Been Away for a few (icey) days

[68shortstep]

As the topic says.

In our area, we're all victims of a MAJOR ice storm. You may have seen it on CNN or the Weather Channel. First time we ever had one like this here in 30 years, and far & away worst I've ever seen in my 61 years.

80-plus percent of the homes in the immediate North-Central Arkansas area were without electricity (no heat, no lights, no hot or cold water) for 4-plus days. Hundreds of power utility crews here from all over the Midwest - I don't envy those guys their jobs, working out in the real-cold & real-wet, & very dangerous conditions - whatever they earn, it's probably not enough.

Fortunately, we had (cold) public water at my house (at least you could get a drink & flush the commode). At my office, the power (& internet) was just turned back on today --- hot water & a bath tub makes you appreciate the joy of (finally) getting a bath !!! We're sleeping at work tonite.

Thousands --- literally thousands --- of big oak trees just totally shattered & are broken down from the ice load. Sounds like cannon-fire when one of those big old guys gives up & falls from the load. Many of the younger or tougher-trees were pulled out by their roots & fell, root ball & all.

I have a big oak tree limb & a downed power line laying on the ole blue 68-shortstep. Not too bad, I think --- maybe even no damage (it probably really will buff-out). Oh well, it is what it is. At least nothing fell on my house.

Many cars, trucks, & houses were smashed when big trees fell on them. Several houses have burned down when the power was turned back on, or auxilliary heat or generators were not used right, & the fire dept's have had a tough time getting to them.

Photos to follow, when or if can figure out how to get them off my stupid phone. You might know the digital camera wasn't at home when I needed it.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Daaaaaaaaaang!

Glad all of your stuff is OK.

[clay68c10]

Man, that sux. We got just a bit of the ice here and it wasn't fun.
There's nothing quite like a cold-ass shower is there?

[68shortstep]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

There's nothing quite like a cold-ass shower is there?

Cold-ass is right !!! I tried one after waiting three days, & jumped-out.

Those are for the younger & "more-studly" guys, I guess.

One of the ladies who works for us & has waist-length hair said she "just had to try to wash her hair" & dunked her head into a bucket of cold water. She said she sat down (spelled F-E-L-L down) on her butt from the old ice-cream cone brain-freeze & gave up.

[El Jay]

Glad to hear you're okay.
I've been worrying about some kin I have in your "neighborhood"; Carrol County, Rogers/Bentonville area, and up north in Aurora, Mo, that I haven't been able to contact.

Carrol County made the news way out here with the ice storm stuff.

Hang in there, Buddy.

[68shortstep]

Originally Posted by El Jay

Glad to hear you're okay.
I've been worrying about some kin I have in your "neighborhood"; Carrol County, Rogers/Bentonville area, and up north in Aurora, Mo, that I haven't been able to contact.

Carrol County made the news way out here with the ice storm stuff.

Hang in there, Buddy.

Thanks. I feel fortunate & blessed, compared to what some folks have had to deal with.

Regular phone service is out most everywhere from trees & limbs taking the lines down, & cell phone services are pretty much intermittent, at best.

Hope your relatives are OK, too. Probably so, & you just can't reach them for right now. My son lives in Springfield, generally near Aurora, & they got next to nothing out of the storm at all, where he is.

Life goes on. At least we'll have something to tell stories about in the future.

[El Jay]

Originally Posted by 68shortstep

Thanks. I feel fortunate & blessed, compared to what some folks have had to deal with.

Regular phone service is out most everywhere from trees & limbs taking the lines down, & cell phone services are pretty much intermittent, at best.

Hope your relatives are OK, too. Probably so, & you just can't reach them for right now. My son lives in Springfield, generally near Aurora, & they got next to nothing out of the storm at all, where he is.

Life goes on. At least we'll have something to tell stories about in the future.

Thanks. I appreciate your response.

The last I heard from my uncle (Eureka Springs) he was going to check his generator to make sure it had gas & would start.

