bill_schubert | Mostly melted (Reply)

I kept the icicles on the roof ledge in front of the cam

Last night

North facing house does not get afternoon sun

The news is filled with what good people have done. There is a story floating around that HEB, our local store chain, lost power while filled with shoppers and told them to take what they had without paying. I tend to believe it.

Another one. An HEB butcher stayed in the store all night long grinding up hamburger meat so the shelves would be full the next morning.

Meanwhile on NextDoor a local soccer tournament was running when the snow started and people from other places were stranded. One guy was on the site asking if he could get some contributions for a single mom who was stuck with her kid in a local motel. He was inundated with offers and drove around doorstep to doorstep collecting specifically gluten free food and bottled water.

People on NextDoor were also the best source of information. When we lost water I went out and asked if I was alone. Sure enough a bunch of others in the area said they were down too so I knew were were not frozen. The larger group collected information and put together the story in the absence of information from the utils who were busy scrambling to fix the problems.

All in all I'd say social media was a win. People were a win. Organizations and governments were out of their league. Again.