Well, I'm Back

It has been some time. We've been through an interesting time. The first hint of trouble came Monday, January 26 when CNN reported parts of Oklahoma were declared a disaster area due to an ice storm. I watched the radar and could see a huge system stretching from northern Texas all the way to Ohio. There were three distinct bands, the south side of the band was green, rain. The middle section was pink, ice & sleet. The northern band was blue, snow. It was a little difficult to tell which way the storm was moving, it appeared that we might be on the fringe that received rain.

It was not to be. As the storm moved into our area the ice came over us. Just south, perhaps 30 to 50 miles was rain. To the east it rained. We started getting ice build up on Tuesday January 27. I was home because the weather report predicted ice and I did not want to travel cross country in an ice storm. You could see the ice begin to build up on the trees. About noon I heard my first tree branch crack and fall. About every minute or so you could hear a crack, a whooshing noise then a thud. I was watching the storm and we were in a very intense pink band. It became obvious that we were going to be in trouble. I watched the map and we were just buried. At 2:30 PM I was typing a short message to my family on the internet when boom, down went the power. It flickered once then all was quiet.

The first impulse is to wait. Perhaps the power will come on at any moment. In the meantime crraackk, whoosh, crash picked up and became relentless. The crack was the branch or limb breaking. The whoosh was the ice crystals cascading down, and the thud was the object hitting the ground. The house began to cool off, not bad, but no electricity means no cooking, no reading and no nothing. We are lucky, we have propane for hot water, and a small heater in the bathroom. However, we abandoned the house for our daughter Tracy's. She had propane heat and warmth. We spent the first night there.

I had walked the driveway four times clearing limbs so Terry could get up the drive. Little did we know that when we left Tuesday night the worst was yet to come. That's another story.