I'm back... did ya miss me?

[mklwhite]

...no you didn't. I don't post anywhere near as much as I read, but I'm back. Here in the Ozarks we just had a bad ice storm and 7 days after it began I've got power back. Some folks around here aren't so lucky. I know there are a few other residence of Oz out there and thought I'd see if they made it through ok. Around here we had a few houses burn down and a few people die. Nobody died that I knew, but the house that my father and grandfather built and that I grew up in burned to the ground. But other than being dog tired with a lot of clean up (trees) to tend to we are all ok here.

[Tycer]

Welcome back.
Firewood will be cheap this spring. I'll bet heating costs will be very high next winter. Stockpile wood.

[Borregos]

Glad you are ok

[mod71alaska]

Glad you're OK and back on the grid again. We've had some wicked bad ice storms up here in Maine, too, and they're not fun. Welcome back, friend!

[C. Cash]

Welcome back and glad you made it through OK!

[rjohns94]

welcome back, glad you are ok

[Blaine]

It's good to hear from you again, Sir......

[El Chivo]

we thought you went hunting. Glad you're ok.

I was talking to a hunter I ran into and he's from the Ozarks, in Arkansas, is that right? He was describing the deer there, sounds amazing. He said on his land infrared aerial observation revealed two large animals per acre.

[mklwhite]

Thanks fellas. It feels goods to be back at my online home. (First site I jumped on after the power came up. )

mod71alaska - I thought Maine might be too cold for ice storms, I know that there was one up there this year but thought maybe it was a freak thing.

El Chivo - The Ozarks are in north central/western Arkansas (where I am) and south western Missouri stretching NE towards St. Louis. (I think a bit in NE OK too, but I'm not sure if it is really counted.) The deer around here can be quit nice and plentiful to not so nice and here and there. Depends on how close they are to the populated areas and the weekend woodsmen who only go hunting on deer gun seasons opening weekend.

My wife asked my why I was bothered by the power being out when I would go camping with far less than what we have at home and not think about it a bit. It took me a minute to come up with the answer, but finally I said I think it boils down to things not being the way they are suppose to be. Camping or in a cabin. That is the reality of that situation. No power, no problem. At home, though, a modern house is built around the convinces and when they do work you are constantly remind of it.

[JerryB]

Sure glad to see you made it through the storm. We lost power for a few days but our church and friends in Stone county are just now getting some back, we had church last nite. What about Smokeater2, have you heard from him?

[1886]

Welcome back. We had a bad ice storm in December. No power for 6 days. What a drag. Glad you are well. 1886.

[AJMD429]

...did ya miss me?

I'll give you the same answer I give my wife when she asks that...

...I think if I re-zero at 75 yards and allow for windage next time, it will be ok...

[Lastmohecken]

I live in Northwest Arkansas, we were out about 11 days, and just got back on the grid last night. There were several deaths in this area. Two older people died in a house fire, that my wife knew, and a couple of boys died in a barn fire, after a generator blew up for some reason.

We got by pretty well, we had wood heat, and could cook on the wood stove, and I had plenty of coal oil lanterns. I did loose most of my food in the deep freezer and fridge. I didn't have a generator, and didn't buy one, although I considered it several times, but I kept thinking the power would be restored sooner then it was, so after a few days, it just didn't matter much anymore except I was starting to miss a hot shower, pretty bad. Sponge baths just don't get it.

I believe I will end up with a generator for future outages, but I havn't decided what to buy. I may just get a Miller Bobcat welder, because they have a 10,000 watt generator on them.

[iceman]

How did you lose your frozen food? Did it warm up outside? Just box them up and put them outside in a shed or the trunk of a car. Just had to ask. Same thing happened up here in 98 and people claimed food loss on their insurance. We just put it outside.

[Griff]

glad to hear you're ok and back among us!

[Jaguarundi]

Welcome back alive and well !

[mklwhite]

How did you lose your frozen food? Did it warm up outside? Just box them up and put them outside in a shed or the trunk of a car. Just had to ask. Same thing happened up here in 98 and people claimed food loss on their insurance. We just put it outside.

Around here the ice storm did it's damage and left. It was only cold (day time) for about 3 days. After that the days were pretty warm (50s) and the nights aren't bad either. The last two nights we've been sleeping with the windows open and the ceiling fan on. We lost only a little in our deep freeze, but everything in the refrigerator was a loss of course. We had (during the first few days) thrown the fridge stuff in some coolers and shoved them on the porch. We started leaving the lids cracked open for part of the day to try to let everything inside cool down and then shut it up when things started warming. That's what we did anyway.