So, last week, when things started thawing out, I noticed an ad on Instagram with a super cute mug from Life is Good. I tried to resist, but resistance was in fact futile (shameless Star Trek reference). I decided that since our once in a decade winter was coming to an end, I needed a new mug to usher in a new, non-hypothermic era. That may sound a little over-dramatic, but you kind of had to be there. Just sayin’…
Anyway, allow me to introduce you to my new mug.
It’s very fitting actually. Hibiscuses, (hibisci? I’m not sure of the plural)… hibiscus flowers are some of my favorite. I actually planted several of them in my yard last spring and summer during the pandemic. My favorite garden store down in Galveston (shout out to Tom’s Thumb) had curbside pick up. So, I called and placed my order and then was able to pull up and pick up my plants. They did really well in my yard. Okay, well, they did really well in my yard up until last week. I’m pretty sure they are all dead now. They were in the ground. I covered them, but they weren’t meant to survive 13 degrees Fahrenheit. I have plumeria too, but most of them were still in pots, and I was able to bring them in, so they survived. As soon as it warms up, I am going to get more hibiscus plants, but this time, I am going to keep them in big pots for a while.
Back to my mug though… It’s perfect. It’s a happy coral color. It has a hibiscus flower on it, and the message just inside is perfect. “Do what you love. Love what you do.” This year, my plan is to do more of the things I love.
Adulting is a good thing, but it has to kept in check sometimes. I get so focused on paying bills and doing the adult things, that sometimes I find myself not wanting to step outside of my comfort zone because I don’t want to rock the adulting boat. It’s weird, but it is so easy to not do the things you love even if there is a chance you will earn more. A steady, dependable paycheck is a valuable thing- even if it isn’t particularly high. When you have things like mortgage payments and bills, it is really tempting (and sometimes smarter) to stay with a lower paying job that is dependable than to strike out and forge a new path. It’s kind of the modern version of finding the island of the lotus eaters. You get comfortable and maybe sometimes a little lazy. Doing something different is hard work, and there is no guarantee that you are going to make it and not lose your house- a pretty big deterrent.
This year, though, I am trying something different. I am still working my job, with no plans to quit at the moment, but I am also trying to get out of my comfort zone a little more. I started taking pictures for the orchestra at the school where I work. I love photography and writing, and I am doing both more this year. I could do either one of those full time and be perfectly happy, but I am not yet at the point where I could give up my day job without losing my house.
Anyway, I am going to take my new mug’s advice and do more of what I love this year. There is a quote (I believe by Ghandi) that says, “The things that excite you are not random. They are connected to your purpose.” I very much believe this to be true. Even if you don’t quite find your purpose, at least you can find some happiness to brighten your day as you work to keep your bills paid.
So… I live in Texas, which is normally hotter than the outside of something straight out of the microwave. I’m not saying that the show “The Floor is Lava” took their inspiration from a normal summer day in Texas, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Many of my childhood memories of summer involve burning the backs of my legs on the seat getting into the car, or having a red mark where the metal seatbelt fastener scalded me. Never did any of my childhood memories involve snow and ice. We had snow like once or maybe twice, but only like an inch or two, and it was always gone by the afternoon. Winter is not our thing.
Apparently, mother nature didn’t get that memo. I mean, I appreciate the extra week off of work, but seriously though, I am getting a little tired of the whole winter thing.
The main problem we have down here is that we aren’t prepared for winter. Our houses weren’t designed for winter. Our pipes aren’t buried very deep in the ground, because we don’t have that kind of weather. There are lots of pipes and faucets outside. The houses aren’t insulated enough (which is a problem even in the summer). On top of that, many of the houses down here are all electric. Most of the many many apartment complexes are all electric. Even my house, which is not an apartment, is all electric. My stove, my heater, my hot water heater… all electric. Which is fine. Except when the power goes out. Which it did this time. According to the governor at one of the press conferences, every single power generation facility in the entire state went down at some point- wind, solar, coal, gas and nuclear.
My little lantern, right after the power came back on
Okay. I’m not an expert in power generation. I’m an engineer, but my area was structural, not power production. But, how is it even possible for every single power plant to go down? I’m a writer. I like writing adventure, drama, natural disaster stories, and I like a good conspiracy theory because it makes for good plot lines. But, this seriously sounds a little suspicious. Lately, the democrats have been pushing for environmental reform. For the most part, I agree with the need to do better. We have been doing horribly for a very long time. Our overdependence on non-renewable energy sources is not sustainable. But, I don’t agree with everything in the green new deal. I think we can do things better. I also think that change will be more effective if it comes from people and companies and not as much from heavy governmental regulation. Seriously, if you think about it, people do what is easiest and most affordable. If you make doing the right thing easier than doing the wrong thing, people will do that all day long. Rewards for doing right go a lot farther toward lasting change than punishment for doing wrong. (Although fining companies for blatant violations is not a bad thing).
