Wapsi Square Forum

I like living in the southern part of Texas. South enough that tornadoes are very rare (had one back in May, first one in almost a decade), far enough off the coast that hurricanes are little more than really bad rainstorms by the time they hit here, and far enough off the Edward's Fault that even if it does slip, I should be okay. Snow is some mythical thing that yankees talk about, and even sleet and freezing rain are extremely rare. Hell, below freezing happens for like maybe one or two months tops, and the number of days per year that never gets above freezing can generally be counted on one hand.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I like living in the southern part of Texas. South enough that tornadoes are very rare (had one back in May, first one in almost a decade), far enough off the coast that hurricanes are little more than really bad rainstorms by the time they hit here, and far enough off the Edward's Fault that even if it does slip, I should be okay. Snow is some mythical thing that yankees talk about, and even sleet and freezing rain are extremely rare. Hell, below freezing happens for like maybe one or two months tops, and the number of days per year that never gets above freezing can generally be counted on one hand.

What about flooding? I recall Texas just having an absolute ball with that recently. Ask Hansontoons. He's still remodeling, I think.

GlytchMeister wrote:What about Tenessee? I used to live in Knoxville when I was fairly young... The winters were almost nonexistent compared to Illinois, and I don't remember any major weather problem.

There was the small issue of Oak Ridge... Apparently a local hunter bagged a thre-eyed deer one season. That's a little concerning.

But as long as I stay away from the Y-12 building that shouldn't be much of an issue.

Well, there was the flooding of the Cumberland that put Nashville's downtown under water.

And there are usually tornadoes that run through the state, too.

Oh, and the freezing rain during the winter make driving interesting.

Dave wrote:

TazManiac wrote:California get Earthquakes all the time;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... arthquakes

Of note where (pasting from wikipedia): the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which registered 6.9 and affected the San Francisco Bay Area,[6] and the 1994 Northridge earthquake which registered 6.7 and hit the Greater Los Angeles Area,[7] caused widespread damage and deaths in their respective regions.

I rode out the Loma Prieta quake while at work, on the upper floor of a "tilt-up" office building right across 101 from the Palo Alto marshland... soft soil, prone to amplify shaking.
It was not a fun ride... I spent it under my cubicle desk, talking to the floor, trying to persuade it not to collapse into downstairs.
Still, I think I'd take that over a close encounter with a tornado.

Heh. I was living two blocks from Oakland's Lake Merrit at the time (having grown up in East P.A., Stanford University, and surrounding environs...). I had been commuting to San Francisco for a number of years so while getting across the Bay Bridge in the AM was easy and free thanks to Casual Carpools, geting home might be a Bus RIde or the BART Train, etc, etc.

I had just gotten off of BART in West Oakland, to go to a tutoring appointment when a roll-up door to a warehouse started chick-a-chick-a-chick noise. I took it for someone trapped inside... ANd then the mud flats that part of town where on started to lift up and down. Felt like a decent foot of travel between crests- which is a lot considering it's The Ground/

Power Lines sparked and jumped off the poles, the Train had just pulled out of the seemingly substantial station on the more spindly elevated tracks when the power shut down, and right next to me was the Cypress Structure; a double decker part of the Nimitz freeway. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... cture.jpeg



It's collapsed top section pancaked onto the folks underneath. A lot of folks survived. A lot of folks just jumped in to help.

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I ... LAPSE1.jpg
https://co2insanity.files.wordpress.com ... -quake.jpg
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes ... /lp_12.jpg

By the time I got a ride past Downtown (It's still standing?...) and walked up the road to find my neighbours and then Girlfriend shaken but not stirred on the sidewalk and watching the news on a battery operated TV, a cheer went up as I was assumed to have been on the Bridge "when it fell into the Bay!". (It did no such thing, but a section that had been under stress the entire time of it's existence finally popped it's pins and, well, Look-



To top it all off, the World Series was being played right then, between the two Home Teams! (Touted as being a reason that less people where out and about and therefore might have saved lives...).

And they still say 'the Big One is Coming'...

As I've been wont to say; "You Live Long Enough, Stuff Happens..."

