Last Tuesday, January 27th, I woke up like any other morning.   I glanced out the window to see everything covered in a thick layer of ice.   I got a cup of coffee and sat down to watch tv.   They were saying that other counties had lost power and I was thinking thank goodness we still have power.   At 7:30am, our power went off.   I could see the convenient store on the corner still had power, so I just thought ours would come back on any minute.   Our power was out for 10 days.

At first it wasn’t too bad.   The house was still warm and it was daylight.   That evening, we sat in the dark to save our candles and oil lamps.   My mom and I made a bet, she said the power would be on within 4 hours and I said it would come back the next day.    Whichever lost had to take the other out to eat, needless to say we both lost that bet.   I turned on the radio, but there was only one station coming in and they weren’t discussing the ice and power outages.  I did have my cell phone, so all wasn’t totally lost.   The next morning, Wednesday, we woke up and the house was down to 58 degrees, still not to bad, nothing an afghan wouldn’t fix.   I went out and fired up the grill in the garage and cooked breakfast.   When it’s 58 in the house and colder outside, scrambled eggs do not stay hot long.   We lost cell power, but WBKR 92.5 powered back up and started providing information.    Unfortunately, most of the information concerned Owensboro.   I heard there was shelters set up, but I had no idea where they were.   Plus Mom didn’t want to go.    We spent the day laying around the living praying the power would come back on and listening to the radio off and on, trying to save the batteries.   Wednesday night my brother came by and said they had no heat either, but we figured one more night and surely the power would be back on Thursday.   The longest the power had ever been out was 3-4 days.    By Wednesday night it was down to 48 degrees, so we dug out more blankets.

Thursday morning it was 39 degrees in the house.   The radio said Radio Shack was open, so I cleaned my car off and went for batteries.   The whole town was a dead zone.   Far as I knew the Radio Shack was the only store open and it was running on a battery inverter or something.   I bought batteries and went back home.   I couldn’t get warm and I was seriously getting scared.   I kept my mom bundled up under 4 blankets and I kept running out to the grill to boil water for coffee.   I made my way to my brother’s house and found out that my cousin had power.   So I went home and luckily my neighbor was home checking on things and I was able to use his house phone to call my cousin.   They told me to get out there.   Whew!

Luckily they had full power.    I have to tell you it was so weird.   As we drove through town everything was dark and closed, even Wal-mart.   About 2 miles out of town, the power was on.   So Wendy’s, Denny’s, one hotel, and two gas stations (one with a Godfather’s) was open.   The parking lots of those places was jammed.   The drive thru at wendy’s was backed all the way to the edge of the parking lot, out a side street and all the way to the highway.   The minit mart with the Godfather’s was so packed you could barely even pull in.   After I got to my cousin’s we ordered pizza and me and my sister-in-law went to  pick it up.   The shelves were practically empty and as I stood there I watched the guy steal a pack of snack cakes.

We woke up each morning and listened to the radio to see how far along everything was and how long it would take to come back.    On Friday Wal-mart powered up on generators, but you couldn’t buy any meat.   On Saturday a shipment of meat came and Wal-mart was packed to the gills.   I’m not sure what happened, but Wal-mart ended up losing all the meat again and another truck shipment had to come in.  

We heard on the radio that the national guard was going door to door, checking on people and we occasionally seen an army type vehicle when we came into town, but no one checked on us until Thursday morning.   By that time most things were back on and we didn’t need anything.   I turned the heat on Thursday morning and it was 28 degrees in the house.   We came back that night and I spent 3 hours cleaning on the house.   I spent Friday catching up on laundry.

I do want to say Kudos to Arby’s Restaurant.   They ran out of roast beef a few times, but they kept on cooking and trying to keep up.   We went on Tuesday and got 15 of their Arby melts because usually the Arby melts don’t have a lot of meat on them and you have take the meat off two sandwiches and put it on one bun, but that night when we got home, the sandwiches were thick and meaty.   I know it’s silly, but after they days right after the power went out, it just felt good knowing some one cared.  

I also want to say Kudos to WBKR 92.5, they were tireless.   Constantly updating everyone.   If someone called in needing kerosene or food, they went to work making calls to find it.    They went above and beyond the call of duty.  

