Good morning!!!!

[mpham]

Just starting to snow here. 6-8 expected by tomorrow afternoon. Not sure if I will try to travel to work or take a vacation day. Dead end street doesn't get plowed to often.

 

[jbrumberg]

Phil- I am in the snow sweet spot as well. The NWS/Taunton/MA has been really consistent on their predicted snowfall accumulation map. Actually after I posted I checked it again and now I am in the 9" area

 

[DABSGT]

32 degrees now and the snow fall to start late tonight predicted 4 to 7 inches.
Did a little grocery shopping this morning then spent 2 hours cleaning the inside of my truck, weather tech floor mats, blanket on the rear seat covered by a dog seat cover I don't know how the hair gets all over and seats under the blanket and quilted cover still get dirt.
Spent a few minuets checking fuel, oil and greasing the John Deere all ready for tomorrow after snow ends.
well time to make something for dinner thinking Philly Cheese Steak of stuffed Portobello Mushrooms see what hits me when I open the fridge.

 

[Thall303]

Still 25 and getting a winter mix of ice and snow. Good thing they canceled school today. My gate and mailbox were frozen shut. Paver drive is iced over, very slippery.View attachment 536057

Beautiful drive!

 

[rswyan]

What's it going to be like when you start warming and lighting your expanded tropical fish exposition?

Planning on heating the room, not the tanks ... the electric heaters in tanks will only serve as back ups and/or trim off the temp (I keep the house thermostat set at 75F to 76F in the winter)

With the doors to the room closed - and with the HVAC hot air vent open and the cold air return vent closed - it stays pretty darn warm ... it may well be the warmest room in the house in the winter.

Summer could be different ... have to see how it goes.

On the lighting, there are six recessed can fixtures in the ceiling, five of them are directly over the area where the tanks will actually be. I just recently installed 90w equiv. LED flood bulbs in all those can fixtures ... total output is around 8000 or 9000 lumens. The bulbs draw 17 watts each (x 6) = 102 watt draw.

The walls will be bright white ... so it could be that the top tanks won't need much illumination at all.

For the lower tanks, I'll probably convert the fluorescents over to LED at some point ... mebbe sooner than later.

 

[jbrumberg]

rswyan- I am really curious and you may have already posted about this previously, but just how big is this tank system. It seems that once your tank(s) water(s) get to target temperature(s) it/they will tend to stay that way. Your tank system seems to be one huge heat storage tank for the entire living space.

25F an snowing here.

 

[rswyan]

rswyan- I am really curious and you may have already posted about this previously, but just how big is this tank system.

Right now I only have a 100G Long, two 55G's, two 20G Long's, and four 10G's ... but the racks will have space for way more tanks than that.

If I ever expand the room out to full capacity it would be something on the order of 1,000 gallons. And that's without really jamming things in.

It seems that once your tank(s) water(s) get to target temperature(s) it/they will tend to stay that way.

Yup ... keep the tanks tightly covered and if the air temp in the room is close to the target temp for the tanks, the heat loss is fairly minimal.

And the larger the tank, the less heat loss there tends to be (surface area vs volume)

Your tank system seems to be one huge heat storage tank for the entire living space.

That could very well end up being true ...

25F an snowing here.

4F here ... thankfully the snow has moved on.

 

[toppop52]

Randy- As far as I understand the birds and the bees that is natural, but a month early. I believe that I see a similar bird migration pattern as you only later. If I spot any turkey vultures soaring overhead soon then I'll really start wondering. They're early arrivals around here. I saw only one red squirrel so far this year being a bird feeder pest. No wild turkeys either; that is really strange. They are historically very plentiful around here (especially if I mix some corn in the mix).

It looks like I already have an early 1" of snow from this pending weather system(s).

Firewood is in with additional wood by the slider and the tractor is already hooked up to the power cord ready to get warmed up.

Plenty of food in the house, the wood stove is warm, and soon I'll make like an old dog by the fire. Life is good; I am thankful for all I have, knowing that I/we are some of the lucky ones.

I hope everyone had a decent or at least a tolerable day today.

I haven稚 seen a single wild turkey either which is unusual, my backyard gets plenty.

 

[toppop52]

We are supposed to get flurries to a dusting, I hope that’s all.

 

[Buppies]

Recently serval flocks of turkeys in the hollow behind the house and tarts as recent as this past Sunday

No Robins yet but lots of blue birds

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 14F this morning, clearing skies and still a bit breezy this morning. Has some ice pellets in the windshield wipers but north of most of the precip. High temp was 26F, clear sky and light wind after late morning. Had heart Dr appt this morning, Dr did not like the 50 bpm pulse till I explained all the biking, so no problems. Did some grocery shopping in town and WBS still going when I got home. Wood carrier ripped out today so need new one.

 

[newbury]

Planning on heating the room, not the tanks ... the electric heaters in tanks will only serve as back ups and/or trim off the temp (I keep the house thermostat set at 75F to 76F in the winter)
<snip>

Dang, didn't realize you kept it that warm.

