Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Lights Are Still Out

So, anyone who has spoken to me in the last week knows this is official, I am incapable of talking about anything other than this massively ridiculous power outage. We had the equivalent of a category one hurricane here in Ohio, thank you Ike, and to say that we're having trouble dealing with the resulting damage would be an understatement. As I mentioned earlier, we are so fortunate to be staying with Matt's parents. I can't imagine living in our house which hasn't had power in a week, despite the fact that tens of thousands of people in this area are doing just that. Mike and Ann are being gracious, wonderful hosts, but I think we'd all agree this has gone on long enough. In our area, at least, the water situation has been resolved, thank goodness.

So how about some pictures?

A huge tree limb down in a yard across the street:

A large limb dangling from a tree at the edge of our yard:

Michael (miraculously in his seat and not screaming) and Harper, chillin' in the yard:

Matt, standing on the spot where we had a huge, rotting tree taken down several weeks ago, please note the proximity to the patio and house. There's no question that Hurrican Ike would have toppled it. We are so darn lucky it was no longer there:

Harper next to the pile of debris from our yard, it extends almost to the stop sign:

Harper and debris from another angle, we talked to the men who came in that white truck, a crew from New Jersey:

The family that picks up sticks together, stays together?

Harper taking a break, apparently picking up sticks is hard work:


We did some clean up today, this after Matt and his dad spent several hours earlier this week dragging all the big stuff out of the yard. Literally anywhere I stood in the yard I could lean over and pick up two handfuls of sticks. Enough tinder and kindling for hundreds of campfires! Earlier this week I actually heard a radio host joke that the firewood salesmen in our area were pretty much out of luck.

One of our neighbors talked to someone from the power company today and was told that it may be well into this week before we have power. Crazy.

10 comments:

MamaK said...

The irony of this is just TOO much! Glad you are staying somewhere with power, though. The worst was after Charlie, 4 of us having a 'sleepover' in my mom's living room, with the doors open for a crossbreeze... sweating, wondering if lizards were coming in, and HEARING our neighbor's generator and KNOWING she had the a/c on!! So buck up, cousins ;)

BTW- I was complaining about Kaden's "in hate with the car seat" thing the other day-- and another mom gave me a tip that's helping. Take off the soft cover- there's some styrofoam padding on the back, but it ends abrubtly before or at the seat curve line. So take some burprags, dishtowels, etc, and smooth out the transition. Apparently where the styrofoam stops hurts little ones (great design, no?). Let me know if you try it :)

Mary O said...

Thank goodness you do have another place to stay until the power is restored. I always think it is the end of the world when the power is out for an hour or two... I can't imagine for a whole week. Especially with small kids to take care of. Hang in there!

Mommy Daisy said...

That is unbelievable. I'm glad you have family you can stay with though. We were at the tippy top of the storm when it passed through. We got a lot of wind, but that's about it. Our friends across town were without power for two days, but that's the longest I heard about in this area. It's just so crazy!

I hope that your power is back on soon. I'm sure you'd love to be back in your own home.

Erin said...

Goodness sweetheart. This is really awful and disruptive. I'm so sorry.

Sometimes when I'm frustrated, fed up with all those things I can't control and that are totally unfair, I do this:
Take a deep breath, look to the sky, and say $#@&!

Liz said...

hey girl - hang in there! i'm glad you have somewhere to go but i am sure you are missing your home. hope they get power restored sometime soon. and i'm glad you got rid of that rotting tree! take care...

Giselle said...

Sorry, but the tree damage just doesn't look that bad. At least not bad enough that you should STILL BE OUT OF POWER???? What the heck is happening out there? Did the electric company get wiped off the map or something. I'm totally frustrated and I don't even live there. I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this. I hope you rejoin the 21st century soon!

Emily said...

My Dad came over here the other day and said that we didn't seem to get hit as badly as you guys did - and from the blog entries from your area, it does seem that way. And I worked for your power company for a summer, and those guys work around the clock when there's a storm, so I can't imagine the enormity of the disaster that is taking this long! That is just so crazy. Hang in there!

Anonymous said...

Thinking of you! Glad you have someplace safe to stay!

Jen said...

We were fortunate to not lose power at all during the storm. We did lose it for 1 1/2 hrs. yesterday when a transformer blew, but I can't imagine being with out it as long as you guys have been. So glad you have a safe place to stay. Hopefully you'll be back home soon!

Laura said...

It's Thursday now as I am writing this and I'm still thinking of you guys and hoping that each day when I stop over to your blog that you're going to have a great report (written from home) saying how wonderful it is that you finally have power. Lady, I seriously don't know how you're holding it together. It's more than wonderful that you have family so close, but Dear Lord, you need your life back to normal. Well-lit-computer-capable-and energy efficient NORMAL! I totally feel for you.

Soon. It's got to be SOON. Hang in there guys!