I also want to thank all the electric people who came in from all over to help us.    I also would like everyone to offer up a prayer for those who are still waiting for power.   In some areas it could be up to 3 weeks before full power is restored.   May God stay with those people and give them strength. 

For the first time in my life, I can’t wait for spring and I may never wish Winter would get here faster.

For years and years all I’ve heard on the news is how much trouble teenager drivers cause.   Insurance rates are outrageous for teen drivers.   They keep trying to up the age to get your license, gotta have good grades, etc etc.  Well I’m sick of it!

What about elderly drivers?    If you actually stop and listen to the news, you’ll hear far more instances of some elderly driver driving into a building or causing an accident.   So why isn’t more focus put on elderly drivers?

Today I was driving home on the four lane highway between Hartford and Beaver Dam.   This car was straddling the white line on our two lanes.   I could not see any heads in that car whatsoever.   I was following wondering what the deal was.   Finally a car came up beside me and the car in front of me eventually slid to our side and the car past.   I slid over and decided to get away from the car in front of me.  As I came up beside it, I realized it was a little elderly lady, she could barely see over the steering wheel.   Next thing I know, she starts swerving over right at me.   I hit the brake and tried to get out of her way, I hit the curb on my side and she finally went back into her lane after I blared the horn at her.   She then got in front of me and almost caused another accident turning into a parking lot.   It was obvious this lady had no business whatsoever behind the wheel of a car.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are some people who are 80 and can still drive as good as anybody.   My next door neighbors are 81/80 and he still drives and he’s a good driver.   I just think at a certain age, you should have to be tested again.   I also think it’s time to lay off teen drivers and focus on the age group that is really causing all the problems.

Alot of counties have been banning cigarette smoking inside public buildings and forcing business owners to ban smoking.   I didn’t agree with that.   Each business owner should be allowed to decide if they are going to allow smoking.   No one forces a non-smoker to enter a smoking establishment.   I know that when a restaurant has smoking and non smoking sections it doesn’t really do any good.   The areas are usually right there together, but again, no one ever forced a non smoker to go there.    The choice should be left up to the owner. 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, now places are saying you can’t even smoke outside on the property.   The hospital here in town as of Jan 1st will no longer allow smoking outside.   Come on, what harm is it in letting people smoke outside??   

They’re doing this to try to force people to not smoke.   Right under the article about the hospital was a second article saying they are going to up cigarette tax.   A pack of cigarettes is already $3.00 to $4.00 and I’m sure in some places even higher.

What I want to know is why aren’t they taking measures like this with drinking?    Why not up the tax on a bottle of whiskey?    Why not make it so you can’t drink in public?    How many times do you hear of someone dying in a car wreck because of smoking cigarettes?    How many bar fights have you heard of because of someone smoking too much?

We all know why liqour isn’t under attack though like cigarettes.   It’s because everyone in Washington DC, the judges, the lawyers, and everyone else drink.   There’s no way they are going to crack down on something they themselves do.   Liquor causes more deaths of innocent bystanders, so I think it’s time some focus was put on booze.  

The sugeon general is always quoted about cigarette smoking causing cancer and birth defects.   What about liquor?   It causes birth defects, liver problems, diabetes and a whole host of other problems.  

Turn about is fair play.   Come on Congress, pull your heads of the bottle and crack down on drinking too.

p.s.  No I’m not a smoker.   I quit 5 years ago, so don’t go getting all up in the air thinking I’m just another smoker blowing smoke.  

So now the Big 3 car manufacturers want a bailout.   They claim that if the government gives them like 30 billion dollars they can turn the companies around.   How is that going to work exactly?   They get billions of dollars, but the American people still can’t afford to purchase new cars, so where will the revenue come from?     I’m not a business major, so I could be wrong here, but for a car company to show a profit they must sell cars, correct?

So here is my thought.  Instead of giving the car companies the 30 billion, find low income families who desperately need a new car and buy them a car.   Kills two birds with 1 stone.   The low income family gets a much needed car and the car company will show a profit.    This doesn’t seem that hard to grasp, so why doesn’t the government figure this out?

Come on Congress, pull your head’s out of your butts and start focusing on who really counts, the American public!