Anyway… lately I’ve been paying a lot closer attention to how the media covers things. The way they covered this disaster was interesting. The first thing they did was put a lot of attention on how Texas is the only state in the US (probably besides Alaska and Hawaii) that is energy independent. Personally, I think this is a good thing. Our power grid is way too centralized. It makes us incredibly vulnerable to attacks on the grid. The more independent systems you have, the harder it would be to take out large portions of the grid. But, the media was very focused on Texas being unwilling to attach itself to the rest of the country. The next thing they did was point out that the Republican lead state was unable to maintain the antiquated system, basically hinting that if Texas had been run by Democrats, it would have been better. This idea is a little funny. California has blackouts all the time because of wildfires, and that’s a Democrat-run state. Also, Texas gets 20% of its power from wind and solar, so the system isn’t entirely antiquated.
There are giant flaws in our power system. Our entire grid is run by a “reliability council,” which has proven to not be very reliable. There is little oversight. There were problems with the grid in the winter before. Recommendations were made to winterize the system, but these recommendations obviously weren’t followed. It has been a really bad situation for almost a week now. On top of that, there were water issues all over the place. Many people were without water or power during some of the coldest weather we have ever had. It was an absolute disgrace.
But, the conspiracy theory lover in me says that this whole situation reeks of a plot. How does the entire system go down “by accident?” Why were the plants not winterized. It kind of feels like a plot to make the people think that Republicans can’t run things. Seriously. Think about it for a minute. If you want to convince people to vote democrat, buy into the federal system so that you can be forced into an environmental program that is going to result in massive job cuts, then maybe this is a way to do that.
This is not supposed to be a political post. Honestly, I have always kind of been a little in the middle. I don’t agree completely with the democrats or the republican, and generally find myself agreeing with certain aspects of both of their policies, and also disagreeing with certain aspects. But, I really don’t like the way the media is handling things lately. Every time I watch the news, I feel like at the end of the broadcast, they are going to tell me about a long lost Nigerian uncle who just died, and about how I will inherit millions as long as I send them a check to cover the taxes. I think what we need before anything else, is media reform. Is it too much to ask to get an unbiased network- somebody who isn’t afraid to talk smack about both sides?
Political rants aside, one thing is painfully clear. I am not set up for this kind of weather. I was really fortunate. My power went off for about three hours one night and for about 20 minutes the next day. Other members of my family were not nearly as lucky. Even still, I’m not sure I would have been very well prepared had my power been off for longer. I have enough food supplies to last a few weeks because I always keep supplies for hurricane season. But the problem is dealing with the cold. My house is all electric. I have a little propane camping stove, but I would hesitate to use that in the house for long periods because of ventilation issues. It would probably be okay if I only used it downstairs and then had a window cracked upstairs for it to vent that way, but I’m not sure I would totally trust it.
I have a propane camping stove that I could use on my porch to cook things. That’s not really the problem. The problem is straight up staying warm. I saw a post on FaceBook about using terra cotta pots with candles to make a little “space heater” so I tried it while the lights were on just to see if it would work. I only had a small pot and two candles, but it did heat up. I think if I had a bigger pot and maybe three or four candles, it would have heated up my small living room- especially if I blocked of the doorways with a heavy curtain to keep the warmth in. That’s something I will have to stock up on in case there’s a next time.
I had a faucet burst outside one of the nights, and I had to shut off the water to my house because it was too late to go to Home Depot (they had reduced ours because of the weather). I had filled cat litter jugs with water for flushing the toilets ahead of time just in case my pipes froze, so that was good. I also have several 5 gallon bottles of drinking water because our tap water tastes like crap (really chlorinated crap). So that was okay. But you don’t realize how much water you use for things like washing your hands and washing dishes. After a year with washing my hands compulsively because of the pandemic, it felt really weird to not wash my hands. I had wet wipes, but I just felt like my hands were so… dirty.
The next day, my dad came over, assessed the situation, and we went to Home Depot. Holy cannoli! We got there fairly early, which was good. We had to stand in line in the freezing cold rain for about 25 minutes to get into the store. Then the waiting really started. Pretty much everyone in there was there for the plumbing aisle. To maintain order and a little bit of social distancing, they were only letting a few people onto the plumbing aisle at a time. We waited in line for about 40 minutes for the plumbing aisle. Luckily, at that point we were inside out of the rain and cold. Also, since my dad was there too, he stood in line and I was able to use the restroom. I have never been so thankful for a public restroom. Being able to actually wash my hands with soap was heavenly. ( Not something I ever thought I would say). Anyway, by the time we left, the line inside the store for the plumbing aisle was all the way across the front of the store and down one of the side walls.
We were at about aisle 15. The plumbing aisle was 7.
The Home Depot was extremely well stocked, and we found what we needed almost immediately. After that, we went back to my place, put on the new faucet, and turned the water back on. The whole process took us about two hours, but most of that was spent en route to or in line at the Home Depot.
Overall, my main conclusion is that I am not very well prepared for winter weather emergencies. It’s super rare that we get these kinds of events, but our weather has been a little extreme the past few years, so it wouldn’t entirely surprise me if these kinds of things start happening more often. The bottom line is that I need to get my house a little more ready. I will probably write a separate post about my lessons learned and about the things I plan on doing to get ready for the next storm. For now though, I am going to spread out an extra quilt on the couch to defrost my toes.
invisiblecompass 