It's bad, Vickie, very bad. I'm in Springfield Mo and we've been out of power since early saturday. We were able to get a generator yesterday so we are warm and have all the necessities and some of the fun stuff like computer and TV.

From a gardeners point of view, the downed trees and shrubs are hard to see. Three of my four lilacs have limbs down on them. I'm going to have to adjust to having a sunnier yard. It is interesting to see which trees are holding up. It is the junk trees like silver and norway maple, and the elms that are crashing in large numbers. They are trees I should have cut down years ago and planted something more sturdy. I have two walnut trees that are still standing and doing well.

All in all, we have much to be thankful for. Others are in much worse shape and even my gardening woes are small ones. Hope you all are safe and warm tonight. Anise

Checking in - They got our phone lines back up here but still no electricity. It's been out since Friday evening. We charged our laptop on our generator so I'm able to dial in for a little while. We're weren't able to find a generator until Tuesday. They're in very high demand like many other things like kerosene, batteries, heators, gasoline, etc.
We have several trees down but none fell on our house so we're better off than many people. We have three large trees completely uprooted at the edge of our yard. One fell on my poor Forest Pansy redbud which only has half a trunk with no limbs now. There's not much left of our silver maple in our backyard so we'll probably cut it down and a few others that may have to be cut down as well. I haven't been outside much. I don't want a limb to fall on my head.
The older neighborhoods with lots of elm trees look the worst I think. We have to weave through a tunnel of downed trees and power lines to get to my parents' house. There are still MANY poles down on the ground everywhere we drive getting even worse as you head north from Springfield. GLD - I think you are north of me so I imagine you have no power. Hope you're ok.

I am very sorry to hear that you guys are having a hard times! We have lost some our trees from ice storm, maybe five years ago. This morning.. I stopped at the gas station and saw t.v. We will have ice storm again tomorrow and Saturday. I am not too happy to hear about it. I will be thinking of you all.. Please be very careful! Keep Warm!! Kat

A reminder to be extremely cautious when operating the emergency power generators. Every time we have an ice storm around here, several people die from carbon monoxide gas entering their homes. A working, battery operated CO detector is a must in every home! I have 3. Be aware that most only last about 5 years and then must be replaced.
We like all of you and don't want to lose anyone!
Disclaimer-I'm in no way associated with any manufacturer or seller of CO detectors, only very safety conscious, since my family's life was saved a few years ago by the numerous smoke, fire and CO detectors in my home.
Rb

There have been house fires and CO poisonings on the news quite a bit this week. Generators have to be kept dry so I think some people are tempted to run them in a garage or even in the house if they don't have a good place to set them outside. We were still getting freezing rain so it's hard to use the thing without it getting wet. Ours is on the front porch with a little nagging from me. Hubby wanted to put it in the garage and crack the windows. (And they wonder why wives nag) lol Our generator says to keep five feet from the house but if we did that it would've been sitting on the wet ground in the freezing rain instead of under the awning of our porch so we don't have a good place to set one either. I'll be glad when we get our power back on. I picked up another CO detector the first day that's battery operated. We have one but it plugs into an outlet so it is no use during a power outage.

Hope all of you are remaining safe. The news is full of all the downed lines in mo and ok. I remember times in South Dakota when lines were down and how cold it got. But please stay safe in hour homes. Hope everyone checks in as they get back up on line. Judy

Wooohoo - I have electricity! I've been sorting laundry all morning. Still lots of people without. I don't think I've seen Gld check in. I'm sure there are others. PeaceofMind - Do you have electricity yet?
We have lots of clean-up to do and the bad news is my dh is looking at chainsaws. I don't think my trees will ever be safe again. lol Hoping by the time he finishes with the four hedge trees that were uprooted and laying in our yard, he will have lost his enthusiasm with his new toy. There's another hedge tree laying down along the side of the field that maybe we could just leave there, but I noticed a couple days ago that we also have a tree that fell over onto our neighbors property and there may be more back along the fence line. Our neighbor has five acres (wooded) that he keeps mowed for his yard - or used to anyway. Poor guy - I'd be tempted to list it as a fixer-upper and move to an apartment.
School is in session many places including Springfield, but some of the students are in temporary buildings. Bless the teachers. It sounds hectic. I can just imagine some parent going to pick up their kindergartener and no one knowing where he or she is. I think they should've waited.
My shade garden won't have as much root competition or shade as it used to. Hope there are some plants left after the clean-up to enjoy their new freedom.

Yes, we have electricity! the first thing I did was laundry so I know where you are coming from, Christy.

The bad news is that our computer is damaged. Whether it is storm related or not, we don't know. I'm using my daughter's laptop at the library right now and it is wonderful to be plugged in to the internet again. It had been three whole days...

We haven't even started storm cleanup yet. We figure if we get it done before the lawn has to be mowed we'll be fine. Thankfully, we live in that kind of laid back neighborhood. Peace

Glad to hear from you. Christie, I'm so sorry abt your big trees and flowers.I really hate to see these old trees bite the dust. but thank heavens your house was ok. Let us know your flower losses after you take stock.
Anise, Sorry abt. your losses too. Keep us up to date abt your garden too. I hate to lose a tree even if its a weed tree. Hope your poor computer can be fixed or replaced. I got an update on mine for spam blockage and some how wiped out all my favorites so am having to bookmark everything again. I keep websites written down,so is only a nuisense.

my electricity was off for 3 hrs. Just a local thing on our mt. Have a generator but did'nt need it. I have enough candles and oil lamps and lamp oil to last a year. We also have butane heat and cooking.

