News from the Ice Storm Zone

Just got back online. After the snow started falling on the Tuesday of my last post, later in the day it all turned to freezing rain, sleet, a deadly mix, which lasted into late Wednesday afternoon. January really threw us a going away party this year! I didn't want to attend the party, but was drafted anyway.

We were without power for six days! We managed. This streak broke the '03 record of 5 days. Ice storm hit that year on February 16. This time around, our little road got hit hard with falling trees, tops of trees and limbs. The mail carrier told Hubby our road was the worst on her route although down another smaller side road, they had broken poles including transformers. As of last night, they were going to have to go one more night without electricity. Fortunately, ours came on around 6:30pm.

I have now given Hubby the OK to build the gasoline emergency generator he's been talking about since this type of event,which we thought would be once in a lifetime after the '03 storm, isn't likely the last one, be it ice storms, wind storms or whatever. He has the plan in his head, it just comes down to the $$, as usual, with any extras you want to do of that magnitude. His dad, who lives down the road from us, has a propane generator so they got through fine but now, they will have to have their home heating propane tank filled up because those generators do suck up the propane when in use. You have to be wise on how you use a generator of any kind.

So today, I am catching up on a week's worth of laundry and then some. Getting things cleaned up. It's amazing how things get even with three adults living here! Catching up on my blogs, email, banking, the things I take care of over the course of a normal six day period.

The horses seem none the worse although they did have to drink cold water since the heater went out with the electric. I had to go back to breaking ice for them. I haven't done that in a few years. The last ice storm, I didn't have the horses to think about so they were an added concern this time around.

On one hand it's wonderful to be back in the world, on the other hand, the quiet evenings with our Coleman lantern and radio music in the background were not all that bad. We heated with our kerosene heater and our gas fireplace. Thankful the temps moderated by Friday.

I'll get into how our week went in my next post. We're suppose to get 1-3 inches of snow through Thursday this week. Doesn't surprise me, just proves one more time about my theory that wicked weather travels in 2 week cycles.

My thoughts are with our neighbors down in the Kentucky. As of yesterday, it was reported there are still over 400,000 without power back in the hills and hollers and they may be that way for weeks.