My Feud with Mother Nature Rages On

As of this morning there were still no lights at home.  I read a couple news stories yesterday but wondered how bad it really was if they’re on day number two without lights.

Today I found this news story in the Mitchell Daily Republic:

“We have a widespread power problem,” South Dakota Public Safety Secretary Tom Dravland said Saturday. (you think?)

The South Dakota Rural Electric Association reported about 10,000 customers without power Saturday afternoon, down from 12,500 earlier in the day.

Fifteen of the state’s 28 electric cooperatives were reporting outages, with 6,000 power poles brought down by ice, the association said.

Association general manager Ed Anderson said it could be midweek or later before power is restored to all areas. Wind gusts, forecast to exceed 50 mph in some parts of the state, could hamper those efforts.

The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in north-central South Dakota was among the hardest-hit areas, Dravland said. The reservation was without water Saturday after power outages left the water-intake system inoperable. The state was setting up six large power generators at the reservation in hopes of restoring water service by day’s end…Governors of both states (North Dakota as well) have declared statewide emergencies to deal with the storm.

For anyone not aware, the reservation mentioned above is where we live. By Saturday night, reports from family members were that certain places on the Rez were already without water.  Where we live, we would get the remaining gravity flow, and had about 2 days worth of water in the pipes. Lucky for us, our water heater is gas, and has a gas pilot light, so Zach was able to take a hot shower last night! Yippee!

In other news, they’re all without heat;  gas heat doesn’t do you any good if you have an electric blower! Granny and myself have gas stoves that have been being utilized to warm at least part of the house.  However, Bud and Kirsten’s new home is entirely electric.  Even their water, which is held in a cistern, is pumped to their house with an electric pump, so they’ve been out of water since Friday when the power failed.

While I am glad I’m not there, I must say I’m frustrated for them, and me, because I want my visiting time with Zach back to its regularly scheduled programming, which includes Facebook and yahoo messenger chats as well as our phone conversations.

Zach said this morning it’s blizzard conditions outside and visibility is about 1 to 2 light poles; at least the light poles at home are still standing. Though there were a couple that were questionable yesterday as to whether or not they’d make it through the rest of the storm. I know it doesn’t do any good to complain or bitch, because the power company is doing their best to get everything back up and running. That doesn’t make me feel any better. I realize I’m worrying and fretting and stressing about something I cannot control, but honestly, Mother Nature has had it out for me this year, and I’m starting to take it personally.

It’s not just me that she’s affected now, it’s everyone around me, and I don’t like it.

She’s on my bad list.
She really is.

I hope the rest of you around the country are warm, and are able to enjoy the things that we all take for granted, like the TV, the computer, and football. Yeah, football. I’m sure some of you are thinking, why is there no generator? Well, according to Zach this is the longest they’ve been without power for quite some time. So he feels like there isn’t a need for one. If I were there, I might beg to differ.

At least there’s sunshine and a cool breeze here today. It’s probably too muddy to ride since it rained all day yesterday, but I can do other things, like run, so I plan to do that and keep the lineman who’re out in the blizzard in my thoughts and prayers.

Love,

Me