#Texaswinterstorm2020

[el-oh-her]

Dear Texas, some advice from Wisconsin

I lived in a shitty trailer for most of my life in Wisconsin, so I know some of the issues you’re going through. I’m also a skinny bitch who cannot retain heat for very long. Here is some advice to help you out a little bit. It’s not a lot, but if it saves a life it saves a life. 

Please, please spread this around for the texans. We’re all in this together. 

Get some rolled up blankets and pillows and put them in front of ALL  the cracks of windows and doors. Windows and doors--especially yours- are not weather tight. This can help slow the heat escaping 

If you don’t have pillows or blankets to spare, but you’ve got some pants (jeans are good) or sweaters or literally any clothes you’re willing to sacrafice,  then cut the jeans and stuff the jean with the excess fabric, and tie the ends off. with strips of fabric or tape or whatever you have. 

If you have rooms that don’t touch outer walls, that is the room you should focus on. Everyone in the house should be in that room as much as possible. 

It might be weird, and COVID makes this a risk but if you gotta do it you gotta do it. Sleep in the same room--have the kids share a bed if there are some kids. Your body heat will get captured under blankets and if it’s too cold this is something you can do to naturally produce some heat. Again, it’s a risk because of COVID but do what you got to do to live. 

Buy heavy curtains if you can afford them, use blankets or large sweaters or whatever you have if you can’t, and hang them in front of windows and the doors. It’ll help keep the heat in. 

The fridge should be opened only when asbolutely necessary. Yell at your kids and your roomates. They’ll get mad at you now, but it’s a small thing that can help. 

Buy some water jugs (we used milk jugs because we had a lot of them) and when your water turns on, fill as many as you can. When your water shuts off, that’s the water you can use to flush the toiilet. My family had to do this all the time. 1 gallon of water is 2 bathroom flushes. Keep these milk jugs in your warmest rooms. 

Hot air rises, cold air sinks. Get the beds off the floor. I don’t care if your bed stand is made of layers of books. The further you’re from the floor, the better you’ll be--even if it’s a little bit. Sleep in the bunk beds if you have them. 

Your carbon dioxide that you exhale can be a natural heater. Sleep with your head under the blanket, or hang out completley under a blanket and after a while it will warm up. Probably don’t do this when you’re sharing the blanket because of COVID, but do what you gotta do to stay warm. 

LAYERS. Wear them. Under shirt under your regular shirt which is covered by a jacket or a sweater. Wear Leggings underneath your pants. Boys, either invest in some women’s leggings or use your pajama pants. Fuck, wear a skirt on top of it if you’re too cold. Fuck your gender roles, this is about being warm not being pretty. 

SOCKS. GLOVES. Wear them, even if you’re in the house. It costs a lot of heat to keep them warm, so if you’re cold and you can’t get warm, get some socks and some gloves on and it will help. I promise. 

Fuzzy / thick socks are popular up here, double your socks to get this same effect. 

When you’re outside, walk like you’re trying to get away from a murder scene. Walk like you have a test in 5 minutes and you might just miss it. You will warm up within 5 minutes of walking, and you’ll produce some sweat. It’s uncomfy for sure, but it’ll produce some heat. I have taken off my coat in terribly cold weather because I walked way too fast and got way too hot. Again, a little thing. 

Candles. Get them. Check your goodwills or thrift shops if the retailres are out of it. They don’t produce a lot of heat, but they do produce something. 

How to get the ice off your car. Turn your car ON and let your car heat up. I can only assume your car has a defroster setting but if it doesn’t, the engine at least should produce some heat, which is by the windshield so it will help just a little bit. 

WORST case scenario if you don’t have a scrapper is salt. Salt will help break down the ice. 

If you’re gonna try and DIY a scaprer use PLASTIC materials not METAL materials. Metal will fuck up your wind shield, I am pretty sure. Order a scraper from Amazon. 

BUY a SHOVEL. If you can’t get a snow shovel because of the demand of them, buy a BUCKET. Get something that can hold snow to move it.  

If there is no road salt or table salt to use to get rid of ice, use SAND. Sand is used around here when there’s no salt. It’s not as great and your cars will look gross, but get a car wash when the snow melts. 

YOUR CAR KIT: When you’re stranded in your car in the snow you should have all of the following: A shovel, a snow scraper, a warm set of clothes, an extra coat, a couple of blankets, a pillow (optional) and a first aid kid if you’ve got it. 

The cold drains your battery in your car faster. If you can afford it, take your car out for drives even if you’re not going anywhere. Take the whole fucking family in the drive, it’s a small enclosed space and you all can warm up for a little bit. 

WHERE you place your heaters to warm up your pipes is just as important as just putting heaters on your pipes. To make sure they don’t burst, make sure those heaters are in places where it is producing heat around as many pipes as possibe. My family also put a heater underneath the sink in the kitchen. 

Drip your sinks. Moving water is much harder to freeze becuse of the laws of motion and science and shit. letting your facusts drip will help prolong the life of your pipes before they burst. 

If your pipes burst stay calm. DON”T FUCKING FILM IT. Call to get your water shut off. I don’t know what to do with burst pipes, someone else probably knows. You need to get it shut off as soon as possible because if that water freezes, it’s going to produce more cold and it’s going to damage your house. 

Food. Everyone is probably raiding the snack asiles because they’re foods that don’t need food or heat in order to make. I get it. Instead I suggest making large meals when you have power and stick it in the fridge, but stuff that won’t be too gross eaten cold. Spagetti, pizza, potatoe salad, etc. Salads if there’s salad stuff around. Granola and yoghurt make parfaits and are a good thing to fill your stomach. 

There is probably more but I can’t think of any right now. A lot of this are all little things but everything adds up eventually. Minus the power outages, what you’re going through was my winter every year for almost 10 years--so I have nothing but sympathy for you. My pipes have frozen and burst and all the worst things.

Please, even if you’re not from Texas, even if you ain’t in america, pass thing along. Get the word out. We’re in this together. 

#Texas #snow #snowstorm #Texaswinterstorm2020 #Texasblackout