I made it back to post for a minute. Cellular has been dark for around 30 hours. No power for 34 hours. Just cam back on but subject to rolling blackouts. Had gas but once power came on lost gas. No water for 34 hours. Still no wAter, gas, cellular. Have internet because power on. Pool is toast. Drained equipment after lost power. Had to wait for daylight so that was about 2.5 hours. Ice in pumps and lines at that point. Spa is completely iced over. Pool has floating sheets of ice. im sure all vegetation will be dead. Obviously heat sources were not on. Several large pane windows cracked. Our water not on but in the few sections it returned, 1 out of 2 houses have burst pipes in walls and many, many at main on outside of house. Everything that was accessible was wrapped. Because gas is gone, HVAC won’t heat and fireplace gone (ours cant use wood). Fireplace wasn’t doing much but it was at least a heat source. Space heaters on now but if electric goes out again, no heat source. We have tried to minimize storing food outside and bailing water from pool for toilets because it lets out too much precious heat. Lost food is the least of my worries. Refilling toilets sucks but is manageable. Our water company is private and sent a notice that they’ll send repair crews when roads clear tomorrow. Ground surface roads are tricky but drivable. Gasoline in short supply. Either pumps down due to no power, or stores inexplicably rationing (sheriff was called out in a couple of places). No one has reported running out of gasoline yet at stores. right now, we have about $20k in damages. Water not on yet for pipes. Praying no damage. hardest part has been no water and blackout communication. We couldn’t go anywhere or get any information or even make a call. Lots of areas like this. One house burned down last night in neighboring subdivision. it could always be worse, but it sure has sucked. I and many others would have prepared differently had we know ALL utilities would be gone. Especially the water. We were prepared for power. Just to add to conversation, we keep our thermostat at 71 degrees year round. On especially hot days 69-70 and especially cold days (50’s) 72. 😬

I understand. I got 1.5h sleep before the electricity went out, pool went dead, and water went out. It’s area wide. Rolling blackout electricity. Came on 45 minutes later so pool back on. 15 more minutes and we were headed outside to drain equipment. Discovered fireplace doesn’t work without electricity. That sucks because it was the backup plan for heat. noticed toilets didn’t have pressure. Checked FB and whole neighborhood lost pressure. Started filling master tub. Got less than an inch before it went out completely. Contingency is using pool water to fill tanks. Put notes on toilets reminding everyone not to flush or see mom first. 1yo kittens have never seen a filled bathtub of water. They keep falling in and then getting water everywhere. After the fifth time, I drained the tub. so now I’m posting here for stress relief, watching Downton Abbey again, and hanging out on FB. No way can I sleep now. Snow is blowing sideways. Haven’t seen snow like this for 10 years, and it wasn’t coming in sideways then. Kids will be ecstatic in the morning! I hope so since they might be bailing water from the pool to haul inside! Lol!!!

Ugh! Our backflow blew in the last freeze also! That was the first thing that was wrapped in the new house. Never.again. I now have instructions on what to do with pool should power go out. It won't be fun, but there's a plan. Given I had to hand bail my pool during Harvey in my PJ's for all the block to see... I can't decide if half-nekked (sp intentional) and soaked in front of neighbors is worse than bundled up and freezing and wet. :) Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Lol!

I hear ya. I stock for a week at a time too. I think most people in my neighborhood must also since Sunday is PACKED and the rest of the week is empty. But still, no meat at all is weird. Our FB page is having fun laughing at themselves. I think now that the storm has started, everyone is calming down and finding the humor in a rather stressful situation. All in all it's been very entertaining! At least tonight it is. I hope things remain so the next few days.

