Although the political and financial fallout from our record-setting week continues apace (see the comparisons with older records in the graph above—WOW!) our temperature is back to normal early spring levels, thank goodness.
But I thought you might find it entertaining to see evidence of a couple of our mitigation efforts undertaken during the freeze, which, I might add, were largely successful in keeping our pipes from bursting. Our major mitigation effort involved putting a small portable heater under the house, aimed at the pipes supplying the only faucet that ever stopped working for us. After a while under this heat treatment, happily, the water returned. But it involved my having to get under the house to turn the heater on; the resident of our house who normally would undertake this chore has developed a rather severe case of claustrophobia in his old age and couldn't even think about doing this, but for me it was a piece of cake. Here I am venturing down behind the refrigerator
You also have to realize that the windows and doors in our almost-90-year-old-house were never designed to keep these kinds of temperatures out. Walking past a door to the outside that we hardly ever use, I was struck by the coldness seeping in around the edges. So I improvised this ridiculous-looking insulation...
It did seem to slow the flow of cold air somewhat!
The north-facing windows in the house are particularly drafty when the wind comes from that direction...like in a historical cold snap. Here's what one of them looked like on the inside, as I awoke on the coldest morning:
Fortunately, we had some melting during the days, even when, according to the chart above, we didn't quite get above freezing. That made for some cool icicle displays...
Now that things are sort of back to normal, what is currently most eye-catching is the widespread damage done to ornamental plants in yards around my neighborhood. I can't help but think that some of this stuff isn't going to come back. This is our front yard:
On my walk yesterday I even saw a hedge of freeze-damaged bamboo; I thought that stuff could withstand anything!
Our nandina, whose berries were so cutely encased in ice before, are showing some signs of damage. But I hope they can recover...
The cruelest aspect of all, however, is that no matter how dead everything else looks, this pesky, sticky stuff (see the bright, cheerful green below) seems to have thrived on the chill. I know I've learned what this is called before, but can't remember it. It goes wild in the yard about this time of year and is very irritating to gloveless gardeners' hands. I was so hoping it would be knocked out by the freeze...oh, well, maybe the roaches were?
4 comments:
I hope you traded something good for your foray under the house. And you KNOW the freeze didn't bother the roaches.
Unfortunately, you're right. And it was actually kind of fun looking under the house. I didn't have to crawl far away from the hole.
I can't imagine how ill prepared you must have been for this. I've heard it said before that Austin and Johannesburg have similar climates - I can't imagine a freeze of that caliber hitting Jo'burg. I'm glad you got through it okay!
I hope you don't ever have to live through something like this, Emm!
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