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Winter tips

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Winter tips
Post by DDHv   » Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:05 pm

DDHv
Captain of the List

Posts: 494
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:59 pm

First, Merry Christmas. And may you have a good new year.

With winter hitting the north, I'm passing on a few tips. We had an ice storm last night. Electricity was gone for several hours. In our North Dakota climate, we use multiple redundant heating - the garage heater in the basement, on low, kept the house from getting too cold. The electrical spike scrambled the brain of the corn stove. Unplugging it for a minute took care of that. The three speed ceiling fan is now a two speed! Upon waking up, we turned up the garage heater, started the wood stove, and got the corn stove running again. It will be warm again soon.

Windshield ice makes poor visibility. If you get the wipers going, then turn off the ignition when they are part way up, they can hold something to the outside of the window except when the wind gets too strong. This provides a large clear space. Side and rear windows still need scraping.

Two pieces of expanded metal cut to the right size aren't big. If needed they can go under the wheels for traction. A bag of cat litter or sand can also help. Have a snow shovel, in case of need. Drive carefully so you don't hit the ditch :!:

Leaf plants can be grown for winter greens near windows. They won't grow fast, due to short days. A turnip in a container will draw on its root so turnip greens can be grown even near north windows.

This is a good time to develop an indoor hobby.

Does anyone else have a tip or two
:?:
Douglas Hvistendahl
Retired technical nerd

Dumb mistakes are very irritating.
Smart mistakes go on forever
Unless you test your assumptions!
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Re: Winter tips
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Tue Dec 27, 2016 8:00 am

WeirdlyWired
Captain of the List

Posts: 487
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2016 1:08 pm
Location: 35 NW center of nowhere.

DDHv wrote:First, Merry Christmas. And may you have a good new year.

With winter hitting the north, I'm passing on a few tips. We had an ice storm last night. Electricity was gone for several hours. In our North Dakota climate, we use multiple redundant heating - the garage heater in the basement, on low, kept the house from getting too cold. The electrical spike scrambled the brain of the corn stove. Unplugging it for a minute took care of that. The three speed ceiling fan is now a two speed! Upon waking up, we turned up the garage heater, started the wood stove, and got the corn stove running again. It will be warm again soon.

Windshield ice makes poor visibility. If you get the wipers going, then turn off the ignition when they are part way up, they can hold something to the outside of the window except when the wind gets too strong. This provides a large clear space. Side and rear windows still need scraping.

Two pieces of expanded metal cut to the right size aren't big. If needed they can go under the wheels for traction. A bag of cat litter or sand can also help. Have a snow shovel, in case of need. Drive carefully so you don't hit the ditch :!:

Leaf plants can be grown for winter greens near windows. They won't grow fast, due to short days. A turnip in a container will draw on its root so turnip greens can be grown even near north windows.

This is a good time to develop an indoor hobby.

Does anyone else have a tip or two
:?:

Eddie Bauer has those cheesy slip on ice cleats for your shoes. They might not be as good as real mountain climber crampons, but they really help.

Tire chains go on your drive wheels, only. And you can't drive over 20mph with them. first part, I figured out all by my Good Ole Southern Boy self. The other one cost me a set of really nice chains to figure out.
Helas,chou, Je m'en fache.
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Re: Winter tips
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Wed Dec 28, 2016 6:34 am

WeirdlyWired
Captain of the List

Posts: 487
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2016 1:08 pm
Location: 35 NW center of nowhere.

WeirdlyWired wrote:
DDHv wrote:First, Merry Christmas. And may you have a good new year.

With winter hitting the north, I'm passing on a few tips. We had an ice storm last night. Electricity was gone for several hours. In our North Dakota climate, we use multiple redundant heating - the garage heater in the basement, on low, kept the house from getting too cold. The electrical spike scrambled the brain of the corn stove. Unplugging it for a minute took care of that. The three speed ceiling fan is now a two speed! Upon waking up, we turned up the garage heater, started the wood stove, and got the corn stove running again. It will be warm again soon.

Windshield ice makes poor visibility. If you get the wipers going, then turn off the ignition when they are part way up, they can hold something to the outside of the window except when the wind gets too strong. This provides a large clear space. Side and rear windows still need scraping.

Two pieces of expanded metal cut to the right size aren't big. If needed they can go under the wheels for traction. A bag of cat litter or sand can also help. Have a snow shovel, in case of need. Drive carefully so you don't hit the ditch :!:

Leaf plants can be grown for winter greens near windows. They won't grow fast, due to short days. A turnip in a container will draw on its root so turnip greens can be grown even near north windows.

This is a good time to develop an indoor hobby.

Does anyone else have a tip or two
:?:

Eddie Bauer has those cheesy slip on ice cleats for your shoes. They might not be as good as real mountain climber crampons, but they really help.

Tire chains go on your drive wheels, only. And you can't drive over 20mph with them. first part, I figured out all by my Good Ole Southern Boy self. The other one cost me a set of really nice chains to figure out.


Just remembered something else my first real winter taught me, Always free your wiper blades from the ice on the windshield before turning them on. Lost the blades on an alos new pair of wipers.
Helas,chou, Je m'en fache.
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