Adding Insult to Injury

Ok, the sweet people of the Plateau are still suffering from the triple punch of storms we had last week, ending with the crazy ice storm Friday night.   Over 5000 are still without power and then it happened again.   Yup.  It snowed 3" Wednesday night....on top of the slush and black ice on the roads.   So, Jeremy couldn't get out to go to work once again Thursday.   And the local kids have missed 9 school days in a row.

Now trust me, I realize the snow and ice we've had over the last 2 weeks is nothing compared to the 102" Boston has had this winter.   But for our tiny communities with very limited resources, this has been an historic event.   And lest you forget, this is the South, not Vermont where every other pick up truck has a plow attached to the front bumper.   On our hilly roads with steep drop offs, a couple inches of snow puts this area out of commission.    And an ice storm like the one we just had....well, that's just catastrophic.

Our normal winter has a few dustings of snow each year and maybe one event with 2"-3" and then by afternoon it's 50 degrees again and it's all melted.  Instead, we've had bitter cold temps in the teens and twenties, preventing the ice and snow from melting.....and once you add in the ever present wind here on the plateau that takes the temps down to around zero. 

We have friends who are still without power and most have lost all the food in their refrigerator and freezers, including restaurants and local eateries.  Many are running generators to give their families some semblance of normalcy and local food banks and churches are cranking out 1000 meals a day to feed those less fortunate.    When we were in town 2 days ago some stores were still only able to take cash or checks, no credit cards because the internet is so sketchy.


Folks here on the plateau are a hardy bunch and have proven to be most generous.   Volunteer organizations have been busily providing assistance since day one and check on the elderly, drive those who can't to the store to restock food, and neighbor men wielding chain saws are still working to clear roads so the electric company can get in to restore power lines that are still down.   There is a small contingent of National Guard who are also working to clear the roads of downed trees and debris in the northern part of the county.

That brings me to one question?   Where's the cavalry?   Remember the embattled Emergency Manager in Florida who felt she wasn't getting enough assistance from the federal government after a terrific hurricane hit south Florida years ago?   And she asked that on live TV.....where's the cavalry?......Well, I'm shocked that even with a declaration of a level III and now a level II emergency, we have not seen one single power crew from another area.   I realize we are not a major population center, but really?   I'm not complaining, I'm just a little stunned.  


Our local newspaper reported today that 400 men from Volunteer Electric are working in 5-8 man crews for 16 hours a day.   If you saw the devastation we've seen you'd know they have a tall task ahead of them still.  It's one thing to be without electricity in Florida where it gets really hot and sticky when the A/C goes out.   But it's another thing entirely when the power goes off  and you can see your breath inside your home because it's so cold.   That's when it gets a little scary.  That's when people die.


I'm proud as ever to call this area our home and have a renewed respect for the people of the Cumberland Plateau.   Their pioneer spirit and Christian ethic is so deeply imbedded in them that assisting anyone and everyone who needs it comes as a natural calling to them.  Governor Haslam toured our little county this week and said we had wide-spread devastation that could only be appreciated by viewing it up close first hand.

 This weekend our temps are supposed to return to normal......40's during the daytime and 30's at night.     We even have 50's forecast for Monday and Tuesday!    woo-hoo!   The cardinals and other wild birds will be happy, I'm sure, to get on with the business of nest building since Spring is just around the corner.

As for me, I've started dreaming about the veggies and flowers that will soon overflow from our gardens.   Hope it's getting warmer where you live.

Debbie

Chapter Two: Ice Storm

When we last left off, I was out in the car trying to charge our cell phones.   Silly me.   It didn't matter if they were charged because the cell towers were out!  On Saturday and Sunday we could only send and receive text messages occasionally.   Forget trying to get an actual call through, it just wasn't happening.  And now you can see why......

Hmmmm, how's that for a slick sheet of ice?   There was no way we were going to try and walk out on that!  I like my bones and hip joints fully intact, thank you.

