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Post by auntkelly on Jan 13, 2024 5:01:21 GMT
My husband and I have been preparing all week for the frigid temperatures expected this weekend and early next week in central Oklahoma. Our refrigerator is stocked, the outdoor faucets are covered, our indoor pipes are dripping, etc. We felt we were prepared for anything Mother Nature had in store for us.
We weren’t prepared, however, for the 10 earthquakes we experienced tonight. First, we had a 3.3 earthquake. That was soon followed by a 4.2 quake. Those quakes were followed by eight smaller quakes. Our house is very close to the epicenter so the 4.2 shook the entire house and really frightened me.
Anyway, I guess it’s a reminder that we can plan and prepare for things, but you never know what Mother Nature has in store for you.
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mimima
Drama Llama
Stay Gold, Ponyboy
Posts: 5,017
Jun 25, 2014 19:25:50 GMT
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Post by mimima on Jan 13, 2024 5:02:07 GMT
Yikes! That's a lot
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jan 13, 2024 5:06:53 GMT
Earthquakes are not fun! Hope there are no more any time soon. Stay warm during this cold front!
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Post by dewryce on Jan 13, 2024 5:32:47 GMT
I had no idea there were earthquakes in Texas tonight, I hope your home came out relatively unscathed!
eta: Wait. I skipped over the OK part in your post and just noticed the location in your signature.
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Post by mom on Jan 13, 2024 5:53:11 GMT
Ohhh I hadn't heard anything about earthquakes in OK. Stay safe!
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jan 13, 2024 6:07:09 GMT
Sorry you had that experience!!!
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Post by AussieMeg on Jan 13, 2024 6:20:05 GMT
Oh boy, how scary!! TEN earthquakes?!
Also, I can't imagine living somewhere so cold that you have to "prepare" the pipes and taps! What do you mean when you say the indoor pipes are dripping?
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rodeomom
Pearl Clutcher
Refupee # 380 "I don't have to run fast, I just have to run faster than you."
Posts: 3,659
Location: Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma
Jun 25, 2014 23:34:38 GMT
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Post by rodeomom on Jan 13, 2024 6:25:45 GMT
Oh boy, how scary!! TEN earthquakes?! Also, I can't imagine living somewhere so cold that you have to "prepare" the pipes and taps! What do you mean when you say the indoor pipes are dripping? If you don't drip your pipes, run the water so it drips a little, they will freeze. Might need to do more than drip them the next few days.
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Post by miominmio on Jan 13, 2024 7:05:17 GMT
Oh boy, how scary!! TEN earthquakes?! Also, I can't imagine living somewhere so cold that you have to "prepare" the pipes and taps! What do you mean when you say the indoor pipes are dripping? If they are dripping, it’s less chance the water will freeze in the pipes. Because if that happens, the pipes might burst when you get higher temperatures.
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Post by stampnscrap1128 on Jan 13, 2024 8:09:07 GMT
I was messaging with my daughter when the 4.4 quake shook her house pretty hard. I live 35 miles south of her and felt nothing. So many aftershocks! We wondered if some oil company is fracking near the epicenter or what. She said she heard there was a wastewater treatment plant nearby but we're not sure if there is any correlation.
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Post by gar on Jan 13, 2024 9:51:59 GMT
Also, I can't imagine living somewhere so cold that you have to "prepare" the pipes and taps! What do you mean when you say the indoor pipes are dripping? Bless your heart with all your sunshine and warm weather OP, you're right - you can never be sure can you!
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Post by FrozenPea on Jan 13, 2024 9:57:25 GMT
I am so sorry. Having lived in Alaska I know how unnerving it can be. Even after 42 years there they still would get me. Big hugs. ❤️
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Post by mollycoddle on Jan 13, 2024 12:13:33 GMT
😳😳😳😳😳😳
If you haven’t already done it, open the doors of your kitchen and bathroom cabinets where the pipes are. Every little bit helps.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Jan 13, 2024 12:42:10 GMT
auntkelly earthquakes must be scary. I can't even imagine. AussieMeg our houses are built different in the north and we don't have to do that. Our interior pipes don't freeze as long as our furnaces are working. Our exterior spigots also turn off completely. So we just shut them down and drain them for the winter.
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Post by GamGam on Jan 13, 2024 12:56:15 GMT
I hope you’re feeling better today. We have never had a strong earthquake here, but even a slight one unnerved me. Take good care, and stay warm this week.
