It was the last full week in January, and Jason and I were planning our final trip to Lubbock before Truett's arrival. After all, I needed to get my hair done, and that is important. The weather forecast suggested we'd have some snow and ice on the 28th, and the city was in an uproar.
These people sure do know how to overreact, I thought.
The weather shop on base said it wouldn't even start to freeze until after 1700 on the 28th. I had an appointment with the OB for 1100, but at 0900 they called to cancel. "Is it already freezing?" I asked. The receptionist assured me it was already quite bad out there.
So I did what any very pregnant woman would do. I immediately thought about FOOD. "If only I had a cinnamon roll..." I said to myself. I started calling Jason at work to tell him it was getting bad out there and I needed him to go to Wal-Mart and stock up on bottled water and non-perishables - and cinnamon rolls - right away! I was afraid to get out on the icy roads and parking lots by myself, what with my altered CG and all.
When Jason finally DID answer the phone, after about the 5th call, 3rd voicemail, and 10th text message, I learned the REST of the base hadn't even shown up for work! He said his office was waiting to be released. By 1100, the power went out the first time...and they still hadn't been released. Finally, the other execs told him to just leave (they obviously knew I was an unreasonable and hungry woman and Jason was about to be persona non grata). So, Jason came home bearing cinnamon rolls. What a guy.
At 1500 that day, the power went out again. We thought for sure it'd be back up before the morning. The last time this happened to us was during the summer of 2008 when we had the non-tornado, and we had power back in 3 hours. But, by Friday morning, the power was NOT back on.
It wasn't back on Saturday morning, either. Or Sunday...or Monday...or Tuesday...
Because the execs qualified as Mission Essential personnel and were required to report to work each day, Jason and his two co-workers set up a shift schedule between the three of them. Pat was the first to head in on Friday morning, and he called to tell us he wasn't even sure we could make it out of our neighborhood. Poles were down and across the road everywhere. The first briefing he received from Command Post was that thousands of poles were down and it didn't look good. Uh-oh, I thought. This isn't going to be a quick fix. Time to hunker down and make the best of it!
The entire town was out of power. Not a single light could be seen! No restaurants, nowhere to buy food or bottled water or gas...nowhere to get warm. Even Wal-Mart was dark. The next closest town with power was Vernon, TX at 30 miles away. We were told by the city to conserve water. Praise God for a gas water heater, but we used it sparingly. The city told us not to even flush the commodes unless absolutely necessary!
We first started trying to stay warm using our ventless gas fireplace. That was alright until the fumes started making me sick. The CO detector never went off, but we decided to play it safe. We used the inverter in the truck to charge the laptop and cell phones. (The laptop so we could watch our Netflix...priorities. :)) Thankfully, it is our habit to fill both vehicles up with gas when wet weather approaches. We were sitting pretty, all things considered.
Our first order of business was to move all of our food out of the refrigerator and to the Smack Fridge. For all the non-Academy types, that means we put it on the porch in the snow to keep it cold. We ate a lot of cereal and milk the first couple of days.
To stay warm in the house, we layered. It was down to below 50 degrees. Because the ground was covered in ice, we never saw the sun - we just got fog from the meeting of the air masses. It was a wee bit depressing! When we finally ventured out of the neighborhood, it looked like a war zone!
All of our friends left on Friday for better climes. Jason still had to go into work every day, so we stayed put. On Saturday, though, we went to Wichita Falls (the roads were clear enough by then) to eat a warm meal, get some propane for the grill, and just to get warm. The reports that kept rolling in made it sound like the power could be on any day.
A truck carrying a huge generator for the Wal-Mart actually TIPPED OVER on its way here. Despite that, they were the first major business to power themselves with generators and provide services to the town.
Then the reports started making it sound like it could be WEEKS until the power was back on. Morale was suffering at the Brown house. On Monday, we succumbed and went to Lawton to buy a generator. It was just a little 5000W job, but it powered some foot heaters for us as well as a few other things.
Finally on Wednesday morning at around 0300, I started to get a little warm in the bed....and I got up and saw Har's nightlight was on at the end of the hall...and WOO HOO! It was already 65 degrees in the house! We had power! We were part of the lucky 40% who received it that early. It would be several more days before the whole city was back. There are still some rural areas without it. The Altus Times reported that we came within an HOUR of exhausting the water supply. (I'm pretty sure that as a pregnant Flynt who was cold for 7 days, that was mostly my fault.)
A week without power sure does make one appreciative of the smaller things in life. Honestly, it was just like being back in CST...but with a softer bed. Here are some pics - enjoy!
Smack Fridge on the back porch
The sun was out for only about 15 minutes on Day 1. We didn't capture it very well, but it made our house look like it was covered in glitter.
After the 15 minutes of sun. This is as bright as it got for about a week.
Crazy coating of ice!
Poor trees.
This is one sleepy - and cold - VW!
The poles on Heritage Road. All the lines were down.
The poles in the city were all snapped in half and on the ground.
Night 1. Not toooooo cold yet.
Still in the 50s on Night 1. Seriously - I thought Dad would show up on our front porch with his toothbrush in hand once he realized how 'blessedly cold' it was in our house! He loves a cold house!
The dishes must be done!
The only light in town: after Wal-Mart got its generator.
Jason cooking us a lovely meal!
Mmmmm!
I can't remember which night this was, but it was COLD. We wore several layers, including hats, at all times!
Perhaps the saddest part of the whole ordeal: when Jason realized his brand new tub of Blue Bell didn't make it.
