Sheltering in Place
Since Thanksgiving Day, we have been in a worsening ice storm. The sounds of large tree limbs breaking have been happening since before dark yesterday. Surprisingly, we still have power (correction: we've had power restored) so I'm spending some time at the computer at an unusual hour. Tonight another round of freezing rain is predicted. Many churches in the area are cancelled for today. Even gravel roads are very slick.
The wind has died down a lot since the storm started. I think that may be the explanation for power lines and poles having been able to bear their ice load today. Our electricity was off for about six hours on Friday. It came back around noon. We have a free-standing gas "fireplace" that does not require electricity and a gas cooking stove, so we can survive fairly comfortably for a while without electricity.
Soon after we moved here, Hiromi bought a generator. We haven't used it yet, but having it in the shed gives us a feeling of security we've not had in the past under similar circumstances. On Thanksgiving morning he filled up his 5-gallon gas can at the Partridge Co-op, knowing that if Partridge lost power their pumps would be useless.
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My dad, at 87 years old, when he heard our church was cancelled, busily started trying to make plans to go to church elsewhere. One by one, he learned that those churches were cancelled too. I hope that maybe it began to soak in that being out and about really was not a good idea. He still gets around reasonably well, but he is less steady on his feet than before, ever since he broke his leg about a year ago in a car accident. The forced inactivity didn't do his muscles any good, as might be expected.
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We had the "mother" of all ice storms on December 10, 2007. That time most people were without power for a week, and we were without for ten days. A few in the area waited for two weeks.
At that time, many trees were so badly damaged that those who were left standing still show strange growth patterns. In some cases, all but the biggest upright branches broke off, so the next year saw only leafy growth clustered closely around the trunk. (Right here--at 6:45 AM--the power went off and stayed off for seven hours.)
That experience in 2007 "schooled" many of us in preparing properly for ice storms. Heat, water, and lights are the basics.
Twice now Hiromi has gone outside to run the cars long enough to melt ice so the doors can be opened with less trouble than otherwise. Both times he had to chip away a good bit of ice to get inside initially.
Our puppy has lots of trouble getting traction when he's bounding around while Hiromi is outside. He's not deterred.
***************
About the same time our power came back on, Linda, in Partridge, lost power for the first time. Dad's had been off since early morning. Shane's place (at the farm) also lost power around 2:00 PM.
Frankly, I'm more surprised that anyone has power than I am at the power outages. Line men must be maxed out. I'm remembering what Harry S. said during 2007's ice storm: "Whatever they've paying those guys, it isn't enough." It's a good thing to think about when the rates seem high.
We're with Ark Valley, a power company (a cooperative, actually) with lines mostly in rural areas. That means there's a lot of line length with comparatively few customers to help maintain it.
***************
The Emergency Communication Center for our county just issued a winter storm warning which extends to noon tomorrow. After that the system that has brought us this recurring winter precipitation will move out of the area. For those to whom it makes any sense, the system is a cut-off low spinning in the SW United States.
***************
I have a pet peeve, which you may choose to skip over if you're not in the mood for listening to pet peeves. It's the use of the word "electric" as a noun. Electricity is the proper term. Electric is an adjective requiring a follow-up noun. Electricity is the noun form. For example: "The electricity went off"--not--"The electric went off." I don't know if it's used incorrectly only by Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking people or not but I know that's where I'm hearing it.
***************
And I'm off to draw extra water in case the electricity goes off again.
The wind has died down a lot since the storm started. I think that may be the explanation for power lines and poles having been able to bear their ice load today. Our electricity was off for about six hours on Friday. It came back around noon. We have a free-standing gas "fireplace" that does not require electricity and a gas cooking stove, so we can survive fairly comfortably for a while without electricity.
Soon after we moved here, Hiromi bought a generator. We haven't used it yet, but having it in the shed gives us a feeling of security we've not had in the past under similar circumstances. On Thanksgiving morning he filled up his 5-gallon gas can at the Partridge Co-op, knowing that if Partridge lost power their pumps would be useless.
*****************
My dad, at 87 years old, when he heard our church was cancelled, busily started trying to make plans to go to church elsewhere. One by one, he learned that those churches were cancelled too. I hope that maybe it began to soak in that being out and about really was not a good idea. He still gets around reasonably well, but he is less steady on his feet than before, ever since he broke his leg about a year ago in a car accident. The forced inactivity didn't do his muscles any good, as might be expected.
****************
We had the "mother" of all ice storms on December 10, 2007. That time most people were without power for a week, and we were without for ten days. A few in the area waited for two weeks.
At that time, many trees were so badly damaged that those who were left standing still show strange growth patterns. In some cases, all but the biggest upright branches broke off, so the next year saw only leafy growth clustered closely around the trunk. (Right here--at 6:45 AM--the power went off and stayed off for seven hours.)
That experience in 2007 "schooled" many of us in preparing properly for ice storms. Heat, water, and lights are the basics.
Twice now Hiromi has gone outside to run the cars long enough to melt ice so the doors can be opened with less trouble than otherwise. Both times he had to chip away a good bit of ice to get inside initially.
Our puppy has lots of trouble getting traction when he's bounding around while Hiromi is outside. He's not deterred.
***************
About the same time our power came back on, Linda, in Partridge, lost power for the first time. Dad's had been off since early morning. Shane's place (at the farm) also lost power around 2:00 PM.
Frankly, I'm more surprised that anyone has power than I am at the power outages. Line men must be maxed out. I'm remembering what Harry S. said during 2007's ice storm: "Whatever they've paying those guys, it isn't enough." It's a good thing to think about when the rates seem high.
We're with Ark Valley, a power company (a cooperative, actually) with lines mostly in rural areas. That means there's a lot of line length with comparatively few customers to help maintain it.
***************
The Emergency Communication Center for our county just issued a winter storm warning which extends to noon tomorrow. After that the system that has brought us this recurring winter precipitation will move out of the area. For those to whom it makes any sense, the system is a cut-off low spinning in the SW United States.
***************
I have a pet peeve, which you may choose to skip over if you're not in the mood for listening to pet peeves. It's the use of the word "electric" as a noun. Electricity is the proper term. Electric is an adjective requiring a follow-up noun. Electricity is the noun form. For example: "The electricity went off"--not--"The electric went off." I don't know if it's used incorrectly only by Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking people or not but I know that's where I'm hearing it.
***************
And I'm off to draw extra water in case the electricity goes off again.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
1:48 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like fun. :)
By
Anonymous, at 11/30/2015
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