And here's the view looking out toward the barn.   Everything was coated with a thick layer of the shiny stuff.  It was pretty to look at but deadly to walk on it.

Now, here's a pic of the really scary part.   See all those white "bumps" on the ice?  Well, those are the ice chunks that the wind was hurtling off the trees and slamming down on the icy earth.   For hours.   While the wind roared.   And the trees groaned.   And limbs cracked and fell to the ground.  The noise was incredible!

Can you see the ice that fell off of the tree trunk on the left side of the pic?   All the trees and buildings were covered with ice on the southwest side as that was the direction from which the winds blew the storm onto our farm.   And the poor bird house on the lower right was drenched in icicles.

We spent Saturday helplessly keeping an eye on the trees around our buildings, praying none of the limbs or trees themselves would crash onto them.   It was time to turn our attention to the inside of the house.   It was cold, cold, cold outside and without electricity to run our heating system, we were losing heat in the house fast.   Thank goodness we have one of these in our living room.

Excuse the truly messy living room, but we had to push my antique sideboard to the right away from the heat of our wall propane heater.   And the leather love seat had to be moved over as well because the heater was throwing off a tremendous amount of heat and making the couch hot.

When we first bought the farmhouse, I was not thrilled with the ugly appliance installed right on the living room wall!   Who would do that, I thought to myself?   My friends all know how much I love to decorate our home and that atrocity just wasn't going to work in my decorating scheme.   HA!   I love that sucker now!   If it wasn't for that little heater we would have been Popsicles.   Jeremy slept on the couch until we got power days later as the living room was the warmest room in the house.  

So, that was how we survived 4 days without power.  Many other folks in our area weren't so fortunate.   We've had at least 9 deaths due to hypothermia since this storm hit.   Really.  Deadly.   Stuff.   By cooking and baking during the day on our antique propane kitchen stove I was able to warm up the kitchen while providing us with yummy food.   We may not have had light, but we sure ate well.

Late Saturday the temps began to rise to 35 and we heard the drip-drip of ice melting off the rooftops.  All night long the temps stayed above freezing and by Sunday afternoon the ice was beginning to relent.   Joel and Jeremy trudged out to the barn, breaking through the ice as they stomped their way across the thinning ice.   Once they reached the barn they were able to break the ice that had built up at the bottom of the garage doors. 

Yea!   A small victory!    Now it was time to see if our "hurricane" generator used during our years in Florida would fire up once again.   Thank goodness my guys are really handy because they coaxed that little monster back to life.   And then they managed to bring it up to our porch, get it running again and run wires into the house to keep our freezers and refrigerator running.   We had a lot of food stored in them and didn't relish the thought of losing it all now.   Especially after all the hard work we put into the pigs! 

Eventually they had all our food stores chilling once again.   Since we never opened the doors of the freezers, everything in there was still frozen solid.   Thank goodness.  We stuffed old towels in the crack of the windows where the wires came into the house and laid a carbon monoxide detector on the kitchen table, just in case.  It pays to be safe, right?

Thanks to Joel's dad, Fred, for all the tools and skills he gifted to Joel over the years.   This old bedraggled piece of 2x4 (Fred probably made this 40 years ago) with 2 electrical boxes mounted on it has been put into service many times over our marriage, and this past weekend we were once again grateful to drag it out of the workshop and use it to safely power a few precious items inside the house.   Thanks again, Fred.

By Monday I was getting a little bit of cabin fever so Joel and I took a short drive to see how what the rest of our area looked like.   Wow!   What a mess.

Just a mile from our farm there were trees strewn across the country road.   One of our neighbors must have gone out with his chainsaw and cut up the tree so cars could pass.   I can't tell you how many trees were across the road as we drove along.   You would see the base trunk on one side of the road and the top of the tree on the other side.....with lots of chopped up wood laying off to one side.

 Sometimes the road would only have one passable lane.

This tree on the right must have been really tall as the tops were spread out over the left side of the road.

And then we started coming across electric and telephone poles leaning like this one was.....and we drove over downed electric lines many, many times.

