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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jan 19, 2007 12:28:49 GMT -5
Hello everyone: I'm looking out the window of my office. I see ice, ice and more ice. It's amazing. Today, for the first time in one week, the sun is shining. The colors of the rainbow are visible everywhere in the ice that surrounds each branch of each tree, and power line, and street sign, and flag pole. Well, you name it, and there is ICE on it. Last Friday night, January 12th, Springfield had a major ice storm. I remember two other ice events like this in my lifetime, the last one being in the 80's sometime. It was nothing like this one. It actually began raining Friday morning. It was somewhere in the upper 30's all day. By around 5 p.m., the temp plummeted into the twenties, or teens. We'd received about 4 inches of rain throughout the day, and it continued to rain all night Friday night. As the rain fell, it began to quickly accumulate on the tree branches, and of course, the power lines. By mid-night Friday/early morning Saturday, as the freezing rain continued to fall, it sounded like gunfire outside, as trees began snapping from the weight of the ice that had accumulated on them. I kept watching the beautiful Redbud tree just outside my back door. The weight of the ice has these branches touching the ground, but fortunately nothing has actually broken on it. However, my pine trees, and especially my poplar and Dogwood trees didn't fare quite so well. We could hear the poplars (about 40 feet tall, understand) begin to snap, and fall onto the house, then down onto our yard, and the neighbors house and yard. It was happening all around us. It continued to rain on Saturday (freezing rain) and trees, and more and more power lines kept snapping. 95,000 homes lost power by Saturday evening, and the trees everywhere were just devastated. Shards of trees were everywhere. People were cautioned NOT to try and drive through the streets of town because there were huge limbs down everywhere. Churches were calling off their services on Sunday due to no power, and limbs being down everywhere. All of the schools, including the 5 colleges even called off classes for another week, due to the fact that there was no power, but also because the parking lots, and the campus lawns were filled with tree limbs - or half of a tree in many cases - pieces and parts of trees, or the whole trunk, on buildings, cars, fences, you name it.....there were ice-laden trees all around. We are at work today, just trying to catch up a bit, from having been out all week. No power here. No power in many places, still. Fortunately, we lost our electricity only for a short amount of time - my brother has not had power since last Friday night. We are working on generator power here today. Won't be here long - but I wanted to get something posted on the forum to let you all know I hadn't just abandoned you - that there was a reason you had not heard from me. Millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused, and it's nothing compared to what others have suffered. My wife and I were talking about this, and something like this truly puts things into perspective for one. I look around as I'm driving through town, noticing that nothing was left untouched by God's hand...the devastation, yet the beauty at the same time.....and I realize that looking around makes me sad in so many ways - to know all that has happened just from my own perspective throughout this past week - THEN I THINK OF THOSE WHO LIVED THROUGH HURRICANE KATRINA - and I think of the Tsunami victims - and I think of all of those others who lost SO MUCH MORE than we have, here. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, what can be said about the loss of a few days of electricity and some inconvenience, and the fact that it will take a while to get everything cleaned up, and back in order here....when one compares that with the loss of life and home and the devastation that occurred in so many other places during the last year - this is NOTHING in comparison. I'm so grateful that this is all we were given to deal with. In the Spring, the trees will be thawed, and they will begin to grow again. It will be amazing, I'm sure, how resilient they are, and how beautiful they will become, even after this abuse they have taken from the weather and the ice. I imagine we will have a lovely Springtime, and Summer time. However, just because the seasons changed, New Orleans didn't get to see this kind of "rebirth." Other places where there has been total devastation didn't get to see the kind of restoration we will be able to. I mean it when I say things really went into some sort of perspective for me, and at the same time, thinking about it, I can't even imagine how horrible living through that nightmare must have been. Or those who lost everything in the fires in California - so many other things that have happened. Ice melts...ice thaws...tree limbs can be reused.....clean up will happen, and we'll be back in business in no time. How many others are still not back in "working order" from the other natural disasters that have recently occurred? Therefore, please don't think I'm complaining - I am not. I am grateful. Grateful that we can recover, here - and quite easily. Oh sure, there might be some inconvenience, but certainly nothing that we can't deal with. It's just ice....it's just inconvenient. It's NOT a loss...... As I can, I will send pictures of this event for you. It's quite a sight, for sure. I still do not have access to internet connection at home, but that, too, will come in time. I just wanted you all to know what we've been dealing with here, and why you have not heard from me in the past week. I hope each of you are okay, and that all is well in your worlds. We are expecting another round of winter weather this week, with accumulations of up to 6 inches of fresh snow. We'll see. We get a lot of those kinds of predictions....only seldom do they really cause any significant inconveniences like as was the case this week. I'll be around, but may not be on the computer much - I do hope to hear from all of you - how are things in your worlds? Hoping everyone is good..... And, with that... I wish you all the best from here in my corner, Tim  |
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Post by ps11932 on Jan 19, 2007 17:15:01 GMT -5
Tim, It sounds like you and all the people in the Springfield area have been through a lot- I wasn't aware of the magnitude of the effects. Your attitude of focusing on the concern of others who have faced worse devestation in other circumstances is commendable and not unexpected given your character. Like you said, the lives of the people will go on and be stronger through the support given one another. We will be thinking of and praying for you and please inform us if there are ways we can be of help.
