The Old Folks Home

[drumstick diva]

You always find people like that - they can be freezing to death but, won't admit it. We have COLD weather here by anyone's standards, and I'll see high school age girls waltz in with leotards and skimpy short sleeve tops, people (not many) in shorts with sandals,

. I dress for the weather even if it means a face mask, winter coat, fleece lined jeans, hat & hood - boot sox and boots. I don't care if I get hat hair or even look like a pregnant Grizzly. I am warm!! And proud of it.

 

[Peep_Show]

As the saying goes.... "Built for comfort, not for speed"

 

[getaclue]

I have really good down coat I got before we went to Indiana one winter, and down gloves to go with it, and a matching scarf. The coat is not overly bulky, and kept me toasty even at -5. The gloves are down too, and again, not very bulky, but kept my hands toasty. A couple times when we went to the car races I wrapped the scarf around my face in such a way I looked like a ninja, with only my eyes peeping out.

 

[Tumbling K]

I'm a firm believer in layering for cold weather.

I'm also a firm believer in wool, and wind shear fleece jackets. put one of those on, and a slicker over that, and it doesn't take much bulk to stay warm.

 

[vehve]

My absolute favorite is a down vest. Together with thermal underwear, a wool sweater, and a shell jacket you're good to go down to about 0F, somewhere around there I switch the vest and shell jacket for a parka, and when you get to about -30F I add the down vest under the parka again. For the legs I like tight fitting thermal underwear + plus something thin and loose (if it's super cold), thin fleece pants, and a pair of Fjällräven cargo pants with the G1000 fabric, you can wax it to waterproof it and I stay warm in super cold weather. I usually try to not wear too much on my legs if I'm on the move, because getting sweaty is worse than feeling a bit chilly when it's really cold.

 

[Beer can]

Carhart coat and layers for me.
Extreme cold, all the expensive new fangled stuff out there Lol! I have a Woolrich wool coat and pants set, 50 plus yrs old, big buttons. It can be -20f, wind blowing 90mph sideways, you don't feel it.

 

[WVduckchick]

You can see the reduction in bag quality over the years. I've been up and personal with these bags the last week. I'd still like 20 to 30 more.

SCG, I looked and haven't found my stash yet... if it still exists. I only have one brand new one... currently still holding a bottle.

I don't think one will help you much, but if it can, you are more than welcome to it.

 

[vehve]

Beer, the new tech has it's uses too. Especially when you're moving. Nothing worse than moving about in a raincoat that is solid rubber. The Gore-Tex stuff keeps you way more comfortable, you get a water proof, breathable and light set to wear, without compromising range of movement. I'm not a fan of Gore-tex pants though. I sweat so much from my legs while moving, that if something is waterproof, it will be as soaked on the inside as it would be without the waterproofing, so I prefer pants that dry quickly or stay warm when they're wet.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

...


I think I would be concerned about ordering bees soon without doing some serious education on beekeeping and hooking up with the local beekeeping club. I don't have any yet but my research suggests it isn't as easy to keep bees as it is a goldfish

Better to be well educated before you fork over for the hive and bees.

This is a good book to answer most of your questions.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Beekeepers-Handbook-Diana-Sammataro/dp/0801476941
Joining a club is a great idea. Some clubs go in together ordering packages so that cuts out the shipping cost.

Keeping goldfish is easier. IMHO, bees are easier than keeping chickens in that they don't need daily attention.

You'll need a beesuit or a hood at a minimum.
You'll need a deep hive body, bottom board, inner and outer cover and frames for the hive to start.
Once you have them installed, you can start building the other hive boxes while waiting for them to get established.

It is true though that you need to order now because they sell out sooner with each passing year. Ordering now and the bees probably won't arrive till April.

Just an FYI for anyone thinking of ordering hatchery chicks. McMurray just put the word out that because of the storm they are not going to be able to ship this week to the east coast and that means they are going to have thousands of chicks available. The complete list of breeds has been posted on their website. I would assume that the other hatcheries are going to be in the same pickle.

Has me wishing I had more coops.

Yep, I just got back from church.


And yep, the earthquake was very close to me. That was the biggest one I have felt for maybe 10 years or some such. It was also very long and then had a bunch of little aftershocks afterwards. Some things said 7.1, some said only 6.4 by me... So I am not sure about the official number at my house.

