Ice Storm

December 11, 2007

The office was closed yesterday due to the ice storm, and Yukon Schools have been closed today and yesterday. I was doing fine at the house, up until last night about 9:30. I had heat, power, and food, when suddenly the power went out. Thank goodness for that cell phone! Also thank goodness for a small battery-powered radio of Nathan’s.

I lit several candles and found a few games to play on my cell phone. I went to bed about 10:30, and slept fine until about 4:30 when I woke up coughing and hacking. I had to get up to eat and take some of that generic mucinex – cough suppressant and expectorant. I was wide awake, of course, so I read a few chapters of Moby Dick by flashlight.

I was planning to curl up and get some more sleep, but I called in to the employee message line at work, and found that the office is open and we’re scheduled to work today. Boo! So, I got a shower by candlelight – I guess my hot water tank still had enough hot water in it for another shower. Thing is, though, I had no way to dry my hair!

I had a couple bowls of cereal for breakfast, then packed up my straightening iron and curling iron for work, along with lunch, and headed out. My car was parked in the garage to keep it from the ice, and of course the garage door operates by electric. How was I going to open the garage door and get to work? No worries; I figured out how to use the manual release. The builder told me about it when I first moved into the house, but this is the first time I’ve had to use it.

The drive down 39th Street was uneventful. I chose not to take I-40 because it can be so unpredictable, especially in bad weather. The work day has been as normal, except that people are dressed down for the weather (not to mention lack of electricity which means no showers).

It was raining this morning (as it has been most of the day), so the temp must be above 32°. I’ve tried calling my home phone a few times, but the message machine isn’t picking up so I guess the power hasn’t come back on yet. It is going to be so COLD when I get home. My poor cat is probably wondering what’s going on. She has knocked down a ball (Christmas ornament) from our tree and was playing with it like a cat-toy this morning. It was so cute!

I emailed my folks yesterday (while I still had power) and sent them pictures of my plants covered with ice, to let them know what’s going on and that we were fine. My brother David called this morning to check on us. Oklahoma City made the national news! It’s the worst ice storm in the state’s history. It’s in the 70s in Georgia. They better enjoy their nice weather; this storm will move east and they’ll be cold before too long!

I’m not worried much, about being cold or out of electricity or whatever. It’ll only be for a few days, and I’ve been through this sort of thing before. Plus, it’s not much different from camping. But you know, of all the camping equipment I have, I don’t have a cookstove or anything like that! We always just build a fire, when we camp. That’s what I need to get – some more camping equipment. Such as, an air mattress or two. And a set of binoculars (an inexpensive set, not like the kind my dad had). And a cookstove or something at least to heat water on.