The Ice Storm Came

This is Keely. I'm writing on my mother's behalf, because they are without power and probably will be for some time to come. I live in town and we still don't have power yet, as of Wednesday morning. Mom and the family are okay. They have wood heat, so they've been bored, but plenty warm. She says that they've lost a lot of branches and limbs out of the trees. It's like 1994 all over again.

According to the Kentucky New Era, around 7500 homes lost power out in the county, and about 1500 homes lost power in town. The news said it may be up to a week before power is restored to everyone. Since they live out in the middle of nowhere, it may be about a week before you hear from Mom again.

There's a Red Cross shelter at one of the churches, for people that are without heat due to the power loss. I'm sure they've gotten a lot of takers. I think there is at least one other one, but I'm not sure where. Also, apparently most of the hotels in town have been full since Tuesday when this all started.

Monday night, it rained and sleeted until about a half inch of ice covered everything early Tuesday morning. Most of the people that I've talked to said that they lost power around 4:00 AM on Tuesday. Tuesday it rained all day. It was only barely above freezing, so some of it stuck onto the pre-existing ice. It continued raining into Tuesday night and then it changed over to snow at about 6:00 Wednesday morning. Many of the people who had already had their power restored on Tuesday lost it again, as well as a lot of other people who had previously had power.

Over all, the Hopkinsville area got about a half inch to an inch of ice, and a couple inches of snow. I don't guess that sounds like much to most of the rest of the world, but here it's been a pretty big deal. There are branches and limbs down everywhere you look, and more than a few trees. I lost one in my back yard. Luckily it missed the house and the power lines. Our neighbors also lost one. It missed their house, but it's all tangled up in the power lines.

Yesterday, when I talked to Mom, she said that there was a tree down across the driveway. The neighbor was trying to push it out of the way, but he decided not to when he heard the rest of the trees creaking and groaning like they may follow it down. She's supposed to work today, so I assume that the tree has been moved.

I hope to get our power back on today. We have gas heat, but it's governed by an electric thermostat. No power, no heat. It was pretty chilly in the house last night, but I didn't want to leave the cats. I think I slept with about six blankets on. It's not so bad as long as you're in bed.

I hope everyone else out there is staying safe and warm. Mom should be back to her regularly scheduled blogging soon. I'll let you know if there are any developments in the mean time.

Ice Storm On the Way

Absolutely horrible forecast

I should title this "The Ice Storm Cometh". It sounds like we're going to have a lot of ice. I hope that our trees don't suffer a lot of damage.

If I disappear for a while, you'll know that we have no electricity. In the two bad ice storms of 1994, we were without power for nearly a week each time.

Forecast from Weather Underground for Hopkinsville

Tonight
Freezing rain and a chance of sleet. Precipitation may be heavy at times. Sleet accumulation up to 1 inch. Ice accumulation around one half of an inch. Lows in the upper 20s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
rain

Tuesday
Freezing rain and a chance of sleet. Little or no sleet accumulation. Ice accumulation around one half of an inch. Highs in the lower 30s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tuesday Night
Cloudy. Freezing rain with snow and sleet likely in the evening...then a chance of snow and sleet after midnight. Minor snow accumulations. Ice accumulation of up to one quarter of an inch. Lows in the mid 20s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 80 percent.

And, from the National Weather Service in Paducah:

A major ice storm is expected in the Tennessee border counties of western Kentucky... as well as New Madrid County Missouri. Two rounds of heavy freezing rain are expected. The first round will begin this evening and continue into early Tuesday morning. Up to one inch of ice accumulation is expected in this first round.

The second round will begin Tuesday afternoon and continue through the night. Another one half to one inch of ice is expected. Total ice accumulations from one half inch to possibly as much as 2 inches are expected.

I'm really hoping for just one-half inch. I'm trying to think positive. It's quite possible that it won't be nearly as bad as it sounds.

Theodore Roosevelt's Autobiography

Recommended reading

I came across Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography in Google Books this weekend, and as I was looking through the table of contents, the chapter titled "In Cowboy Land" caught my eye.

The eloquence of the descriptive paragraphs that open the chapter surprised me.

It was a land of vast silent spaces, of lonely rivers, and of plains where the wild game stared at the passing horseman. It was a land of scattered ranches, of herds of long-horned cattle, and of reckless riders who unmoved looked in the eyes of life or of death. In that land we led a free and hardy life, with horse and with rifle. We worked under the scorching midsummer sun, when the wide plains shimmered and wavered in the heat; and we knew the freezing misery of riding night guard round the cattle in the late fall round-up. In the soft springtime the stars were glorious in our eyes each night before we fell asleep; and in the winter we rode through blinding blizzards, when the driven snow-dust burnt our faces. (From page 103)

If you like stories of the Old West, I think you'll enjoy this true account of real-life adventures. The chapter relates some of Teddy Roosevelt's experiences as a rancher in what is now southwestern North Dakota. He remembered the region and its people with great affection.