The tops of some trees looked as though they had been blown off by a bomb.   There was destruction everywhere we looked.

Ka-boom!   Hundreds of trees look like this everywhere we go.

And on and on it goes.

Thank the Lord for the tireless work of the men of our local utility companies.   These guys are working around the clock desperately trying to bring life back to normal.  The governor of Tennessee called out the National Guard to assist with clearing trees from the roads so crews could get in and repair the lines.   Thousands of people are still without power as I write this 6 days after the storm hit.

By Tuesday at lunchtime we were getting ready to eat and our lights flickered on and off and on again.  I was a little surprised that I shed a few tears of joy at the prospect of having lights, hot water and heat once again.   The power clicked off as fast as it came on, but a few hours later we had full power that stayed put.   Yippee!    All I could think about was taking a long hot shower and shampooing my hair.

Our house is at "the end of the line" and we didn't think we'd get power until this weekend because we are so far out of town.   Our neighbors down in the valley, however, were not as fortunate as we were as it took another day and a half for them to have their power restored.  And our friends who live north of town are still without power and have been told it could be days till they get the lines repaired.

So, what lessons did we learn from our experience this last week?   Ha!   A whole house generator has popped to the top of our list of "wants".   Joel is also determined to keep our generator and other essentials in top working order because you never know when you're going to need them. 

We had been shopping for a wood burning stove for our living room and had planned on getting one in March.   That will also be at the top of our list of "wants" because that would have been an excellent source of heat, especially since we have an almost endless supply of firewood right outside our back door. 

Next, what would have happened if the water towers had been unable to pump water to us?   The local authorities asked everyone to conserve their water use as the pumps were working at partial capacity.  With that being said, maybe it's time to have a well and a solar/wind powered pump for it.   Just thinking here......

Thanks to everyone who was concerned for our safety and well being this last week.  We three stuck together and kept warm, dry and fed.   I got a lot of knitting done and the guys read a lot.   I must say I surely do appreciate having lights once again..........and hot water!

Still lovin' it here,
Debbie

One for the Record Books

Yes, that's what the local officials are calling the raging ice storm we all endured Friday night into Saturday.   It's one for the record books.....according to the Cumberland County Emergency Director.  His assessment of our county is that from one end of it to the other "the damage is comparable to an F2 tornado over the entire county.".....and that's over 620 sq. miles.

Volunteer Electric Company announced that 22,634 homes and businesses were without power beginning Saturday morning.  In highly populated states that may not be a big deal, but you need to understand our whole county has only 56,000 people in it, and if you factor that there are probably at least 2 -3 people in each home, that says that pretty much every home in the county was without power.   I have not talked to anyone yet who didn't lose power.

But before the chaos struck, I went outside Friday afternoon and fed the birds again.   We had several bright red cardinals stop by for a quick bite.  They look especially pretty against the backdrop of all that white stuff on the ground.

Friday night we went to bed thinking we'd wake up to a bit more ice on the ground.   Ha!   The storm hit with a ferocious bang and all night long we would awaken to the sounds of something slamming against our house.   It wasn't until the next morning that we discovered 2 sides of our house were completely covered in ice and the banging we heard thru the night was the sound of ice pellets hitting our windows and siding.  I kept thinking one of our huge oak trees in front of the house was going to come crashing down into our bedroom, the ruckus was so loud.

This is the side of the porch we usually use after returning home from shopping.   Ummm, not this past weekend.  The screen door was frozen shut with a thick coating of ice.   Snow blew onto the porch making it a slippery endeavor to walk on it.

But the porch was nothing compared to what we saw when we looked out beyond our house.   The trees and everything exposed to the elements was coated in the thickest ice I've ever witnessed.   It was beautiful to look at, but deadly to walk under.   Why, you ask?   Bah-ha-ha-ha!    Because the winds picked up to 30 mph gusts and the trees were absolutely groaning under the weight of all that ice covering every single branch and twig.  

