Seven Hells and Tornado Weather

 First of all, I am tired of blogging. I suppose I am sick of typing every day! There is nothing else I am missing or not doing. I just dread the idea of doing this. I will probably not stop. 

Thursday, we had known for a week that bad weather was on the way. But, it often just blows a lot and the conditions, rain and wind, keep us off the road for anything. Thursday was different. Our location was at the edge of the polygon for tornado path. We also knew that 4 pm should be the start of our problems with the storm moving through quickly. 

About 6:15 pm the wind was terrific. The lights blinked once, then again and again. I knew it was the end, so I started my lift chair to get up. Once the footrest went down, I only used it for a second or two more and struggled to get up with it slanted but not lifting me too much. Tommy was in the kitchen with his lift completely up. 

Since it was dark, I rushed across the room to get his led lantern. I turned it on and rushed as well as I could to the bedroom to get my lantern. I did yell for him to stand still while I brought the light. It was pitch dark where he was standing. 

So, we both had lanterns. That fact was the highlight of the next few hours. We looked through the door light and just saw rain and trees thrown about. He left the door open and I saw the neighbor across the street and one down out with a light. Actually, I only saw a light. Tommy looked out by opening the storm door, too. He said a tree was down on this neighbor's mother's vehicle. So, we knew how we lost power.

Then, I started fretting about the lack of cooking facilities. Tommy has gas, but an electric stove. I started, well, continued my lobbying for a gas grill. Finally, he said, "I thought you said you could open a can of green beans and eat them cold?" Well, I was not in the mood...lol. Finally, I ate ciabatta bread with a bit of butter, then half a hot Diet Coke Caffeine Free, then a can of tuna. Tommy had peanut butter sandwich. We lived. 

We listened to Barry Manilow on my boombox cd player. Then, we listened to the radio, something on NPR. I read with my booklight--some sort of book about words. 

Both our chairs were stuck very slanted, Tommy's more than mine. We were both hurting. At midnight this became a problem and we were hurting by then. Tommy tried to put his feet on his walker. That hurt, then he tried putting a plastic bag full of stored bags on the walker. That still hurt. I offered to put the ottoman in front of him. He rejected that idea. 

He tried sitting in the one chair I bought that does not lift. He did not like that. He even said he thought I would not let him sit in it. Oh, so not true! Finally, I offered to let him use my chair that was not so slanted. His feet were still hanging. Finally, I fixed the ottoman so he could use that. It worked. He said he slept about two hours all night and fitfully for most of the night. 

I had suggested he try to sleep in the bed with me. He cannot get on and off the bed and the two of us going to the bathroom all night would have been a nightmare. 

After we settled ourselves with the lanterns, saw the downed tree, and decided this was an all nighter, I to out more light. We have a set of three candles that use batteries. I took the tallest of the three and put it on the back of the commode. We did use the lantern to get to the bathroom, but this was just a bit of security. It seemed less treacherous to have some sort of light to illuminate the way. 

I have the round touch lights and plenty of batteries. I had batteries in one and put batteries in another and gave one to Tommy. We both had these and the lanterns right by our elbows. Tommy really liked these. He told me he used his to go to the bathroom. I could not understand. He said he held it over the commode so he could hit the commode. ??? He said he could not hold the lantern to see. Well, I am glad he did not drop it in! They are cheap, but still. 

When we left the house, we discovered that his metal shed was on its side. It was rotten and needed to be hauled off years ago, but he cannot move it, even in pieces. The only thing that kept it from completely blowing away was that there is a light wired in from the wall. So, an electrical wired kept it in the yard. The garbage had blown over and some garbage blew out. Many of my plants or pots of dirt had scooted across the porch with help from the wind. The two pots at the turn on the ramp had been blown onto the ramp so we could not walk. There is still trash from other people's yards in our yard. 

The temperature was about 70F before the storm. As the night wore on the temperature dropped to the 30s. We were so cold in the morning and left to get something hot for breakfast. Of course, he needed coffee. Hardee's lost power, so we had to find something else. I hate McD and BK sausage. I don't eat any eggs except those I cook. 

Sonic hamburger was $4.99, so I refused to eat. Coffee was expensive, too. We went to Krystal and ate two burgers and he had cheap coffee. 

I decided the car was too warm to go home and announced my intentions of not going into the house until the electricity was on! I had other things I needed to do. In the meantime, we swung back by the house often. 

