Categories
Community Weather

OWASA’s advice on frozen pipes

The folks at the Orange Water and Sewer Authority have compiled an extensive list of frozen pipe tips. As follows:

PROTECTING WATER PIPES FROM FREEZING

Let one or more cold water faucets drip slowly to keep water moving and reduce the potential for freezing. A slow drip from a faucet is better than major water loss and property damage from frozen (burst) pipes.

If you have water pipes or hoses in unheated areas (such as a crawlspace, attic, basement, utility room/shed or outdoors), insulating the pipes is prudent, especially if they are cold water pipes. For example, pipes that hold water for a sprinkler fire protection system may need to be insulated if they are in an unheated attic.

Pipes in an unheated area can be protected by wrapping them with electrical heating tape (available at supply stores). However, heating tape should be installed first if pipes are insulated.

If you have pipes inside or close to an exterior wall (such as pipes that supply water to a sink), you can help keep the pipes warm by opening the cabinet if there is one under the sink.

Remove and drain hoses from outdoor spigots. If there is a cut off valve specifically for an outdoor spigot, turn the valve to the off position, open the spigot and drain any water remaining in the spigot and pipe “downstream” of the shut-off valve.

If you have water pipes in an unheated area such as a shed or garage and there is a shut-off valve for those pipes, turn off the valve and drain the water from the pipes by opening the faucet/spigot.

Identify and mark the location of shut-off valves in your plumbing system so you can turn off the water before and during a repair if water freezes in a pipe and the pipe then bursts.

For more information on shut-off valves, please see Shut-off valves can save water, time and dollars on the Maintenance page of OWASA’s Customer Care website section.

If your house or business has an unheated basement or crawlspace including water pipes, you may close some of the foundation vents to help keep out cold air. HOWEVER, IF THE BASEMENT OR CRAWLSPACE HAS A FURNACE THAT USES NATURAL GAS OR HEATING OIL, AND/OR A WATER HEATER THAT USES NATURAL GAS, PLEASE CHECK WITH THE COMPANY THAT INSTALLED OR MAINTAINS THEM ABOUT THE NEED TO MAINTAIN AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF AIR. It is necessary to resolve any safety questions before closing all foundation vents.

IF A HOME OR BUSINESS IS OR WILL BE WITHOUT HEAT WHILE VACANT, DUE TO A POWER OUTAGE, etc., you can do the following to drain water out of the pipes and fixtures to protect them from freezing:
1. If your plumbing system has a shut-off valve, use it to turn the water OFF. The shut-off valve may be in the basement, crawlspace, or a utility room. Houses, etc. built on concrete stabs with no crawlspace or basement may have a shut-off valve in a closet near the front of the building.

If your plumbing system does not have a shut-off valve, you can have OWASA shut off the water at our meter for a fee, or a plumber can do so. Turning off the water at the meter without the proper tool can damage the meter assembly, so shutting off water at the OWASA meter should be done by someone who can do so properly.

2. Post a large reminder or notice that the water is OFF in a very visible place, such as the foyer, living room, main hallway, kitchen, etc. so that you and others who enter the house/building later can know that the water is off.

3. Open all faucets and spigots, including those in showers and bathtubs, to drain water out of the pipes to the extent practical.

The water will slowly drain out from the lowest faucets, which may be an outside spigot, in the basement near a laundry washer-dryer area, or in a bathtub in a house which was built on a concrete slab without a basement.

PLEASE NOTE: The water heater may also be drained of water if its power/fuel source is off, but it is very important to know how to do so safely and to prevent damage to heating elements. If you are not familiar with this procedure, we suggest not draining the heater or getting professional assistance.

4. Leave the faucets and spigots open to drain while the water is OFF. Some water will stay in these pipes and may freeze, but draining the plumbing system will reduce the potential for freezing and damage.

5. Remove the hoses from the spigots or faucets that supply water to your clothes washer and open these faucets. (NOTE: Before you remove the hoses, put a bucket or similar container in place to catch the water that will drain from these spigots.)

6. Flush all toilets at least twice to drain as much water out of the toilet tanks and bowls as YOU can.

7. When the heat is restored, and you are ready to turn to the water back on:

· close the faucets and spigots at tubs, sinks, showers, etc.
· reconnect the clothes washer hoses to the correct faucets, and
· then turn the water back ON by opening the shut-off valve for the plumbing system or arrange to have water turned on at the OWASA meter. Water should then begin flowing to refill the toilets.
· If any water pipes have been damaged, they will leak and could cause property damage, so listen carefully for flowing water after the toilet tanks fill. (Filling a toilet tank may take about 60 seconds.)
· If you hear water flowing after the toilets are full, shut the water OFF and look thoroughly to find any water leaks/damage. If you find leak(s), have them repaired by a licensed plumber or other qualified person.
For more information: OWASA Public Affairs, 919-537-4267 or webmaster@owasa.org.

