Life in Cayuga

 I live in a small town.  Actually, I live in the country outside of town, but as I’ve said, my legal address is Utica, MS.  When I say small, I mean really small.  The population in the city limits is about 800.  The population of the surrounding area is about 1,500.  There are a lot of drawbacks to small town life.  We don’t have a grocery store or a pharmacy.  We do have a medical clinic that’s been a godsend.  We, of course, have a Dollar General, and we can pick up a few basic groceries there if need be.  But no real grocery or drug stores    But there are many good things about living in a small town.  We know our neighbors and they know us. When there is a celebration, be it a wedding or a new baby, or whatever it may be, we celebrate together. When there is sickness or a death in the community, neighbors and friends are there to support and help however they can. There’s such a feeling of camaraderie and fellowship...

 I’m sitting here tonight in my warm house, with the lights, heat, and tv on, being very thankful for heat and lights.  A week ago today, we were hit by a devastating ice storm.  There was 1/2 to 3/4 inches of ice on trees, power lines, poles, any surface that was exposed to the elements.  My power went out at 6:45 Sunday morning and was off until 10 am Thursday.  I have an all electric house.  Nothing runs on gas.  I had no heat, no lights, no way to run the refrigerator or freezer.  I have a portable generator that I use to run the freezer and refrigerator and I had prepared and had it ready to go.  But it’s just a temporary fix.   A few years ago, my sister bought one of those huge generators that will come on automatically and power the whole house. She got it after the last ice storm, 5 years ago. My mother was living then and was on oxygen.  We used the small generator to run her oxygen concentrator during the day but we could...