"In Soviet Russia... Shark jumps you!"

I'm surprised nobody is throwing a fit about that phrase not being politically correct, even though that phrase came from an episode of Happy Days, when the Fonz literally jumped a shark.

What? I can know things from before my time!

GlytchMeister wrote:

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I like living in the southern part of Texas. South enough that tornadoes are very rare (had one back in May, first one in almost a decade), far enough off the coast that hurricanes are little more than really bad rainstorms by the time they hit here, and far enough off the Edward's Fault that even if it does slip, I should be okay. Snow is some mythical thing that yankees talk about, and even sleet and freezing rain are extremely rare. Hell, below freezing happens for like maybe one or two months tops, and the number of days per year that never gets above freezing can generally be counted on one hand.

What about flooding? I recall Texas just having an absolute ball with that recently. Ask Hansontoons. He's still remodeling, I think.

Yep. Still under construction. Had I hired a conventional contractor that focused primarily on my rebuild, I would probably be done by now. Flood happened in May. Memorial Day weekend. But no, I took the route less travelled. The guy doing my place is a former neighbor that builds custom hi-dollah homes in the area. He's using his workers on my place between other jobs. A bit of a hardship living upstairs (my place is two-story) but tolerable (don't ask my daughter if it is tolerable..) and the work looks good so far. The painters are at it now, stinking' up the joint with paint fumes. We haven't been at home during the day this week so far, so when we do get home I put a couple box fans in downstairs windows and open windows upstairs. The result is air being pulled up to down and all the smell goes away. Tomorrow might be a challenge, we are off work and not planning all-day Black Friday shopping. Maybe they'll just be doing filling and sanding tomorrow as they look to be finished with primer coats. If they do start spraying, we'll drop the dog off at the Grandmother's house and go see movies or something. Hmmm... noted earlier that B-52 Brewery opens at noon tomorrow for tours and sampling... they have a real nice outdoor area and are doggie friendly.

Last few years have seen some wicked rains come through lots of parts of Texas. Moral of story, check for floodplain elevation when buying a home and watch the weather if you are near a river. Or for excitement, live in Houston- a large, flat, lots of concrete area that loves to puddle up when random gully washers drift through.

Here's the kitchen with new cabinets prior to paint. The second shot is down a hallway after primer coat. This is what we came home to this afternoon, looked like someone had an unpleasant interaction with a chainsaw. The red marks are from filler used on spots that showed up after primer coat. You'd think they would use a pleasant shade of blue or green.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I like living in the southern part of Texas. South enough that tornadoes are very rare (had one back in May, first one in almost a decade), far enough off the coast that hurricanes are little more than really bad rainstorms by the time they hit here, and far enough off the Edward's Fault that even if it does slip, I should be okay. Snow is some mythical thing that yankees talk about, and even sleet and freezing rain are extremely rare. Hell, below freezing happens for like maybe one or two months tops, and the number of days per year that never gets above freezing can generally be counted on one hand.

I thought JWHouk's map placed you in College Station, but then that's been a while back. That place is hot and miserable in the summer, cold and miserable in the winter. Or at least that was my experience back when I wuz learnin' how to be an Aggie. Granted, there were a couple weeks in spring and fall when it was actually pleasant.

South Texas can be tolerable. Yes, hot summers but like you say, winter- what's that? One of my sisters lived in Corpus for a while and really liked it. Moved back to Austin couple years back after kids were grown.

Hmm... Here in eastern WA things are quite tolerable... except winter...and even that I am learning to deal with. We had a twister touch down North of Omak some years ago... lasted all of twelve minutes and demolished a tool shed. Summers of 2015 and 2014 saw insane forest fires through here, but Malott is surrounded by orchards and only lost one home. Earthquakes are common, never above a 3.4.
Flooding? Some areas, but I'm on a hillside with good drainage.
Hmm... II guess I live in a pretty good neighborhood...

