Ozarks blizzard

These are the emails I put together over the last few days, to go out when possible (yay, today), so everybody would know how we're handling this mess. Six inches of snow, on top of sleet/ice, really did a number on our area of the Ozarks.

*****
Day 1 - December 5

By now, you will all either be dealing with some of the same weather I am or will have heard about it on the news. It's Thursday night as I compose this, the 5th. Not sure when things will clear up enough for me to get to McQuack's and get it out. (My keyboard is acting up, too, due to old age - must replace this poor laptop soon, lol.) We got the van back from the shop today, $300 for parts and labor for a new fuel pump, as the old one was shot. No gas getting to the motor no matter what. Good thing we got it back today. Weather is bad enough that we ran a full shift for first shift at the plant, second and third got cancelled, and tomorrow, the 6th, is cancelled for all shifts. Quentin and I both had to take a sick day this week, so unless things clear up and we work Saturday (not likely right now), we will get a 2-day check and a 3-day check, respectively, next week. But it's better than no check, and just means tightening our belts a bit yet till we get through this. Better to have it tough and tight budget than not to have it at all.

Things were pretty bad when I was finally done with work. Wish I could have gotten off at noon, even though the money will be a blessing next week. The roads home were horrible. We made a few quick, necessary (all but one) stops on the way home. Grocery store in town for a few extra staples. Got what we wanted, other than an extra loaf of bread, they were all out. So was the dollar store which we tried on the way out of town, and the gas station halfway home, where we stopped to fill the tanks on the car and van with gas. The roads were awful. Normally, I'm doing 55 in the dark on the blacktop all the way home, tonight, I was barely crawling at 25 with the brights on. Quentin stayed behind me all the way with all his lights on the truck on to help light up the road, close enough for emergency but far enough back not to hit me if the car went flying off the road for some reason. It was pretty hairy, and I felt lucky to be able to crawl at the speed I was, considering the sleet and snow and that I could barely see 10 feet in front of me, even with all the lights on. It was that bad and coming down so thick, I was sure I'd end up in a ditch somewhere. There's a Subway connected to the gas station in Alpena, so we spared five minutes to get sandwiches to bring home for dinner. We knew that with the weather and roads in this kind of shape, neither of us was very likely to want to cook something when we got home. The folks who were on duty tonight at the gas station and Subway all live within a few blocks walking distance of the place, so we knew that both places would be open. Unlike the dollar store in town, which was closing when we pulled up, and I was the next-to-last person through the door to get anything. You know it's bad out when even the dollar stores are closing early.

Thankfully, we made it to the bottom of the mountain road with no problems other than sheer terror a couple times when I slipped and nearly went off the road. Thank goodness for the rumble strips in the road shoulders, as they gave me the traction I needed to stay on the road and get back on the main pavement. Despite plowing after it had started, and brine being sprayed as soon as it started, it wasn't all much help. The mountain road is impassible right now with a motorized vehicle. It's walk, ski, dogsled (ha!!! none of those here!), or something similar. We got to the cow pasture after the low water bridge, and saw Bobbi's car there. Her little car isn't much bigger than mine, but if she can't get up the road or doesn't feel safe trying it, I know my Victor (2006 Chevy Aveo) ain't gonna make it, and I have a walk ahead of me. Since we had the van, we tried to get up in it, but hit ice about halfway up and Quentin had to back downhill around curves to get back to the car to park the van there behind me and Bobbi. We grabbed the few extra groceries and our Subway sandwiches, and headed our butts up the mountain road. There's a few level-ish spots in the road, and even on the inclines, we kept stopping to catch our breath before tackling another 50 or 60 feet of nasty road. Took nearly an hour to climb the road but we did it, when I was almost certain that I couldn't do it.

