What a fun ice storm we had!!

[Ed in Tampa]

Many went 21 days and longer after the huricanes here in Florida without power. My brother lost his for 14 days one huricane and about 2 weeks later after he got power lost it again for 11 days.

Unlike you there is little hope for fozen foods, and if power is out in the whole area you might have to drive 50 miles for ice.

Where I live we are on wells and many people have to have lift stations on their septic tanks. So when you lost power you have no water and can't flush.

After 2004-2005 everyone bought generators, and they were selling for a premium. Now after this year and no huricanes the want ads are filled with generators for sale. They are a monster to store.

I usually suffer through a couple of days without power eating really good from everything that was in the freezer. Then I declared a holiday and take a vacation to some place with power.
Ed

[ericolson]

Now that the weather has warmed up a bit and most people have their power back, I'm noticing a lot of generators coming up for sale on Craigslist and the local classifieds. I know they're a pain to store, but we usually get a couple of good tornados ripping through our area every spring. You'd think people would want to be prepared, but lessons always have to be re-learned.
One lessoned I've learned is that the big, propane-fired, whole house generator I had been wanting to have installed is now moving quickly up my home-improvement priority list.
There've been a couple of times over the course of the last week where I've actually thought to myself; "Man, I lived better over in Iraq!" Then I quickly shook the thought from head because, as lousy as things have gotten, there are those that are worse off than me and: I'm not getting shot at.

[rolands]

After 13 days it would be more then irritating to me. I know these guys work long hard hours after the storms, but if the lights are on all around you for some reason they think you are taken care of also and they have moved on down the line. If you don't keep calling them they won't be back. Hang in there.

[ericolson]

After 13 days it would be more then irritating to me. I know these guys work long hard hours after the storms, but if the lights are on all around you for some reason they think you are taken care of also and they have moved on down the line. If you don't keep calling them they won't be back. Hang in there.
POWER!!! Got the power back on yesterday afternoon! Yes! What finally did it was an inside connection with the power company. My girlfriend called her sister whose best friend is a dispatcher with the company. Well, after a little coordination, the friend routed a truck to my area and within twenty minutes had the power up and running for the last 13 homes. A part of me feels bad that we had to do it that way, but the other part of me says, "screw it!" I mean, after five days of calls to the regular operator and getting nowhere, we had to pull out the trump card. Anyway, after cleaning up the mess that our living room had become, I HAD to head over to the shop and power up the machinery, just to hear it all!! Music to the ears. Won't be getting shop time for a while, though. I've still got one heck of a mess to clean up in my yard and three oaks and a hickory that came down that I need to get to my sawyer.