Sunday morning my wife boarded a plane to California, where she is having a medical procedure performed on Wednesday. “Don’t worry,” I said. “Everything will be fine here at home.”
Over the past 48 hours we’ve had record amounts of snow and low temperatures, a water pipe burst inside our house, experienced a power outage, and now we have no water.
My wife was diagnosed with Lipedema, a non-life threatening condition that causes nodules to grow inside your legs. The surgery to remove the nodules is categorized as cosmetic; there are roughly 60 surgeons in the country who are trained on this type of surgery, and over half of them are located in Beverly Hills. These nodules have affected many aspects of my wife’s life, from finding comfortable pants and shoes to wear to having them put uncomfortable and debilitating pressure on her joints which affects her mobility. She’s been on a waiting list to see a specialist for several months, and when an opening became available that allowed her to skip ahead in line, she jumped at the opportunity.
The date just so happened to coincide with one of the heaviest winter storms Oklahoma has ever seen. Susan had planned to fly out Monday afternoon, but the incoming storm forced her to bump that up to the Sunday morning red eye, and even then her flight was rerouted from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Phoenix to avoid the incoming storm. By the time she was checked into her hotel and had texted me a picture of palm trees, Oklahoma City had already received its first foot of snow, with more on the way
The snow is only a nuisance. The real problem has been the record low temperatures we’re experiencing. It gets cold in Oklahoma during the winter, but it typically doesn’t get this cold for this long. By Sunday afternoon, temperatures had dropped into the single digits where they have remained for days. Unfortunately, things in Oklahoma aren’t built to be this cold for this long.
Prior to the storm’s arrival I spent time making sure our generator was full of gas and would start, and I made sure the hoses were disconnected from the front and rear faucets… but I forgot about the one on the side of the house. Sometime Sunday evening, the copper pipe inside the wall burst, sending gallons of water into the floor of our closet. I didn’t notice the issue until Monday morning, and by that time the carpet, padding, and everything on the floor was completely soaked. Susan had a box of photographs in the corner of the closet and while most of those survived, the bag next to it full of paintings and art projects the kids did in grade school did not. My bathroom currently looks like a sweatshop for children’s projects, with artwork laid out on every flat surface in an attempt to dry them out. A quick visit from a local plumber got the leak stopped and the pipe will have to be replaced later this week, but for now that crisis has been averted.
A few hours after that, our local power company (OG&E) announced that they would begin performing “rolling blackouts” to prevent the electric grid from being overtaxed. To say this was not a popular decision on a day where local forecasters were predicting “the lowest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma City” is perhaps an understatement. My biggest issue with this was the incredibly amateurish way in which the information was disseminated. Depending on your source, people were being told that rolling blackouts had started, had not started, would last no more than an hour, or up to two hours.
Monday morning at around 6:50am, our electricity went off. Of all the things to happen, this was the one I was most prepared for. As I rolled the generator out of the workshop I discovered deep snow drifts preventing me from getting the generator as close to the house as I would have liked. My 25′ extension cords reached less than a foot inside the back door; fortunately, my 50′ and 100′ ones were more than adequate. In (according to my phone) -3F, I ran extension cords into the living room, fired up portable heaters, and hooked up the television and cable box.
During this time, OG&E’s website said that the outage could last for hours, and that they were not currently performing rolling blackouts. When I turned on my television, they were reporting that 5,000 customers were without power due to rolling blackouts. At exactly 8am — about 20 minutes after I had everything hooked up — our power was restored. When I checked the website, it had been updated to report that they were, in fact, performing rolling blackouts that could last “up to one hour.” At the exact same time, my local news was reporting that the blackouts could last up to two hours. The stress doesn’t come from dealing with stuff; it comes from not knowing what to expect.
Despite the fact that the snow is so deep in my driveway that leaving is currently impossible, Morgan and I are doing fine. Susan stocked the pantry and refrigerator with two weeks worth of meals. The two of us spent some time together watching Jeopardy and making dinner.
Shortly after dinner Morgan said, “dad, the water’s not working.”
The water dispenser in the refrigerator door was not working. Then I checked the sink; it wasn’t working, either. Panicked that another pipe had burst, I quickly inspected the inside and outside of the house to make sure water wasn’t spraying out somewhere. A quick call to the neighbor confirmed that the had no water either, which somehow was relieving. The news is now reporting that the local water treatment plant — due to the low temperatures, power outages, and high demand — has essentially frozen. That’s… great.
As of early Wednesday morning, the current status is:
And finally:
I spent the morning collecting snow — I filled one trash can and one plastic shoebox, enough for drinking water for the cats. I have several large (20+ gallon) tubs I could use for toilet flushing snow, but can’t find any trash liners in the house big enough to keep them clean for drinking water. I have two gallons of distilled water for my CPAP and we have two gallons of milk and a pitcher of Crystal Light (and a twelve pack of beer) so we have more than enough to get by for now. If things change, I will be hitting up my 4×4 driving friends in the near future!
Susan’s surgery takes place later today, and the current snowpacalypse will keep my mind busy until I hear from her later this evening. Plus, this is definitely the longest I’ve gone without thinking about COVID in about a year, so that’s another plus!
We get lots of short power outages in my town in NJ. After having to futz with the FIOS box & router for the umpteenth time, I finally got a beefy computer UPS and plugged in the FIOS box, my wifi router, and my ethernet switch. Now, when the power goes out, my wifi & ethernet continues to work for at least 2 hours and I don’t even have to do anything.