It’s cold again and windy. I can attest to that because I spent most of day, when it wasn’t raining, helping a friend fix an underground water pipe.

In olden times, about 4 years ago, it would have been about five minutes after the hole was dug, because you would simply put a rubber-lined saddle clamp over the break and tighten the bolts. The clamps were under $10 bucks, and the hole didn’t need to be very big to install one. As that was obviously too easy, they stopped carrying saddle clamps around here, so we had to enlarge the hole and install a union after cutting the pipe so we could get it on. Hours, it took bloody hours kneeling in damp sand, having to enlarge the hole to get leverage with tools and fit the parts together while hoping we weren’t breaking anything when we put stress on that pipe.

In the midst of that, I had to leave to take someone to an appointment, and then bring them home to get something and take that back to the office. The instructions weren’t clear for the first appointment, but at least that got finished.

The pipe seems to be fixed, but fortunately it is not going to freeze tonight while the pipe is surrounded by wet sand.

Cat blogging will be late because the cats are in hiding from the cold.

Position: 10.6N 127.0E [ 2PM CST 1800 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 24 mph [39 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 195 mph [315 kph].
Wind Gusts: 230 mph [380 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 150 miles [240 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 977 mb.

Currently about 490 miles [785 km] Southeast of Manila.

Came ashore at 4:40AM local [2:40PM CST 2040UTC] near Guiuan on Samar island in the Philippines. It is likely the strongest tropical cyclone at landfall ever recorded.

In addition to the winds, Haiyan was pushing a 20-foot surge before it, and will dump a foot of rain on the islands during its passage. It is moving through warm water with minimal wind shear.

It is expected to retain most of its power as it crosses the Philippines on its way to Vietnam.