Ice Storm Aftermath

As I was driving to Mayfield that Thursday morning and saw many broken utility poles, I realized that it was going to be more than the 7 to 10 days the neighbor had mentioned before power was restored.

Lexi had spent a few days with her paternal grandparents, but Alyssa picked her up on Saturday morning and brought her home. Rather than sleeping on the couch, Alyssa made a nest for Lexi on the floor in her room, so we've been sharing the room.

On Monday, February 2, before I went to my appointment at the Cancer Group, I stopped in at Grace Church to let them know that I'm all right. They said they had tried to call, but of course my phone was (is still) out.

On Tuesday, February 3, I had the PETscan at Western Baptist Hospital. It was the same mobile unit, but WBH is where it was parked. After it was finished, the technician asked if I was going to be around any children. I had mentioned to her that I am staying with my granddaughter. I told her that I am sharing a room with a seven-year-old. She said that for the rest of the day, I should keep a distance from her (like across the room) and that we should not sleep in the same room that night. The reason is that the solution she had injected into me for the test was radioactive. I said that Lexi could sleep on the couch in the living room. When I got back to Alyssa's and told her, she said that Lexi was at Nana & Pawpaw's and would be spending the night there, so that worked out well.

On Wednesday, February 4, I went out to my house, stopping to pick up Lexi on the way. I got more stuff and threw out some food from the freezer. Lexi wanted to visit Robbie, next door, and since I hadn't told him on Friday where I was going, I thought it would be a good idea to tell him then. He said he had power. I figured from a generator, since there was a box from one in the driveway, but he said it was from the grid. I figured, then, that the reason I didn't have power was that my supply line had come loose from the service pole in the yard. I thought I'd need to hire an electrician to repair that. When I got back to Mayfield, I stopped at the electric company to see if my theory was correct. The lady at the desk said she didn't want to give me bad information, so she wanted me to talk to a man who would be back in a few minutes. I sat down and waited. The man lives two or three miles down the road from me, and he knows exactly which house I live in - he said he had personally removed my supply line from the road a few days before. He was surprised that Robbie has power, but thought perhaps his service comes in from the back, and is therefore from a different main line than mine. He said it would be two to three weeks before my service is restored. He also said that since nothing has torn loose from the house, it is all electric company responsibility.

That evening, Lexi and I decided to eat out (she said Burger King, but as we were driving, she decided she wanted pizza). As she was putting on her shoes in the sunroom, there was a change in the amount of light around us. I thought it was a reflection off a car window or something, but she exclaimed, "We've got power!" I looked up, and sure enough, the ceiling light was on. She immediately jumped up and started doing a happy dance and singing, "We've got power! We've got power!" On the way to Pizza Hut, we stopped at Alyssa's work to tell her, and after we got home, we made use of that power by watching Horton Hears a Who on DVD.

On Friday, February 6, I went to see the orthopedic surgeon. Both the ankle and the hip are doing well. He wants to check the hip again in November.

From there I went to With Ewe in Mind, my local (Paducah) yarn shop. I sat there knitting for a couple of hours. I was really glad to see that the shop was fairly busy, and it is always nice to talk to other knitters and crocheters.

Saturday morning I decided to let McDonald's make my coffee for me. I brought my French press coffeemaker to Alyssa's with me, because I figured that as long as I could boil water, I could make coffee with that. But sometimes it's nice to let someone else do the work, and besides, I wanted a sausage biscuit. I sat there for quite a while, eating my breakfast and reading.

Then I went to Walmart for a skein of yarn to crochet a poncho for Lexi's new American Girl doll that my daughter (her grandmother) gave her for Christmas. She is named Julie and is from the 1970. She is dressed in bell-bottom jeans and a peasant blouse over a turtleneck shirt. I figured a crocheted poncho would be appropriate. I got a colorway called Cherry Chip, which reminds me of cherry chocolate chunk ice cream. It didn't take long (and less than half the skein) for me to make the doll's poncho, but then I asked Lexi if she wanted a matching one. Of course! So I started on it and finished the skein by the end of the day. I'll need about three more skeins to finish the child-size poncho.

Lexi went back to school on Monday, and I went out to Milburn to collect mail and check on things. I burned paper trash and sat in the sun on the back porch for a while. It was a beautiful day! I had been a bit afraid that I might have burst water pipes, because it did get quite cold one night, but everything seemed OK.

Yesterday, I took Alyssa to the dentist in Murray to get a tooth pulled. She felt pretty rotten for the rest of the day. I didn't see her this morning; it was Trevor who came and told Lexi to get up. She did call, "Have a good day," as Lexi went out the door with me right behind her. Lexi got on the school bus and I got in my car. I let McDonald's make my coffee again, and then went to the Senior Center for a couple of hours.

I'm at the library again posting this and checking email. I'm really glad they provide this service.

I guess that gets me caught up to date with what is happening.