Topic: Well, My Fellow okies and others in the Central US.

[Sirgod]

News guy just said coldest weather in 15 years is hitting our state, mostly in OKC, and on up through Tulsa, towards Vinita/Miami.

I suppose , just try and check in here on this thread so we know all is safe for ya the next few days.

Stephen

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Al Gore must be in town eh?

[Sirgod]

LOL, well I appreciate the joke, but I made this out of general concern for our members here bro. I know it is a pretty good sized storm through Middle America, and of course, I worry about peeps I have known here for well over a decade now.

Stephen

[manitoba1073]

 Yea, its hitting us tuesday night. calling for 2-3in an hour downfall for upto 6+ hours. 

[Bonk]

Oh this is gonna be good.    (Kinda like how Toronto will never live down calling in the Armed Forces to clear snow a few years back...)

Lemme check the temps and see just how wimpy...

It is -20°C here tonight. (Environment Canada) A good freezer temp.

  I just checked NOAA, OKC is 0°C tonight. /Me slaps knee and chuckles. Good one Stephen.
Oh wait... its -1°C now...

I've dug through more snow this week than you guys will all year. Probably moved several tons by hand today alone.

I saw this thing on TV a while ago where the Canadian Armed Forces were doing cold performance research (standard manual dexterity tests at -27°C) I couldn't believe how wimpy they were. Yeah, maybe they are all Olympic class long distance runners - but not so tough, not so tough at all. (Probably too many from Toronto, lol) -27°C is not that cold. I perform optimally at those temperatures actually. The machine can run full tilt with no cooling requirements and minimal rehydration.

I just came in from outside, I have to wash my hands in cold water (which feels quite warm) hot water is painful. Mind you, I did come close to getting frostbite on the toes this year, but that is just poor circulation due to age and smoking. More exercise will fix that.

Ever read H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air? Sometimes I think that is me.

[Sirgod]

LOL With Bonk.

Yeah, we don't get it like they do up north, that's for sure. But that is kinda what makes it risky for us down here.

I swear, we went from Grass fires all weekend, to a blizzard with 3-4 foot drifts expected, in like 2 days. Not to even mention all the dang Earthquakes out here lately.

I still remember though 2009, when we where caught unaware, and had power in the state off in some places for 3 weeks. Of course, the biggest problem I had was just boredom, as I can kill a tree and cook in the fireplace.

Stephen

[Bonk]

I still remember though 2009, when we where caught unaware, and had power in the state off in some places for 3 weeks. Of course, the biggest problem I had was just boredom, as I can kill a tree and cook in the fireplace.

I kinda like it when the power goes out . Sometimes that "boredom" is good. (so long as you still have some kind of heat... but at -1°C all one needs is some wool socks and a cosy blanket.)

[marstone]

Yeah we have been having -13F for awhile now. Colder sometimes. But if you are bot used to it alittle cold can be a PITA.

[Bonk]

Just don't leave the beer in the trunk!

(thinking back to days of youth when we had to drink fast before it froze...  No wonder vodka is so popular in Russia )

[Sirgod]

Heh, when I was a young punk kid all of about 13, My Friend Tate, Mike, and I had gotten ahold of some vodka, and decided to put it in the freezer to chill it real fast.

Needless to say , we got busted, when the bottle exploded all over the place, and marinated all the meat in there during the thaw.

Reminds me of another thing, I bet some of our Korean vets can recall. Remember all the warnings not to fill up the Fuel Drums to the top with Diesel?

Stephen

[Bonk]

Reminds me of another thing, I bet some of our Korean vets can recall. Remember all the warnings not to fill up the Fuel Drums to the top with Diesel?

Got me curious there... I thought water was the only compound to lose density on a liquid to solid phase transition?
edit: wait a minute... I have a hard time seeing diesel freezing at all... getting really thick... but freezing?

Needless to say , we got busted, when the bottle exploded all over the place, and marinated all the meat in there during the thaw.

Methinks your vodka was watered. Or one darn cold freezer. 40% shouldn't freeze before -40°C  (wild guess - gotta go look it up now... I want to know. A bottle of vodka is expensive!)

edit: I see 40% freezes at only -23°C. I'm surprised. That freezer must have been about -25°C then. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ethanol-water-d_989.html

We've got the tractor tires filled with Calcium Chloride solution. That should be good be good down to -35°C.

We used to make "moosepiss". Recipie: everyone raids their folks liquor cabinet, takes one inch from every bottle and replaces it with water. Then mix it all when we meet up. Nasty. Nasty. Just nasty.

Disclaimer: of course, please drink responsibly (if at all). Looking back, I do not recommend underage drinking at all. If only  had that liver now...

[Sirgod]

Yeah, on the Diesel thing man. It's the same for most off road truckers in cold climes. What happens is it turns to jelly, and expands in cold temps.

as for the Vodka, I couldn't tell ya how cold the freezer was, my god that was almost 30 years ago.  well 27 years I suppose. I can tell ya my Butt was warmed up pretty good though after the fact.

