With plumbing fittings and dumpsters not available due to the severe weather, we moved on to another task. Seems there are trees blocking some trails at the Hudson Woods unit. Bob and I traveled all the trails within the unit and found 5 trees blocking or partially blocking trails. 1st priority was to remove the trees and reopen the trails. Then we returned to complete trimming the trails to facilitate hiking and mowing. Things grow so fast here the trails seem to close up within a couple of years. They have an “invasive” orange plant with 2 inch+ thorns that makes greenbriers and dewberry seem like a mild distraction.

The forecast was for temperatures to get as low as 15F here along the Gulf shore and even colder inland.  We spent some time winterizing the refuge buildings and re-acquainting with shut-offs.  Finding winterization supplies was a real challenge since everyone needed them.  The forecast temps were about right but the added freezing rain/sleet and snow just shut the region down for several days. NO snow removal equipment.  The electric outage started in the middle of Sunday night with the temp around 15.  Stayed below freezing all day Monday and back down to 15F Monday night.  Lots of places started getting really cold really quick.  I even had to get up in the middle of the night and push the generator start button.  Electric was pretty intermittent from Monday thru Thursday.  At one point nearly half of Texas was without power. It warmed enough on Tuesday to expose a couple of frozen/burst refuge water pipes which we patched Wednesday.  We will need some additional fittings to repair permanently but, we restored water to the complex.

Things were really good here based on the Houston and Dallas news reports. Thousands of homes (4,900+ in Houston) have reported broken pipes and the city lost control of water pressure leading to water shortages and boil orders. They are going to be cleaning this up for a year.

As we discussed here in the Volunteer Village, “it is a good time to live in a self-contained RV”.

We finished the removal of (5) boardwalk sections and moved all the scrap materials through the woods near the road, ready for dumpsters.  40 stacks my guess is 3 dumpsters.  We finished the work to date in 16 man-days so far.  Then we spent a week repairing the remaining 600 feet.  It is now ready for the public.  Looking forward to getting the dumpsters and wrapping it up.

One of the larger projects for this season is the removal of another set of degrading boardwalks.  They are quite old and have become structurally unsafe.  Bob(another resident volunteer) and I start efforts and made good progress the 1^st week using a different approach. We are disassembling in place rather than moving sections to the dumpster for disassembly.  Bob came up with a design for a board removal prybar that both expedited the process and saved our backs. The length of the boardwalks is about the same as our earlier project which consumed 27 man-days.  We should be done is about ½ that time using the new approach, even with an additional 1/3 of a mile from the boardwalk to the dumpster for disposal.

As a result of the attack on the capital, the refuge was placed into lockdown for Inauguration week. That limited our work to an area around the office and maintenance shop behind the locked gates.  Work for the week was limited to cleaning and organization of a steel storage rack, flower bed and maintenance building.

Project 2 at the refuge, rebuilding an overwater observation deck damaged when a tree fell on it.  With materials ordered and delivered during the holiday break Bob(another resident/volunteer at San Bernard) and I started on Monday Jan 4.  It took quite a while to gather the required tools and repair trailer lights prior to traveling to the worksite. It took a 6 ½  days but the finished product will be around for many years to come.