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Post by Rick Henry on Jan 20, 2007 1:43:26 GMT -5
 Hi Tim... I can't even come close to fathom what you're experiencing - but I truly sympathize. I hope that soon things will clear up so you can get back to life as normal.  |
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Post by wisejester7 on Jan 21, 2007 11:02:21 GMT -5
Tim, I think about you every time they predict another wintery wave for Springfield. Boy!, you guys really are getting socked this year. Glad to hear you are sledding over the rough spots. Keep up the positive outlook. This will make your Spring seem even sweeter when it arrives. ;-)
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Post by Ming on Jan 22, 2007 10:52:57 GMT -5
Hello Tim, I am sure everything will be okay.  Ming |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jan 22, 2007 11:14:50 GMT -5
 Hi All Yes, everything is going to be fine. We had ANOTHER round of this same thing - freezing rain, sleet and snow over the weekend. The trees got a new round of ice on them, but were already "in position" if you will, and so not much further damage occurred. Today, it's warming up and the thawing is rapidly taking place. Lots of dings on my window here at work, and on the roof, as the ice falls from the trees. (If you're out underneath the trees and get hit by falling ice, you know it, as it's pretty thick. At any rate, thanks for the concern - just really wanted to let you all know why I'd not been around. Thank goodness we have a good strong internet (and cable) connection back up now, so I can keep in touch with all of you, and find out what's happening in the world. Do you all realize how "spoiled" we are by everything electronic? It really comes to the forefront when you DON'T have electricity. All those things one might think about to "do" can't happen, because it takes electricity to "do" them. At the very least, light!!! We're still working on generator power here at work today - they tell us it could be the end of the week before they get the power back on here. The generators seem to be working, though, so that's all that matters. Take care of yourselves. Let me hear from you... STAY WARM! So, for now, I wish you all the best from here in my corner, Tim
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Post by wisejester7 on Jan 22, 2007 11:34:35 GMT -5
Tim wrote ... "Do you all realize how "spoiled" we are by everything electronic? It really comes to the forefront when you DON'T have electricity. All those things one might think about to "do" can't happen, because it takes electricity to "do" them. At the very least, light!!! " You are so right there. I had to laugh at myself a couple of years ago for the same kind of complacency with our modern conveniences. I caught myself tapping my foot at how 'long' it was taking to microwave something. It was then I realized what I was doing. It wasn't THAT long ago when people had to carry water and build fires to heat, clean and cook. My grandmother would tell me stories of her childhood ... which included hitching up the horse and buggy to go into 'town' to buy and barter goods. How spoiled we can be without really trying. Life's fast pace can creep up on us when we aren't looking. Things like ice storms and power outages keep us in check. |
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Post by ps11932 on Jan 22, 2007 16:09:57 GMT -5
Yes, technology certainly allows us to do more things faster than ever- and society demands that we take advantage of it. And while we should avail ourselves of all the modern tools we can, we would do well to learn the lessons we are occasionally dealt, to focus on the things really important (like relationships) and remind ourselves that the future of the world doesn't depend on my timetable. (Sorry for the mixed pronouns.)
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Post by wisejester7 on Jan 23, 2007 7:52:18 GMT -5
O.E., you may have mixed your pronouns, something I also do from time to time, but your words ring true ... like pearls of wisdom.
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jan 30, 2007 23:29:13 GMT -5
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Post by Rick Henry on Jan 30, 2007 23:44:14 GMT -5
Wow Tim, that's something else. Is everything back to working condition in your home? Or are you still going through repairs?  |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Jan 31, 2007 0:43:34 GMT -5
 Yes, Rick - actually we were some of the more lucky folk - we didn't lose our electricity at home except for here and there, and only for about half hour each time. There were those who did not have electricity for more than two full weeks. Also, though I had a lot of debris in my yard from falling trees, there were so many others who had really mature (50-100 year old trees) in their yards. These are the ones that sustained the majority of the damage, as they were so big - some reaching as high as 80-90 feet high!!! Once they were ice packed, and began to topple, some came over, roots and all. You'd have thought it was a tornado rather than an ice storm. Unbelievable!! Thanks for asking about us. Now where I work, we actually had no electricity for the first week, and didn't work that Monday through Thursday. We got hooked up to two generators on Friday of that week, and were on those generators until just this past Friday. So, that location was out of electricity for the entire two week period. It was something, that's for sure. Tim
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Feb 6, 2007 22:23:00 GMT -5
Hi everyone: Just wanted to sort of sum-up this thread by letting you know that a company was chosen, yesterday, to begin the clean up of limbs, branches, and tree trunks. It's unbelievable - everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE you go in town, people were asked to get their tree trimmings, (limbs, branches and trunks) cut to at least a manageable smaller length, and they were to be piled at their front yard curb, at least 10 feet from the road, so that when a company was selected for clean up, that the clean up could begin. There was a company from Texas who won the multi-million dollar clean up bid. And today, outside our windows at TEMCO, there they were, a double trailered dump truck with a crane attachment, picking up the limbs from the front lawns. It was quite a sight to behold. A multi-million dollar contract. Does that tell you the amount of damage the trees in Springfield and surrounding bergs sustained? Whew! I wish you all the best from here in my corner, Tim
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Post by Rick Henry on Feb 7, 2007 1:01:56 GMT -5
Wow Tim, that is totally amazing the cost of cleaning this up. It's an important job. Thank God for the people who do this work. |
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Post by wisejester7 on Feb 7, 2007 8:45:44 GMT -5
You're talking some serious money for the clean up! It's sometimes hard to believe what nature and man can bounce back from, but I'm sure that that is just what will happen and what is happening.
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