respublica

Speaking of the cold as I did in the post below...

This day in St. Louis area history is often cold and snowy. Check these out

Last year:

2016

2011

I have more from other years but you get my point.

Don't leave your car running

A St. Louis news item from KMOX's traffic reporter, Rodger Brand this bitter cold morning. "Three cars have reportedly been stolen within the last 20 minutes, all of them with the keys left in them running. To stolen in Brentwood, and one in Maryland Heights."

My guess is people went out to get their cars warmed up, went back in the house or coffee shop and someone came along and stole the cars. St. Louis seems to be rife with car thieves these days. My only thought was why are car thieves up and out so early when it's so cold. Nothing stops them, it seems. Do these guys track weather and go to places they figure will have unlocked cars warming up? How do they get to those places?

If you plan to turn your car on to warm it up, then use a second set of keys so you can lock that car. If you don't have extra keys, don't do it and go out and have some keys made.

Iced over

Last night it started raining which changed to sleet which turned to ice and then some snow to top it all off. Not a lot, maybe an inch or two on our cars, but the freeze made it all stick to the car and windows like gorilla glue. I could not even budge my car doors to open and know enough not to force this action for fear of tearing the rubber molding. Car people call this rubber edging a gasket.

I couldn't even scrape it off the windows much less open the doors to run the engine. So what to do? Dale is gone so I couldn't ask him. It's Sunday and no one is around here. Google is my friend and should be yours. I googled how to open an iced up car door and got the best advice ever.

The first answer was to use a plastic scraper or a rubber spatula along the edges of the door and try to dig off some of the ice. That worked pretty good but not enough. The second answer had all kinds of liquids that might melt the ice, including a de-icer like Heat, rubbing alcohol (no no no), windshield wiper fluid, and plain tap water. Also mentioned was using a hair dryer, but you have to get an extension cord and a plug in spot and worse, the heat from the dryer could cause the cold window to crack.

I used the rubber spatula and then got a pitcher of cool tap water and poured it all along the edge of the door, top and side. This was amazing, the door opened immediately. Another life lesson learned. You don't need hot water (never!) or even warm water. The normal cool tap water is still warmer than the ice.

The rest of the truck is still ice/sleet/snow covered but if I have to I could drive it.

On this day

This particular week in January has often seen miserably big snows and frigid temperatures.

2014

Last year

Thankfully the forecast is pretty darn good for us this week.

Wordy

There are lots of seasonal posts these days centering on Christmas or the weather. This one stopped me because of a word I thought was weird.

Can you figure out what word bothered me? Maybe too much vocabulary pride in whoever wrote this.

 

The word is 'attenuates'. I have never, ever, heard anyone use this word and had to look it up. It means "reduces". Why could he/she just not say that?

I miss the sun

It's been almost a week since we've had any sun and with its loss came really cold temperatures and too much wind. The wind has wreaked a bit of havoc on our outdoor Christmas things, but worse it did something to our front storm door. We now can't open it at all. The strong wind around Thanksgiving must have slammed the door in such a way that the lock jammed. Yes, our storm door has a lock. But we have no key. We've spent the last couple of days forgetting we can't get out that door and then backing up to go out the kitchen door.

It's a small thing, but when you're dragging out Christmas figures and lights it gets to be a pain. I'm going down to seminary maintenance now to see if they have a key to this storm door. It will be a nightmare if there is no key because this is a big, heavy glass door.

Wind is not fun.

Taking on MoDOT

This is one of those news stories that made me stop and cheer. It's about time. "A state lawmaker from eastern Missouri is criticizing what he calls the state Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT’s) incompetence, for its handling of the Veterans Day winter storm."  State Rep, NIck Schoer of O'Fallon wants MoDOT to examine how other states handle snow, including the chemicals they’re using. Schroer says the agency wasn’t ready for the storm.

If you remember that cold, wet, icy, snowy burst of winter weather during afternoon rush hour, you'll remember how many accidents and hours it took for drivers to get home. Meanwhile, those drivers heading east related that when they finally got into Illinois they found the roads very drive-able. And yet, MoDOT responds to Schoer's comments with all kinds of excuses and talk of how much they did.

I've said the same thing as Rep Schoer for some years. It only takes living in Missouri for a bit to realize MoDOT does not get its roads free of ice and snow like Illinois does and, probably many other states. On this blog I've practically begged MoDOT to go over to the Collinsville IDOT headquarters and learn what they do to the winter roads that Missouri does not.

Here is a post I wrote on just this issue from the past February.

The weather today is disrespectful

It's early morning on Halloween (also Reformation) and the weather is dark and the temperatures are just above freezing. And it's windy. We're in a state of flux around here while we try to decide what to do about trick or treating on campus. So many of our seminary kids are quite young. Toddlers and pre-schoolers. This makes having them out in this weather debatable. So until things are decided there's this bit of truth:

St. Louis decided to dress as December for Halloween.

Hurricane aftermath

While following the reports of Hurricane Lorian and seeing images of the devastation down in the Bahamas, it got me to wondering just how difficult it must be for an island to repair its damages. Puerto Rico by many accounts is still in the process of recovery after two years. Some blame the US for allocating money but not dispersing it to Puerto Rico. But money is only the beginning. I mainly wonder what kind of construction equipment, wood, steel, heavy machinery, manufacturing business that island has to make the work of fixing roads and homes and businesses go smoothly. Or must they wait to have those things shipped in from other countries.

The same thoughts are with the Bahamas. If all recovery depends on things being shipped in, it could be a long go for them as well.

Some stories scream for updates

The hurricane approaching the Florida coast could be really awful or move slightly east and be less damaging. But by all accounts, there will be high winds and lots of rain in any event. Along with all the stories about residents leaving or stocking up on food and water comes this lady, Brittany Vidal, in Jacksonville who has wrapped her house in black plastic held in place by duct tape and 300 sand bags. She hopes this barricade will do some good after other plans in the past did not.

I hope when this is all over, we get an update on how this all worked out.