They're there to track union organizing activity. Seriously.

They protect the company, they won't help you unless subpoenaed.

Local advice is worthwhile in this job & housing market, IMO.

Get a job at a car dealership or tire shop. Porter, cashier, whatever. They are desperately hiring and open 60 hours a week. Befriend a mechanic there and get an "easy sticker" and maybe even learn something new.

For living quarters, try working "night audit" at a hotel. You're the desk clerk for third shift. They might have a room for you, or, if not, at least you're off the streets for the night. Job comes with a computer, use that or your phone to find a better job. There are busy times of the night and quiet moments too. If not night audit, work housekeeping-- they are desperate in that dept too.

When you fill out the sales tax paperwork there is an "allowance for trade" and according to the town hall people you can do this with private parties, not just dealers.

I would just do bills of sale for $500 for each thing, for simplicity. Or you can do the $500 BOS but also do a more elaborate one describing the trades, and if they reject the elaborate one, go with the normal one.

It's gonna get pushed out to Standish. :(

Yup and an oil filled one that "keeps heating after it's shut off" will drag an equivalent amount when it starts off cold.

Which of those two jobs lets you drive the Ghostbusters car though?

Back when we drove Tercels with 13" tires a little sand in the hatchback helped the little bugger dig down through the snow to solid pavement. Don't knock it until you try it.

Yeah cracking faucets is something to do somewhere like Texas where the houses are on slabs with the pipes outside the walls and not engineered for the occasional winter blast.

If you specifically have that one bitchy faucet that needs running, by all means, go for it, but doing it in a traditional Maine house that used to see winters like this all the time is actually inviting trouble. Like what if your septic line freezes but your well doesn't? It could happen.

You don't need water for avocado toast, which is what they're eating, while complaining about your $15 annual incremental rent increase.

Tonight, on the Dukes of Hazzard

It's stealing survival energy from the nearby, nearly dead, Auburn Mall.

It'll make the photos and memes better.

It's in front of a large zebra striped sidewalk where customers meander out of the store and split off in all directions. Motorists get impatient and try to cut the corner to get around those customers.

If you have a hot air furnace, ok. If you have a hydronic (baseboard hot water) system, no bueno.

The oil should have thermal mass to keep on keeping on. It's only going to be super-cold for a day. If you want you can buy diesel anti-gel at an auto parts store and pour it down your fill pipe. I'm not sure how well it would mix, though, unless you maybe pour five gallons of diesel or kerosene after it.

Yup. Some people will put that foam stuff on all the heat piping in the basement to "save energy" but I would only do that near walls or drafts. That piping leaks a little heat to keep the basement somewhat tepid, which is good in the upcoming scenario.

If your thermostat is pre-programmed for a ten-degree drop that pause in the action is when your pipes will freeze. OP suggests to use the "HOLD" feature to prevent this.

Studs or not is a matter of religious debate.

Coasting from 65 to 40 in the middle of the room is a long time and enough time for cold to infiltrate the walls and get to the baseboard pipes.

Don't do the setback, don't try to save energy this weekend. A service call for burst pipes, if you can even get a guy out there, is way more expensive than an extra 10 gallons of fuel oil.

Another vote to not run your car for no reason. If you don't need it Saturday just leave it until Sunday, it'll be fine.

The car itself is the worst way to warm the car up. If you want to do it a favor put a 100 watt incandescent light bulb under the hood.

And shovel snow up against the base of your house for extra insulation. Cover about a foot of siding above the foundation. The foundation/ wall interface is a bad spot for leaks and there are lots of pipes in the basement ceiling area.

That's something once you hear it once you're probably set for life.

Some are frost-free. The valve guts are inside the heat envelope of the building. When you turn it off, the remaining water dribbles out then they're good. More often seen in commercial buildings.

No. They bury the pipe from your well to your basement under +/- four feet of dirt, below the frost line.

This winter has been mild so the frost hasn't gotten very far down, and the snow cover insulates the dirt from the cold air above even more.

Like others said, worry about your basement. Don't use a set-back thermostat, one that drops in temp over certain hours, as the time spent dropping is enough time for your heat pipes to freeze. Get a sliver of ice in an elbow and it blocks flow, thereby stopping your heat dead and making things oh so much worse.

Yes heat is expensive, but for 36 hours this upcoming Fri-Sat, run it at 72 degrees.

We had a "cold winter" ten years back and the city pipes were freezing and breaking, but it was in March, when the frost got down beyond its usual level and got to the pipes. Building codes dictate the "four feet" rule depending on your specific area, including a usually adequate margin of safety.