Chances are No One is Coming to Save You.

I'm amazed at the number of people around here who wait for the government to do something for them.  It's usually people who aren't actually from around here.  Yeah, I'm not originally from around here but I fit right in with the locals.  You know, self-sufficient people.

This morning a gal from Minnesota was complaining that her road was only plowed until the blacktop ended.  Around here, that means the dirt part is probably not a county-maintained road and it's up to the residents to take care of it.  Someone on her road probably should've already thought of getting it plowed by a private entity.  If she's the only one on the road after the blacktop ends, that someone is her.  

In other news, the neighbor's well guy came out and looked everything over.  The diagnosis?  The pipes are roached.  So when it thaws, there will be water everywhere but in his home.  Years ago, the same well froze and Hubs helped them thaw it out, using a space heater.  It was assumed they would do something to stop the well from freezing again.  Umm... nope.  Here we are again and this time it's so much worse.  Blerg.

In other other news, Texas is also roached.  Poor planning combined with leaning toward 'green energy'... but I repeat myself... is to blame.  The poor planning part reminded me of a time when Hubs was pushing for the city he managed to buy more wells, but he got blowback because the wells they currently had were sufficient for all the residents to have water.  Forget the chance the city might actually grow or anything.  Forget the chance that one of the wells might go bad or have a problem or anything.  He eventually won and they bought two more wells, which, if I remember right, was good because one of the old wells had a problem not long after.  Stuff happens.  It's better to be prepared than to get caught with your pants down around your ankles.

This is why we have R-30 insulation in the house now.  When we got here, it was like R-5.  That first winter here was freak-nasty cold like this, so that spring we re-insulated.  We didn't actually need that much insulation again until this cold snap, but we're damn glad we have it now.  We're also damn glad Hubs re-plumbed the place with PEX rather than PVC.  The one thing we didn't do that we should've done was put in a wood-burning stove.  You know, in case we lose power in a cold snap like this.  Thankfully, we never lost power, but it could've been bad.  The stove is on the list of things to do ASAP.

Self-sufficiency, people.  Oh, you might have nice neighbors.  One of our other neighbors told us that if we lost power, we were welcome at their house because they have a generator and a wood stove.  (Generator... on the list, too.)  But not everyone is as nice as that.  Be prepared. Chances are when the shit hits the fan, no one is coming to save you.