|
Post by 3piggles on Jan 21, 2019 13:47:04 GMT
The problem with resolutions is most people unrealistic ones, and don't stick to them. I figure life is an ongoing correction of things that don't work for me, not something to be unanimously changed one a certain day, because everyone else is doing that. Your experience with busy Januaries indicates the commitment doesn't last much past that. Our 12-20" snowfall blizzard resulted in about 3" of snow, sleet and freezing rain, and finally more snow. It's now bitterly cold with gusty winds. The places that got mostly rain got the major temperature drop first, and every wet thing froze solid. Lots of power outages in those place. Not many here, where we got a high of 20F around 6 last night. It was 1F, with a -10F wind chill, when I went to bed around 11. I hope people brought in their animals. Still haven't put the time right on that clock
|
|
|
Post by Bean on Jan 21, 2019 18:29:41 GMT
Oooh that is chilly! I'm glad you're staying cosy inside (well, as cosy as you want it to be!) and that you have your generator as back up if you do have a power cut.
It was only just over freezing here this morning, but dry, sunny and not so windy as it has been, so it wasn't too bad to be out in.
I checked out of the window when I woke up, for the super blood wolf moon or whatever it was. Too many clouds though, couldn't see a thing! Apparently my mum saw it, I haven't asked if she took pictures.
|
|
|
Post by shades on Jan 22, 2019 1:02:47 GMT
3piggles I like your temperature gauge. How does it collect the information displayed?
|
|
|
Post by 3piggles on Jan 22, 2019 20:16:26 GMT
1 We didn't stay up to watch the whole eclipse, but what we saw was really cool. The storm managed to clear out in time for some really clear skies, and the Full Blood Moon.
Shades, there's a weather station out in the yard collecting the information and feeding it to the display in the house. The only problem with it is placing the outdoor unit so it gets the most accurate reading. We have full-sun-all-day areas, and shady areas, but not much in between. Since the unit also has a wind gauge, it has to be away from anything that creates turbulence, or blocks the wind flow, which also makes it hard to find a perfect spot for it. We currently have one in the back yard, which only gets morning sun, and one in the side yard that gets all day sun, so we can compare the results.
That deep freeze has passed, I'm happy to say. Some schools had delayed starts this morning, because a lot of the school buses are diesel, and won't start when it's bitterly cold. It warmed up quickly, so a two hour delay was all they needed.
|
|
|
Post by Bean on Jan 23, 2019 8:46:47 GMT
Glad you have a bit of respite from the weather! It really gets into your bones if it hangs around too long.
The sun's out here, so I'm hoping our icy start to the day will take a more pleasant turn.
|
|
|
Post by 3piggles on Jan 23, 2019 21:30:00 GMT
Sun's behind lots of clouds, again, but at least it's reasonably warm at 38F. Even the wind chill factor is bearable Rain coming in tonight sometime, through tomorrow, with flood warnings out all over the place. That's normal when we get over an inch of rain on frozen ground. It's all run off, or pooling, and the storm drains can't always manage it. I doubt we'll be in the city tomorrow, so by Friday, the drains should have had time to catch up. At least that inch+ of rain isn't falling in a couple of hours, but is taking all day to mess up things We were watching a show on Tyneham, a British village bought by the government for a tank firing range, back during the WWII. It's a shame the government didn't make it available for purchase, after the war, though apparently it's zoned against waterfront building for the tourist trade. The article said it has one of the prettiest, most quiet bays, Worbarrow Bay, situated on the Jurassic Coast. England has a Jurassic Coast? Cool! Anyway, the show was about what the people left behind when they moved, with a months notice, before the government took over. They had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, one well in the center of the village, and they all worked for the Bond family, as tenant farmers. The Bonds were paid 30K pounds for the property, but the villagers, because they didn't own anything, got nothing. They did get rehoused in wartime housing. Not the best, I'm sure, but it had electricity, indoor plumbing, heat that didn't require stoking, and they probably got jobs in factories. I'd rather be a farmer than a factory worker, but I can understand how it might strike a lot of people as a whole lot better than the horrible hours and no pay for being a tenant farmer. It was quite an interesting show, and when I looked it up, there were two other, similar villages that had the same fate. Where we used to live, in Weare, East Weare was taken by eminent domain for a flood control project for Massachusetts towns way down river from East Weare. It was sad, as I knew people who had lived in East Weare, grown up there, had great stories about the place, and it had been reduced to a lot of pictures. There's also a lake, Lake Whitingham, in Vermont, that was had the same thing happen. Lake Whitingham was bought by New England Electric as cooling water for the Rowe, Massachusetts nuclear power plant. When the water level was low, we could canoe over the remains of factories, railroad trains, etc. It was like glimpsing into a time long gone, yet somehow preserved.
|
|
|
Post by Bean on Jan 25, 2019 10:09:26 GMT
The Jurassic Coast sounds pretty amazing - my husband would love it there as he always enjoys a good fossil hunt when we go to Whitby!