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Post by KelleeM on Jan 13, 2024 13:03:48 GMT
I have never experienced an earthquake and can’t imagine how frightening that is. I’m glad you’re safe.
About the outdoor faucets, I’ve lived in New England all my life and we have never done anything to our outdoor faucets to prepare for cold weather.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Jan 13, 2024 13:18:57 GMT
Goodness - that’s a lot of earthquake activity! We have a fault or two near us, but we feel it very mildly when they act up. It’s unnerving though.
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Post by mikklynn on Jan 13, 2024 13:28:49 GMT
I have never experienced an earthquake and can’t imagine how frightening that is. I’m glad you’re safe. About the outdoor faucets, I’ve lived in New England all my life and we have never done anything to our outdoor faucets to prepare for cold weather. You should shut off the valve inside the house, then open the outdoor faucet and let it drain. Shut the faucet off again and leave it until spring. If you don't, there is a chance any water trapped in the pipe will freeze near the outside.
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Post by KelleeM on Jan 13, 2024 13:31:24 GMT
I have never experienced an earthquake and can’t imagine how frightening that is. I’m glad you’re safe. About the outdoor faucets, I’ve lived in New England all my life and we have never done anything to our outdoor faucets to prepare for cold weather. You should shut off the valve inside the house, then open the outdoor faucet and let it drain. Shut the faucet off again and leave it until spring. If you don't, there is a chance any water trapped in the pipe will freeze near the outside. I have only been a homeowner for 7 years and we’ve never done this. I know my Dad didn’t do it in their house either. It makes good sense! I think we’ve been lucky!
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Post by mikklynn on Jan 13, 2024 13:45:27 GMT
You should shut off the valve inside the house, then open the outdoor faucet and let it drain. Shut the faucet off again and leave it until spring. If you don't, there is a chance any water trapped in the pipe will freeze near the outside. I have only been a homeowner for 7 years and we’ve never done this. I know my Dad didn’t do it in their house either. It makes good sense! I think we’ve been lucky! I don't know how often it actually happens, but it's an easy enough task. DH always did it at our house. The construction manager told me to do it when we did the walk through of all the mechanicals in my townhouse.
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Post by stampnscrap1128 on Jan 13, 2024 20:35:56 GMT
I use faucet covers purchased from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Not expensive and easy to use. I just looked at USGS and so far there have been 20 earthquakes 1.2 to 4.4 in that area in the past 18 hours. The one last night and another one over 4.0 at around 6 am. My daughter said it woke them up. Plus we are in a 4 day long wind chill warning. One time we had an earthquake during a tornado and it was called QuakeNado. Maybe call these quakes ChillQuakes?
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Post by 950nancy on Jan 13, 2024 22:21:47 GMT
I'll take the frigid weather over one earthquake. Yikes. It was so cold today, but I went out and filled the bird feeders and threw a few cups of sunflower seeds on the ground for the turkeys and smaller birds who struggle at the feeder with the bully birds. Went to Big R to get more food. Also got some food for us.
The house is really pretty warm for how cold it is outside.
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Post by AussieMeg on Jan 13, 2024 23:27:17 GMT
Our interior pipes don't freeze as long as our furnaces are working. Okay so my next question..... what is a furnace for? I have seen them in movies - that's where all the bad things happen in horror movies! But I've never actually known what the furnace does. Is it to heat the house? Or the water? Or for monsters to throw people into?
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moodyblue
Drama Llama
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Location: Western Illinois
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Post by moodyblue on Jan 13, 2024 23:33:16 GMT
Our interior pipes don't freeze as long as our furnaces are working. Okay so my next question..... what is a furnace for? I have seen them in movies - that's where all the bad things happen in horror movies! But I've never actually known what the furnace does. Is it to heat the house? Or the water? Or for monsters to throw people into? A furnace heats the house.
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Post by angel97701 on Jan 14, 2024 1:46:18 GMT
Also to note, some outdoor faucets are made for cold weather climates, and do not need to be drained or covered. We are expecting sub zero F temperatures the next few days. Our outdoor sprinkler systems however do need to be turned off and drained--usually a high pressure "drains" the lines. We also did this in Oregon every winter to protect the 4 acres of irrigation lines we owned. Earthquakes are tough! I've lived in Alaska and California and have experience a number of them. I know the protocols and having been a teacher at times have been know to give safety instructions to others in public places that are not school.
