A Record Storm
07/10/13 05:14
I ended the last full blog that I posted with a tongue-in-cheek prediction that the blizzard would come, and by Saturday I’d be able to take a kayak to the lake. It didn’t quite work out that way. So here is part of our story.
As the storm began, we were at the church, finishing up some Friday tasks. As the snow intensified, I told everyone that we would be heading home by noon. But we have a bunch of dedicated employees and volunteers, so they wanted to stay and finish the bulletins for Sunday. We finally got everyone on his or her way by 1 p.m. By that time, the snow was coming hard and there were already broken branches in the churchyard. A large branch had fallen on a wire and was threatening to break off a light pole in the parking lot. We decided that there wasn’t much we could do and headed home. Sheridan Lake Road was closed at Catron Boulevard, something that is common in storms. Usually they get the cars that are slipping on the road out of the way and let traffic through, but after waiting 20 minutes we decided to go around by Moon Meadows Road. It was open and we were in a line of cars, so there was no trouble getting to our turn off. There were already two cars stuck in our street and it has a steep hill, so I was a bit uncertain, but there were tracks. I was able to get around the stuck cars, but the snow was too deep and I high centered. After putting the chains on the car, I pulled it into a neighbor’s driveway. I knew the neighbor was not at home and the car would be out of the way of the snowplow, which I thought might come later that day. Trudging home through the deep snow was no problem as we had our winter clothes. I had thought to put coveralls in the car before we left, and we had boots and coats.
We had already heard from a neighbor that the power was out, but we weren’t worried. As the storm whipped into its full frenzy, we could hear the wind whistling and see the trees bent over with the weight of snow and ice. We opened all of the blinds, but the snow was sticking to the windows on all sides of the house and starting to pile up. There wasn’t much to see. Since we had had a late lunch we decided to have a late supper as well. We knew that we had a large amount of soup left over from the previous night. I got out the camp stove and put it up in the garage. We checked to make sure we knew where all the flashlights, spare batteries and other things were and had a pleasant candlelight supper. Later that evening we noticed that the largest tree in our yard had fallen, but there was nothing to be done about it. It had missed the house and deck, so we had no problems. We sent texts to our children that we were OK, made a cup of tea and headed to our warm bed.
I made a joke to Susan about our annual winter camping trip. Since our neighbors have a large motorhome, it was a bit like sleeping in a campground. Between the gusts of wind we could hear the generator of the neighbor’s motorhome running. All else was quiet and very dark.
The storm was mostly blown out by Saturday morning, so I set to work blowing snow. It was heavy going. Just getting the snow blower from the shed in the back hard to the driveway was an adventure. I had to get out the chainsaw and clear a few branches from the fallen tree. But I made some progress. By noon, I had a one-car lane cleared from the garage to the street. I figured that when the snowplows came, I could hand-shovel the neighbor’s driveway and get home with our car. There was no sign of plows. I spent the rest of the day clearing snow from the driveway with a few breaks.
Around 2 p.m. we made phone calls and decided to cancel church. The sheriff still had a complete travel ban for the entire county until 6 a.m. Sunday, which meant that we couldn’t get the church parking lot cleared before time for church. We didn’t know if the church had electricity, but everyone we talked to was still snowed in. Since our landline telephone was out, our cell phone batteries were running low, so I started the pickup and charged the cell phones.
One of the things for which we were imperfectly prepared was the extended power outage. We have battery backups for our main computer, which includes our Internet modem, our phone modem, our server and backup drive. The battery, however only lasted for four or five hours and we still had no electricity. We don’t have a generator. Still not having Internet is just an inconvenience, and with cell phones we could get by without our landline and we could check its voice mail from time to time. Running a car to charge cell phones isn’t efficient, but we had plenty of fuel and it seemed worth it.
It was the first time since we’ve lived in this home that I didn’t finish my shoveling the day after a storm. I went to bed with an eight-foot section of the drive still covered in snow.
Sunday dawned bright and warm with no sign of electricity or the snowplow. The snow had settled so that the snow blower was useless, so I shoveled and carried the remaining snow. I walked down to the neighbors and shoveled that drive, too, so I would be able to easily get the car out when the plow came. Neighbors at the end of the street were working in the street with their 4 wheelers and had gotten an area cleared at the end and a path down to our place. I had to trudge through the deep snow to get down to our car and back, but by that time, the cleared path extended to another house down the hill.
I spent the afternoon cutting up the tree and thinking that we’d have electricity soon because I could see the trucks from the co-op going back and forth. I was tired from the day of hard work and so quit a bit early. Our hot water was running out and I took a mostly cold shower, but got the wood chips out of my hair and we cooked another supper on the camp stove – a big cowboy skillet with beef and sweet potatoes and bits of left over vegetables. Susan had cleaned cupboards and the refrigerator. After supper, I went out to check and the neighbors had cleared enough snow that it looked like we could get out to Sheridan Lake road. It was amazing how much snow they had moved with the little machines. I went down and brought our car up from the neighbors, but we didn’t have anyplace to go. I had just started to charge the cell phones with the car when the yard light went on and I could hear the neighbors yell, “We’ve got power!”
It is amazing how many lights there are in the house when the power comes back on. Every appliance has a little LED on it and after setting all of the clocks our home seemed to be full of light even with the overhead lights turned off. Countryside South, the subdivision across Sheridan Lake Road, got electricity at about 9:30.
We had been without power for more than 55 hours.