And I apologize to you for sort of hijacking your thread.

Vaya con Dios.

El Jay

[68shortstep]

No Prob.

Not a hijack far as I'm concerned.

We've all gotta help each other however, whenever.

[rstewart09]

I feel your pain, here is SE Ohio we where without power for 3 days. I bought a small generator the last time this happened and its worth its weight in gold at times like these. I was able to run the refrigerator, microwave, and TV. Could run the water pump if I shut off the other things. I have a wood stove that doesn't get used much but is a life saver in times like this. Had to heat water for the tub on the stove just like they did in the old days. I was sure glad to see the power back on but with the generator things where not to bad.

[72freak]

We were up from Atlanta working (outside) in Louisville when it hit. 2 days later we packed it up and did 35 mph home!

[Boog]

Well hey my friend. I have wondered how ya'll were making it up there. The start of the ice was just above us here in Searcy. Just about all we received was rain while hovering near 32*. While heading south yesterday I saw numerous convoys of power trucks and tree trimming crews headed north.
As expected generators are scarce and at a premium right now for anyone in your part of the state.
Somewhere up there a police chief or mayor was killed by a falling tree while helping clear the roads.
The weather guys got this one right saying it was going to be a bad one, an historic event. They were right. Well over a million out of power through several states.
On the upside, a big oak limb lands on your 68 and no damage? Gotta smile about that.

[big_al_71]

Man I seen it on TV and can relate to being without power for days at a time being that I live in South Florida and we have our share of rainstorms and hurricanes. The only difference is that we are HOT as Hell during the hurricane months....

Hang in there and good luck!!!

[PanelDeland]

Glad things are starting back to normal.Hope it stays with the warming trend for a few days.On the pics just e- mail them to yourself from the phone.

[68 short step]

dang, what a time you had......

[LEEVON]

I feel your pain 68shortstep, that was alot of ice! It seemed like it just rained ice for 2 days straight. I gotta hand it to the electric COOP though, we only lost power for 1 day. Their offices even had to be relocated to a hotel and they were still on the ball. I heard many reports of early repairs that were wrecked by more ice too causing double-work. The friends we stayed with have family near Deere, Arkansas and they called to say that all of the power poles on their main road had broken, and they just bulldozed them up into a pile, lines and all!

My daily driver was under about 4-5 inches of ice and sleet from Tuesday until yesterday (57 degrees!). At least I had the wife's Tahoe in the garage.

Sounds like Kentucky got the worst of it though...700,000 without power.

For me cold showers = NO SHOWERS

Hey El Jay - Rogers/Bentonville is pretty much back to normal, rural Carrol County might still have some issues and Aurora is fine too. With the big warm up things are moving quickly.

big al - We lived in Miami from '02 - '07 and I wouldn't trade this stuff for hurricanes any day. Wilma, Katrina, Rita, they all sucked.

[El Jay]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

I feel your pain 68shortstep, that was alot of ice! It seemed like it just rained ice for 2 days straight. I gotta hand it to the electric COOP though, we only lost power for 1 day. Their offices even had to be relocated to a hotel and they were still on the ball. I heard many reports of early repairs that were wrecked by more ice too causing double-work. The friends we stayed with have family near Deere, Arkansas and they called to say that all of the power poles on their main road had broken, and they just bulldozed them up into a pile, lines and all!

My daily driver was under about 4-5 inches of ice and sleet from Tuesday until yesterday (57 degrees!). At least I had the wife's Tahoe in the garage.

Sounds like Kentucky got the worst of it though...700,000 without power.

For me cold showers = NO SHOWERS

Hey El Jay - Rogers/Bentonville is pretty much back to normal, rural Carrol County might still have some issues and Aurora is fine too. With the big warm up things are moving quickly.

big al - We lived in Miami from '02 - '07 and I wouldn't trade this stuff for hurricanes any day. Wilma, Katrina, Rita, they all sucked.

Thank you, Sir. I appreciate that.