As I read, I realized that Teddy Roosevelt had a good sense of humor. I can imagine this scene very well, and his dry remark at the end of the anecdote amuses me.

Most ranchmen at that time never had milk. I knew more than one ranch with ten thousand head of cattle where there was not a cow that could be milked. We made up our minds that we would be more enterprising. Accordingly, we started to domesticate some of the cows. Our first effort was not successful, chiefly because we did not devote the needed time and patience to the matter. And we found that to race a cow two miles at full speed on horseback, then rope her, throw her, and turn her upside down to milk her, while exhilarating as a pastime, was not productive of results. (From page 107)

Roosevelt wrote that, compared to many of the men he worked with, he was not a good roper or an exceptional horseman. However, he didn't mind laughing at himself.

When the camp was only just across the river, two of the calves positively refused to go any further. [George Meyer] took one of them in his arms, and after some hazardous maneuvering managed to get on his horse, in spite of the objections of the latter, and rode into the river. My calf was too big for such treatment, so in despair I roped it, intending to drag it over. However, as soon as I roped it, the calf started bouncing and bleating, and, owing to some lack of dexterity on my part, suddenly swung round the rear of the horse, bringing the rope under his tail. Down went the tail tight, and the horse "went into figures," as the cow-puncher phrase of that day was. There was a cut bank about four feet high on the hither side of the river, and over this the horse bucked. We went into the water with a splash. With a "pluck" the calf followed, described a parabola in the air, and landed beside us. Fortunately, this took the rope out from under the horse's tail, but left him thoroughly frightened. He could not do much bucking in the stream, for there were one or two places where we had to swim, and the shallows were either sandy or muddy; but across we went, at speed, and the calf made a wake like Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea. (From page 120)

Roosevelt's years as a Dakota rancher (1884-1886) followed a great tragedy in his life -- the deaths of his wife and mother on the same day (February 14, 1884).

After Teddy Roosevelt lost many of his cattle in the winter of 1886, he went back east, remarried, fought with his Rough Riders in the Spanish American War, served as governor of New York, served as Vice President under McKinley, and then became President after McKinley died in 1901. He followed up the Presidency with an African safari.

A detailed and interesting timeline of his life can be read at the Theodore Roosevelt Association's website.

Ice in the Forecast

Kentucky has such a talent for freezing rain.

A winter storm watch is in effect for Monday night through Tuesday night. I expect the watch to turn into a winter storm warning sometime tomorrow.

Monday Night
Occasional freezing rain and sleet...and a chance of snow. Ice accumulation of up to one quarter of an inch. No snow accumulation. Lows in the upper 20s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tuesday
Occasional freezing rain and sleet...and a chance of rain. Ice accumulation of up to one quarter of an inch. Highs in the lower 30s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Tuesday Night
Cloudy. Freezing rain and sleet likely...with a chance of rain in the evening...then a chance of snow and sleet after midnight. Ice accumulation of up to one quarter of an inch. Lows in the mid 20s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.

From Weather Underground's forecast for Hopkinsville

The Biannual Checkup

Exhorted to exercise

I am glad this day is over. I've been dreading it for a while, because this was the day I had to go to the doctor to renew my various prescriptions. I had myself in a dither, imagining that my cholesterol and triglicerides would be too high and the doctor would scold me about it.

However, the results from my fasting blood test were not that bad. My cholesterol is significantly less than it was a year ago. The HDL is up and the LDL is down, and the triglycerides and blood sugar are OK.

I haven't lost any weight since my last checkup, but I haven't gained any. The doctor was fairly happy with the blood pressure readings for the last two months that I brought to show him.

The lecture topic of the day was exercise. I reminded the doctor that he had cut a big wart out of the bottom of my foot five months ago and I had only recently stopped wearing a bandade to protect the sore spot. He had a perfect comeback: Who needs to stand for exercise? What about the woman in the wheelchair who works out at the Y?

The doctor's right, of course. I can make lots of excuses -- my foot, work, cold weather, holidays -- but I should be getting more exercise.

Spring begins in February here. It's a good time to develop better habits. Even if I don't feel like going to the Y, I could do yard work on the nicer days or go for a walk. I can even become a mall walker if it's raining or snowing.

When I begin seeing some positive physical results, I might even get self-motivated. Now that would be a real change.