Ice Storm Pictures

[Ouachita]

I wish I could/would have recorded the local radio programming yesterday. They had a 3 hour impromptu "neighbor helping neighbor", anyone call in and offer to help, sell, give, trade, give advice or information. It was very touching and inspiring to know we are surrounded by great people. Couple people even called in prayed to God, out loud, on live radio! I know that was not PC, but haven't heard anyone complain

 

[Ouachita]

Wish I could post more pictures but the internet service is really slow. The local radio said 90% of rural electric members should have power back by Tuesday. That is good news. During this event, I have had opportunity to meet a couple new neighbors that had recently moved in from up north. They commented about how they moved here partly to get away from this type of weather. They were also very surprised and thankful that they actually have neighbors that come by and check on them. I also visited an elderly neighbor that was doing well with wood heat, but just needed a little lantern oil and help "pulling the string" on his generator.
I do not like these ice storms, but during these times I am constantly reminded that we are not independent. We are interdependent.
We traded some kerosene for some cookies at one place, and a full 20lb propane bottle for a rick wood at another. Then we gave the wood to another neighbor and ate the cookies on the way home. Kids had a real good experience they will remember forever..
We do have a generator big enough to run the fridge and freezers. We can even manage the breakers to operate the well pump, hot water heater, and watch a movie, just not all at the same time. We have done this before and is old hat now. But we still shut that loud sob down at night and enjoy wood heat, lantern light, and cowboy coffee.

 

[Jogeephus]

I feel for you. Stay safe and warm.

 

[Fly-guy]

And people 'round here wonder why I hate trees...

Hate trees? No, I despise ICE. :tiphat:

 

[Bigfoot]

I got a heavy dose of ice last night. It stopped just in time thankfully.

 

[greybeard]

And people 'round here wonder why I hate trees...

Hate trees? No, I despise ICE. :tiphat:

In my area, ice, wind, rain, rot,beetles--they all work on changing trees and limbs from vertical orientation to a horizontal one--and usually land on something. They are evil incarnate.

 

[Fly-guy]

I got a heavy dose of ice last night. It stopped just in time thankfully.

In our little corner of the world it started out as rain, changed to freezing rain briefly then to sleet and finished with a light dusting of snow. We were luckier than our neighbors to the east and I feel their pain. It has been colder than I like around here and I could be interested in going down to the gulf and spending some time with our grandkids. :tiphat:

 

[Beef Man]

I'll take our 30--40 below and snow. Have had similar ice storms here but usually closer to spring, alltho that S.D. storm in Oct. was a distructive wet one. Not many of us live in the country so doe'nt get much publicity when we are out of power.

 

[papavillars]

No power for 49 hours. I have kerosene heaters and an old Dearborn I run on propane. Also the fireplace so plenty of heat, but the lighting situation sucks. I go into a room and automatically flip the light switch. Gas stove , making gravy for breakfast needed more milk and I had left it outside to stay cold. Frozen solid now. Power is back on and glad to be able to use central heat. All is well, power company really stepped it up for all of us.

 

[backhoeboogie]

4 inches of sleet. Put out 8 round bales. Had to pull several people out of the road just to get there. Top 3 inches of bale was an ice mat. Put those 8 mats in the back of the truck and hung them on the gate.

One of the guys I pulled out was from Canada. Told me he had never driven on anything like this before. I just laughed. He was sideways on an over pass with his tires behind the ice dam. He wasn't going forward and he wasn't going backwards. Don't know how he jumped over the ice out of the rut. My guess was too much speed. Put a nylon strap on him and jerked him back into the ruts. His little SUV was bottoming out on the ice dam.

 

[Ouachita]

Still without grid power. Since about 6pm Thursday. Most of town (Swepco) has power now, but rural electric is mostly down. I took another drive today and I don't see how it can be restored in my area before Thursday or Friday. I can't count how many generators and chainsaws I've "fixed" by draining bad gas, cleaning carbs. My kids have been spliting rich pine kindling and we've lost count of how may fires we have built and are tending. My daughter has it all written down who and when we are to check on people. It's not hard to become the neighborhood handyman nowdays with a cell phone, a truck, and a few tools. I've not accepted a dime, but people are so insisting for me to accept something that I have recieved a lot of free meat, and the best part is having secured hunting and fishing privileges on some prime land owned by really nice people. It's been a great experience for my kids.

 

[Ouachita]

Just got power back. Feels good.

 

[skyhightree1]

wow you are gonna have a mess on you alls hands out there. Nice pictures. You will have every tree service company on that side of the country out your way lol. When hurricane katrina came my crew stayed there for 8 months working I wonder how long it will take to clean up yalls damage.

 

[Ouachita]

I have never seen as many out of state power companies and tree service companies in our county. Not even in 2000 which was much worse. But that 2000 storm was much more wide spread, so maybe this being more localized means more outside copanies can devote and concentrate their recources here.

 

[skyhightree1]

Its good you got alot of help out there

 

[Ouachita]

Its good you got alot of help out there

We do and are very thankful. Wife and kids been baking and delivering cookies, coffee, and hot chocolate to the linemen and tree trimmers. They definately earn their money at times like these

 

[Bigfoot]

That's a hot mess man, my heart goes out to ya. Any guesstimate on how many feet of fence you've lost?

 

[skyhightree1]

Its good you got alot of help out there

We do and are very thankful. Wife and kids been baking and delivering cookies, coffee, and hot chocolate to the linemen and tree trimmers. They definately earn their money at times like these

Being a treeman myself those acts of kindness are greatly appreciated when you are out humping all day and someone does that for you. I remember one hurricane here couple years back we had alot of damage and a guy brought his grill out into the powerline right of way we were working in on his truck and cooked us burgers and dogs for lunch. I asked him did he have any trees he wanted trimmed before we moved to the next job and he told me no.. then said but I do have a amtron 99 if I remember correctly a CB antenna he wanted to put in the top of a tree... Needless to say we did that for him.

 

[plumber_greg]

We had one like that in 91, just remember how long it took to clean the pastures, never mind the yard. There is still insect damage to the trees where branches broke off even now. Takes a lot of time, was out of elec for 2 weeks. We were on the end of a line, and I could see the wire down, so we were one of the last ones. gs