As we drove into the neighborhood, our friend, L, was out bundled up with the hood up on her car. I had a thing to jump off the car that did not work the first time. I wanted to return it months ago, but Tommy insisted we keep it for an emergency. We only knew it did not work! So, we stopped and told her we would get ours from my car. 

Ours did not work. She had a broken jumper and finally got that one to work. We were all freezing and none of us had a warm coat, just light jackets. But this is the South! 

Auto Zone would not cooperate and come to the car and get the charger. It is too heavy for me to carry. So, corporate can take care of it for me. YES, they normally are very accommodating. But, this is Hueytown. 

We stopped by the place we bought the chairs to ask about the power packs. The woman who was helping up was not in. Today, Saturday, we will go talk with her. She was telling us about the best thing to get. Hopefully, we can order that from Amazon today. We never want to be in the position we were in today.

I went into Publix to get our lunch--two chicken breasts and pasta salad to share. It was what I wanted. We had hot coke and pepsi from home. We ate slowly and enjoyed the piping hot chicken. At some point during the day, I had a banana. I forgot to get applesauce for the car. Oh, I did get Wheat Things Lightly Salted for a snack and for home.

On February 22, 5G kicks in and neither of my phones will work. My intentions were to get one on Friday, so no electricity was a good excuse. AT&T in Hueytown has never been helpful. I promptly went to Verizon and got the new phone and for the first time since 1953, I no longer use Bell South/AT&T. 

Finally, around 5 pm, we came home. I saw Tommy at the thermostat once when we came in for a bathroom break. When we came in it was sooo warm. He had set the thermostat on 72F. He turned it back and we settled in to sit in chairs that were now working.  

I asked Tommy what we would have done if the electricity was off another night. He said we would go to a motel.  When I came in the morning, he was still asleep in my chair, so I sat in the non-lift chair. He had on a hoodie with the hood up and sleeping. When he went to "bed," he said a sheet was all he needed. Later, after we had heat, he said every time he got up to go to bathroom, he got another blanket or his jacket with hood.  In the bed I was toasty warm and only was chilly when I went to the bathroom. With carpet my feet were not chilly, and in the bathroom, I deliberately stepped on the rugs! I think the seating was the only thing along with how cold it was sitting in the chair with his feet and legs exposed underneath the blanket was the only reason he would have gone to a motel.

Every person on this street and many from the neighborhood were gone. People who had two cars, left in two cars! I know some have relatives. The new people moved in across from us on Thursday. That was a cruel welcome to their new home.

Every time I mention something new to Tommy, he throws a holy fit and is mean to me. But, as time goes on, he softens to the idea. That is how we have a freezer, dishwasher, and the lift chairs, among other lesser items. 

So, once again, I mentioned a whole house generator. He says nothing. That is a good sign. I have even been surreptitiously shopping online and talking to two friends.

When we stopped to help our friend with her battery, she came to the car saying, "Seven Hells! That is how mad I am." AT&T had disabled her phone, also, to try to force her to switch to 5G. I had been ranting about this to her, also. When I went to AT&T, she came in. When I went to Verizon, she was in there changing her service! 

The thing that was the most worrisome for me was losing what I had in the refrigerator and freezer. We got home two hours after the electricity came back on. The first thing I did was go to freezer and refrigerator. Everything in both was frozen solid. Only bread had ice crystals. So, I am not sure if the frozen items thawed all the way or just got a little soft on the outside, or what happened. I do know that I will throw out the chicken breast that was thawed completely and ready for the oven. 

We are drinking the milk until it tastes funny. I will use some of it when it goes bad for chocolate milk and make some buttermilk. But, I doubt I can save five half-gallons! The cheese stays. Not sure about the brie. I cannot find anything that looks like it got so warm in the freezer that it sagged and refroze, like the blueberries. I did throw out canned chicken that needed to go anyway. Tommy had been eating it on salads.

We can survive a minor outage. We can live with cold food. But, we are old and need some warmth. I think I see a whole house generator in our future, one with dual fuel usage. My friend told me where he got his for less than $800. When I called him on his home phone for generator details, he answered in Buffalo, NY. He had gone to his father's funeral. He was 104-years-old! 

Okay, we have to go see what kind of contraption that works these chairs without power to the house. Did you have consequences from the storm?