Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Me and Vin Diesel Have Something In Common: Pitch Black

Sunday morning wasn't a typical one for me when I awoke and found my power out. Little did I know it was going to be a less than typical next few days. In case you haven't been paying attention to the weather or news, we've been pummeled by ice over the last couple of days. Living life without the most basic of necessities sure makes things interesting really quick. Not to mention thankful for those things we take for granted most. Like a warm shower and lights once the sun goes down.

Much of the Missouri southwest has been in darkness for the last couple of days. Same for much of Oklahoma. It was one of the oddest storms I have ever experienced. It rained more than anything, and then the temperatures would dip below freezing causing everything to freeze over. Trees toppled and branches snapped everywhere. They would then fall on power lines and that caused a mass blackout. Monday night was ridiculous. I needed gas, but no gas stations were open that I could find. I looked into the night sky and saw about the only light in the foggy sky that could be seen (not counting all of the cars everywhere). I headed in that direction. I found Wal-Mart, Wendy's, and Back Yard Burger lit up. Not exactly what I was looking for. There were lines out the doors of about the only two fast food joints open in town because people couldn't cook. I finally just decided to go home and hope to find a gas station open the next morning. I found one near my place that was lit up. Lines at the pumps were four to five cars deep and they were only accepting cash (Internet services were down for credit and debit cards). Not only that, they would take your cash wait for you to walk to your car and have the pump in your hand before they turned them on. Why? Because people were grabbing the pumps and filling up their cars before you could get back to yours! It was insanity. So many people become jerks when things like this occur. It irritates me. When at home, there was nothing much to do but wrap up in all the clothing possible, cover up and go to bed.

On Monday morning I fumbled around getting ready for work with only the help of my trusty Mag-lite. When I went outside it was pitch black. In the distance I could hear branches and trees occasionally fall to the ground as I scrapped the ice off my windshield. As I was about to get into my truck a light from an explosion lit up the night from across the river. It was a transformer blowing, I assumed.

So here I am today. My electricity is back. My Internet is up and running, and I am thankful for everything just a little bit more than I had been before. How did people ever live without the aid of electric? Of course, I guess you could say they didn't. Their life expectancy was closer to 55.

4 comments:

N said...

Andrew, I heard about the storms through yahoo.com. Intense. Sounds like part of a Hollywood end-of-the-world movie or something.

Where are you working these days?

Nathanael

N said...

Andrew?

Unknown said...

Meh,

We were out 2 1/2 days...I did a little power is ON dance when it came on Monday night about 8:40!!

Andrew Weaver said...

Yeah... lot's of people were doing that at work. But many people were without much longer than I.