Re: School--It would be weird to me to have a Winter Break in February. For the past three years, I've planted tomatoes in February outside. Lol! Re: Electricity being out--I hate that the power is out for y'all! I am praying ours stays. In the grand scheme of things, we'll be fine for quite a while with no electric. But the pool equipment will be extremely damaged without it. It's in freeze mode so the water features (waterfalls, bubblers, cleaner) and the spa continuously run to keep from freezing. The pumps and significant equipment are above ground and uncovered and full of water with no reasonable way to drain or cover. So for me, the risk is all abour the palm trees and the pool. Not life-threatening but big $$$$$$$ that home owners insurance won't cover. I am thinking about the homeless (the shelters were full earlier today and calls for survival blankets were going out because people were going to be stuck out) and the animals. Lots of livestock grazing without shelter. People have spent last 2 days trying to capture stray domestics in their garages to shelter. It's been quite the scramble. I am praying there won't be human casualties due to exposure. That just breaks my heart. ETA. For reference, it's 28 degrees but feels like 16 degrees. I suspect some animals would be OK, but most would not. Plus they aren't really acclimated , you know?

I'm in Houston. We will be good to go by next weekend. SpaceCityWeather guys say this storm goes through Tuesday and then another storm blows through Wed/Thur. Then it's back to the regularly scheduled programming Fri and beyond. I really really really hope so. Of course, Houston weather is heavily influenced by Gulf air separate from the rest of the state really (obviously that's not absolute). It's a major reason we moved from DFW to Houston, the weather. :) ETA: I meant being able to drive. We *should* be drivable possible Wednesday. Hunkered down Thursday? and on the road again Friday. We'll see. It's all on the hairy-edge and could go either way in the end. Wonder what the schools will do?

Nobody has noted it was clearance. People were stalking the items this morning when the store opened waiting for restock. HEB says it will be open tomorrow!? Monday!? Bad call in my opinion. Several FB threads about offering assistance form busted pipes to butter.

At least she is experienced! Another pro-tip from nights out on a drilling job location-- Take your frozen meal and set it under the hood on your hot engine block. It will actually cook/heat it up enough to eat!

I was rather thinking that the amount of meat that was wiped out is waaaay more than will be consumed in 3 days. Of course it can be frozen, but I was poking fun at the need to stock up enough meat for weeks instead of 3 days. Milk, eggs, bread, and inexplicably toilet paper, etc were wiped out also. The weather is dire for Texas for the next 5 days or so (in my area), but the weather will be back to 60 this weekend. :) Now, Texans LOVE their grill and could probably grill anything from meat to a cake, but ain't nobody going out to the porch to do it below 35 degrees. :) Power is already flickering, and the storm has been blowing 3 hours. Frozen meat will make it. Refrigerated not so much with the house heat cranked up. Lol. It's all good. I was just having fun at Texas apocalypse behavior in a winter storm. No one will stay home for Covid, but the ice will chase a Texan indoors for sure!

Oh my word! That’s a lot of snow! Bleh! DH and kiddos would love it! Me—not so much. But it soooo pretty!

Yes. Houston area geographically is huge so different areas will get weather in the end. Snow, sleet, freezing rain are expected depending on how far north you are. I am in the cusp of snow/sleet. Freezing rain of course is the worst. But given trust temps here “might” reach 10 or below, that hasn’t happened in decades. Last blast was in 2018. Some reached 19 degrees for a few hours. We are expecting below freezing for 3 days steady. Then below freezing at night but in high 30s for 5-7 days after that. All dat below freezing for more than a few hours is very, very rare. A favorite motto here is “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” It’s true. But freezing is rough in my neck of the woods. Lol!

This is our HEB meat department tonight. What will these people do with all that meat when the power goes out? We are supposed to be hunkered down Sunday afternoon through Wednesday late morning. Not weeks. Lol!

Ok. I know this is a pretty boring topic to the rest of the world, but I saw this and laughed out loud!

Yes, I hate this for the people that bought our house. I had so many mature tropicals plus a lemon and lime that won’t make it through this for sure.

We purchased our puffer coats and hats and gloves for a vacation to Chicago during thanksgiving 2019. I commented today that I was super happy we made that trip! This was the first time we’ve had them out since that trip.

Thanks ladies! I’d love to take credit, but it was like this when we bought it. I think it’s lovely, too. Sadly, next week the Palms will lose their tops and almost all the vegetation will be dead. 😞 Such is the way with Texas weather. I’m a gardener junkie, so I had lots of spring plans anyhow. I just hate to lose the trees. Big money to replace (and not feasible).