Categories
Community

Tyson to keynote Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service

Details on the annual rally, march and worship service from our local branch of the NAACP:

CHAPEL HILL – CARRBORO NAACP BRANCH SPONSORS M.L. KING, JR. DAY RALLY, MARCH AND WORSHIP SERVICE

The Chapel Hill – Carrboro Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will sponsor its annual Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Day Rally, March and Worship Service on Monday, January 18, 2010.

The rally will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Peace and Justice Plaza (Franklin Street Post Office and Court Building) in Chapel Hill. Speakers will include representatives of the local NAACP and the UNC-CH branches. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Robert Campbell, President of the Rogers-Eubank Roads Neighborhood Association. The rally will be followed by a March down Franklin Street at 9:30 a.m.

The March will end at First Baptist Church, 106 N. Roberson Street, where a worship service will start at 10:30 a.m. The keynote speaker for the worship service will be Timothy Tyson, Ph.D. Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Dr. Tyson also serves as a Visiting Professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture at Duke Divinity School, and holds appointments in the Department of History at Duke University and in the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina. He received his B.A. from Emory University in 1987 and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1994.

Tyson’s book, Blood Done Sign My Name, won the Southern Book Award for Nonfiction, the Grawemeyer Award from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the Christopher Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Jeb Stuart, a Hollywood screenwriter and director, best known for “The Fugitive” and “Die Hard,” has completed a feature film based on Blood Done Sign My Name, which will be released in February 2010.

Tyson’s latest publication, “Ghosts of 1898: Wilmington’s Race Riot and the Rise of White Supremacy,” a special 16-page section of the Raleigh News & Observer, was distributed to 700,000 North Carolina households and won an Excellence Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Categories
Weather

Cold, cold, cold

Long about 4 p.m. it’s expected be all the way up to 34 degrees.

Categories
Community

Farmers’ Market open on Saturday

Just a reminder that there will be a Saturday market at Carrboro Town Commons from 9 a.m. to noon. What’s there? Here’s the list:

New Items this Week: sorrel, rutabagas, creasy greens, totsoi, dill, cilantro, turnips, beets, beet greens, carrots, cauliflower, celery, sweet potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, chard, radishes, mustard greens, turnip greens, shiitake mushrooms, green tomatoes, sorrel, acorn squash, butternut squash, greenhouse tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, new potatoes, arugula, onions, wheat flour, garlic, salad mixes (spicy and non), collards, fresh herbs, kale, pecans, dried flowers, meats like goat, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, buffalo, and various specialty meats like liverwurst, bologna, hotdogs, etc, cow’s and goat’s milk cheeses, eggs, breads, doughnuts, tortes, pies, cakes, jams, and relishes.

That ought to hold ya.

Categories
The Eater

The Eater on Collards and Oysters

eaterlogo1This month’s column is on collards and oysters:

How do you cook your collards?
Over the holidays, The Eater followed age-old advice not to wade into conversations about religion or politics with relatives, but don’t let that lead you to believe that means Yours Truly has no stomach for controversy.

For religion and politics are topics easily punched out after only a few rounds. Broach the subject of cooking collards, on the other hand, and you’ve got an evening’s debate in the makings.

It is not as simple as cook ‘em long vs. quick braising. There’s the chemistry of butter and pork fat, the timing and quantity of salt, the use of cider or specific vinegars, water vs. chicken broth and the value, or lack thereof, of potlicker to bicker over.

To stir the pot for your New Year’s Day ritual, we’ve launched a collards outreach program to gather insights into various techniques and timings, which we’ll publish on our MILL blog and on The Eater’s new page on Facebook.

Many of us have techniques long practiced and are quite doctrinaire. For those of you still wandering in the desert or open-minded on this sacred Southern tradition, we offer a few thoughts from masters — both pro and am — on the subject.

In his book Seasoned in the South, Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner addresses the length of cooking:

“There are many conflicting opinions on this. To my mind, collards were not made for quick cooking. Undercook collards and you are asking to be strangled; they can’t be properly chewed. On the other hand, overcook them and they will eventually turn to mush. Two hours seems about right, although this might give nutritionists pause.”

Location, location, location
It remains oyster season, and it looks like a good year to be picky. Just like here, it’s been raining heavily at the coast. And since this state is pretty aggressive about closing oyster beds after big rains, there are fewer local oysters available. That means more imports from other areas, particularly the Gulf Coast.