So we are cozy in the house, but debone was so cold again today (they really need to fix that darned blast door) that I was pretty chilled by the time we got to the mountain road. Got colder walking up the road, so I hauled le laptop, le knitting and le food into the bedroom, where I am currently enshrined in the bed under a mound of thick afghans to help the circulation get going better in my legs and feet and thaw me out. I  have Reynaud's Syndrome (the capillaries in my bloodstream are smaller than they are supposed to be, so my hands and feet get cold very easily), so while my hands didn't get too bad at work and during the walk up the road to get home, my feet got really chilled and, for me, that generally means I feel cold all over even when I'm not. So as soon as things were moved to help me stay busy tonight and tomorrow, I threw on clean, dry clothing, and snuggled in bed under all the blankets. It's been about an hour since I climbed under blankets, and between food and body heat warming the bed so my feet will thaw out, I'm starting to feel rather human again. I think in a bit, I'll hie myself out to the kitchen for about five minutes and make me some hot tea. A really big thermos full of strong, hot, herbal, fruity tea. And then bring the thing to the bedroom to drink the next few hours.

I dunno ... for me, it doesn't seem to matter what the reason, but I like hot tea. I've never really liked coffee, but tea is always good. And especially when you're sick (I can dose up most anything with hot tea, from chammomille to help you sleep to peppermint to soothe an upset tummy), or when the weather is horribly crappy like this is, a cuppa just seems to hit the spot. So if y'all don't mind, I'm going to close this missive, eat my strawberry jello for dessert, and then go make some tea. Shoot, just thinking about hot tea makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, lol. Plus I have yarn here for two afghans that I need to get put together, though I'm not sure if I'll make them into granny squares (boring but easy to do without too much thinking) or log cabin patchwork style (still easy but you have to do more thinking).

Okay ...

For those wondering how the heck to do a log cabin square for an afghan, you can knit or crochet them, and there are instructions online to do this. Since I'm without internet yet for a few weeks, I can't look up the blasted URL for you, but if you google it, you can find it fairly easily. Both are quick to do, and if you prefer knitting over crocheting, or vice versa, either can be used to use up lots of larger scraps of yarn fairly quickly. The squares come out pretty big in regular worsted weight yarn, so be prepared to not have to do quite as many afghan squares with the log cabin as you would with granny or another "normal" square. Have fun - I'm off for tea, a book, my dessert and some quality yarn time.

*****
Day 2 - December 6

And I do mean blizzard. Yesterday's ice and sleet were bad enough with that cold. Today, Quentin decided we just HAD to get out and go to Wal-Mart and get some extra groceries that we would have gotten yesterday afternoon if they'd let me out of work earlier than they did by several hours. It was a fairly easy walk down the mountain road, despite the fact that we got hit with around six inches of snow overnight. Not too wet, so it's not good packing snow, but nasty nevertheless. The trip down took about 25 minutes, breaking trail all the way. We got the vehicles started, though as quiet as the car idles, it's hard to tell when it's half-buried whether or not it's running. The truck started right up, now that it's got the new fuel pump. With quite a bit of backing and filling, we got it turned around and headed out to the main drag. While vehicles had warmed up, Quentin hiked the 3/10ths of a mile to the main road to see how they were doing. The plows had made a couple of passes, and someone had already gotten off the neighboring mountain road that connects with ours at the bottom by the mailboxes, so we knew we'd get out if we were careful.

Unfortunately, one of our less-than-stellar-intelligence neighbors, who likes to treat the mountain road as a personal dirt track for his trucks, didn't fare so well getting into the road sometime between last night when we got home and lunchtime today when Quentin finally rousted out of bed. The neighbor's lovely pickup (I think it's a Dodge 1500) was overturned into the ditch next to the bottom of the road. Woops. (We later saw it on a flatbed, with another vehicle being towed behind, heading to the junkyard, courtesy of the state police calling in the wrecker.) We were very careful and kept speed down quite a bit, and got to the store and back safely. We got enough extras to last us and the boys a couple of weeks if need be, because I know the car ain't going anywhere for several days with this much snow, and the truck ain't gonna be much better. I told Quentin if they don't call off work for Monday and Tuesday, since he can get the truck out and about, I'll call in and take points if need be, I have a bunch to spare. With him being in probation, he doesn't have many, so if he can get out, he has to go in, even if the drive takes a lot longer to be safe. (Never mind the darn walk up the road, 15% grade in two spots and it's hard to get up unloaded!)

