Nishnabotna froze over.
City crew kept busy this winter
February 4, 2021
Live long enough and you see one extreme weather event after another.
While we haven't had anywhere
near record amounts of snow this winter in the Manning area...but this is definitely
the coldest extended spell of near zero to below zero temps we've had in decades.
This winter is more like I remember when I was a kid.
I forget the exact year and I didn't take pictures but it was during one winter before 1985, when one evening we had sustained winds of 50+ MPH out of the northwest, and the
actual temperature was minus 27, and as I recall the wind chill was minus 80 - if you remember the year or have pictures, please let me know.
We still had our old farm house that had no insulation like most old farm houses of the past. The bathroom was on the southeast part of the house and that
night the water in the toilet bowl froze solid.
I even had plastic fastened to the first story on the outside of the house, along with hay/straw bales stacked
up to cover the first story. At that time our new windbreak trees were less than 5 feet tall, so they did no good to block the wind.
Needless to say, I saw something I had never seen before when I went outside the next morning. The winds had subsided and as I walked around the yard, there were sparrows, starlings, and all kinds of song birds lying dead all over. Some of them must have tried to fly to find a warmer location near a building but probably died mid-flight.
I wish I had pictures to show, so people can realize how difficult our feathered creatures have it during some winters.
I've been feeding my song birds for decades. If you start feeding your area birds now, once you have started you MUST NOT stop feeding them until the winter is over.
Birds are creatures of habit and will get dependent on the food you give them, so if you stop all of a sudden once the weather warms up a little, some of them will not go back to searching on their own and will die.
I thought it would be interesting for people to hear sounds that they may not have heard before or realized how super cold temps affects things around us.
Take a look and listen to some sounds and sights that I recorded February 15, 2021, around 10:30 pm when it was MINUS 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
10:23 pm
Most of what you see venting into the air is steam.
A semi tanker loaded with soybean oil heading out to its destination.
"AGP supports and invests in Iowa biodiesel production," said Troy Alberts, AGP Senior Vice President for Refined Oils and Renewable Fuels. "The Company recognizes the impact that biodiesel has on the demand for soybean oil in Iowa as it accounts for 85% of the feedstock. Increased use of biodiesel translates into higher soybean prices for farmers, economic development in rural communities, and reductions in harmful fuel emissions. This legislation further protects the industry against federal policy and political uncertainty by increasing demand for this important advanced biofuel in Iowa."
The biofuels standard establishes a minimum level of biodiesel to be blended in the state's diesel fuel pool, gradually increasing over time. Beginning in 2022, the legislation ensures that biodiesel comprises 11% of the diesel pool and provides tax credits for higher blends. The program expands to 20% biodiesel blends, or B20, in future years. The legislation also establishes new retail income tax incentives for fuel marketers and provides funding for biodiesel projects through the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program. Financial support for renewable fuels would also be made available from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund.
AGP (agp.com) is a leading agribusiness with primary
operations as a major U.S. soybean processor/refiner producing and marketing
soybean meal, refined soybean oil, and biodiesel. AGP businesses also include
agricultural product trading in domestic and international markets and numerous
U.S. grain elevator operations. AGP is owned by 148 local and regional
cooperatives representing over 250,000 farmer-producers across the United
States. Corporate headquarters are located in Omaha, NE.
12700 West Dodge Road
PO Box 2047
Omaha, NE 68103-2047
(402) 496-7809
"An Equal Opportunity Employer"
12:30 am minus 22
One of the nurses at the hospital told me her car sensor registered minus 28 early this morning.
You know it's cold when the snow "squeaks" as you drive on it.
You know it's cold when the snow "squeaks" as you walk on it.
When we tore down the old house and built the new one in 1985, I wanted a wood burning stove for 3 main reasons.
We grew up in a house with no insulation, and various
sources of heat that was warm right next to it such as a kitchen stove we stoked with wood and cobs, and several different radiant heat oil burners, and occasionally mother would turn on the electric oven and leave
the door open to help heat the kitchen.
For heat upstairs there was a vent in the floor you could open/close if you wanted heat to rise into your room.
So I wanted to make sure the new
house had plenty of heating options. One is the natural gas furnace and the other a wood burning stove with blower.
Another reason I wanted the stove was for supplemental heat when the electricity cuts off.
The last reason is I also spent time in Aspinwall with my grandparents, and Louie Ehrichs had a forced air stove that burned coal, wood, cobs, etc.
I remember hearing grandpa rocking the shaker early in the morning to remove the ash and then re-stoke the stove...so I would run down to help - I wanted to rock the shaker arm and I loved
the smell of cobs while stoking the stove.
It originally had a glass window, but as it aged it cracked, so I made a steel plate to replace it.
I heat the whole house without running the natural gas furnace
because of the way I have the basement set up. I have 2 intake vents in the cold air duct return that pulls off the heat and through the furnace fan central air ductwork.
Then I put in 2 exhaust fans in the basement ceiling, one of which is a small squirrel cage fan, and both of them
blow the air from the basement ceiling and up to the living room on the first floor.
This helps to keep the excess heat in the basement moving to the upper level.
The wood I burn is mostly from trees that die or blow down in our windbreak and then I replace them with new trees. The other source is from the city brush pile, where there is an endless source of wood of all kinds...while hardwood trees such as oak and ash are the best source of heat, I burn every type of tree and large branch shrubs.
Now for fun - see if you recognize this sound and what made it...most people have never heard this sound today, but if you are old enough you should recognize the sound -
especially if you grew up on a farm.
A steel 5 gallon bucket.