Sgt. Howard wrote:Hmm... Here in eastern WA things are quite tolerable... except winter...and even that I am learning to deal with. We had a twister touch down North of Omak some years ago... lasted all of twelve minutes and demolished a tool shed. Summers of 2015 and 2014 saw insane forest fires through here, but Malott is surrounded by orchards and only lost one home. Earthquakes are common, never above a 3.4.
Flooding? Some areas, but I'm on a hillside with good drainage.
Hmm... II guess I live in a pretty good neighborhood...

At least until the subterranean empire of evil mutant spiders that was buried when the scablands formed decides that it is time to take back the surface land that is rightfully theirs. . .

Catawampus wrote:At least until the subterranean empire of evil mutant spiders that was buried when the scablands formed decides that it is time to take back the surface land that is rightfully theirs. . .

Not to worry. The spiders have been losing a lot of their underground territory due to serious competition from the giant Palouse earthworms, and every time they try to move above ground for a while, the batsquatches eat them. It's likely to be centuries before the spiders are able to be a problem.

Actually, our primary invasion is from Californians who find that homes up here can be had for less than $4 million and move up here to open a Dot Com, then learn there are no Starbucks in Okanogan County. They are easily identified in Winter, as their cars are doing gymnastics down the road. They also goggle at the gun selection at WalMart, typically they are offended by it.

Mom Brady just died. 2016 is still a pretty lousy year.

Well, if these things come in Threes- Fidel Castor shuffled off this mortal coil too...

Add Ron Glass (Det. Harris, Barney Miller) to the list....

'16 still has 35 days to mess with us.

Irony: a man who spent his entire life as an opponent of capitalism, dies on Black Friday.

AmriloJim wrote:Add Ron Glass (Det. Harris, Barney Miller) to the list....

'16 still has 35 days to mess with us.

You forgot he was also Rev. Shepard on Firefly.

I think he was talking about Castro.

jwhouk wrote:I think he was talking about Castro.

Ah. Edited my quote.

TazManiac wrote:Well, if these things come in Threes- Fidel Castor shuffled off this mortal coil too...

What? A faithful French-speaking beaver has died?

lake_wrangler wrote:

TazManiac wrote:Well, if these things come in Threes- Fidel Castor shuffled off this mortal coil too...

What? A faithful French-speaking beaver has died?

Or it was similar to the North Minehead bye-election where a certain Mr. Hilter was vying for an elected position.

Hansontoons wrote:

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I like living in the southern part of Texas. South enough that tornadoes are very rare (had one back in May, first one in almost a decade), far enough off the coast that hurricanes are little more than really bad rainstorms by the time they hit here, and far enough off the Edward's Fault that even if it does slip, I should be okay. Snow is some mythical thing that yankees talk about, and even sleet and freezing rain are extremely rare. Hell, below freezing happens for like maybe one or two months tops, and the number of days per year that never gets above freezing can generally be counted on one hand.

I thought JWHouk's map placed you in College Station, but then that's been a while back. That place is hot and miserable in the summer, cold and miserable in the winter. Or at least that was my experience back when I wuz learnin' how to be an Aggie. Granted, there were a couple weeks in spring and fall when it was actually pleasant.

South Texas can be tolerable. Yes, hot summers but like you say, winter- what's that? One of my sisters lived in Corpus for a while and really liked it. Moved back to Austin couple years back after kids were grown.

Yea, in that general vicinity. I'm up high enough that I didn't get hit by any of the flooding, although some parts of the area did. That's as much knowing the land contours and knowing where it's gonna flood as anything else. Of course, May 2016 was probably the worst on record for flooding and tornado activity for the past fifty years or so. My shed has a 'not a foundation, just a bunch of stacked bricks that just so happen to function identically so as to avoid certain building permit requirements', and it didn't flood either. Then again, I very subtly landscaped my property so that water tends to shed off of it rather than collect in it. The three L's of real estate: location, location, location.

Summers are hot and muggy, some might say stiflingly so. That's why man invented HVAC. You do your workouts in the evenings rather than during the day, it works out. Winters aren't all that bad, especially not compared to Chicago. Haven't seen snow since that one year that even Houston got flurries (talk about your hell freezing over). 2012 I think. Right now it's waffling between the 40's and 80's.