JoeyBryant

When it is 117 here and someone reminds me, "But it's a dry heat," I want to smack him.

There actually is a difference. I find in Arizona you can rest in the shade and feel a little cooler even if it's 100+. In Missouri, TX or FL you step outside for an hour and feel dirty. I don't even get breakouts anymore. Went to Florida for 3 weeks, started all over again.

All right, let the stupid Californian ask the basic question. How exactly does one start a car when it's -17F? Wouldn't even engine oil and antifreeze be solids at that point????

That's the thing, sometimes they don't start lol. It's usually the battery that dies before the fluids freeze.

Synthetic oils and oils with the 1st number 5W or 0W e.g. 5W30, 0W40, 5W20...stay thin enough and have greater starting power over something with 10W30/10W40. Those are generally 'summertime' oils, which get really thick in the winter. You start the car, and for a few seconds you can hear the bearings knocking against each other due to lack of lubricant. That's why most of the engine wear occurs during startup.

Anti-Freeze is exactly that. They don't freeze. I don't have the chart with me, but I think I recall most 50/50 anti-freeze properly mixed can stand a little colder than -30. Winter Windshield fluid's are often marked down to -25. All the other fluids are basically a form of oil as well.

I find the best way to prevent everything from freezing is to either remove battery, or don't allow the car to stay turned off for more than a day or so...unless you're parked at the airport in which case you're fucked.

I am in Milwaukee. Coldest day in nearly 20 years. It has gone up to -11, that is the expected high today.

I've been going to Milwaukee and Minneapolis for the past couple winters and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about 'brutal' winters. Guess I just happened to visit during the better years.

From what I've heard from neighbors, we haven't really gotten any MAJOR snowstorms (3 feet+) in Denver for awhile. But apparently it happens every so often. However, the mountains can get pretty tricky. I was fortunate to be able to get over a pass the other night in my FWD that looked something like this, except it was nighttime:

http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/I-7u0-at-Loveland-Pass-October-17-2011.jpg

Randomly:

 

In the past two years, I have received four (4) letters from the Gas Company telling me that, in comparison to my neighbors of similar-sized houses, I'm #100 on the list of using too much gas. Of course, that I'm home almost 24/7 and like it at 70 rather than 68 [three months indoors one winter re-set my comfort zone] might have something to do with it.

 

New boiler might help ...

That's an issue I have with going over to people's homes, namely the leaky older homes so popular in the gayborhoods. People keep their places way too cold for my comfort, or way too dry. Some people just don't want to turn on their gas no matter what. I'd be nice to atleast turn it up when you have company over. Especially when 1 or more parties plan to get naked.

I've been able to keep my place so warm and humid at 68-70 with the use of 2 fireplaces and the furnace along with Blackout, double rod curtains and sealing off windows. My Palm tree seems to like it, it's grown so much it's blocking the entrance to my bedroom.

Personally I prefer the classic slim 30 inch waist bodybuilders of the past...

lol, I have on hold some shorts that are size 30. Normally I go for a 31-32, but we'll see how this 30 works.

I've seen 2.94, and of course Texas and Wyoming has some of the cheapest with their refineries all over the place.

But hell, some people make it seem that because gas is falling; escorts are supposed to follow in suit.