Stephen

[Bonk]

Yeah, on the Diesel thing man. It's the same for most off road truckers in cold climes. What happens is it turns to jelly, and expands in cold temps.

Expands. Far out. I must read up on that.

I can tell ya my Butt was warmed up pretty good though after the fact.

Proper ting! 

[Sirgod]

Here ya go buddy.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091218090711AAzz5a1

Like most fuels, diesel is a mix of hydrocarbons, and the components have different freezing points. For Number 2 diesel, as the ambient temperatures drop toward 32 degrees F (0 degrees C), it begins to cloud, due to the paraffin in the fuel solidifying. As the temperatures drop below 32 F, the molecules combine into solids, large enough to be stopped by the filter. This is known as the gel point, and generally occurs about 15 degrees F (-9.5 degrees C) below the cloud point.
This wax then forms a coating on the filter which results in a loss of engine power. The same thing happens on starting an engine when the temperature is below freezing. The filter becomes almost instantly coated with wax - usually, enough fuel gets through to allow the engine to idle, but not attain operating RPM. There are two common ways to overcome this: one is a diesel additive, the other is a fuel heater.
In Alaska and other colder climates, lorries are running regularly at minus 51 degrees or lower so as you see it depends on additives and heating but to freeze as in turning solid you would need laboratory conditions as nature cannot go cold enough to freeze to a low enough temperature.

I can only imagine what it was like during the Frozen Chosin days.

Stephen

[manitoba1073]

 damn noobcakes,  vodka is for girls.  real men drink Everclear. 

[Kreeargh]

I hope for the best for all. 
No matter what i say its all - on me so screw it.
   
On another note/ Sorry to bitch but damn east coasters ,yea all that side of the divide use something other than diesel  to warm the masses of asses up Grow a damn tree cut it up for firewood!!!!! Your NOT the WEST you got water to waist but DONT use it for tree farms that can be a plenty, but where does the water go  to fill up the damn ocean.  Renewable does not mean anything any more i guess??????  Opps cant do that so well freeze then. Want food and life  its hard to run a farm or a road truck to ship food fuel to masses
at these costs   : Food or heat take your pick?  Yep media dont say that they just wine about it all  End of bitching.  I guess we all have to work for nothing so a few can rest in peace. 
     

[Kreeargh]

damn noobcakes,  vodka is for girls.  real men drink Everclear.

Everclear is just a market idea get the real hooch 

[manitoba1073]

damn noobcakes,  vodka is for girls.  real men drink Everclear.

Everclear is just a market idea get the real hooch 

 About 10 bucks for a 5th and guarenteed to be clean. I'll stick with store bought. 

[Bonk]

Kreeargh, the problem is that money grows faster than trees in the Northern hemisphere. There is no financial motivation for sustainable development practices. Irving however, does have a number of replants (in view of the roads)... and I know people that make a living at tree planting during the season. (You have to be one tough bugger). So while it makes no fiscal sense, we do it anyway. So there will be something to cut in 26 years. (but almost all of that wood goes for pulp and paper... and then there was that whole softwood lumber tariff issue with the US... still in place?)

More and more people here are getting windmills and solar panels. Canadian Tire has a cool deal where they include a pro install to code and the works.

Everclear? Whassat? A 90's white rapper?

If you're serious about booze: http://www.comalc.com/uGrades.php  95% = zero hangover. Comes in a teflon lined 55 gallon drum. Requires a license. As pure as ethanol gets. While very strong and smells lovely, it does not get you very drunk. After drinking a quantity of 95% you discover that it is not the alcohol that messes you up so much in regular commercial drinks, it is all the aldehydes and ketones - they really mess with your head (and liver and kidneys).

95/5 can be used to make nice liqueurs. Stronger than 95/5 should not be consumed as the ethanol water azeotrope is 95/5 - anything stronger will have benzene or other similar co-distillates present in trace amounts. The general rule is if it clouds water, don't drink it. (Ouzo is one example of such a poison - darn tasty one - actually doesn't give me a hangover either, despite the fact that it clouds water).

Interestingly, the rat oral LD₅₀ for ethanol is 7.06g/Kg. Not that much. 0.7%.
http://www.comalc.com/msds/pdf3/MSDS_English_Ethyl_Alcohol_(95)_Feb_2011.pdf
Calcluating that out for a 180 Lb man: 81Kg * 7.06g = 577g -> 577g * 1/0.8101g/mL = 712 mL = 0.75 US quarts of 95 % ethanol to kill 50% of men in my estimation. Sounds about right. Powerful narcotic ethanol is.

Booze and cold don't mix. Almost every year they find someone frozen solid in a snowbank somewhere.

[marstone]

Keep it clean, make your own.