See how much the trees are bent over from the extra weight?   Now imagine them swinging furiously back and forth in the high winds.   The noise was almost deafening.   The ground was covered in greater than 1/2" of ice, making it difficult to try and walk anywhere off the porch.  

Guess what happened next?   Something I've never seen before.   The wind was breaking the ice on the branches into chunks and they were pelting the ground as though they were being thrown there by some crazed giant.   Hunks and chunks of ice were landing on the frozen snow covered ground and landing with a thud and a crack.   Ice hitting ice.   Very hard.   Very loud.   Very scary.   And the pieces weren't small....nooooo, they were golf ball sized and larger.   Um, yeah.   And that went on for hours.

Needless to say, there was no way Joel could go down to take care of the chickens without taking his life into his hands.  Every once in a while you could hear a swift "crack" and then a loud thud as a branch broke off and landed somewhere in our woods.  It was truly a dangerous situation.

This was the view of our valley the Saturday morning after the storm.   The landscape looks quite beautiful in this still photo, but the wind ripping across the plateau and the loud crack of the ice hitting the ground was unsettling.   We were very fortunate that not very many of our branches broke off, just thousands of twigs lay scattered on the icy ground.

We couldn't open the doors on my car.   Now why, you ask, would you want to do that?  Because I wanted to try and start my car and charge our cell phones.  Yes, we needed to charge them in the car because at 5:30am Saturday morning, our power went out.   It was really quiet and dark in our house as the storm raged around us outside.   And then it started to get really cold in our bedroom.

I'll try and post more tomorrow.   You see, it took me 3 hours to upload these few pics because we just got our power turned back on 24 hours ago.....4 days after it went out......and our phone lines and internet are really sketchy right now.   Our normally barely adequate internet speed has dwindled down to the speed of molasses in January.  

I have a lot more pics to show you, so, stay tuned and I'll do my best to upload them and continue the story of our struggle to stay warm and keep our food cold in the freezers.  Yeah, remember all that pork?   Uh-huh!

More later,
Debbie

Call Me Crazy!

I know, call me crazy, but I love this weather!    Of course, it's only because I know in a week we'll probably be back to our usual mild winter temps of 20's in the mornings and 50's in the afternoons.   So, this little bit of snow and ice is just a taste of Old Man Winter.   Tennessee has such mild seasons that it's a pleasure to enjoy the nuances of each and every one.

As you can see by the tire tracks, Jeremy made it out to work on Thursday (Day Four of the storm).   He said it was a bit sketchy on the two roads leading out to the main highway, but he took it slow and only slid around a little bit.

Even though it was 3 degrees when I woke up the sun came out and shone brilliantly across the landscape.  Everything was sparkling!

We had icicles hanging down from the roof of all the buildings.   This was the back side of my studio that bore the brunt of the ice storm a few days earlier.   At least now my windows were mostly cleared of the coating of ice.

I've been breaking off icicles from the areas where we walk everyday so no one gets pierced by one that drops off during a thaw.

It's so quiet outside....I love walking around the farm and listening to the birds twittering as they swoop in to get some food at their feeder.    Occasionally I'll hear a crow caw-caw-ing or a cow mooing from the fields across the road from us.   It's blissfully peaceful and I can't resist walking our land, even if it means braving below zero wind chills.

Who says winter isn't fun?    If you have the proper clothes and attitude it can be!  I love my super warm coat and gloves.    It's the only way I stay warm enough to wander around taking pictures!

Yesterday afternoon I bundled up and took my camera out to capture the crystal coated trees shimmering in the sunlight.  Unfortunately, these pics can't seem to capture how truly beautiful everything looked.

See how the tall grasses and bushes glisten?   It was so gorgeous to see in person.   Well, besides walking around and taking pics outside, I have been hanging out in my studio.   A few days ago I made a quilt for our daughter-in-law, Dawn.   I didn't want to post about it until she received it in the mail....so here's a sneak peek at it.

When I'm finished posting to this blog, I will do an entire post about the quilt on my other blog.....www.pinkfloridathreads.blogspot.com.   You can go over there in a little while and read more about the quilt.

