Baby It’s Cold Outside

 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 couldn’t at night.  It was hard to get to the medical supply company to get tanks and bottles for nighttime.  After that, Laurin bit the bullet and got the big generator and it’s been a lifesaver.  

Sunday afternoon, she and I got most of the stuff out of my freezer and refrigerator that I wanted to save and moved it to her house. I threw away a lot of stuff that I needed to get rid of anyway.   She had room in her freezer and spare refrigerator.  I packed my bag and moved up there into my old childhood bedroom. After we got power back Thursday morning, I brought all my stuff home.  

Now, that being said.  It was a pain in the ass for me.  It was inconvenient. Not life changing, just aggravating.  But in the grand scheme of things, I was very lucky.  No damage to my house and just a few limbs down in the yard.  North Mississippi, particularly the area around Oxford, wasn’t so lucky. They have almost total devastation. News reports say it looks like a category 2 hurricane hit the town.  They only have about 50% of the power restored. Many roads are still iced over or blocked with fallen trees.  Ole Miss has canceled classes until February 8.  The area around Rolling Fork was hit hard too.  They had virtually 100% of the power out in the county.  Mile after mile of power poles snapped off at the ground.  If you will remember, I wrote about the tornado that hit Rolling Fork a couple of years ago.  They were just getting back to normal after that and now this.  

Once again, I’m asking for prayers, good thoughts, mojo, juju, whatever you have for the people in my home state.  And if you would like to help, you can donate to one of the many relief agencies.  My preferred one is Operation Barbecue Relief.  It’s professional barbecue people who go in and provide free hot meals to victims, first responders, utility workers, anyone who needs a hot meal. But you give to whichever agency you prefer.  

Y’all stay warm and safe!