The bottom line is that we were never cold, never hungry, and never out of touch with family. We had everything that we needed.
And we’ve got lots of stories to tell.
As the storm began, we were at the church, finishing up some Friday tasks. As the snow intensified, I told everyone that we would be heading home by noon. But we have a bunch of dedicated employees and volunteers, so they wanted to stay and finish the bulletins for Sunday. We finally got everyone on his or her way by 1 p.m. By that time, the snow was coming hard and there were already broken branches in the churchyard. A large branch had fallen on a wire and was threatening to break off a light pole in the parking lot. We decided that there wasn’t much we could do and headed home. Sheridan Lake Road was closed at Catron Boulevard, something that is common in storms. Usually they get the cars that are slipping on the road out of the way and let traffic through, but after waiting 20 minutes we decided to go around by Moon Meadows Road. It was open and we were in a line of cars, so there was no trouble getting to our turn off. There were already two cars stuck in our street and it has a steep hill, so I was a bit uncertain, but there were tracks. I was able to get around the stuck cars, but the snow was too deep and I high centered. After putting the chains on the car, I pulled it into a neighbor’s driveway. I knew the neighbor was not at home and the car would be out of the way of the snowplow, which I thought might come later that day. Trudging home through the deep snow was no problem as we had our winter clothes. I had thought to put coveralls in the car before we left, and we had boots and coats.
We had already heard from a neighbor that the power was out, but we weren’t worried. As the storm whipped into its full frenzy, we could hear the wind whistling and see the trees bent over with the weight of snow and ice. We opened all of the blinds, but the snow was sticking to the windows on all sides of the house and starting to pile up. There wasn’t much to see. Since we had had a late lunch we decided to have a late supper as well. We knew that we had a large amount of soup left over from the previous night. I got out the camp stove and put it up in the garage. We checked to make sure we knew where all the flashlights, spare batteries and other things were and had a pleasant candlelight supper. Later that evening we noticed that the largest tree in our yard had fallen, but there was nothing to be done about it. It had missed the house and deck, so we had no problems. We sent texts to our children that we were OK, made a cup of tea and headed to our warm bed.
I made a joke to Susan about our annual winter camping trip. Since our neighbors have a large motorhome, it was a bit like sleeping in a campground. Between the gusts of wind we could hear the generator of the neighbor’s motorhome running. All else was quiet and very dark.
The storm was mostly blown out by Saturday morning, so I set to work blowing snow. It was heavy going. Just getting the snow blower from the shed in the back hard to the driveway was an adventure. I had to get out the chainsaw and clear a few branches from the fallen tree. But I made some progress. By noon, I had a one-car lane cleared from the garage to the street. I figured that when the snowplows came, I could hand-shovel the neighbor’s driveway and get home with our car. There was no sign of plows. I spent the rest of the day clearing snow from the driveway with a few breaks.
Around 2 p.m. we made phone calls and decided to cancel church. The sheriff still had a complete travel ban for the entire county until 6 a.m. Sunday, which meant that we couldn’t get the church parking lot cleared before time for church. We didn’t know if the church had electricity, but everyone we talked to was still snowed in. Since our landline telephone was out, our cell phone batteries were running low, so I started the pickup and charged the cell phones.
One of the things for which we were imperfectly prepared was the extended power outage. We have battery backups for our main computer, which includes our Internet modem, our phone modem, our server and backup drive. The battery, however only lasted for four or five hours and we still had no electricity. We don’t have a generator. Still not having Internet is just an inconvenience, and with cell phones we could get by without our landline and we could check its voice mail from time to time. Running a car to charge cell phones isn’t efficient, but we had plenty of fuel and it seemed worth it.
It was the first time since we’ve lived in this home that I didn’t finish my shoveling the day after a storm. I went to bed with an eight-foot section of the drive still covered in snow.
Sunday dawned bright and warm with no sign of electricity or the snowplow. The snow had settled so that the snow blower was useless, so I shoveled and carried the remaining snow. I walked down to the neighbors and shoveled that drive, too, so I would be able to easily get the car out when the plow came. Neighbors at the end of the street were working in the street with their 4 wheelers and had gotten an area cleared at the end and a path down to our place. I had to trudge through the deep snow to get down to our car and back, but by that time, the cleared path extended to another house down the hill.
I spent the afternoon cutting up the tree and thinking that we’d have electricity soon because I could see the trucks from the co-op going back and forth. I was tired from the day of hard work and so quit a bit early. Our hot water was running out and I took a mostly cold shower, but got the wood chips out of my hair and we cooked another supper on the camp stove – a big cowboy skillet with beef and sweet potatoes and bits of left over vegetables. Susan had cleaned cupboards and the refrigerator. After supper, I went out to check and the neighbors had cleared enough snow that it looked like we could get out to Sheridan Lake road. It was amazing how much snow they had moved with the little machines. I went down and brought our car up from the neighbors, but we didn’t have anyplace to go. I had just started to charge the cell phones with the car when the yard light went on and I could hear the neighbors yell, “We’ve got power!”
It is amazing how many lights there are in the house when the power comes back on. Every appliance has a little LED on it and after setting all of the clocks our home seemed to be full of light even with the overhead lights turned off. Countryside South, the subdivision across Sheridan Lake Road, got electricity at about 9:30.
We had been without power for more than 55 hours.
The bottom line is that we were never cold, never hungry, and never out of touch with family. We had everything that we needed.
And we’ve got lots of stories to tell.