Ice may be great to keep the beer cold ... but I've had enough.... :thumbdown:

[MK_(MO)]

Been without power and phones for the last 7 days from ice storm.

Hey....I won a contest... ! Thanks Craig !

I also want to give a big to Vernon on discovering an awesome new site.
Be careful who you share it with... can't wait to see what you get out of there over the years!
Great collection of rings Keith !!

WELL....this has been the week from hell.... ice storm hit thursday a week ago. We still had power but Mary's mother in Springfield didn't and the temps were well below freezing, so we went on a road trip to rescue her. Took 5 hours for a trip that normally takes 1 1/2 hr. Trees and power lines down everywhere... and some roads were very bad. Anyway... we got back home and a few hours later it started to rain hard. It was freezing and before long there was 2" of ice on everything and then our power went out. Over a hundred thousand people without power across Missouri at that time.

I have a generator for the house and we were able to run the pellet stove, some lights, microwave, but no hot water. Within a day or so gas became a problem... you could get to town but nobody had gas. Most of the stations didn't have power and the few that did had huge lines and sold out in hours. I talked to one guy who had driven over 70 miles looking for gas and still hadn't found any.
We ended up siphoning gas out of our cars to keep the generator running.
Night time temps have been about "zero" and only in the teens during the day.
Water and hay was a huge problem for the ranchers around here. I had hay for my horses and my generator will run our well so we were better off than many. I froze my butt off helping chop holes in ponds to get water for the livestock... and it was so cold we had to re-chop them twice each day.

Then 2 nights ago the generator broke down. With temps in the teens it didn't take long for the house to start getting real cold.... I spent most of the next day trying to fix it but no stores were open so parts were un-available... after about 5 hours I did manage to do a temporary repair and get it going but it has been touch and go.
Oh... did I mention that Mary's mom can be mean as a rattlesnake ?

I was really surprized the power came on today because there are still lots of wires down and poles snapped off. Our electric company did a great job... the bad news is they are saying major snow tonight and there is still a lot of ice on the trees so we might not have power for long. We are regrouping today ... I got all the gas cans filled and we all finally got a hot shower. Man... you don't realize how much you depend on electricity until you go a week without it.
Take care everyone !! Hoping to keep power and visit longer later on.

As crappy as this was it was very pretty... here are some pics I took.

Every blade of grass got iced up and it was like walking in a field of porcupines.
[attachment 46244 P1150019.jpg]

At night all you could here were loud bangs and cracks as hundreds of trees were breaking.
I thought this little one made a nice pic.
[attachment 46245 P1150023.jpg]

A pic from in town..you can't really see it but there are power lines down everywhere.
Poles are all leaning and just out of the pic is a tree down on a car.
[attachment 46246 P1160036.jpg]

[attachment 46247 P1150028.jpg]

[attachment 46248 P1160034.jpg]

[attachment 46249 P1180045.jpg]

 

[deathwind1]

Every power telephone line was down--No School--I remember that I never liked going to the Bathroom cause the Outhouse was down hill the ice was over 2 inches thick--Each blade of grass made a Slight raise in the ice and it was used to try to get back up the hill--I was only 12 so it was fun (For a while)It was NO fun dropping your underware and sit on that wood (cold) seat--We did not use toilet paper either (Sears--Montgomery Ward CATALOGS were used for more than ordering from--Wrong Wrong move and you had Paper Cuts where you did Not want cuts--It was Heaven when my father allowed us to Buy Toilet Paper---Out here it is Not called a Ice Storm---It is called a Silver Thaw--Because the cold is trapped on the ground and there is warmer air above and it is trying to thaw if the warmer air ever replaces the ground cold air---How Many Of You Have Used A Outhouse And Catalogs For Toilet Paper????

 

[Bobbie]

n/t

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

None were as bad as what you are describing, but still, everything froze: limbs broke off of trees, powerlines went down, people's shrubbery collapsed, we lost power for 3 days. And anyone knows, if you lose power for more than an hour, its a big inconvenience. I've never seen a place so slow to restore power. One thing's for sure, an icestorm is a worthless piece of weather. Get youself a wood stove and a supply of firewood, for when things get bad.

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

n/t

 

[copperhead]

n/t

 

[MK_(MO)]

<Get youself a wood stove and a supply of firewood, for when things get bad.>
Good advice......
Had been thinking about installing a propane fireplace....but we learned a lot from this storm.
The pellet stove worked great...but what if we hadn't had a good supply of pellets in the garage ?
The same would be true of a propane fireplace... what if you run out... nobody is going to deliver any.
Lots of people around here have kerosene heaters but couldn't get any kerosene when the shit hit the fan.

There are lots of trees and firewood here so it does make sense to install a wood stove.
No matter what happened I could keep it fueled....
but I won't stack that wood as nice as you....

snowing hard now.. hope the power stays on.
HH, mike

 

[MK_(MO)]

n/t

 

[MK_(MO)]

n/t

 

[Craig in Alabama]

n/t

 

[Ed SW Fla]

n/t

 

[Craig in Alabama]

n/t

 

[Craig in Alabama]

n/t

 

[Craig in Alabama]

n/t

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

n/t

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

n/t

 

[copperhead]

n/t

 

[floydandtina]

n/t

 

[charlie (ky)]

n/t

 

[Chris in Hamilton (Canada)]

n/t