Our power went off around 2 this afternoon. At 8pm it is still off. Our power company has notified all customers that it may be days until power is restored. Power lines are down in many place and friends have called and reported roads closed due to power lines down across them. Statewide nearly 350,000 people are without power. The weather service says that freezing rain will move in early tomorrow. Since we already have a half inch of ice on everything here where I am, it don't look like it will get better any time soon. We don't have any big limbs broken off ... yet. More freezing rain will change that.

We are preparing to be without power for a week or more. We are on generator power and have plenty of firewood to heat with. We can pump our well with the generator so we are not having it bad. Inconvenient to our fairly soft American lifestyle would probably describe it. What is nicer this time than when we had the Great Texas Snowpocalypse is that temperatures are staying around 30 and there is no 40 mph wind. The house stays a lot warmer easier with no wind. For which we are grateful.

This is really hard on those who are not prepared for such things. It is possible we will have a family or two with us in the next day or so. We have the room and it is nice to have extra hands to haul firewood and help clean up.

Well done...old boyscout....
Hope it all works out well

We ran our own generator to pump water with when I was a kid. We had a 1,000 litre tank and did our best to not pump until dark so we'd have an hour or so of electric light as well as the water being pumped. I remember the stillness that sank over the place as the old one lung Yanmar diesel wound down. BUT, we didn't have to contend with low temps. They were mostly in the high 20's to mid 30's - Celsius. Glad to hear y'all have things under control, and are able to bless others as well. Take care, stay warm!

We have a 2,000 gallon tank that the well pumps into and can get water without running the generator if we need to. With the generator running we can take hot showers and that makes things feel really nice.

Lots of tree limbs down today. I will get photos posted later.

Morning 2/2/2023 on the San Gabriel River, Texas

We did not get it as bad as many places. It is above freezing now and starting to melt things.

We went through this several years ago. An ice storm caused trees and limbs to cut the power and block the road out to the highway. We were without power for five days. We did have a wood stove and plenty of wood. My wife cooked pinto beans and other meals on the wood stove and kept a pot of water hot 24/7. After 3 days a friend brought a small generator which kept lights refrigeration and batteries charged. Though we live outside of town, we have city electric, water and gas. We did upgrade to a larger portable generator which has been used several times in the past. A few months ago after the rolling blackouts last year we installed a whole house generator which has run once a few weeks ago. The neighbors have a well that our portable generator can power. I have portable solar panels to charge batteries in case everything else fails. I do get the panels out once a month to charge the backup batteries and run the portable generator to make sure everything is still working. The whole house generator self tests once a week. If you keep your supplies in stock, rotate them and replace them before you run out you will be in good shape most of the time. Don't forget water. A battery powered radio is needed as a minimum for information. We have a tv antenna and pole to put up for entertainment.

For those that are having troubles now, I wish you well hope services return and road clearing happen soon.

Unexpectedly the power came back on about 20 minutes ago. We are keeping all the equipment in place in case it doesn't last. BUT .. things are moving the right direction! Graças a Deus.

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we spent a few months just south of Sheldon, not too far off of US 71. We were loaned the use of an old farm house and did a bit of fixing up on it. A storm blew in from the north and that's when we found that the foundation did nothing to protect the plumbing under the house. Had to go rent a kerosene heater to thaw the pipes, which didn't burst - thankfully.

Anyway, we also got a lovely ice storm. It was amazing to see how the ice sheathed everything and when the sun finally broke through it was like we were in a crystal universe. Absolutely amazing beauty was everywhere. We didn't lose power but did learn to be extra careful when perambulating outdoors. I didn't realize how quickly one's feet can "reach for the sky" and was thankful for the heavy coat that took up much of the impact.

And weird as it seems to some, I really miss the changing seasons and the beauty that each brings with it.

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Glad to hear they got you back in the 20th century! Hope is stays that way. Also glad to gheqr you were prepared to do without fo. A good bit. I wish more of the country was set up that way. I think we would generally be in Bette shape of the majority of folk had a self sufficient mindset. It certainly helps to smooth over tough times when you already know you can make it through them.

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https://facebook.com/M2bKydex/

When something happens like this most of the country sits around with their thumb up their posterior waiting for the government to take care of it.

During the Snow-pocalypse we had a couple years ago I remember seeing a news clip where this young woman is in her house ... water is pouring out of the ceiling .. and she is just standing there crying because no one will do anything. It was obvious she did not know how to shut the water off to her own place.