Snowpocolyps hit Texas - how the story ends
Hi, guys! Just a quick update to let you know how the story of Snowpocolips Texas ends at 'Chez Ketay'.
What a week is a serious understatement! 5 days without power or water. The roads were too icy and dangerous to drive on and everything was closed, so nowhere to go anyway. Oy! Layer on loss of cell and internet service. It made it all the more of an adventure.
3am Thursday morning, I was woken by ice pelting the windows. By 5am it was snowing and didn't stop until 9pm and an additional 6" of snow later. One snow storm in San Antonio in the winter is rare. Two - it just doesn't happen - until it does! Power returned late Friday although we were still under boil water orders - for those who had water at all. Loved the city leadership telling everybody to boil water when most didn't have the means to do so. Cearly made the point that there is a huge differrence between somebody being a city official and a leader.
By Friday afternoon, the sun was out, the roads had cleared and snow in the sunlight had all melted. We were able to go home. The house was still chilly, but much warmer than the 29 it had dropped to. Thankfully, my husband is from Montana and used to winter camping. He and my daughter carefully monitored pipes to make sure nothing burst. We had a fridge and two freezers to empty. Everything was lost. The freezer contents are gone. The fridge and freezers are now clean. That's one way to make sure it gets done - just not what I really wanted to do that minute! But to wait was an invitation to even more distaster and nastiness. My husband took on the laundry while I took on dishes and reclaiming the kitchen. 20 loads of laundry later - all of the blankets and towels that we hung around windows and doors to try to keep air from coming in. Sleeping bangs that were slept in and heck, while you're going to the laundry mat anyway, every bed was stripped from comforter to the matress and washed. He lost count at 16 loads of laundry. I did't bother to count the number of locads of dishes.
The parakeets made it through. But I can tell they are seriously mad at me. So Skye and Lacey will continue to inspire children's stories. Sadly, the bettas didn't make it. I feel terrible about their loss. Most of them were show quality imported from Thailand. I was getting ready to breed my stunning blue over halfmoon male with an extraordinary red/blue halfmoon female. But I am glad that I didn't have a tank full of tiny baby bettas when this happened. I would have been beyond devistated to have lost them.
The funny part was when I went to prime the aquarium pump that had stopepd without power. I poured a cup of water in the pump to prime it and it started again. I came in later to find what I thought was condensation in the tank above the water line. Turns out it was soap bubbles. I had inadvertantly poured a cup of soapy water into the pump without realizing and the tank was full of soap bubbles. One way to clean the tank. At least I didn't harm a fish in the process.
Saturday morning, I headed to the grocery store. It opened at 8am. The line was around the building and down the street. Most of the shelves were stripped of bread, water, milk, eggs, meats, cheese, cereal and produce was hit hard. The checkout lines were into the center of the store. It was insane!
Today, Sunday, we are all still recovering from the stress of the week, trying to catch up. I'm not sure if we are sleeping or simply passing out. So much to catch up on. Having taken care of several house issues, I'm tyring to catch up a bit on line. It's sunny and 70 degrees - our usually late February weather. If you didn't know what had happened, you wouldn't know! The snow is gone. The boil water order has been lifted and other than where they are working on power, most have power again.
Oh so many lessons learned and blessings counted. We're all fine. ERCOT is a new four-letter word and there are lots of people with some 'splaining' to do. With the storm having involved the entire state, it will take a bit of time to investigate and resolve. Just glad I don't work for them! But image the entire state of Texas being seriously ticked off - and worse - being ticked off at YOU! It isn't going to end well or pretty.
Jack got to make his first snowman and snow angel. It is a week he will sure remember. And I know we will have our typical 100+ degree summer soon enough. Just thankful that we made it through without serious issues beyond the loss of food and fish. And I know were were oh, so lucky!!!
Thanks for checking in and the warm wishes.
Cheers from sunnier - and warmer - San Antonio!
Christine
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Oh My Goodness!
We had the same storm here in Missouri, but it didn't get to the extremes with power and water problems that you all had, thank goodness. So glad to hear that you all made it through with relatively minor problems, although still an inconvenience. I know we all are looking forward to spring and better days.
Take care, and may God bless you and your family.
PS, sorry to hear about your fish.
Thanks for checking in. Gotta love Mother Nature! She was certainly in a mood. Glad things were better in Missouri. Being from Iowa and Minnesota, this generally wouldn't have been a problem, but I no longer have the clothes for that kind of weather. This week - a whole different story! Who'da thunk?
I still feel terrible about the fish, but I have three new residents on the way from Thailand, so I'll be back in business by the end of March. Thanks again for reading this one and taking time to drop a line. Always great to hear from you.
