Today's rant... about the fire in Colorado...
 

My cousin lives in the area of Boulder County, Colorado, which has been devastated by fire...

Almost a thousand homes burned down. Two people are missing and feared dead...

I think the snowfall has now put the fires out...

Luckily, my cousin and her family (husband and kids) are currently in Arizona (which is where her brother - who is also my cousin - and her Mom - who is also my aunt - currently live)...

I have word that it seems like my cousin's house is okay... Phew!

But they have friends who have lost their homes...

It reminds you... sometimes unpredictable things happen...

Are you prepared for it if it happens?

I don't want to go into details, but the pandemic affected one business I have... Badly...

And no, I wasn't prepared for it!

So... I gotta do better...

I just did not plan for a global pandemic!

However...

I think 2022 will be the year it all comes roaring back...

Some medical people are saying Omicron could actually be good... In that it is milder than delta and the original Coronavirus strain... And you are less likely to go to hospital...

Because it's so contagious, it will crowd the more deadly strains out...

But, Omicron is still killing people (especially those who are vulnerable due to medical conditions, such as myself)...

So, personally, I'm still being super-cautious...

But, it reminds you... Sometimes things can come out of left field, and it's good to have contingency plans...!

(I'm reminding myself as much as anybody else!)

Best wishes,

Dien

Re: Today's rant... about the fire in Colorado...
 

Hi, Dien - glad to hear your cousins have escaped the fires in Colorado. Quite scary, though.

We're staying as safe as we can till this virus is put behind bars! However, your post resonated with me for a different reason.

It seems to me that (for many good reasons) there is a movement towards not using fossil fuels to power homes, businesses, vehicles .... a huge list. It does strike me that we might up relying on electricity alone, and then breaks in the supply chain matter hugely. How to prepare for that??

It's a strange old world at the moment!

Wishing all here a great 2022!
Margaret

I read about that too... phasing out of natural gas...
 

Hi Margaret,

I read about that too... That, for example, in New York City they're going to prohibit new buildings from having any natural gas connection at all, so everyone in those buildings will be forced to use electricity only...

The problem is, for some people, heating in the winter time with only electricity might be expensive... Maybe even too expensive for them to afford!

I dunno... a return to wood-fire heating stoves? (It sounds like Glenn saves a lot of money heating his place with wood!)

However, probably difficult to do for those who live in apartment buildings...

I don't know...

There might be new opportunities here!

(On the plus side, solar electricity efficiency is just getting better and better...)

Margaret, I hope you have a great 2022 too! :)

Best wishes,

Dien

Re: Today's rant... about the fire in Colorado...
 

Hi, Dien - we're fortunate to live in a house built in 1880s - so have the option of an open fire and a wood burning stove. On the other hand, our gas boiler will only work if there is electricity to keep the spark ignited :O

Storing electricity generated by solar energy is also going to become important, so I'm sure you're right about there being plenty of business opportunities. The other area where a lot of thought is needed is for charging points for all those amazing electric-powered vehicles that are being developed ....

Not that I'm suspicious (ROFL) but the electricity supply might be vulnerable to rogue computer chips installed in the network .... and that's one reason why I'd love to know if anyone is thinking about backup plans! Well beyond my pay grade.

Looking forward to seeing how keen young minds get to grips with all of this. Meantime, I should probably go and have some lunch!

Stay safe, y'all!
Margaret

Re: Today's rant... about the fire in Colorado...
 

Hi Margaret,

Two days after Christmas - just over a week ago - our electricity went off! (And other houses on our street were also affected...)

We don't know why... The power company had it back on in about six hours...

I was mainly worried that things in the freezer could start to unfreeze... But luckily, that didn't seem to have happened. (It's summer here in the southern hemisphere now...)

It just shows, even in our modern days, in some of the wealthiest countries, the electricity is not always reliable!

On the other hand, I don't remember our natural gas supply ever "going off" for a while...

It's summer here, but in winter, of course, our house's central heating needs both the gas and the electricity on (as the electricity powers the fan that blows the warm air through the ducts)...

Here in Australia, there was a big push just under 10 years ago for more people to get solar panels in their roofs. While we didn't do it, I'm sure people who did do it saved money on electricity...

It would be even better now, I believe, as solar panels have increased in efficiency, and battery technology (to store the energy you don't use immediately) has improved a lot too!

By the way, your house was built in the 1880s!

Wow!

In Australia, I'm sure your house would be one of the oldest in the country... :)

(The oldest still-standing house in Melbourne, where I live, was built around 1850...!)

My wife loves old houses... She would probably love to visit your house if we ever go to Scotland! (Which I'd love to do, one day... :) )

Meanwhile, if you're ever in Melbourne, you can come over and see our house built in the 1980s... ;)

Best wishes, :)

Dien

Re: Today's rant... about the fire in Colorado...
 

Hi, Dien - it would be cool to think that we could visit Melbourne some day (we've got a nephew who's studying there.) However, this year is all about a wedding celebration in Italy; can't afford both!

If you and your wife get to Scotland, it would be great to meet up and I'm sure you'd both enjoy the architecture and even our house too! It's definitely not the oldest building in our village.



Kind regards
Margaret

That's awesome... :)
 

Hi Margaret,

Wow, what an awesome house! :)

Also, it's cool that your nephew is in Melbourne... I hope he's enjoying it (apart from apparently having the world's longest lockdown, at least according to some articles I read)!

We fought Covid quite well here in Australia for quite a while, but Omicron is overwhelming everything - like, I think, pretty much everywhere else...

Hopefully we can all stay safe!

Best wishes,

Dien