Thanks for the advice on the CO monitors Rb. How did it save your life? I've got one and smoke detector.
I don't think anyone here thinks anything abt someone mentioning a product. If i find something i like. I always pass it on. I'm
retired and don't work for anyone,not even me.LOL

I read the Springfeild newspaper on line abt once a week. So have seen how bad it has been up there.
Have a great day
vickie

Hello everyone...............we finally got power at 6:22 pm last evening. We struggled along with a new generator that worked like crap! It will be going back shortly. All we could do with it was run the pump and keep lights going. We had a wood stove so kept warm and ate well due to my gas range. It was a very bad time.............we had DH's parents with us for 10 days with no power and little water. I know they were extrememly uncomfortable living that way but they kept warm and well fed.

My yard looks like a war zone. I have those blasted elm and soft maple trees so you can imagine how it looks.

We had damage done to the garage door openers, lost the TV and vcrs, my new frig isn't working, a cordless phone is kaput and we are still checking things out. Have the frig man coming Monday and garage door man on Tuesday.

Sure hope our insurance pays something!

The cattle did fine and we did too, but are extremely tired. DH says it is let-down after all the drama.

Glad to hear everyone here is safe and relatively undamaged.
I'm 67 and have never seen anything like this one!

Glad to hear from you GLD. Hope it's a hundred more years before it happens again. Our generator didn't work right either. It was a Craftsman. What kind did you have?

"let-down after the drama" I think that's what I have. I feel more stressed out now than when we were without power. I think just switching out of survival mode and noticing how much damage there was and how much needs to be done both outside and inside to catch up. It's depressing to look at the trees. We had a couple of big oak trees back in the field that look almost as bad as our silver maple. And down the road there was a monstrous oak tree with tree trunk sized limbs that I always admired and it has lost several very large limbs. I've thought several times I should stop and take a picture of that tree and now it looks like heck.

GLD, So glad to hear from you. Gee i just don't know what to say to help except ((((HUGS GLD)))
You had a lot of damage. Since you were under a SOE surely your insurance will pay.
It's a natural thing to have a bigtime letdown after such stress. So you and Christie know that things will get better with your letdowns and hang in there.(((HUGS Christie))) Will be thinking of you.
vickie

We haven't cruised the entire farm for damage to the fences, and to all the trees...dread doing it.

I had a very bad day yesterday, nerves seem to be shot. I was on the phone to DirecTv trying to get our television (In-laws gave us their fairly new 20 inch) up and running....after two or more hours with 4 different techs, they decided I should just return my receiver and they are sending a new one....then another phone call to get it activated. I sure know how to hook one up now!

Christie, it is a depressing thing to look at all the damage. My redbud seems good, lost a large branch from a dogwood, but can save it. The rest of my yard trees are pretty much damages, but we probably will just leave them.
We still haven't started cleanup....I just can't seem to get motivated.

Today we have to take my aunt to the store...she fell and sprained her ankle. That will take about 3-4 hours; she lives about 40 minutes south.

Christie, we bought ours from Lockwood Refrigeration at Marshfield; he installed our equipment when we milked. It is a Dyna made by Winco Inc. It has a two-year warranty and they are going to run it through the Briggs and Stratton shop to check it out. DH says it will be as good as new once rebuilt....let's hope so.

We have the propane, automatic one on order from him and I will be pushing for immediate installation. They come on automatically everytime the power goes off and test themselves once a week. It sounds like a miracle (if it works!)

We hearing lots of different feedback from peoples insurance companies; I already know ours will not cover tree and brush removal............so we will be getting out the chain saw soon.

vickie, thanks for the good thoughts; we need them. I never thought I would be so irritable after something like this, but I am. I am trying to hold it together and not blow up at someone.

Gld, I am so sorry for all your losses, and espacially for your 'down' feelings. I think I can identify with you even though I have never suffered such losses. I can understand the feelings....at least. Having your aged folks with you surely compounded the trials! I am thankful that you had heat and a place to cook. So many don't have that when the power goes. ( I do. ) Every time we have an ice storm I dread what may happen to our yard trees. One year, before we moved into our new house here, the woods were devestated by a major ice storm. That was over 23 years ago, and the debris is finaly rotting down enough to walk through the area again. And the older we get, the harder it is to cope with these things.

Christie, I sympathize with you,too. LOL about your DH and a chainsaw. My DH loves to cut trees down ! And he is 80 ! Of course he has been at it for years. One thing about it, anyone in your area who burns wood has a reliable source now! I heard on the Springfield news that there is enough debris to cover 40 acres 20 feet deep ( Or maybe it was 12 feet deep? )! WOW either way !

The saddest part is the cruddy crooks who are stealing stuff and ripping people off ! How low can people get ?

Marian