After months of separation from family and friends, the severe cold that struck Houston and Texas was icing on the cake. How is it possible not to wonder what is going on to result in things being so out of kilter?
2 AM Monday morning everything went dark. Except for intermittent bursts, power was not restored until Wednesday evening thanks to a failed distribution system. That has a lot of Texans scratching their heads asking how that could happen in an energy rich state.
No power meant no heat, and it didn’t take long for the house to chill. Fortunately, we have a gas fireplace in our bedroom, so with that burning and layers of cover we managed to stay pretty warm. Other folks were not so lucky, but there was not much we could do to help each other out as everyone was in the same boat.
While being cold was part of the problem, that isn’t the worst of it. Several days of single digit temperatures caused pipes to freeze and eventually burst. Anyone who has experienced that knows what a disaster it is. As if damage already done isn’t enough, we hear that with temperatures now beginning to warm things are likely to get worse as pipes thaw. Just the thought makes my heart flutter.
Luckily we have only two breaks which thanks to the hubby’s quick action were located and secured with a temporary fix. Holes had to be cut in the ceiling which let even more frigid air in the house. Once again, the hubby’s ingenuity came into play, and paper bags worked just fine to cover the holes. My only complaint is the gorilla tape about took the skin off my fingertips. That is some sticky stuff!
With pipes frozen, the water had to be turned completely off which meant no shower for five days. YUK! When it was finally possible to have water, my first thought was a shower. Alas, there was no hot water making a shower sound like anything but a good idea. Again, the hubby to the rescue.
This is what you’d call jerry rigged, but, hey, it works and will serve until the plumber can get here for repairs. I think we are something like 600 on his list! That means we’ll be using this well into summer, but so long as hot water flows who cares!
All things considered we are very lucky to have minimal interior damage, but the same can’t be said for the yard. It’s looking pretty sad, and I’m hoping for a miracle that allows most of it to come back.
Hmmm, maybe moving into that condo wasn’t such a bad idea as we wouldn’t be dealing with any of this!
Lulu's Musings 
It sounds like Phil’s quick action saved you from having more damage. Good for him.
Oh, my, GOSH! Linda! I’ve been hearing from a lot of Texas friends but none are complaining of interior house damage. We’re thinking about you and hope all is well today.
Luckily, we had little damage in the house as we caught a broken pipe very quickly. Crazy time indeed!
Oh Linda, I have been so worried about Texas, I can’t imagine the suffering, so horrible…at least you had the fireplace and hopefully food. I have been snowed in without power before, not fun, but never more than a day or two…I am praying for everyone and am so glad to hear you’re ok!
I enjoyed hearing how resourceful Phil with his engineering background was and especially that you can have a hot shower even before the plumber can fix it permanently. We were lucky that our pipe break was outside.
Well, now we know what can happen when Houston experiences such intense cold.
I’ve been watching all of this unfold on the news, but my brain still had you in Maine. I would have otherwise sent you a note…although my cousin didn’t get his note for several days as he tried to conserve his phone battery during the outage. What a horrible mess!!!!!! I’m glad you didn’t catch the absolute worst of it. I understand some have actually lost their lives.😕 We’ve had rolling outages here in this area but they were short-lived by comparison. I am among those scratching my head and wondering how exactly Texas fell short in this area. Heads are for sure gonna roll.🤨
In solidarity with you on your shower situation, I will go ahead and start talking to renovation companies RE the bathroom in our bedroom suite. We know it will be a weeks long ordeal, and I’ve been putting it off. But at least then we will be inconvenienced, ticked off, out of sorts, and anxious together!😃
Kudos to your husband for his quick thinking! I would never have known what to do. I have a somewhat handy husband who seems to always come through in a crisis, too. Thank God for them!!!!!!!!
A crazy time that put the finishing touches on an already stressful year. Your bathroom renovation may be painful, but I’m betting it will be a worthwhile pain.
Linda, so glad your husband was so quick to rescue and be able to quick fix your problems! My nephew lives in Katy, and they had purchased a generator for what they thought would only be for summers storms. They were some of the lucky ones. I hope you move up on the plumber’s list sooner than you expect.
I know this is not the time for shoulda coulda woulda, but for the life of me I don’t understand Texas builders putting pipes in attics! I had never heard of that before this.
All is well for us, but there are so many whose woes still exist.
Maybe it is time to think about an early trip north
The good news is we were there to keep things from being worse than they were.
Handy husbands are the best. Just wanted comment about your plants. We went through same thing in Virginia several years ago. The Garden Club in our area said to give the plants a full year before removing. Even a couple I thought, for sure, were dead came back. Now all are thriving again. Hope you have no more problems.
Thanks for the garden tip. I am hopeful most things will come back though looking at them now that seems a stretch.
Linda, I am so sorry you all have had to endure all of this. Your husband was definitely to the rescue!
Compared to so many others what we experienced was minimal. I am grateful.
So sorry for your trials and tribulations! Don’t know that my attitude would be as positive as yours. Thank God for Phil and Gorilla Tape.💕
It’s hard to feel sorry when so many others experienced so much worse.
I am so glad that things weren’t any worse for you, although they were bad enough. Your can do attitude and positive spirit helped you make a bad situation tolerable. Prayers that this too will pass, and that things in your world will return to a pleasant state soon.
Patti, it’s going to be a long time before normal returns for some folks. I am very grateful we experienced little in the way of damage.
Oh I’m so sorry to read about your woes and others, too. So awful. It really is hard to accept that this could happen. Hope the state finds the right solution.
Some things should never happen, and what happened in Texas is a great example.
Someone said this past week was the “winter version of Hurricane Harvey”.
Both devastating.
We were lucky that our pipes didn’t break, and we could shower and wash our hair today.
Our friends in S.C. have been enjoying 65 degree weather all week.
Lucky THEM!
Isn’t it staggering to think of the damage Texas incurred? Talk about a situation that should never have happened!
You are so right a energy rich state and you all got walloped 😦 I am glad you are married to a MacGyver I have one as well and we can get through most things together for sure. Water in your shower safe? Stay safe.
As you’ve probably heard on the news heads have rolled but that doesn’t change what happened. Absolutely dreadful that so much was lost.