Wrap palm trees of course! Spent all day wrapping faucets, pipes, and Palms. Christmas lights wrapped in canvas wrapped in bubble wrap sealed with duct tape. I’m praying the Pindo and Mediterranean Fan Palms make it. 😞 Funny aside...I lit the gas fireplace (by pushing the on-switch) for the first time (only in this house 5 months, first gas fireplace ever). Nothing happened. I approached the box, then WOOSH, it lit up. I jumped 3 feet in the air, and the cats freaked out and refuse to enter the living room. Kids think it was hysterical. Um, yep. Only the second time I’ve used a fireplace indoors in Texas in the last 25 years. 😬

I'm so glad you ask this question because I had the same one! Thank to the wonderful Hive I now have 3 options! I took a look at Christi Taylor, Richard, and Be channels. Perfect!

Nope. Not alone, I could have written your post word for word.

I had forgotten about those garage-net setups. They have some that ?attach? to the garage opening. Maybe Hitzem brand? They have these on Amazon that people in the comments say they use in the garage and backyard. https://www.amazon.com/Hit-Run-Steal-Baseball-Softball/dp/B07SHXY2YG/ref=sr_1_28?crid=WEATY08XV276&dchild=1&keywords=hitzem%2Bbaseball%2Bnet&qid=1605823182&sprefix=hitzem%2Bba%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-28&th=1 Weighted balls (heavy balls)-they are heavy and kinda mushy. They don't travel far. Boys hit them next to spectators out at games (clear of swing zone of course). Used for training so would be good to practice with anyhow. https://www.amazon.com/GoSports-Weighted-Training-Baseballs-Mechanics/dp/B07RJZLQY7/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3ZXMHFURC9CG&dchild=1&keywords=weighted+baseballs+for+hitting&qid=1605823341&sprefix=weighted+basebal%2Caps%2C212&sr=8-5

He could hit weighted practice balls. They have them on Amazon. Our team uses those as part of their practice off-field out of the cages.

We put up this cage in our side yard. I bought it with the expectation that it would easy to put up and down. It was not easy. The first storm (Hurricane Harvey), we rushed out and removed the net. BIG PAIN! We never even moved the rods/frame. Our cage just fit in the space we had, so maybe that made it harder than having an expanse of space all around. Having said that it was a tough cage and withstood nasty rain and wind. We only took it down the one time. We would hook the bottom of the net up all around to be able to pass through when doing lawn work. The net was never damaged. The rods were never bent, and they did get battered in the wind a lot. We bought a different brand pitching machine made for backyard practice (softer balls). Ages 8-55 used it. A 22ft cage was the smallest I felt comfortable with given they are hitting balls. I do NOT think it is realistic to have a "portable" cage. Don't be deceived by the height of this cage I am linking. It's only 8ft tall. That kid in the picture must be very small. https://www.amazon.com/HEATER-PowerAlley-Baseball-Softball-Pitching/dp/B001916GRK/ref=sr_1_15?dchild=1&keywords=heater+batting+cage&qid=1605746557&sr=8-15

Yes, Poor Louisiana. This hurricane season has been a beating!

I discovered it streaming between seasons 1 and 2 and was hooked in episode 1. LOVE THIS SHOW! I’ve watched every season several times now. I even grabbed my oldest and watched it with her (of course I cringed and considered fast forward thru age-appropriate bits but DD pointed out that high school hallways were waaaaaaaay worse). ”Ewww. David!” is a favorite here. We even had several SC gifts like a mug with our favorite sayings and the “A” necklace that Alexis wears. DD’s hair is even inspired by Alexis. They look very similar. top 3 favorite tv series of all time for sure!

I agree that rug pads can make a difference; however, I have gone without them (to save money) on "softer" flooring such as engineered wood, vinyl plank, and carpet. I now have tile as the main flooring throughout and could not do without the rug pads for sure. The decision to use a pad has depended on cost, damage to floor, how much use, type of rug and location for me.