It’s Friday! I haven’t even bothered to look ahead and see what the forecast is for this weekend. It’s going to snow, that much can be assumed. The question is, how much and just how bitch-ass cold will it get? Actually, I don’t think we’re getting more snow than usual. The problem this season is it’s not melting. In the past it would snow and then it would melt before then next storm came through. Without that melting period between the storms, it just keeps accumulating and now we’re running out of places to put it. It’s getting to the point where it can’t be plowed anymore—it has to be stacked or moved. I need to get out of here.

Now that the 2021 Nascar season is underway, I’m looking forward to the race this Sunday. They’ll still be in Daytona but this time they’ll be racing the road course configuration which should be cool.

Okay, today I have another reader submission of amateur goodness! It comes from frequent contributors B&P. This one was taken while in Sturgis, South Dakota, during the city’s long-running Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Enjoy the photo along with the usual Friday double babes & double jokes!

-keep

Keep, This one is still from Sturgis but sorry, no bike ? -B&P

 
It’s Thursday. It’s called synchronized snow plowing and the technique appears to be very effective. They don’t do that here in Illinois because, well, that would make too much sense. And they don’t do it in Texas because it takes more than one plow truck! 

I saw that Faux News is blaming the power issues in Texas on everything from frozen wind turbines to the Green New Deal. The Director of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said that the lack of power is primarily caused by frozen instruments at natural gas, coal, and nuclear facilities. Nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt due to the extremely low temperatures. It’s estimated that about 80% of the grid’s capacity, or 67 gigawatts, could be generated by natural gas, coal and some nuclear power. Only 7% of ERCOT’s forecasted winter capacity, or 6 gigawatts, was expected to come from various wind power sources across the state.

Other contributing factors are several plants that were already offline because they were conducting maintenance. And Texas has a lower energy storage capacity than other states.

It should also be noted that the electrical grid in Texas was deregulated, privatized, and removed from interconnected networks to avoid regulation. That means that Texas isn’t connected to either of the two grids that the rest of the States use and thus can’t borrow power from them.

That last sentence is kinda important.

-keep

It’s Wednesday. Today I have another beaver sighting. This one comes from Tom, a Canadian reader who pointed out that Canadians can simply rent beavers when needed. And sure, you can probably get tools & equipment, too.

-keep

Good Day Keep, Shown is one of the ways we Canadians manage through the ice and snow for long periods of time. These rentals have tools and equipment included if required according to the sign. Seriously, I live in northern Alberta….in Beaver County of course….. and beaver sightings are not rare here at all. I’ve been waiting for just the right one to send. Cheers. -Tom