Trying to Reason With an Ice Storm-- Part 6: How to Keep Busy When There's Nothing to Do at Home

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23

I went to Wal Mart and overheard several people talking about not having electricity and that was why they were out "shopping," also to stay warm.  Then I went to Meijer and I heard someone call to me, turned, and it was one of the couples from Midwest Breakfast Company.  Great minds must think alike.  Right?

Returning home, I walked around back to check for damage and sadly saw that one of my clump white birch trees was broken about two-thirds of the way up.  Too bad.  That is a pretty tree.  Plus, there were a lot of limbs down on both pine islands.

Like I said, this is by far the worst ice storm we've had in the thirty years living in this house.

Still no power when I got back to the house, so, what else could I do but take a nap.  I was awakened at 11:30 am when the power came back on. This means lots of resetting items that usually Liz did (and knew how to do).  But now I have to figure it out myself and remember, I'm pretty technologically challenged.  Electricity had been out 17 hours.

Then, there is that computer thing.

Actually, I somehow got it going again.  No idea how, though.

With roads in good shape, I drove over to Bulldog Ale House south of McHenry for their $2 draft beer special.  They have 32 draft beers, including domestics, imports and craft beers.  I like imports and craft beers, but not for $6 to $8, but am like a kid in a candy store at $2.  I tried quite a few different ones (No IPAs though, Yuck!!).

Came home and watched the Thursday TV shows (a favorite night).  Sadly, Wednesday night is also a favorite, but we all know what happened to that last night.

--RoadIce

Trying to Reason With an Ice Storm-- Part 4: The Midwest Breakfast Company

I was happy to find all roads clear of ice both on the way to breakfast and afterwards.

The Midwest Breakfast Company has been mopen about ten years, but Liz and I had never been to it.  It has a great reputation for food and is usually quite crowded.  The only time we did think to go to it, there was too long of a wait to get seats.  

Plus, I understand they are also on the expensive side, but these days all places are expensive.  A breakfast anywhere is costing between $15 and $20 after paying for coffee and the tip.

The place wasn't crowded, but it did have a group of retired men there for a coffee club.  One of them turned out to be the owner.  I told him I was there because I didn't have electricity.  He said he didn't either and that he lived in Orchard Bluff Estates subdivision as I do also.

People continued to come in while I was eating and having several more cups of coffee.  What else did I have to do?  Most of the people coming in were in my boat with no elecricity.

The breakfast was every bit as good as I had heard it would be and really not more pricey than you'd pay anywhere these days.  Price:  $10.50 for Denver omelet, coffee $2.75, tax $1.07 and tip $3.  Just a bit ver $17.  Like I said before, breakfast is expensive these days.

I was kind of hoping to have electricity at home by then.

--RoadIce

Trying to Reason With an Ice Storm-- Part 3: Icy Neighborhood

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2023

I walked carefully out to the truck which was parked outside. The driveway was covered in ice, but part way to the street was clear.  Also, the street did not appear to have any ice on it either.  After some tugging, I was able to get the driver door open and grabbed an ice scraper.

The ice came off in sheets, fortunately,so wasn't as bad as I anticipated.  My long time neighbor across the street walked over and said he was without electricity as well, but had used his fireplace last night and slept by it where they stayed warm.  He said he had heard we weren't getting electricity until Saturday.  I sure didn't want to hear that.  It got pretty chilly last night as it was.

(I had heard that it might be later today or perhaps even as late as Saturday for some.  I found this out on my new smart phone which, of course, being battery operated, was still usable for the internet.  Something I didn't know how to do with the old flip phone I had.)

I was happy to find the streets in out subdivision were perfect.  That is a good thing as we have some hills in the area.  I saw that some of my pine tree limbs were bent and touching the ground.  Quite a few tree limbs down on my way and even a couple trees.

Drove down the hill to US-12 (Rand Road) and saw that the Midwest Breakfast Company had electricity.

Time for some breakfast.

--RoadIce

Trying to Reason with an Ice Storm-- Part 2: All That Real Gone Electricity

Continued from March 2, 2023.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23

That was a miserable night.  No flushing toilets and I had to take a flashlight with me everytime I had to go.  All those shadows.  No washing hands afterwards either. No fun to lose electricity on well water.  The pump is electric.

I was hoping that when I woke up we'd have power again.  We didn't.  And, it was getting pretty chilly in the house.  We have natural gas, but guess what the blowers work on?  No going into the freezer or refrigerator either to make sure food keeps cold.

At daylight I could see that I have some branches down and others hanging on the pines.  It is pretty though with all the ice on everything.  Nature's doing its icing.

I was hungry so decided this would be a great time to go over to the Midwest Breakfast Company in Spring Grove and have breakfast.  It's been here for many years and Liz and I had never gotten over there to give it a try.

I was going to take the Malibu over to it, but it was in the garage and guess what the door opener works on.  Then I remembered I could just go over to the door and pull a chord and it would open.  But, guess what the lights out there work on.  And then, after I opened the door and backed out I would have to get out of the car, penguin walk on the ice back to the garage door and pull it down manually as I wasn't going to leave it open while I was gone.

So, I decided to go out to the driveway and drive the Dodge Dakota.  But, guess what that was covered in.  

--RoadFun

Sure Rained On Our Parade Yesterday-- Part 1: Why We Lose Electricity During Storms

There was a reason I was only able to do two of my seven blogs yesterday and that was  because we had no electricity until a little after 11 a.m. yesterday morning.  The reason for that was a tree taking out the lines coming into the subdivision.  The reason for that being we were having some really bad storms with high winds and lots and lots and lots of rain.

I usually do these blogs in the morning.  No electricity, no computer or internet connection of the old PC.

Before going to bed Tuesday night, I noticed we were having a lot of thunder and lightning with rainstorms forecast.  We sure did have them.  At one point, there was so much lightning that for about ten minutes we had flickering light.  And the thunder was a constant roar.  Rain was pelting the windows hard.

Storms like this usually mean we will lose power.  Well, any storm for that matter, although we had also had a similar storm in the wee hours of Monday morning and kept electricity.

When we bought the lot for the house back in 1992, the builders boasted that storms would not be a problem as all power and phone lines would be buried.  And, they were.   In the subdivision.  But the problem was (and is) that the lines coming into the subdivision are above ground.  And, trees keep falling on them.

And, then we have no power.

Not Finished Yet.  --RoadDog

YOU'RE DRINKING TOO MUCH COFFEE WHEN:  You're so wired, you pick up AM radio.