SWMBO mandates 74F MAX in summer, floating down to 60F in the winter. Right now I'm sitting at 62F in my living room. Downstairs in my work area/rec room it's 55F.

 

[mostly_gas]

Drew, bicycle speedos would work, just have be able to mount magnet on a wheel and the pickup, and get an accurate wheel circumference and input into the speedo. Have used cheepo Bell (about 13 at WalMart) and couple different Cateye models, more reliable and longer life, but both as accurate as the wheel circumference you tell it.

Happy anniversary Buppies, wife and I will hit 41 later this year.

Prayers for all those in pain and/or on the mend.

 

[rswyan]

Dang, didn't realize you kept it that warm.

We were lucky/unlucky a while back ... the gas company contacted us and wanted to put a storage well in on our property. They own the rights so there wasn't going to be any stopping it ... and they offered a one-time cash payment for the loss of the trees they would have to take down and the use of the immediately surrounding land ... plus 250,000 cu ft of gas free per year as long as the well is in operation.

I have poor peripheral circulation and my hands feet get cold pretty easily ... so I keep it fairly warm ... at least until SWMBO gets home.

She'll often come in and accuse me of having turned it up a couple of hours later when I haven't touched it ... or she'll turn it up ... and then get too warm and accuse me of having it turned it up.

(You see how that works ? ... it's ALWAYS my fault ... :laughing

SWMBO mandates 74F MAX in summer, floating down to 60F in the winter. Right now I'm sitting at 62F in my living room. Downstairs in my work area/rec room it's 55F.

As I've gotten older (and my circulation has gotten worse) I find I can tolerate it a lot warmer in the summer ... 76F to 78F upstairs inside the house during the day is usually fine with the windows open and a breeze ... assuming it isn't excessively humid.

Of course, I usually turn the AC on about late afternoon (if I remember) so it will be starting to cool off by the time she gets home.

 

[RoyJackson]

2018-01-17, 0344

23 right now...snow coming down, but not too hard. Looks like maybe an inch or so. High in the low 30's today...calling for 1-3 inches more

 

[Thall303]

Morning Roy

Not often we can best you, but currently 22 here!

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning. A thin covering of snow over ice for us this morning, with a chilling wind rising to 50-60 mph.

Newbury, 62F is a great temperature for sleeping, although if our entire house was lower, I would be tempted to go into hibernation until spring

I have only just realised that the only robins we have in common with those on the other side of the Atlantic are the Subaru engine kind, not the birds. The clue came when Randy told of big flocks, as the robins I know are very territorial and chase any others away. European robins are much smaller birds. Both males and females look the same - like this

 

[daugen]

26 degrees with winter storm warning for heavy snow
Which translates in this area to 2 to 3 inches of snow.
This is going to be talked about as the great snow winter of 2018 if this snow keeps up.

I have little planned for today, going to run downtown to check on Super A, maybe take some pics of it all taken apart, then back home
to plant some more lettuce.

I have to admit I like RS's winter temps, but could not afford them in this house. I also would probably have to walk out of Newbury's house, my arthritis would go nuts in low 60's without lots of clothes on. And there I think is the difference between us, among a few...
Some of us bundle up like mad in the winter, some of us walk around in our underwear. The latter hardly being an ecological or sensible approach but I might have to admit I resemble that... 71 now in my kitchen with heat set to 70.

Mostly thanks for tip on speedo. I think I came up with a solution; taking my old boat hand held Garmin (an ancient GPS 12 that still works) with me and let GPS tell me exactly how fast I'm going. Might have to Velcro it down somewhere.

Coffee done perking, thankfully. Be safe out there guys driving and shoveling the snow.

 

[Buppies]

24 and a dusting here maybe 1in when it's all said and done but cold all day. January thaw on the way 60s this weekend. Got 2/3 of trees cut and hauled away but unless its stops snowing I'm done today

Should be milder conditions thru the end of the month before another cold blast comes along

Drew you are in the snow zone this winter

Prayers for Riptides Buckeyefarmer Toppop Ed and others needing uplifting

 

[wngsprd]

30 and snowing, but high predicted is only 29. Probably only get 2 inches by the time it's done...much more further south.

Got my haircut yesterday...with the nice lady being especially careful where I scalped myself...bigger divot than I thought. After going to the gym, came home and changed the oil in my wife's new Highlander. Not too hard a job, but I have not mastered inserting the plastic drain plug into the filter housing that comes with these newer cartridge filters...it just doesn't seem to snap into place...so oil drains all over my hands. Fortunately, it use the same size "wrench" to fit over the filter cap as my Tundra, so no new purchase required. I'm used to the old spin on filters.

Toyota provides free oil change, but not until the recommended 10,000 miles. But we still have to take it to the dealer for the rest of the every 5,000 mile free maintenance items. I just can't bring myself to wait that long on oil change, especially on a brand new engine...so 5,000 was the time for me. The dealer gets to change it at 10K.