Ok, this is the 4th day we have been stuck at home. It started sleeting on February 1st. There were very high winds, thunder, sleet, and snow! I woke up at 2:30, when I thought I heard water running somewhere in the house but it was sleet pounding on the windows. It was strange hearing thunder with snow. Its been almost into the single digits during the nights. Our water in the well-house froze but Jon managed to get it going again. He had taken precautions and wrapped all the outdoor pipes and other things like preparing the anti-freeze in the vehicles but still, it froze. The first night the wind caught the back door and busted out the lower window. It is sitting in the frame still in giant shards, a few on the ground. Last night it snowed again. At least it wasn't more ice. I think we only got an inch or two, but the storm system is coming back, so who knows what the total will be. Our food seems to be holding out ok. We haven't missed a meal which is unusual since it seems we are always having to run to Wal-Mart for food.
Schools have been closed everywhere for 4 days now. News reports that parents are about to go bonkers being stuck at home with kids for that long. The big babies! I'm here every day. Friends on Facebook complain about cabin fever after two days. Jonathan didn't even feel like he was getting cabin fever. I told him it's because the people who complain, are always out and running around, going here and there. They aren't used to sitting home. But we are, so for two days it doesn't bother us too much. After 4 days though I'm starting to worry. If the food runs low is my only concern.
They had to do rolling brown-outs on the second day because the demand for electricity was so great. Whole sections of cities would suddenly just lose power. It was supposed to be for 15 minutes, but sometimes it was an hour, two, or more. Also some people had no electricity because of the ice and wind damage to power lines and transformers.
It sure has been a mess here. Jon tried to leave yesterday but didn't get very far. He said cars were in the way trying to cross that first little bridge on Silver Creek, some in ditches or blocking the road. So he managed to get back home safely without trying to go past all the others having trouble. Last year we had tons of snow, it was so pretty but at least it wasn't ice. The cities (big ones like Ft. Worth) don't worry so much about the side roads or residential areas. They try to sand or salt the main highways and overpasses. They were getting in sand/salt from many other areas of Texas because they couldn't keep up with the demand. Yesterday they showed on the news, 8 snowplows scraping the ice off of the highways in a convoy, side by side. Since you don't see snow plows in Texas, that is just very unusual. They had to borrow them from other communities that do get snow. We are a small city and I haven't seen any city trucks at all on these back roads.
The main news (according to the tv) is that this is the first year that the Super Bowl will be here and oh, no, how will this affect people getting here, shopping, partying, etc.? That is all the news talks about. The celebrities who are having trouble getting here, and then once here, yada, yada, yada.... I know all the tourist type businesses and restaurants have prepared to have a whooping sales boost because of all the fans from other states coming in but for 3 days everything has been pretty much frozen and at a stand-still. Those that do venture out are really risking it.
Vendors have had to make new plans and move things to other times and places if they could.
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