Category: weather

It’s been over a week now and still no electricity.

The total outage is now below 50,000 from a peak of nearly a quarter million. I guess we’re just one of the unlucky ones.

Our block is dark while all around us the lights are on. The din of generators drone 24/7 while we wonder why the hell our neighbor leaves it on all night. Somehow calling the police to complain about noise seems so menial. Work crews can be seen everywhere, but none ever stop on our street. Last week we cheered the white trucks with blinking yellow lights as if they were liberating Paris. Now we just grumble and wish they’d get over to our block.

We’re making the best of it and learning to deal with life in the dark. Hot showers are the only source of heat so we enjoy a little morning sauna in my bathroom to start the day. Sleeping has been pretty comfortable– after the initial cold shock wears off– since we piled on about 40 pounds of blankets and two cats. Just don’t forget to have everything in place because you do not want to get back out of bed!

The good news is the weather forecast is for warmer weather and we’ve got a crew taking care of the tree situation. As a matter of fact the big oak that pummeled our roof is probably about gone as I type this. The pile of wood in the yard hides the house and it’s a real shame seeing all that beautiful oak wood that’s going to go to waste. Getting the trees taken care of for a reasonable price was a big relief because there were some very large branches dangling over the roof. One branch fell on the garage Saturday when the north wind picked up during the brief snowstorm.

At least we still have a roof over our heads.

Freezing rain began falling yesterday and has turned much of Oklahoma into a deep freeze. Broken limbs and fallen trees have blocked roads and snapped power lines. Most of Tulsa is without power– officially described as 200,000 households, which sounds pretty darn close to the whole city to me.

Our bad day started last night when the power blinked off about 10:00 pm. The mist turned to drizzle and the sheen of the trees coated with ice became obvious. Jackie and I turned in for the night (what else is there to do with no light, heat or Internet connection?). But it wasn’t long before the eerie hum of self-destructing transformers and rolling thunder woke us. By 4:00 am the crack of nearby trees relenting to the burden of frozen water played like a symphony. Then a loud crash on our own roof sent us scrambling for our Maglites.

The 40-year old oak trees in our front yard had transformed into sinister mortars in a matter of hours. The sound of a splitting limb would send ice and wood smashing onto the roof. Each time our roof was pounded by a rain of ice and limbs we tensed. Would that be all? Or would another large branch fall and cause the entire house to shudder? All the while we grimaced because the roof was only a year old.

By 6:00 am I was fed up with shock and awe so we made a run for our nearest Panera. We absorbed large amounts of coffee and naively assumed the worst was over. The power was still out but new day promised above-freezing temperatures. We returned home after a couple of hours to find more large limbs had fallen, one poking right through the roof into our kitchen.

Fortunately the puncture was pretty close to the attic access in our garage. I was able to saw off most of the limb where it poked through our roof’s decking and put a plastic tub under it to catch any rain that dribbled through. I tried to push it out of the hole but it was much too heavy. Later that day a couple of entrepreneurs stopped by handing out flyers for their tree service. They were looking for future customers, I asked them if they wanted some work right now. They cut off the offending limb and nailed some shingles over the hole.

We’ll see how the patch holds up overnight. The forecast for Tuesday is scattered thunderstorms.