That program does sound interesting. It makes you wonder how those people felt about having such changes foisted upon them, and whether the improvement in living conditions offset any dissatisfaction about the change of work.
In the really dry summer we had last year, a reservoir's levels sank so low it revealed the remains of a village that had been abandoned before the reservoir was built. It did look interesting, but unfortunately a few people had to be rescued after wading into the thick mud to get a closer look!
|
|
|
Post by shades on Jan 25, 2019 11:02:57 GMT
Shades, there's a weather station out in the yard collecting the information and feeding it to the display in the house. The only problem with it is placing the outdoor unit so it gets the most accurate reading. We have full-sun-all-day areas, and shady areas, but not much in between. Since the unit also has a wind gauge, it has to be away from anything that creates turbulence, or blocks the wind flow, which also makes it hard to find a perfect spot for it. We currently have one in the back yard, which only gets morning sun, and one in the side yard that gets all day sun, so we can compare the results. A weather station? That sounds very impressive!
|
|
|
Post by 3piggles on Jan 25, 2019 19:31:34 GMT
Shades, it's basically this: www.amazon.com/Ambient-Weather-WiFi-Station/dp/B01N5TEHLI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1548442763&sr=8-3&keywords=wi+fi+weather+station Sorry for the long address. We have a display in the living room. It has a wifi connection to the weather station in the yard. The weather station has a rain gauge, a wind gauge, and temperature/humidity gauges, all feeding info to the display in the living room. The one in my picture is an Accu Rite. The other(not shown) is an Ambient Weather. They tend to read certain things differently. The interior temp is always a degree lower on the Ambient Weather display than on the Acu Rite display. The wind speed reads faster on the Ambient Weather station than on the Accu Rite, which seems to take a long time to get the wind speed information from the yard to the display. The Accu Rite also reads higher on the rain gauge than the Ambient Weather station does. They are in different places, which obviously makes some difference, but not in the amount of time it takes to get the information to us in the living room. Bean, that was one issue discussed, and it was assumed, more than verified, that the residents, owning nothing and never having any chance to own anything under the Bond family, were happy to get jobs that paid them steady wages, and were, of course, happy to have indoor plumbing and electric. I don't know if any of the tenants were ever asked if they minded being moved, or if they liked their new lives better than their old lives. There are pros and cons about really small villages. Everyone knows everything about everyone, which means no privacy, but it also means your kids don't get away with doing bad things when you can't see them, because the whole village is watching them. It also usually means there's one church, in England it would be sponsored by the Lord and Lady of the manner, so anyone who wanted a different religion was out of luck. I wish someone had bothered to interview the residents at the time, and maybe 10 years later, and record that information for posterity.
|
|
|
Post by Bean on Jan 25, 2019 19:53:56 GMT
I like the saying 'It takes a village to raise a child' as a caring and accountable community can potentially do so much more than one set of good but isolated parents. And families are certainly becoming increasingly isolated.
But yes, that way of living certainly has its downsides when you're expected to toe the line in terms of what you believe and how you act - it can be stifling.
Entitlement is so much more of an issue than it was in the past - now many people feel they have the right to have and enjoy things they see other people having and enjoying, regardless of what they do or contribute. It's not just 'I have a great home and a steady job that helps me provide for my kids', it's 'But soandso has this' and 'Hoojimaflip works fewer hours for the same pay....'. Without the internet you're not constantly faced with how the other half live, and while lots of people can see it for what it is, that's too much for many.
|
|
|
Post by shades on Jan 26, 2019 4:24:59 GMT
3pigglesThanks for the info on the weather station. It looks very tempting...
|
|
|
Post by 3piggles on Jan 26, 2019 20:46:43 GMT
It is fun to have, Shades. We not only keep a good watch on our weather, but have fun seeing how differently the two stations read the exact same thing.
I don't think the old isolated village life allowed for free thinking, or for much innovation outside the immediate needs of the residents. There would be one priest or vicar, and generations would get his, and only his version of religion. It seems as if many religious leaders have very different approaches to spreading the word. It also would have meant there was no point in reporting a pedophile priest, as no one wanted to admit they had also been abused. There are definitely cons.
As you said, though, if everyone lived pretty much the same life, everyone had nothing, and the lord/lady had everything. I think WWII changed a lot of that, as people from back water villages and towns got out to see the world, a world they didn't even know existed. Oh, they'd heard of Paris, which they probably thought was full of Cancan dancers and strange foods. I'm sure their wartime travels were great eye openers for many. That predated TV, so no one could see pictures of anything, except in print. I can imagine them seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, or the Leaning Tower of Piza. It must have been incredibly exciting. Not the thing to make young men want to go back to the no indoor plumbing or electricity, working outside in all weather to never have anything to show for it. I think there was probably a huge gap in how they felt versus how the elderly from the village felt.
Now, we can go anywhere, see anything, and learn about all we don't have and think we do. We're constantly spammed with auto ads for autos we could never afford, for foods we don't need and shouldn't eat, for everything except what's good for us, and we know health-wise, that's taking its toll world wide.
|
|