The Progeny
The weekend of weirdness
Power went down on Saturday afternoon just after 4, and we got it back 41 hours later, at 9:30 on Monday morning. I think that was yesterday, but everything is still a little strange, time-wise.
I forget just when the freezing rain began, but by Sat. midmorning the lights had been blinking off and on, and I decided we had better get another batch of bread made, if possible.
During the baking the power went off for 2 minutes, then later for 5 or so. I figured the oven was hot enough to finish and it did. Good thing we had Trevor's birthday meal on Friday, since that was the last hot meal we had for a few days.
We were ok food-wise, since I'd gotten extra milk and eggs. Had to put the perishables out in the breezeway to keep cold. Don't think we lost anything in the freezer...I rearranged stuff a couple of times to pack things in-between the frozen applesauce. I did end up tossing some stuff from the fridge.
Iowa really got socked. 60 counties declared under emergency or disaster or something. We were reduced to using the awful little transistor radio for some news and let me tell you, when they estimated possible 2 weeks before power was back up for some people, we were downright depressed.
THANKFULLY, Loren had bought a gas powered generator off of a farmer a year or two ago. He was able to get it going, despite a bad battery. I believe carborator cleaning fluid and mass incantations were used.
In the end, Loren got no sleep that night, but we were able to hook up the furnace to run so as to keep some semblance of heat in the house and prevent the pipes from freezing.
The first night was really somewhat awful in that we didn't know what to expect or if it would really work.
The younger kids came down to the living room and slept cuddled up on the floor and on couches. Kendra and Derek opted for their own beds, the latter of which I piled many extra blankets since his room was facing the wind. Loren and I "slept" (if you want to call it that) in our clothes with extra blankets thrown over the bed.
Such a strange storm! Thunder and lightening, sleet and marble sized hail, all in February. Then about 8 inches of snow the next day.
We were more fortunate than some, who are still out of power. When I finally got some reliable news on TV they said that in our county alone, 450 utility poles were broken or down. When we got the power back, 90 percent of the REC's clients (our Rural Electric Coop) were still without power.
As of this evening's news, around 100,000 Iowans still have no power.
Another storm is forecast for tomorrow, so I baked bread, extra things to go in the freezer and tried to get some supplies that could be eaten without cooking. I came up with summer sausage. Yeah, Ma is not that creative.
Oh well, there is always cold cereal and sandwiches. I also stocked up on paper plates, cups, bowls, plastic-ware, flashlights batteries and candles.
My plan is since we're better prepared, the storm will indeed pass us by.
Our internet provider is having some type of problem and Loren finally accessed his old modem account...which.......is..........s-l-o-w.
I had more stuff to say and was actually giving more details of Trevor's birthday dinner when my internet went down on Friday night.
So basically, I am in deep DEEP blog withdrawal.
Can't mess with all the misspellings so I apologize for those...
We did suffer some damage to a couple of trees and I have pictures but won't post them till we get our real internet service back.
Let me tell you, it is pretty pathetic when people are hunched around a kitchen table with a couple of candles scrounged from the bedroom, listening with rapt attention to a little transistor radio, as if it were one's lifeline to the outside world.
Our phone did not go down, but it's not like we could call up the Drudge Report or CNN.
Ach. It's amazing how wonderful it is to turn a little silver knob at the sink and see water running out.
Also, a working flushable toilet is not to be sneered at.
Loren had had a heart biopsy scheduled for Monday, but had to call and cancel it. It was rescheduled for this Friday....and now another storm approaches. He is considering going up a day early, which would be tomorrow, since he has to get there the night before so as to be there for morning blood work.
All mundane stuff but we wait to see what will happen...
Tweet
I forget just when the freezing rain began, but by Sat. midmorning the lights had been blinking off and on, and I decided we had better get another batch of bread made, if possible.
During the baking the power went off for 2 minutes, then later for 5 or so. I figured the oven was hot enough to finish and it did. Good thing we had Trevor's birthday meal on Friday, since that was the last hot meal we had for a few days.
We were ok food-wise, since I'd gotten extra milk and eggs. Had to put the perishables out in the breezeway to keep cold. Don't think we lost anything in the freezer...I rearranged stuff a couple of times to pack things in-between the frozen applesauce. I did end up tossing some stuff from the fridge.
Iowa really got socked. 60 counties declared under emergency or disaster or something. We were reduced to using the awful little transistor radio for some news and let me tell you, when they estimated possible 2 weeks before power was back up for some people, we were downright depressed.
THANKFULLY, Loren had bought a gas powered generator off of a farmer a year or two ago. He was able to get it going, despite a bad battery. I believe carborator cleaning fluid and mass incantations were used.
In the end, Loren got no sleep that night, but we were able to hook up the furnace to run so as to keep some semblance of heat in the house and prevent the pipes from freezing.
The first night was really somewhat awful in that we didn't know what to expect or if it would really work.
The younger kids came down to the living room and slept cuddled up on the floor and on couches. Kendra and Derek opted for their own beds, the latter of which I piled many extra blankets since his room was facing the wind. Loren and I "slept" (if you want to call it that) in our clothes with extra blankets thrown over the bed.
