Winter Storm 2009

Day 1 Monday January 26, 2009- I'm sitting in a hotel in Memphis, TN. I flip to the weather channel and notice Jim Cantore is reporting live from Paducah, KY which is 20 miles from my house. I guess this ice storm we are supposed to get may actually be bad. I mean come one, Cantore is there, it's got to be bad. The next day I travel home from Memphis.

Day 2 Tuesday January 27, 2009- We finish our meeting about 11 that morning and I take off for home. My wife told me the electricity went off at 7:30 am. Hopefully it will be on by the time I get home. It's 40 deg and raining in Memphis. About Dyersburg TN I finally start seeing ice. At Fulton, KY I start seeing trees and limbs down. I have to drive in the passing lane the last 20 miles home because limbs and power lines are scattered in the right lane. I finally arrive home around 1:30 pm. It's 60 deg in the house so I decide to get the generator out and plug it to the TV and the electric fireplace. The local news station is saying the worst round should come tonight. Cantore is still in Paducah. We debate whether to go get the camper. Finally we decide to get it just in case. I go get the camper and set it up in my driveway (the only heat we could run in the house off the generator would the the electric fireplace which would only maintain 60 deg in the living room). If the power doesn't come back on tonight we'll sleep in the camper. I get the camper set up and notice my LP tanks are low. I make another trip to Fulton to get LP gas (electricity is off in all of Mayfield and no one can run their pumps). I fill up the tanks and the gas cans just in case. Cell phone and land line service go out about 6:00 pm. Tuesday at bedtime we decide the electricity may be off till tomorrow so we make our way to the camper. All night you could hear trees and limbs falling. It was the worst sound. I knew none would hit the camper, but I still tensed up every time I heard one.

Day 3 Wednesday January 28, 2009- At 6 am I'm tired of hearing the trees fall and I'm not sleeping anyway, so I'm getting up. Wow it is much worse than it was yesterday. I move to the house and get the electric fireplace and TV hooked back up. Electricity is out everywhere. The local TV station is running off generators and their signal comes and goes. I make a trip through Mayfield and it is like a ghost town, no lights, no businesses are open, it's deserted. I have to be careful where I drive because trees and lines are down everywhere. I want to call and check on people but no phones are working. Somebody told me that Verizon still has service so I buy some minutes on my Onstar phone. I finally talk to my parents and they are safe at my sisters in TN. Wednesday night it finally hits us. The news says their is 100% power outage in my county and it may be 2-4 weeks for people to have power. The rain and ice are over but it is really cold. Bedtime let's go back to the camper. Oh yeah, it's my birthday. I hope this is the first and last time I ever camp on my birthday. We are on a curfew and can't be out after dark.

Day 4 Thursday January 29, 2009- Up early again and get the heat in the house going. First thing I notice is that we have now lost water. Quickly lay ground rules that if 1 person poops, then somebody else better poop. If I'm pouring water in the toilet to flush it, I want a minimum of 2 poops. Water comes back on in 2 hours, whew. Make my drive through town and it is still a ghost town. Let my neighbor borrow my generator to get his deep freezer frozen again. We have to get supplies. We take off for Martin, TN to eat, get LP gas for the camper, gas for the generators, groceries cause this could be awhile and hopefully shower at Carrie's dads house if he has power. Martin has no LP gas (sold out) and Wal Mart is packed with people from KY. Carrie's dad does have power so I stink no more. We head to Union City, TN to get LP (we must have LP for heat in the camper). We find LP at Union City and wait in line for awhile (please don't run out, please don't run out). We wait in line awhile to get gasoline for the generator (please don't run out, please don't run out). We finally get gas. My blackberry works here so I get about 50 emails and try getting in touch with people but can't reach most of them. We eat again and head back to Mayfield. It sure was nice seeing people. Bedtime it's back to the camper.

Day 5 Friday January 30, 2009- I make my daily trip through Mayfield and Lowes is open. They are running on generators so I go in. I didn't buy anything I just wanted to talk to people. I wasn't alone, there were plenty of people just looking for conversation. The news says today that there is still 100% power outage in the county because TVA has no power coming to our power company. TVA should have power to our power company either Sat or Sun. Paducah has both hospitals powered again. They had set up a shelter at the high school running on generators and it has about 1000 people in it. Tried to clean the limbs up in the yard today but the ice is melting which is making more stuff fall from the trees. It also makes driving difficult because of falling ice off power lines. About 6 pm cell phones start working again. This makes me feel much better. Bedtime it's back to the camper. We sure have watched lots of movies. The national guard arrives today and that was a sight to see.

Day 6 Saturday January 31, 2009- Up early again, got to get the house hooked up. I sure am getting tired of this and I need another shower. Must make another trip to TN today for gas and shower. At 7:30 am my house alarm starts going off. Ah the battery backups must be dying. I round the corner and a light is on. Yea, power, yea, power. I immediately dance and start getting the house set back up. Carrie starts washing clothes and vacuuming. I take 1 of my generators to my moms house to get here freezer going. I take my other generator to my neighbors who still don't have power. I am lucky to have power, I am on the same line as the hospital. We get showered up and are on top of the world. I get the generator from my neighbor and take to Carrie's office to get it back open. She's missed 4 days of tax season and she has to get back at it. While I'm there the power comes on, so I take generator back to my neighbor. Drive through town and notice that Wal Mart is open running on generators. Bedtime, and I'm not going to the camper.

Day 7 Sunday February 1, 2009- Sure was nice sleeping in my bed. Ok the power has made it 24 hours so I feel safe putting the camper back in storage. My neighbor calls and his power is back home but the generator at the rest home has died so I let them use it to keep the people warm. No power at church but we have a short service and it's really cold. We are about the only ones who have power and they are now saying it will be Sometime in March before everyone in the county have power. There are 2000 poles that must be replaced. Go to a superbowl party at the neighbors house.

Day 8 Monday February 2, 2009- Some gas stations and restaurants are finally getting some power so you can now get things in Mayfield. A lot of stop lights aren't working so it is crazy driving around town. Every restaurant and gas station have very long lines. Banks open up under generator power but life is starting to get somewhat back to normal. My parents move to my house.

Day 9 Tuesday February 3, 2009- I drive around a lot today and realize that this is bad in a lot of places. Finally make contact with all my customers and none of them have power. All the restaurants and gas stations in town now have power.

Day 10 Wednesday February 4, 2009- My parents get power so they move out. Graves County is declared a Federal Disaster Area by President Obama. High school still has about 400 people sheltered, FEMA is still handing out water, kerosene and food. Power company says it will still be 4-8 weeks for some people to get power.

The Kids are going to be out of school a minimum of 9 days. They are going to try to go back Monday February 9, 2009.