First of all, we’re pretty much back to normal here. We got power back night before last, with it being off somewhere over 30 hours. We lost water pressure some time on Saturday afternoon when we went to Little Rock. Yesterday evening, we started getting water back after 8 PM — just a trickle at first as the whole system in our area had to fill and pressurize.
Even though we live in the country, we are on a public water supply system. The system serves parts of three counties. We signed up for it when it first went in back in the 80s. We had been having problems with our well pump and the water had a lot of minerals, including iron which tended to stain things. When we went on public water, we had talked about installing a new pump to make the well available as a backup. However, I had already pulled the pump once and replaced it and every time I’ve thought about doing it again, I soon forgot about it. Since we’ve only lost water pressure once in over 20 years, it’s not been an issue.
Earlier, we discovered another problem caused by the storm. The local television stations are coming in fine over the satellite receiver. However, virtually nothing else is. I did a little trouble shooting and it looks like the dish must have moved a little bit. I’m planning to go up on the roof tomorrow morning before it gets too hot and “re-point” the dish. While I’m at it, I’ll try to get a really strong signal from both of the satellites we receive programming on. After I moved the dish up to the roof last year, the receiver seemed to be more susceptible to the signal getting dropped during storms than it used to be.
Yesterday, before we got water back, we drove into town to go to the gym to get showers after spending part of the day cutting wood and moving downed branches. We took a side trip on the way to town to take a look at some of the damage. Karen took some pictures on the way in and, then again, on the way home.
Not knowing that we would be getting water back, while we were in town we bought some more bottled water. It will be needed, though, even with water pressure back. Until the water company gets satisfactory results from samples sent to the state lab in Little Rock, people who lost water pressure are under a “boil water” order for any water used for drinking or cooking.
We stayed home today and worked on cutting and clearing. We’ll probably do the same tomorrow.
Pictures:
There really is a house behind and under this tree (not ours.)
A lot of trees went down across roads. In most instances, the trees were cleared off the roads by the public.
restarting the chainsaw to cut some more firewood
Maple firewood
day 11
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{ 8 comments }
Wow, lots of work due to that storm. The photos really show the damage, in addition to those of the flying debris. And tornados are supposed to be much stronger than that, even. Scary!
Here, we get a lot of thunderstorms and lightning strikes, and lose power quite often, sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes for hours. I’ve started saving water, a few gallons of distilled for cooking and a few of tap water for washing and flushing. Plus I have a large collection of candles and hurricane lamps.
I’m really glad that you’ve started to add more of your and Karen’s stories, in addition to the photos. It makes it much more interesting and lets us get to know you both a little more.
Wow! I’m feeling spoiled here in NorCal, although we do have earthquakes and supposedly the next big one is due any time now.
.-= Vered – MomGrind´s last blog ..Frosted Cupcakes =-.
I truly admire your attitude.
.-= rummuser´s last blog ..Freedom. =-.
WOW y’all got a lot of damage out yoru way as well. Fortunately we had the Tree Guys out on Monday and the storms came through on Tuesday and Wednesday. If we hadn’t done soem heavy cut back on the tree in the front it probably would have done some serious roof damage or worse fell on the house. Any how all is good here, a few fense are down still power only out for about 8 hours or so.
Looks like the storms have provided you with some fuel for the winter months.
.-= Debo Hobo´s last blog ..Barn Yard Pimpin’ On The Hawaiian Island of Kauai =-.
YOWZER I couldn’t get on your blog yesterday or the day before I attributed it to the power or an interruption in internet service. We have had storms around here that have been pretty bad and I am always amazed when I see tree uprooted like you have in picture 1. Last year we had a terrible storm like that and since we are in a large town, the trees that were uprooted looked like that but with whole squares of sidewalk pulled up too. It’s kind of scary- I don’t envy you.
.-= Michelle Gartner´s last blog ..Guess Who Will Be Working At Your Local Thrift Store Next Month? =-.
Dot – The photos do focus in on the damage. If one were just driving through and wasn’t familiar with the area, it might not be noticed.
Vered – The weather is pretty mild normally where you are, though I do remember seeing snow on Mt. Tam many years ago.
Ramana – Thanks!
Debo Hobo – Yes, we have some more firewood now. We generally only use the fireplace if we lose power and we’ve had more than enough of that this year.
Michelle – I was able to get on just fine, so something was wrong somewhere else.
Yes, it’s always amazing when you see the weather put things someplace other than where they normally are.
The longest the power’s been here, that I can remember, was about 7 hours at the house last fall due to Windstorm Ike. At the office (same town), the power was out for 29 hours or less (not sure exactly when the power came back on). But, in other parts of town and the county, some people didn’t have power for days.
How are the digital signals coming in? We still can’t get one local channel here but, I heard, that they didn’t put up their full-power digital broadcasting antenna until after the switch. I don’t know if they’ve got it up yet or not, but they’re still not coming in.
One important lesson is not to stand under or around a walnut tree during a windstorm.
.-= dcr´s last blog ..Rain & Thunderstorms =-.
We were in Wisconsin when Ike went through, so we missed out on that storm.
We haven’t tried the local signals yet. I got the satellite antenna repointed and, with the new contract job, there is no need to cut back on TV any further than basic plus local.
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