Christine
Glad things are getting back to normal and I would love to see pictures of your fish when they arrive.
Thanks! They are shipping out of Thailand on Monday. Working on getting all of the tanks set up and ready for them. Three coming in. Pictures from seller are below. Whatcha think?
OMG! They are stunning! I have always loved the Betta fish. I had a beautiful red one once. Hard to keep them in an RV though. Maybe when we upgrade to a bigger camper I will try another, LOL
Love reds as well. Had to start somewhere again and saw these two males. Such unusual colors of blue. Just had to have them. Thanks for checking in. Take care!!
My friend in Houston still doesn't have water. The plumber can't get enough supplies to fix all the pipes. He's been keeping me informed and sounds so crazy!!! You all are just not prepared for all that. Good thing your husband is from Montona and glad you came through it all safe.
~Debbi
Wow! Hope things are better for your friend. Plumbers are gold right now as are plumbing supplies. And now we're back to the daily changing of the seasons. Gotta love Texas! Thanks for checking in and dropping a note. Christine
What an ordeal! I'm familiar with the loss of water and power in the days after an earthquake. Hard to boil water without power, even a gas stove needs it for the pilot light.
Imported Betta's? Cool. Never even crossed my mind to import them.
In.my office, I did have a very showy betta, blue, long fins, he was gorgeous. Until I added a vain catfish...after the weekend, I looked into into tank and saw that my poor Betta's fins were wrecked. The catfish was removed and relocated..
Glad you all made it through, thanks for the update!
Rudy
Hi! Earthquakes would scare me to death!!! Absolutely no control of the situation at all and you can't anticipate them. I'll keep my blizzard.
Imported Bettas... I buy them on Aquabid.com but have a few favorite breeders. It is amazing how many varieties there are. Sometimes, i just go through to see the amazing fish. There are some for sale from US, but most are from Thailand. They have fish farms there that are huge. What a great way to make a living!!! Here's what I bought... All from Thailand. The males are from the same breeder. The bettas at the local big pet stores - ya never know where they came from, what they bred to and, unless you know what you're looking at, you may not get what you think you are buying. Apparently, people think it's funny to change the lids with the labels on them. Take a look at their site and let me know what you think. Might be time for a new Betta.....
Thanks for checking in! Christine
Awesome! I had a halfmoon that was darker blue...definitely show qualitythat I bought from a name brand pet store, go fig...poor thing got thrashed over the weekend, after I added a neurotic catfish, ..my poor betta!
He was so beautiful! I had never seen one like that in a pet store...
I will check out the link...miss my betta, hell, who knew there was a market....
Rudy
Two of the fish lost due to the cold were almost navy blue half moon pair. Stunningly beautiful fish that I was conditioning to breed. Sad to have lost them, but would have been more devastated to have lost a whole spawn of 100-300 babies. There are some incredible breeders out there with some spectacular fish! I can sit and watch Bettas swim all day, if I could. Do some of my best thinking watching the fish! Let me know if you decide to get another one! Christine
Just had such beautiful fish, I wanted to give it a try. There are a TON of videos on you tube that have great tutorials. Most of them are less than a half hour. It just takes time and being prepared. The little guys hatch after 2-3 days and are super tiny, so the biggest trick is being able to feed them once they hatch. Have fun!! Let me know what you end up getting. The one thing I have learned is to get the same variety of male and female to breed. i.e. both halfmoons, plakats, crowntails, veil tails, mustard gas, dragons, marbles, nemos, etc. Go through the Aquabid site. It will give you a great idea of the body types and varieties. Let me know if you have any questions. Christine
Really enjoyed hearing a first hand report of the snowpocolips, Christine. Also loved the new word! I love playing with words and creating new ones like that. So happy things are getting back to somewhat normal for you. Stay safe and warm. Carol
LOL! I probably misspelled it. It just seemed fitting though. It would have been fun if we hadn't lost power and had the clothes to play with it. Crazy thing is that it was 80 degrees on Sunday, after the super cold week and if you hadn't known what had happened, you wouldn't have known. Thanks for taking time to read this post and drop a note. Christine
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yes, what a week, in north texas it was off and on for some people, when it hit -4 degrees I have a faucet blow apart and water run across the yrad and made a sheet of ice, I tried for three days to get some one to fix it. when the temperature got above freezing , I fix it my self. I will probably get a high water bill. good thing spring is around the corner. best wishes
Oh my! Glad you were able to get it taken care of. Plumbers are sure making hay for the foreseeable future! Quite a yoyo cycle of weather from warm, to hot, to cold and nasty again. Wish it would just pick a season!!! Hope things return to normal for you soon.
From not so sunny San Antonio! Christine