Such a strange storm! Thunder and lightening, sleet and marble sized hail, all in February. Then about 8 inches of snow the next day.
We were more fortunate than some, who are still out of power. When I finally got some reliable news on TV they said that in our county alone, 450 utility poles were broken or down. When we got the power back, 90 percent of the REC's clients (our Rural Electric Coop) were still without power.
As of this evening's news, around 100,000 Iowans still have no power.
Another storm is forecast for tomorrow, so I baked bread, extra things to go in the freezer and tried to get some supplies that could be eaten without cooking. I came up with summer sausage. Yeah, Ma is not that creative.
Oh well, there is always cold cereal and sandwiches. I also stocked up on paper plates, cups, bowls, plastic-ware, flashlights batteries and candles.
My plan is since we're better prepared, the storm will indeed pass us by.
Our internet provider is having some type of problem and Loren finally accessed his old modem account...which.......is..........s-l-o-w.
I had more stuff to say and was actually giving more details of Trevor's birthday dinner when my internet went down on Friday night.
So basically, I am in deep DEEP blog withdrawal.
Can't mess with all the misspellings so I apologize for those...
We did suffer some damage to a couple of trees and I have pictures but won't post them till we get our real internet service back.
Let me tell you, it is pretty pathetic when people are hunched around a kitchen table with a couple of candles scrounged from the bedroom, listening with rapt attention to a little transistor radio, as if it were one's lifeline to the outside world.
Our phone did not go down, but it's not like we could call up the Drudge Report or CNN.
Ach. It's amazing how wonderful it is to turn a little silver knob at the sink and see water running out.
Also, a working flushable toilet is not to be sneered at.
Loren had had a heart biopsy scheduled for Monday, but had to call and cancel it. It was rescheduled for this Friday....and now another storm approaches. He is considering going up a day early, which would be tomorrow, since he has to get there the night before so as to be there for morning blood work.
All mundane stuff but we wait to see what will happen...
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posted by Ma Hoyt | 7:52 PM
5 Comments:
Welcome back. The blogosphere just didn't seem right with you gone.
p.s. We actually had a dust storm here while you were having your ice storm. Weird.
Hi you two!
*waves enthusiastically towards Texas*
Well, it looks as though Blogger is going to finally force us to switch to Beta.
Last night when I was able to get on, they said I could go to "old Blogger" but only for one time. So apparently last night was "it."
We'll have to save everything just to make sure (Loren's been doing this every week anyway) but I fear we will lose all the comments. Also, I've heard it is rather hard to post pictures on new Blogger.
We'll see. I don't like being forced to do things....
It would probably be a little cumbersome to post using the comment system...heh, heh.
Also, it looks as though this storm will not have as much freezing rain associated with it, and there will be regular rain again before changing over to snow, of which the estimated amount is still uncertain...they've said more snow to the northwest, but I don't know if they mean northwest Iowa in general, or the northwest part of the TV station's viewing area (for which our county might qualify).
Praying that you don't loose power again, for this storm headed our way.
We are gettin rain/sleet as I am writing this. I have posted some pictures on my blog of some of the damage here. We will have alot of tree clean up as soon as it is possible to get into the yard.
Keith has been without power since Sat. too. They all stayed here Sun. and Mon. night. Jessie and Dakoda went to her mom's house to stay till they regain power and Keith will be staying with us.
That is if he can get back here tonight after work.
We got out of school at 1:00 because of the roads here getting icy already. My teacher just got her power back at 6:00 pm last night. She had a generator but that broke down on them too. What a storm.
Take care
Janet in CC
Hey Janet. You folks must have had it tougher than us. Hope you get by better with this storm.
General Information: We'll be switching over to (Stupid) New Blogger in the morning. I was gonna go ahead tonight but SOME-one who shall remain nameless suggested I wait until tomorrow since it will be March 1....
ANYWAY, we are still stuck with modem internet service, and we stayed off the phone ALL DAY to wait for Derek's pro-time to get faxed to the Iowa City doctor and then have a call back concerning his Coumadin dosage...
Naturally no one called, except our church phone tree to say that prayer meeting was canceled.
In the dark of night, Ma braved the not so cold temps and not too terrible wind to go out and rescue the thermometer which was perilously close to falling completely off it's bracket and possibly whacking the window. Seeing it could actually be fixed by with the help of a nail, I traversed my way back across the treacherously icy yard, got the necessary toolish equipment and with the help of my trusty new cheapo flashlight from Wal-Mart, affixed the bracket anew, thereby winning many accolades from the naive young children that were watching through the window.
This is the stuff parents live for.
As of the latest news at 6, this storm will hold the same basic track and types of weather, but with less total moisture and less wind. There has been no precipitation, yet. (10:00 p.m. Wed)
Nevertheless, our county is one of two on the eastern edge of a large block that will be under a blizzard warning for tomorrow.
Oh yes, I'm supposed to take Melinda in for her asthma check tomorrow, and Loren is scheduled to drive up to Mayo after lunch sometime.
Should be fun.
Hopefully, the whole storm might just fizzle out...
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