Freezing here in Aurora

[Terry Beeson]

No power from 1pm yesterday until this morning when I left about 8:30. My first day back at work and now I'm anxious to get home and see if we have power yet. Been off and on all weekend, but this last one seems to be the longest. If it's not on now, it WILL be the longest yet.

Still in survivor mode here...

Any trout streams in south Texas? Florida?

[RiverRunner]

"Any trout streams in south Texas? Florida?"

No, and you've got hurricanes there. Having been in both hurricanes and ice storms, I would rather be in an ice storm. It's a lot easier to keep a house warm without electricity than to cool one off. Having been through Katrina and Ivan, I hope I never see another hurricane.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Terry, Texas is having an ice storm that reaches into Mexico.

Maybe Argentina?

[MTM]

I wish you all God Speed. While we have been subzerro here for over a week we are now starting to warm up. So it will be heading your way. That is about the best I can offer you folk's except a good cup of coffee if you are ever out this way and fishing information.

We got into the 30's today and it felt like the 50's. Spring is on it's way.

There is a trout stream in Mid Texas. Tailwater. I was there one time but didn't fish it. But it is cold there today to. LOL Ron

I looked it up. Canyon Lake, Texas. and the river is the Guadalupe River. Like I said a tailwater. Ron

[Don]

I live rural 3 miles from both Clever and Republic. Still no power since Friday night.

My yard only suffered a few broken branches because the tornado in March topped off my trees pretty good. However, I live down the road from my parents and I had to chainsaw my self back and forth from there several times. It was very dangerous out there Saturday after dark. My parents place looks like a war zone. I sawed them out of their driveway and they left the state until power is restored. I'm fortunate to have friends in Springfield to put me up a couple of nights. A friend loaned me a generator to keep the furnace going while I stay at my parents. I am a fortunate one. A co-worker from Bosnia stated that during the war, they were without heat and electricity for eight months. Again, I am a fortunate one.

Be careful out there. There are still many existing unsafe situations.....Don

[troutchaser]

My neighborhood looks kinda like post-war Bosnia right now.

I heard John Twitty yesterday telling us how there are only 4 feeder lines out of 155 still down and there are 1000 people working on them. I'm a little confused, though. One of those feeders is one block away from me and they haven't even touched it. I think it has something to do with the power pole that snapped 12 inches below the cross beam. It's just hanging there helplessly. Kinda reminds me of the unfortunate lumps of tippet/leader/indicator left dangling in rebar hole on Taneycomo. I just wish I could see some progress there. It would sure make me feel better.

At least it's warming up.

[Wayne SW/MO]

One of those feeders is one block away from me and they haven't even touched it.

They can't turn it on until everything downstream is solid. There may not be anything wrong with the feeder itself, but with what it feeds. There's also the possibility that something coming in from another direction has problems.

Its always tough to have to wait, I know, but they have to stay safe in a very dangerous environment.

They also have to worry about someone hooking up a generator wrong and sending voltage back through a transformer, turning it into 7200 volts for the linemen.

[troutchaser]

Yeah. I know. I don't fault the crews for doing their job correctly and safely. It's just aggravating to listen to Twitty and his rosy, positive "ain't we doin' great" reports. From his tone, I'm guessing his power is on.

If I had 20,000 customers without power, I wouldn't be patting myself on the back quite so openly.

I'm just frustrated. The high tomorrow is going to raise the temps in my house again, but unless I get power, I'm going to lose everything in my chest freezer. It's not like I can just go out and get more venison. I'm spending a fortune on ice to keep the food from thawing, which seems rather ironic, don't you think?

[Flysmallie]

Here is a pic taken from my deck. I think it sums up the gloom that this storm delivered. My whole neighborhood looks like this.

[Terry Beeson]

OK... it's been below 30 degrees in most areas up until today. When the power went out at my house, I took the most important stuff from the fridge and put it in the nice cold garage. No loss. Left the chest freezer closed... no loss. But got power back in time. Another day without power and the freezer stuff was going to the garage or outside in coolers.

Back in 2000 I lived in Texarkana and had a feezer full of meat. After three days without power in sub freezing weather, I opened the freezer in the garage and did not lose any meat. Mother nature saw to it. Was without power over a week... ten days or so?