We got smart to get all the stuff back up the road, since we'd broken trail going down. We stopped at the hardware store in Harrison while we were there, and got a small toboggan-type sled to pile stuff on to get it up the road. Killer on the legs, but it got stuff up in one go, because otherwise, stuff would have been left in the truck and the heck with it. Quentin did all the pulling, I came behind in the even more broken trail with the flashlight, because it was dark by the time we got back here. I'd spot up the road enough for about 75 feet at a stretch, he'd haul up the trail, I'd stay put and spot, then catch up and we'd give our legs and lungs a bit of a rest. Repeat as needed for a mile or so up the road. But we got here. Temps were frigid - only in the low to mid 20s Farenheit in Harrison when we came through there heading home about five or so, so it was colder coming up the road.

Unfortunately, I'm having to talk genius out of going out tomorrow to haul the laundry downhill on the sled to go into town to do that. He thinks we should stick to normal schedule as much as possible. I say I got frozen enough getting up with the laundry and I'm not going anywhere till Monday sometime or this thaws out, whichever comes first. We've been home an hour and despite a hot meal, and being under the covers in bed where it's warmer, I'm still chilled. The house is cozy enough to be comfortable, if we're wearing layers to help stay warm. I haven't a problem with that, and I think most of my shivering isn't cold right now because I'm not cold, but sheer reaction to the whole situation the last couple of days. I'm still thawing out a bit but I know it's not hypothermia, because my teeth aren't chattering, and it's just my upper body that feels like it's shaking. Looking at my hands, they're steady as can be, and I'm not really cold or shivering, just aftermath of the whole thing the last twenty-four hours or so. (Besides, if it were THAT cold in here, the boys would be curled up so tight they'd have their tails over their noses, and while they're balled up a bit, they're also sleeping comfortably, so it's not too bad.)

It's been bad enough that I've had a couple of mild panic attacks, where basically I get through the situation and then have a meltdown and bawl my eyes out for a bit once it's over with. Yep, I just checked - the shivering is panic leftovers from all this, because I stuck my hands under the blankets and my legs are warm enough. I'm just having a bad reaction to this. I haven't gone through a winter storm like this since I moved here from Michigan, and that was 4 1/2 years ago. So it's react like a typical Michigander in this crap. Hunker in, hunker down, stay warm and fed, and wait it out. It'll pass eventually.

Least the food will stretch good. I did forget butter, but we've got not quite half a pound in the fridge and we don't use that much at a time. The boys have plenty of food (several cans of their wet food plus two small bags of dry because the store was out of bigger bags). Plenty of bread, a 3-lb bag of rice (best I could get), a bag of sugar to sweeten my cream of wheat in the morning, some meat and dinners, some other things that can be fixed fairly quickly, and several cans of soup to supplement what's in the cupboard. Heat up soup, make up some rice, pour the soup over the rice, and while it might be a bit boring after a while, at least a can of soup will stretch that way to fill us both fairly well with a hot meal. Also some sandwich stuff so we can have lunch without having to cook, including some chicken and mayo for chicken salad (have plenty of relish but gotta have extra on the other stuff in case).

It was possible to have to work tomorrow, but with this weather continuing, and the cold as well, it's not likely that there will be work for several days until it warms up. Hurts the paychecks, but better that than dealing with freezing to get to work and home again, freezing at work, and potentially having a wreck. Not good no matter what in that case. We have to do what must be done to get through this. Though honestly, there've been moments in the last couple of evenings when I've pretty well said screw this, let's get a place in town, I can't deal with this kind of thing, it's too hard. Then I remember that, while we could get up and down the road, it was tougher last winter when we had to hunker down in the living room, including sleeping there, just to stay warm at all. This isn't worse, it's better, and it'll pass. Besides that, a place in town would cost double what this place is costing us and we'd have neighbors right on top of us, too, plus not likely we'd be able to have the boys, let alone any of the other things we want to do ... forget that idea. I'll deal with it. It's not permanent, and it will thaw and I'll forget all about how miserable some of this is.

Plus I have plenty to keep me busy while I wait this out. I have my needlework, I have my books (mostly on the computer, but still), and I have two new seed catalogs to browse - Totally Tomato and Vermont Bean Seed Co. Yay, me. Now, if y'all don't mind, and even if you do, I want to do some reading and snacking and maybe head to be early to sleep through part of this stupid mess. Hugs all, I'll send this when I can, because until this clears up, I ain't going to McQuack's. (One time I really, really, REALLY wish we had internet here so I could let y'all know we're ok right now, but oh well ... that's country life for ya!)