When it comes to shellfish, it pays to do a little research. As with real estate, it’s all about location. Having several years ago experienced a classic rough night following a less-than-savvy shellfish choice, The Eater advises discretion and informed decision making.
Note that there have been some issues already this year. There was a massive recall in early December on Texas oysters out of San Antonio Bay, and some Louisiana oysters are blamed for a nasty evening for about 40 diners at Raleigh’s 42nd Street Oyster Bar.

If you’re looking for them in the shell around here, you’ve got a couple reliable choices for non-Gulf varieties. Tom Robinson has a good steady source for North Carolina oysters for around $4.99 a dozen. Whole Foods has the large Chesapeake’s for $15.48 a dozen and Connecticut Blue Points for $5.88 a dozen.

Categories
The Eater

The Eater asks: How Do You Cook Your Collards?

eaterlogo1A good many replies to a recent inquiry by The Eater on collards.
Here are some of the responses:
Here are the replies The Eater received to the question ‘How Do You Cook Your Collards’

Kevin Callaghan — To start – saute onions in fat. We use bacon fat but any good cooking oil will do. And probably more onions than people think and plenty of salt. Cook for about 10 – 15 minutes. Add red pepper flakes at this point and cook for an additional minute to infuse fat with the heat. Add water or chicken stock (1/4 of the pot that is being used) and bring to a strong boil. Taste liquid for salt. Then add collards. They should fill the pot. The leaves must be unstemmed and chopped – but not too finely. Stir the greens into the liquid and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are becoming tender. Note: fresh, local greens will cook more quickly than larger leaved, commercially grown collards. Remove cover and continue to cook to let water steam out.When greens are cooked to desired tenderness and water is mostly gone, add cider vinegar. You can, of course, not add vinegar and let people add it themselves at the table. Serve hot with cornbread and buttermilk fried chicken! Hope this helps.

Bryon Settle — I remove most of the stem. Rough chop. I actually put in shredded smoked/cured meat of some sort. Chop up an onion, saute until soft. Add the meat. Brown somewhat. Add the collards. Cover with water by about two inches. Here’s where I differ with the traditional cooking method: I boil them for about thirty minutes instead of an hour or more. I like a lot of fat on the meat so I can get that greasy flavor/texture in there. I don’t salt until they’re cooked. The cured meat will usually release a lot of salt. Smoked meat, not so much.

Susan Tice-Lewis — cooking collards does require good ventilation! I love them but they’ll stink up your house…

Gary Phillips — Just like my mama I parboil my greens for a few minutes and then saute them in bacon grease (or olive oil if Ilana is watching) and onions. If I do the vegetarian version I like to crumble some feta cheese over the collards.

Mark Marcoplos — Before sauteeing, boil the greens briefly to take some of the toughness out.

Wes Armstrong — Depends on whether you want a traditional recipe or a apologist’s recipe. I favor the apologists recipes above. Mr. Reibers recipe is good, if you want chiffonade. Bill Smiths is good if you like whole or torn leaves. Formerly, I would have said steam, using the beginnings of Bill Smith’s recipe. However, now I would follow it completely. I enjoy the leaves cooked, not warm and raw.

I am working on a recipe that uses the chiffonade but treats the collards as the base of a seaweed salad recipe.

Something different for a cold day.

Oh, and please don’t use olive oil.

Sally Heiney — Um, I’m carefully studying Bill’s recommendation, but what about the lots of butter part?

Bill Smith — Wilt rough chopped onions in bacon grease in a large pot. Meanwhile, stem and shred collards by hand and wash in hot water. Shake water off collards as you add them to the onion pot. Cover with cool water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, season with salt, crushed red pepper and a ham bone if you have one. Cook until tender but not mushy, usually around a hour and fifteen minutes aftedr they begin to boil, but check.

Holden Richards — a long time that is for sure…

Dave Perry — i ask my mom to.

Amy Collier Elinoff — I cook em with dulse instead of pork, a la Ann Jackson. It works, it really does –

Julie Sneed Moore — with a big ole ham hock.

Chris Riser — Boil together water, a few sliced onions, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper pods (or flakes), a little bit of sugar, and a few tablespoons (at least) of bacon fat. Let all that boil up real good while you prep the greens. If the leaves are big, cut out the stalk/center vein. Chop/slice/whatever. Throw the greens in the … See Morewater, turn down the heat, and cook them til they’re the way you like them – I like them cooked long enough to get the pot likker reduced pretty good and kind of a gold/green/brown color.