Thanks for visiting us again,
Debbie

Day Three and Counting

Yes, we're still in the grips of a winter blast.   Monday(Day One) was all about rain freezing as it hit the ground, then sleet came on top of that, then some snow came in as a final insult.   Jeremy made it home sometime after lunch that day as his boss closed down the shop because of travel concerns for the guys working there.   Thank goodness.   The roads were already an icy mess and Jeremy said he slid a couple of times as he made his way home.

Ummmm, yeah, this is what each individual blade of grass looked like coated with ice.

Icy DISH anyone?   Halfway thru the day Monday I measured the ice on the DISH as I broke it off....and it was already at 3/8".....not sure how much thicker it got later on.

Both of our cars had icicles dripping from them.

The poor birds couldn't access the seeds in the birdfeeder as it was simply drenched in ice and icicles.

And this is what our valley looked like later on in the afternoon.   All the trees and bushes were sparkling in the brief bit of sunlight breaking through the clouds.

Yesterday(Day Two) none of us went anywhere.   We woke up to an icy winter wonderland.   All the rain from Monday couldn't penetrate the frozen ground and the sleet topped off that mess.   By the end of the day we had at least 1/2" of ice frozen on every surface outdoors.   The cement floor of our pavilion was a veritable skating rink!   And our normally rough gravel lane coming into the farm was as smooth as silk with well over an inch of ice covering the stones.

 Yes, this is our lane.....which is now a narrow, snow covered ice skating rink leading out to the road. 

Jeremy and I went outside in the afternoon and broke the ice off the roof of the bird feeder so we could reload it with food for our feathered friends.   They were so grateful and we've seen birds darting down to the feeder from the trees above ever since.  I love watching these birds every morning as they scurry around picking up seeds.

When the sun peeked out from the heavy cloud layer, some of the icicles began to do a slow drip-drip, trying their best to melt.   Ha!   It wasn't long, though, before the sun set behind the ridge across from our farm and everything froze up solid once again.

Can you see the ice covering each and every branch and twig?   It really was pretty to see our woods looking like a crystal forest.

I hope this close up shows you how all the branches are solidly covered with ice!

Remember the icy grass picture from Day One?   Well, this is what it looked like on Day Two.   Still icy only now it's coated in a layer of snow.

 Isn't the arbor pretty draped in crystals?    I almost feel like we are living in a snow globe!

Our entire farm is coated like this.   Whenever the wind kicks up, you should hear the sounds emanating from our woods!   The tree branches are groaning and creaking like you can't believe.   And every once in a while you'll hear a sudden loud "CRACK" and thump as a branch breaks off and lands on the forest floor.

 Ok, I think this may very well be our Christmas card pic for next year!

Today is now Day Three of the storm.   Jeremy still can't get out to go to work and any appointments  we had scheduled have been canceled.   This is how Joel braves the elements to go out and take care of the animals in winter.   First, he has to start warming himself up with a cup of joe....while he hangs out in his insulated bib overalls.   He loves those overalls!

This is what it looks like outside today.   We got more snow overnight and the wind has really picked up.   Our flag is frozen stiff and clings to the pole.   But if you look closely, you can see the snow blowing off of the roof of the barn during one of our wind gusts.

Yup, we're definitely staying home again today.   The snow is supposed to taper off this afternoon and the local weatherman says to expect wind gusts in the 40 mph range.   Hmmmm, that should be interesting.  

We're very grateful we haven't lost power yet like some of our friends have.   I've been baking and cooking on our antique kitchen stove and that helps to keep our home snug and warm.   Yesterday I made homemade mac and cheese and we grilled burgers inside.   This morning our choice was for a hearty breakfast casserole. 

I hope you enjoyed our little tour around the farm during an ice storm.   Tonight the temps are supposed to drop to zero and the weatherman is predicting temps below 20 for the next few days.  I don't think the black ice on the roads will be melting anytime soon, do you?

Enjoying our latest adventure,
Debbie