*****
Day 3 - December 7

This weather is getting ridiculous. Couldn't even get out today to go to the vehicles to run them, so thank goodness they've got good batteries so they'll start when this is cleared enough to get to them again, probably tomorrow (Sunday) so we can go do laundry at the laundromat in Harrison, rather than the one in Green Forest we usually go to, because the one in Harrison has free wifi plus shower facilites. Expensive shower facilites, at $5 for a 10-minute shower, but then we'd both be ready for the week (assuming that things clear up enough for the plant to reopen), and I can get some of my internet time caught up. This means hauling the laundry down to the van on the sled, then back up again afterwards, but it's a way to get things done even if it does mean long, cold walks up steep hills that I'm seriously beginning to hate with a passion.

I'm not going to write alot of what I'd like to write, because it's pretty frustrated and not positive thinking, unless you count "This had better get done today OR ELSE," being positive. I don't think it counts. Today wasn't a total waste though. I got my Totally Tomato catalog gone through (and that's not all they have, but they do have a ton of them), got nine squares sewn together on a granny afghan (found a huge box of finished squares in the front bedroom when I went looking for something else, so I'm putting them together instead of fussing around with making all new bits and pieces, it'll be faster), did some reading, did some gaming on the laptop, did a few chores, and generally just vegged out. Though that's getting awful tiring. I want to get back to work on things, which means it's got to get warmer. Have to check online Sunday to see if the local radio station has anything on the plant closing or reopening for Monday, because the guard shack doesn't answer, which means even THEY aren't there right now.

The house is comfy, not great but at least quite warm compared to the outdoors, but still cold in the unused rooms. Going into the front bedroom to find anything that we generally don't need is an adventure in bundling up like an Eskimo. And even though we are not about to haul water jugs up that hill a mile from the vehicles, no worries about running out of water, because there's a whole freaking mountain buried six inches deep in snow that can be brought in and melted. Eric and Bobbi won't see each other for a few days because of the weather. She's got her mom and aunt up there in their house next door to E & B to have company for her and the baby. Eric couldn't get back to the mountain road in time Thursday before it got really bad, so he stayed in town with a friend, and then of course with all the snow and such, he can't get home. So he's stuck in town for a few days till this clears up.

One thing about Tyson folks - we band together in tough times. There's a bunch of us trying our best to keep on top of whether or not the plant is closed or when we're opening back up, because we just don't know. Me, if we work days Monday or Tuesday, unless second shift isn't running, I'll have to call and take points, because the car is buried in the snow and the county doesn't plow the dirt roads. Wish they did, we'd get out a lot easier! Heck, at least that way, I could get the car to the main road and get back and forth. If second shift isn't running, Quentin can run me to work and pick me up, but if they ARE, he makes more than I do, and he can work while I take points. Boring as all heck with no internet up here, but better than not getting around safely. I'm trying so hard to be positive with all this, but it's so hard. We know that the checks we get this upcoming Thursday are not going to be more than about $250 all together, and there's not a heck of a lot in the bank as it is left from these checks. Uck. So this year, it's going to end tight, financially. Christmas is going to be a few weeks late for us, it looks like. Oh well, crap happens, right? This too, shall pass. I just hope it passes quickly, because me and cabin fever do not get along well, and I can only take so much of being cooped up with no way to get anything really done. I have this itch to get out and do, and there's really nothing to DO in the dead of cold spells like this. I need things to do in cold weather, and this time, there really isn't much to do outside because it's so cold, that even if we had livestock, they'd be in the barn to avoid the frigid temperatures!

Anyhow, things are getting done, just they're not things that I really WANT to be doing, and life's taken a bit of a fuzzy turn with this weather. Anybody want some snow and cold? Come get it, it's free for the taking.

*****

No books this week, because I just don't have time to deal with it. Have to finish up what I can and get our butts back to the mountain road hopefully not too long before dark. Of course, it will be dark, because we have to stop at O'Reilly's on the way home, drain the radiator and put in new antifreeze because genius put a whole jug of windshield wiper fluid in the radiator overflow tank. If he blows up the van after I just put $300 into fixing the fuel pump, I'm going to strangle him.