You Lie Down With Dogs . . .

[redcliffsw]

You Lie Down With Dogs, You Get Up With Fleas

What many conservatives (true ones) have failed to understand is the bandit nature of both Democrats and Republicans.

The conservatives in the South today perhaps have finally come to understand that the Republican party is the kissing kin of the Democratic party.
-Paul H. Yarbrough

Read on:
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/you-lie-down-with-dogs-you-get-up-with-fleas/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=1a7bdb60-8819-407a-bcd5-ca2d0fd65ed3

[Diane Amberg]

Ah, but dogs can be treated for fleas so the little buggers aren't passed on. Ya see what Cruz tried to pull and didn't get away with? I don't care what party he is, Texas didn't like it at all. Long term politicians have two things in mind... raising money for their re elections and trying not to be primaried.   HA!

[Wake-up!]

Why castigate Cruz? I doubt he lost any sleep over the MSM's slander. Sure, he and dang near every Texan with a huge home insurance policy and access to a private jet probably decided to take a vacation in the Caribbean. That isn't much different than wealthy Americans making the winter trip to Florida every year, is it?

Personally, I don't blame him, I would have done the same if I had his money. What would y'all have him do, stay home, climb a ladder with a blow torch and melt all those frozen windmills one by one? Seriously, what could he have possibly done to mitigate anything if he stayed in Texas, besides freeze his derriere off?

Any locals know if the windmills west of Howard were shut down during our deep freeze, or during the little ice storm we had a week or so before? Now a big story might be if Texas shutdown their windmills as a precaution, not as a necessity.

Quite a bit of historty back there in NewArk, Diane. Any late 1600 homes still standing? Do you live in an older 'hood?

[Diane Amberg]

Yes, there are still a few very old places here. My little area, where the Piedmont rises up from the old flood plain, was carved from cornfields at the edge of Newark. My house was built in 1962, hardly an antique.
My eyes are really getting old! I saw your comment about Cruz and read it ..."Why castrate Cruz?'' . I totally agree, he couldn't have done a thing to make things better, except I guess that it would have made Texans feel they mattered if he stayed and suffered with them.  Now I really feel sorry for those poor people who were taking advantage of the cheap prices, but hadn't read the fine print! WOW!
Our snow is just about gone now and I have snow drops, crocus and early daffodiles  blooming.  We can have huge snows in March, but I hope it's done for the season.
That Texas  mess would have never happened here, at least not to that extent. We do have real winter, but have city back up systems, brine trucks, and snow plows. Have a good weekend.

[Wake-up!]

Hopefully Texans do not attach their self-worth to any politician's actions or ambitions.

I don't follow what the MSM has been saying about the massive cold front that hit down there, but I cannot imagine that extreme cold happening more than once every couple of generations, probably less than twice in a hundred years.

That makes the planning process for such an event very difficult. It's one thing to sit at a desk and outline contingencies that might be needed. It is another thing altogether to approach the State legislature and argue for funding to support a contingency that might not be needed for fifty years.

That's a real rock and a hard place situation for government.

A solution? It probably starts with praticality. Does an average new home need to be 3000 ft2 with two extra bedrooms, three baths, a formal dining room (used three times a year), an eating nook off the kitchen, a den, a study, and maybe a rec room? That is probably 1000 ft2 of marginal use space that is heated or cooled nearly every day of the year (not to mention what it cost upfront to build). How much pressure would downsizing take off the grid? Some analytics people probably have that answer.

I have an acquaintance near Spokane Washington who lives on a 10-acre mini-horse ranch with cross-fenced paddocks, a covered riding arena, a heated barn, and 2700 ft2 of home. He spent 20 thousand five years ago to go solar and be free of the grid. His projected payback on that investment was six years. He has drawn power from the grid only five or six times since installing the solar. Most of the time he produces excess electricity that trickles onto the grid and gives him 'credit'. He hasn't paid a penny for electricity since solar was installed. And that part of the country has single digit temperatures nearly every winter.

It may be a long-term cost effective option for new houses constucted in places like Texas to have independent sources of energy. Solar panels with battery storage would certainly abate the hardship on resdiential areas when the rare cold front moves in. The new home buyer could look at the options and choose according to his or her own risk assessment and financial capability.