Holy Cow--what a storm
As most of you have heard, we had one big ice storm in Oklahoma. Last Saturday night (Dec. 8) the rain started coming down. When it hit the windshield or ground, it was rain but apparently on the trees and power lines, it hit as ice. This wonderful ice then proceeded to coat the trees and power lines and started snapping them. Our power went off in the night on Saturday night. We heard lots of cracking and popping and woke up to a very cold house and devastation in our yard. There were trees down everywhere. We quickly built a fire and huddled together in the living room (room with the fire). We stayed home from church and I foolishly thought the power would come on anytime soon. It got dark around 5PM and Roy spent the evening calling out the time in 5 minute intervals--oh boy, what a long night!
That night we went to bed--kids sleeping in the living room and Roy and I huddled in our bed. School was cancelled for Monday, and when we woke up, believe it or not, our yard looked worse--more trees down and snapped in half. And of course, still no power. Roy stayed home from work to cut wood for the fire. We got a small generator going to save our meat in the freezers. We got out a propane stove to cook on and boil water for a bath. We all needed a bath after working so hard to keep warm. I still went to bed Monday night thinking "Tomorrow we'll have power."
Foolish thought. We woke up Tuesday morning to more ice, more trees down, and more cold house. By this time, life wasn't fun anymore. I've realized that life without power is hard work. Every morning, I laid in bed (all warm and toasty) thinking "I don't want to get up and get the fire going and figure out what to fix for food and boil water for baths etc." I would not make a good pioneer.
By Wednesday, I'd given up all hope of ever rejoining the 21st again. But at least the storm was over and our yard didn't look worse than the day before. We went to Roy's office (they had power by then) to charge our cell phones and eat out. Most of the fast food places were out of power. Walmart (gasp!) lost power and generators too. The grocery store where Laney works (Reasor's) was the only place near us with generator power. But no flashlights, no wood, and no candles. Fortunately we were mostly well supplied. We went to church on Wednesday night and many people were still without power. The church had power so of course we plugged our cell phones in.
Thursday came--we still didn't see the sun so even in broad daylight, it was still dim in the house. We were boiling water for baths and Lindsey was carrying some into me. She splashed some on her foot and ankle and got 2nd degree burns. We spent the morning in the urgent care--that was my low point.
Thankfully in the evening we received a big generator from our church. It was wired directly in to our house so we could have heat and HOT water--yeah!!! We ran it to warm up the house and freeze the meat but didn't run it constantly because it was EXPENSIVE. I don't recommend generator power as the only way to go. My first thought was "Hey we're saving all this money on electricity" but the gasoline more than made up for that.
Friday--still no power. No school all week. We got really good at card games.
Saturday--still no power and the kids and I went out in a snowstorm to try to pile up some tree branches. The people buying our house are still deciding if they want it based on tree damage and how much clean up we do. (Don't get me started on that subject!)
Sunday--still no power but we enjoyed the hot showers and limited lights. We really enjoyed church--we have a wonderful ward. We spent the 2nd hour of church assessing the needs of people in the ward and really putting service into action.
After church--a glimmer of hope--the power guys were on our road working on the lines. And then. . . . . about 3:30PM we got the word--THE POWER IS BACK ON! We got the generator unhooked from the house and I started a load of clothes and cooked something in the oven.
Electricity is a truly amazing thing and I am so grateful for modern conveniences--this girl is no pioneer. We were blessed during all this experience and learned a lot. I'll blog about that later.
That night we went to bed--kids sleeping in the living room and Roy and I huddled in our bed. School was cancelled for Monday, and when we woke up, believe it or not, our yard looked worse--more trees down and snapped in half. And of course, still no power. Roy stayed home from work to cut wood for the fire. We got a small generator going to save our meat in the freezers. We got out a propane stove to cook on and boil water for a bath. We all needed a bath after working so hard to keep warm. I still went to bed Monday night thinking "Tomorrow we'll have power."
Foolish thought. We woke up Tuesday morning to more ice, more trees down, and more cold house. By this time, life wasn't fun anymore. I've realized that life without power is hard work. Every morning, I laid in bed (all warm and toasty) thinking "I don't want to get up and get the fire going and figure out what to fix for food and boil water for baths etc." I would not make a good pioneer.
By Wednesday, I'd given up all hope of ever rejoining the 21st again. But at least the storm was over and our yard didn't look worse than the day before. We went to Roy's office (they had power by then) to charge our cell phones and eat out. Most of the fast food places were out of power. Walmart (gasp!) lost power and generators too. The grocery store where Laney works (Reasor's) was the only place near us with generator power. But no flashlights, no wood, and no candles. Fortunately we were mostly well supplied. We went to church on Wednesday night and many people were still without power. The church had power so of course we plugged our cell phones in.
Thursday came--we still didn't see the sun so even in broad daylight, it was still dim in the house. We were boiling water for baths and Lindsey was carrying some into me. She splashed some on her foot and ankle and got 2nd degree burns. We spent the morning in the urgent care--that was my low point.
Thankfully in the evening we received a big generator from our church. It was wired directly in to our house so we could have heat and HOT water--yeah!!! We ran it to warm up the house and freeze the meat but didn't run it constantly because it was EXPENSIVE. I don't recommend generator power as the only way to go. My first thought was "Hey we're saving all this money on electricity" but the gasoline more than made up for that.
Friday--still no power. No school all week. We got really good at card games.
Saturday--still no power and the kids and I went out in a snowstorm to try to pile up some tree branches. The people buying our house are still deciding if they want it based on tree damage and how much clean up we do. (Don't get me started on that subject!)
Sunday--still no power but we enjoyed the hot showers and limited lights. We really enjoyed church--we have a wonderful ward. We spent the 2nd hour of church assessing the needs of people in the ward and really putting service into action.
After church--a glimmer of hope--the power guys were on our road working on the lines. And then. . . . . about 3:30PM we got the word--THE POWER IS BACK ON! We got the generator unhooked from the house and I started a load of clothes and cooked something in the oven.
Electricity is a truly amazing thing and I am so grateful for modern conveniences--this girl is no pioneer. We were blessed during all this experience and learned a lot. I'll blog about that later.
Comments
I am just learning the blog thing. I am trying to get one going at kimkimilee.blogspot.com We'll have to keep in touch! Good luck back in the 21st century!
I am just learning the blog thing. I am trying to get one going at kimkimilee.blogspot.com We'll have to keep in touch! Good luck back in the 21st century!