We had our first ice storm of ‘07
Our power was out for 5 days. Over 73 thousand homes and businesses in Oklahoma were without power. 26 people died in related incidents. Emily was out of school for 6 days and just went back today. Millions of dollars of damage was done due to frozen limbs and power lines breaking and roofs caving in from the weight of the ice. Over 5 thousand people are still without power. The Red Cross Disaster relief truck pulled up in front of my house at one time, I didn’t make a noise and just hoped they would go away. I didn’t need anything. Emily and I just broke out the camping gear. Coleman lanterns, oil lamps and lights. We were low on kerosene but we got by just fine. We had about two weeks worth of food or more. We had filled everything we could with water but we never needed it. We had gas and the one gas heater in the living room did just fine. It was kind of boring and we played cards and Emily read her drivers manual by candle light. It never got colder than 17 degrees below freezing so that was really no problem.
We have a lot of tree damage and so does everyone else in our neighborhood, I’m tired of the sound of chain saws, I'm listening to them right now. The top picture is of my driveway when the sleet and freezing rain stopped for a while, the bottom one is of my front yard the next day. Emily had moved her truck out of the way when it started thanks to a neighbor who gave us a warning, that’s probably the first time one of my neighbors actually came in handy. My bother was and still is in the hospital, he spoke today for the first time in 5 weeks. Last week his heart was working at 17 % and his kidneys were functioning at 3 %. His kidneys are still shot but his heart is picking up some and he’s breathing on his own. This is a huge improvement form 2 weeks ago when they were talking about turning everything off and just letting him pass away. God Bless him and bring him home soon. I have hundreds of e-mails to deal with, too bad Spam doesn’t get frozen out. Peace and Health to all.
posted by Chuck at
2:45 PM
11 Comments:
Wow! Great picures, I've never seen so much cold. Glad to hear you and Emily are alright. I was watching the news and Oklahoma was scary -- I thought you might have lost power and that's why you hadn't posted anything. Take care, I've got to go start dinner, be back later.
Hey Chuck, glad you guys made it safe through the storm. We braced for it but luckly just had sleet and rain. Wasn't sure what we would do with the kids if we lost power for an extended time. Two babies and two 3 year olds would have struggled. Great your brother is doing better will be thinking of him hope he does come home soon. You guys take care.
Darren
pleased you are back. praise God for your brothers improvement. look after yourselves.
azcg - yeah it got a little nipply but we were just fine, i think 5 days without tv was the worst thing about it. we were 2 batteries short having enough for the radio, it took 8 c-cells, we'll be ready for it next time, i'm getting a weather radio that cranks up and it has a light, take care.
hey darren - i'm glad the worst of it skipped you, with 3 young ones it would have been difficult, it wasn't so bad for us, emily and i even had fun some of the time, missing 6 days of school didn't bother her any. take care.
shane - cool thing about my brother huh? i've never prayed so much in my life, i'm not ready to let him go just yet, thanks for the well wishes, take care.
That looks like Sweden right about now. I have heard about the power outages and deaths. I am glad that all is well with you and Emily and you atleast had the means and whits about you to survive. I purchased tents and sleeping bags for all of us when we first moved here and they have come in handy on more occasions than I can count. Prayers going out for your brother and an ongoing recovery. Hold on to him.
jerseytjej - thanks for the well wishes, 2 weeks ago it was 15 degrees and 2 days ago it was 60 degrees, the weather is always changing in oklahoma but most of the time it's not too bad. it's always good to hear from you, i hope all is well with you and yours
Oh that looks so cold chuck! We are again on this side suffering from a heat wave of about 40 Celcius, I think it's near the 100's F. And it still don't rain. Glad you guys are ok and your brother is getting a bit better, it will be 'baby steps' the progress.
Take care will ya!
I wondered what was going on. I'm so glad you an Em are ok. 6 days off of school, it had to be pretty bad, ya know. You guys must've pretended you were camping...in the Tundra. I'm really glad to have finally heard from you and I will continue to keep your brother in my prayers, God's will, be done.
Love ya Snookums
went to see my brother today, he's doing much better, he's lost all of his muscle tone and is weak as hell, can't walk yet and has a little trouble sitting up and moving around, said he can probably go home as soon as he can walk, he was a little pissed because they shaved his beard and mustache off, first time i've seen his face in over ten years, thanks afor all of the prayers and well wishes.
This is good to hear, except for the shaving part.
babs - when he feels better i'll tell him that now i know why monkeys have hair on their butts...
to cover up the ugly!
he's had hair on his face for so long i hardly know who he is without it, in fact most of the time i refer to him as, "hair face". the minute he woke up he started growing it back.
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