasty stuff.
Stay well.
Fingers crossed on your pipes. So glad to hear you all are okay. I’m still waiting to do a load of laundry for fear of discovering all’s not well with those pipes (will give it a try on Wednesday. Fingers also crossed on that one. No reason to believe they’re not okay but have heard some horror stories the last few days). It’s so good to have electricity and hot water again, isn’t it!! 🙂
Year for sunny and nice for you!! This is my day today for southern tier of NY below the finger lakes…just another winter’s day..Glad for the wood stove keeping the house warm and snuggy…
Good on Kid2… and glad Kids is safe. Happy to know all creatures made it thru. Can’t wait to read more of your hard work. You all are appreciated!!
Oops…
I donated to three TX fundraisers. I know one of them sent aid to Austin groups. I’m staggered by the damage and suffering.
Off topic. Here’s some interesting weirdness to look at:
https://glenmartintaylor.com/
Good luck getting an inspector out to check your pipes. With the destruction made by the storm, they’ll be very busy. One thing to check is to remove the end of the spigot and see if the gunk in the lines was blocking that water from getting out. That happened in all my faucets when I lived in Houston and the pipes all froze, and I was shocked that it could happen at all because where weather usually gets cold, all water lines are buried to prevent freezing. All those little pieces at the ends of the spigots got clogged up and blocked, and I removed them all, ran water backwards through them, and they all worked again.
Texas needs to rethink this whole idea of being so independent, that’s for sure. I hope those in charge learn and this doesn’t happen again. I’m glad you all got through it and can move on now.
Thanks for the update. I’m sure we were all worried, but I know I was.
I’ve been working as a temp to take claims in TX, and I have heard some horror stories. I am so glad you and your family are ok.
Glad that you and the critters made it okay. Yay for Kid 2 on her exam score! Hope that you are able to get the home inspector soon and that any damages are minimal. Thanks so much for posting the links to some of the organizations that need help. I am an animal lover, so made sure that I attended to that immediately. Take good care.
I am up in Arlington. Tuesday, 2/23, and a sunny 79 degrees here. Zero degrees and snow last week. Yes, Texas weather is a lie.
So glad things are getting better but so sad that so many are being displaced, etc. One of my brothers lived in Houston about 20 years ago. One winter, when he saw that the temps were going very low, he went out and bought insulation for his exposed pipes. His neighbors thought he was nuts but, coming from the Northeast, he wasn’t taking chances. His neighborhood (then) fared well but many others did not.
Stay well.
Glad that you and your family are all well.
Glad you made it through. Judging from the news about Texas I only have one recommendation. Go Solar and get a Tesla Powerwall. Just a thought.
Love your work and am always rooting for you and yours.
I’m glad you didn’t get water damage or worse! The situation in Texas is … Well. Thanks for helping. I donated.
Oh, I forgot to say how much I loved Julie’s book! Got the audio too. Wonderful narrator. Well worth whatever you paid her. Brava all around. Happiness in a dark time.
Hallo ich weiss nicht ob sie die Frage verstehen aber mein Englisch ist leider nicht gut genug um sie anders als in meiner Sprache zu stellen , ich habe einen Satz im Buch # Emerald Blaue # nicht ganz verstanden und dabei kann mir leider auch Google Übersetzer nicht helfen .
Im englischen # arkan’s banking that once Linus discovers that that His apprentice is in danger,…
Ich kann eigentlich sehr gut Englisch im satz verstehen wenn ich den Text lese , nur das englische Wort ( banking) kann ich nicht richtig im Zusammenhang mit dem Rest verstehen .
Bei der Übersetzung kommt nur das englische Bankwesen raus !
Daher Frage ich ob das was mit dem amerikanischen zu tun hat oder wie ich das verstehen kann ?
Danke für Hilfe , lese das eBook zum dritten Mal und es kam mir beim Lesen so seltsam vor .
Hallo Chris,
“to bank on something”-https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/bank-on-something
Es ist ein Ausdruck, der bedeutet “erwarten dass etwas passiert”. Arkan erwartet dass Linus Catalina beschützt.
Ich hoffe das hat Sinn gemacht 🙂 .
Dear Moderator,
is it planned to record the zoom event with Jeanine and make it available on YouTube later?
Thank you for your answer in advance.
Best regards
Marina
Yes, there will be a recording made available, it was confirmed during the Zoom and on Jeaniene’s Twitter! https://twitter.com/Jeaniene_Frost/status/1364402413692719105?s=20
Please watch Jeaniene’s blog for the link https://www.jeanienefrost.com/category/blog/ 🙂
Thank you for the updates! And where to donate!
Wow! What a beautiful sight that is. No one would ever know that just a few days ago the polar ice cap was leaking all over Texas. I’m very lad you and kids are doing well and all the fur neighbors too. Thanks for the update and ideas of where to donate. That’s great! Positive thoughts for your home ???? too.
If you hafta and you have copper water lines, replace the copper with pex (cheaper and slightly moar forgiving in extreme cold) and wrap it all in poly foam insulation. Also — next time, leave the water dripping (both hot and cold — some years ago, my copper lines up here in this small hamlet in the NC Mtns froze during a spell of single digit temps, and I did leave the cold water dripping, but not the hot, and the hot water line froze).
Just my $0.02.
PEX is plastic hosing? I would worry about chemical leaching into my water supply. Also, the people in many parts of Texas couldn’t leave the water dripping because there was no water. It was cut off, for a variety of reasons. (No electricity to the city pumps, water source freezing etc.). Friend’ s daughter in Austen lost power for 6 hours but lost water for 72.
So happy all the family and critters are ok! Hope the property is ok.
Thank you very much for sharing info for donations. I’m always hesitant to donate for disasters for fear it it not going to be going for actual disaster relief. I felt confident donating through links you shared. Stay well!
nice idea its helpful to me thanks for sharing this more power ilona andrews
!
Just have to make a comment here-I have been disturbed by the number of members who have mentioned using Paypal. I was once one of you. I am now in a very intense legal battle with them for allowing my account to be hijacked and a totally unknown person to try to steal over $5000 (actually $10000 cause it was tried twice and I blocked it both times!) from the account. If you think Paypal has protections against that-THEY DO NOT! If you have any kind of breach on your computer, Paypal will not block the culprit, nor do they have a system to do so. I thought the idea behind the service was to protect me from exactly what they allowed to happen to me! Just be very careful with Paypal. Luckily I was able to block what Paypal did and they did not get to my bank account. Thank heaven I have Lifelock/Norton to help me challenge Paypal because this is apparently a problem that is happening to a lot of people.
So glad all is almost well. The leaky pipe.
Really liked your now picture. Would you please post again when your trees are green? I have forgotten what color green is. In Alaska and May is long time coming. Currently 19F and snow.
I thought the same thing! It’s not the green for me, but the warm golden sunlight. I’m in England, where reality has a blue-grey filter, except a couple of weeks in July maybe.
Sending thoughts of summer to you!
Did the pool freeze enough to crack?
Thank you for the update and you are all well. And thank you for the donation links as well. Having food is important to me so I donated to several food banks.