What is odd, is that my poultry didn't yell about it. Lots of folks on the Alaskan Facebook pages were saying that their chickens and ducks were yelling and carrying on etc. a couple books fell off of a book shelf, an old clock that was stopped started up again.

all of my paintings are still straight.

What was a bit -blah- is that the oil lamps on the altar tipped over. On the back of the altar is an oil lamp with seven cups of olive oil (like a menorah, but with the oil instead of candles). Anyway, THAT tipped over causing the full cups to spill oil EVERYWHERE back at the altar, as well as soaking into the rug that is back there.

I am not sure how we will clean it... Super holy oil on super holy rug

the first thought of the priest was maybe a big tub with lots of Dawn soap.

Also, we now have to repair the candelabra/menorah since the base is a bit bent, and some of the glass cups broke. The base of our big processional cross is also a bit bent.

Dunno.

votes were to try the jeweler in town first.

The church also has oil lamps under all of the icons along the walls, and in the middle of the church in a chandelier, but I guess since those all hang from chains, there was no problem. No drips or spills etc. (I think there are about 50 in total)

So far, I haven't heard of any well failures from any of the wells that I am responsible for, so

So, all in all, some excitement, but no biggie.

Super thanks for all of the concern!!!! It makes me feel appreciated!!!

Edited to add: I meant the mess etc. happened on the Church altar, my home altar is unscathed. Oil lamp (hanging on chain) is still fine, and the candlesticks on the table, only a couple fell over, nothing broken.

You could turn it upside down suspended over something and hose it down with hot water - and dawn.

What denomination?

I was looking at the USGS earthquake site, You guys had over 20 earthquakes yesterday that were 2.5 or higher including the 7.1 quake. Today there have already been 54 quakes 2.5 or higher. There were only 87 worldwide so the bulk of them were in your backyard.
Most were just west of Anchor Point. Other than those, three were around Redoubt Volcano, one near Talkeetna, one near Soldotna and one near Fritz Creek.
The ones near Anchor Point (near yesterdays) included a 4.2, a 4.3 and a 4.7.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthqua...ue,"map":true,"settings":false,"help":false}}

There were 3 in Ludlow CA, 2 in Puerto Rico, one in the BVI and 10 in Oklahoma just today.
Fracking is having huge seismic consequences near us. Oklahoma has always been stable with rare seismic events - perhaps one every few years. They happen daily now.

I love this site.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthqua...ue,"map":true,"settings":false,"help":false}}

By 3:00 pm today we reached our high of 54. Not windy out, not rainy, so all in all it was actually pleasant. It's going to drop down to 36 again tonight, so after the sun had set it began getting chilly out. I went to the convenience store, and there was a lady wearing shorts. It was in the high 30's. I asked if she was cold, and she said yes, but she had washed all her long pants and her jacket, and they were still drying in the dryer. Some clown behind me just had to chime in that he was from up north, and up there when the temperature is in the 30's it isn't considered cold at all. I let him know I had been up north before too, and people up north may not consider temperatures in the 30's to be cold, but they wore long pants, sweaters, and/or coats when it dropped that low just the same. He then had to chime in that it was a different kind of cold. Up north is a dry cold, whereas here down south it's a damp cold, and feels different. I said, oh ok, but I really wanted to slap him. I realize it gets much colder, however, cold is cold, and anything below 40 degrees is still long pants, and jacket weather no matter where you're at.

It's always humid here so cold is real cold. It's been in the single digits several nights lately but like you, it has really warmed up. It only got down to 34 overnight. Yesterday was 49 and the same is forecast for today. A couple day cool down and then in the 50s for the weekend.

You always find people like that - they can be freezing to death but, won't admit it. We have COLD weather here by anyone's standards, and I'll see high school age girls waltz in with leotards and skimpy short sleeve tops, people (not many) in shorts with sandals,

. I dress for the weather even if it means a face mask, winter coat, fleece lined jeans, hat & hood - boot sox and boots. I don't care if I get hat hair or even look like a pregnant Grizzly. I am warm!! And proud of it.

I always see people come into stores or gas stations complaining about the cold. They are only wearing a thin jacket and it isn't even zipped up!!!

Cold isn't a problem if you wear enough clothes. Heat is a problem. You can only take off so many clothes and guess what, you're still HOT.

As the saying goes.... "Built for comfort, not for speed"

Form follows function.

 

[Beer can]

Yeah, vehve, I very rarely wear that Woolrich stuff, heavy and too warm for me unless it's a blizzard.