Penny Rich — Being a Jew from New York City, who has only been eating collards for about 15 years, I cook them in a big soup pot, olive oil, tons of onions and garlic, salt and pepper. Cook just until wilted – don’t over cook. Right before serving splash with a nice balsamic vinegar. YUM! I love southern food traditions.

John Rieber — rinse ’em and stack ’em up. slice the ribs out. pile the half-leaves on top of each other and slice ’em thin. heat some olive oil in your pan, and throw in a chopped onion and some chopped chiles, or several tbsps of dried red pepper flakes. when the onion’s right, add some form of pig. hocks, bacon. fill pot with water and add collards by the handful. cook until the leaves are soft and the pot likker’s good…an hour at least. serve with pepper vinegar sauce.

Mike Nelson — sautee ’em in a large skillet with garlic, french style. don’t over cook, leave ’em with some ‘tooth’

Bett Wilson Essen — I take a pair of scissors and cut collards into skinny little strips and drop them into whatever I am cooking, ie soup, scrambled eggs, etc. Adds flavor and depth. Yum!

Buddy Kelly — cut ’em long ways, add water & salt, pepper, spices of your choice, big flat pan, simmer on low for an hour, stir every now & then, eat ’em w/ pork & black eyed peas on New Years Day, and hollar @ us when ready !

Categories
Miscellany

The Christmas Truck

Editor’s note: This is an essay by Carrboro resident Mitch Virchick about the old truck he’s decorated for the holidays over the last dozen years.

Truck-2009-7

This being the final year of this truck, I’d forgotten how much it means to me, and it needed a fitting eulogy:

FOR SALE: 1965 FORD F-100 PICKUP. RUNS.

The late Dick Helmold, of Helmold Ford in Raleigh, told me that around 1965 the Ford Motor Company began to use inferior steel in their truck bodies. Weakened the stock, he said. I’m pretty sure he was correct.

More rust than paint, dry-rotten tires, one missing and three mismatched hubcaps, a gas pedal that sticks and brakes that fail (DOT-3 is my co-pilot), no radio, no interior lights, and no heat, but with a three-on-the-tree gearshift and an amusing horn, this heart-breaking truck is difficult to give up, or even to give away. The driver’s door opens only from the inside, so you must enter the vehicle through the passenger side door. Fortunately, the bench seat makes it a breeze to slide across. You may exit via the driver’s door, but please don’t slam the door shut, or the window will fall down the well and I’ll have to take the door panel off to pull it back up and re-engage it with the window knob linkage thingy.

I have owned this dysfunctional vehicle around 18 years. I promise it starts; you’ll just have to be patient. The application of jumper cables is a given, so you will need another vehicle for that, and a little cleaning solvent sprayed in the carburetor helps, as long as you don’t overdo it, because then flames will shoot out of the engine compartment when it kicks over. When it finally does start, the neighborhood children usually stop what they’re doing, because they know that as I crawl up the street in first gear, I’ll be laying heavy on the “ahh-OOOGG-ahh” horn and embarrassing their parents who should by now be inured to this spectacle.

Categories
Weather

The ArtsCenter schedule change

Winter Weather Notice
Friday, December 18
The ArtsCenter will close at 5 p.m. on Friday, December 18, and re-open at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 19. All classes and programming are cancelled during that time.

This evening’s performance of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” also is cancelled. Any ticket holders for tonight’s performance can attend either the Saturday, December 19, performance at 7 p.m. or the Sunday, December 20, performance at 3 p.m.

Categories
Weather

All Orange County offices closed Saturday

Orange County Government Services Closed Saturday

Orange County services typically opened or operating on Saturdays will be closed on Saturday, December 19, 2009 due to the projected inclement weather.

Services closed include the Animal Shelter, Solid Waste Convenience Centers, Seymour Center and Orange County Library (branches).

Orange Public Transportation WILL operate the dialysis route on Saturday, December 19, 2009.

As always, emergency services are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

Categories
Weather

Solid waste centers closed on Saturday

This from Orange County Solid Waste Management folks:

All five of the Orange County Solid Waste Convenience Centers will be CLOSED Saturday December 19 in anticipation of inclement weather causing hazardous conditions. Weather permitting, Convenience Centers will be open as normally scheduled, Monday, December 21, 7:00a.m – 6:00p.m.

Center locations are:
Bradshaw Quarry Road
Eubanks Road
Ferguson Road
High Rock Road
Walnut Grove Church Road

Categories
Weather

Go look outside

The snow band has reached Orange County from Chapel Hill to Caldwell.