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Post by katlady on Jan 14, 2024 2:14:50 GMT
I'll take the frigid weather over one earthquake. Yikes. As a SoCal native, I’ll take a 4.0 earthquake over the cold weather everyone is having right now. Heck, I’ll take two 4.0 earthquakes. lol! I can’t even relate to what everyone is going through right now. I don’t know anything about prepping a house for a major freeze. Our record low is 30 degrees, the other night we hit 31. Stay safe and warm everyone!!
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Post by 950nancy on Jan 14, 2024 2:41:18 GMT
I'll take the frigid weather over one earthquake. Yikes. As a SoCal native, I’ll take a 4.0 earthquake over the cold weather everyone is having right now. Heck, I’ll take two 4.0 earthquakes. lol! I can’t even relate to what everyone is going through right now. I don’t know anything about prepping a house for a major freeze. Our record low is 30 degrees, the other night we hit 31. Stay safe and warm everyone!! I've lived in Colorado and have only had our pipes freeze once when we left town. We just had to open the door to the crawl space to warm the pipes up. The new house we're in did have a pipe burst, so the owners put in a heater that can be turned on in the garage. Hopefully that will keep us okay. I do know it is cold because my dog, who loves the snow and cold, was in her outdoor dog run for less than five minutes before she wanted to come back in. I am usually trying to get her back in during snowstorms. We have two fireplaces that run on gas and one is the main source for heat in the lower level. That level is toasty. We keep our vehicles in the garage so the batteries stay working. I guess we really don't have extreme temperatures often. It will hit negative ten or twenty on a rare evening. I am supposed to volunteer on Monday, but I am pretty sure that will be cancelled due to wind chill. I ran errands today and filled the bird feeders. No snowstorms, so all is good and we do what we normally would do. We just don't leave much exposed skin if we are outside.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jan 14, 2024 11:42:57 GMT
Wow! That must've been frightening.
I'm glad you are okay.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Jan 14, 2024 12:44:43 GMT
Our interior pipes don't freeze as long as our furnaces are working. Okay so my next question..... what is a furnace for? I have seen them in movies - that's where all the bad things happen in horror movies! But I've never actually known what the furnace does. Is it to heat the house? Or the water? Or for monsters to throw people into? LMAO! You crack me up. Our modern furnaces don't look anything like the old fashioned ones shown in scary movies. They look like big rectangular boxes with huge pipes (metal ducts) coming out of them. Those little electric wall heaters you guys have in warm climates aren't powerful enough to heat our houses.
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Post by bunnyhug on Jan 14, 2024 17:31:25 GMT
Okay so my next question..... what is a furnace for? I have seen them in movies - that's where all the bad things happen in horror movies! But I've never actually known what the furnace does. Is it to heat the house? Or the water? Or for monsters to throw people into? LMAO! You crack me up. Our modern furnaces don't look anything like the old fashioned ones shown in scary movies. They look like big rectangular boxes with huge pipes (metal ducts) coming out of them. Those little electric wall heaters you guys have in warm climates aren't powerful enough to heat our houses. I (a girl raised in arguably the coldest of the prairie provinces--SK and MB may tie!--but it's a dry cold) was never so cold as I was the winter of the year I spent as an exchange student living just outside of Melbourne! I even had my mom mail me my ski jacket!! The problem I had was that the buildings in Victoria weren't insulated like at home, and there wasn't central heating, plus winter was very wet/rainy. I spent every class sitting right up at the front of the room beside the wall heater, and barely moved from the lounge room fire at home. My host family even had to buy me an electric blanket for my bed I had lots of people ask me how a girl from Canada could find Australia so cold ... Last night, it was -40something C here, and life has gone on fairly close to normal. We have a forced air furnace/central heating in our house, which also is the source for our central air conditioning/cooling in the summer. The air is moved through metal ductwork and comes out of small metal vents (sometimes called 'registers' if you're old and where I'm from, lol!), at least one in every room of the house, often 2-4 in larger rooms like our family room. All of our walls are insulated, our windows are at least double paned and manufactured to resist heat transfer, the attached garage at my house has its own natural gas heater so my car lives in a space that doesn't get colder than about +10-15'C, and my husband's shop/office has a giant heater so it's warm out there, too. Space heaters aren't really a thing, unless you can get away with one at your workplace--some won't allow them because they draw a lot of power and blow fuses, and are potential fire hazards. I do have two big stone woodburning fireplaces in my house, but they are mostly for looks and for using at Christmas--they warm up the room they're in, but then the thermostat for the furnace thinks the whole house is that warm and the furnace won't run as much and the other rooms can get pretty chilly! The scariest thing about my furnace is how much it costs to run it
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