Not good news at all to be iced in and no electric. I pray for all that are in those areas. My youngest sister just told me a while ago that her son just left for OK. He works for a large tree trimming company and he often goes to areas like this. Good luck to all of you. (I start whining like a baby when my electric is off beyond the hour mark.)

Shirley

Being without electric is the pits. Hope Moni and her family stay warm!

It is strange to have a half inch of ice on the trees, but nothing on the roads. It's nice though because you can go to town to get food and supplies or to a friend's house that has electricity!

Stay warm, Moni!

I had a bad feeling Moni was without power since she hasn't posted. Bless her heart!!

DH fed cattle today and he said the main highway is good but the side roads are horrible.

I just called Moni back. She'd called while I was taking Toby to the vet. He has a bad tooth or 2 to be taken out tomorrow.
She said all her food in the freezer is across the street at the neighbors. The food from the refrigerator is in a cooler, and now is the perfect time to clean out the refrigerator. She probably don't have any hot water though.
She said she had a miner's type hat on her head with a light on it. LOL. Can't you just see her running around with 3 layers of clothes on, and her hat.
She said if the power doesn't come on tomorrow at home, and it does where Jerry works, that they'll go there. DD is at their house now too.
The drug out the sleeping bags for tonight. They can cook, because they do have gas, and can light it with a match.
She'll post a picture of them camping out, in the house, when they get power, and she can get back on line.
Everyone stay safe down there.
Leslie

Yikes I feel for you Moni!!
I hope they can get power to everyone very soon!!!!!

Judy, many people wonder that because heat rises, but it doesn't work that way in the atmosphere. The higher up, the colder it is. You've wondered about snow-capped mountains in summertime, I know LOL. I used to fly in small aircraft a lot. Once we closed the door, the heat in a four- or six-seater airplane is sweltering. Once we took off, we simply opened the vents. It was better than a car's air conditioning.

Sure hope Moni's electricity is back soon. I'd be nuts by now without being able to work or play on the computer. Oh gosh, no TV, no radio, no nothing. Moni, are you still sane???

Hayjud, thank you for keeping us up to date with Moni. If you talk to her again please let her know she is in our thoughts. Great time to cuddle with loved ones. Praying they get power back soon!

Thanks for posting about Moni, Hayjud. I asked about her a day or two ago because I hadn't seen any posts from her but didn't see any response. Like Rita, I had a bad feeling about the weather there. Glad to hear she's making it so far, and hope they get back to normal soon.

I don't understand about the ground temperature either. In Indiana we were either frozen or frozen solid in the winter.

Thanks again!!

Hang in there, Moni. Crews from Mn. left early this morning headed for OK to help with power restoration.
Ron

Wow! Ron, crews from MN -- Moni said that paople were coming from as far as the state of LA to help get the power back.

The ground down there is not frozen like it is up here. The air temp is low right now, but that hasn't been long enough to make the ground cold enough to freeze. The air temp is cold and the smaller things like branches and wires etc. quickly turn cold enough. BTW it is still raining there too.

Oklahomans are so grateful for all of the helpers from out of state! THANK YOU!

Can I tell you something that makes me bawl? At the OKC Memorial where the Murrah building stood, there is a tree that survived the 1995 bomb blast. It is called the Survivor Tree. During the storm, volunteers went out every few hours to tap the branches and knock the ice off so that the tree wasn't damaged.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Survivor Tree

Rita, I'd "talk" but I have the awfulest lump in my throat. That's a beautiful tree.

Good to hear that Moni isn't all iced up herself....I've been wondering about her all day when I heard Tulsa was so affected.

I can't remember ever being in a power failure in the cold. No I'm not talking Orlando LOL-the 50's are cold here! I meant when I lived in Michigan, Illinois, or NJ. It must be SO cold IN the house.

Moni said the temp in her house this afternoon was 60. That doesn't sound all that cold for a Minnesotan, but we are talking Okies! It's expected to get quite cold tonight. They are tough! They have camped on some real cold nights on some of their bike trips.

It gives me the shivers just thinking about the cold (I'm a whimp!)

Thanks for letting us know Hayjud. I hope Moni gets her power back soon.

Nightline is going to report on the midwest ice storm tonight.

Anne

We live about 2 hours east of Moni. We got a tiny bit of ice on the trees, but not enough to cause a problem. The temp here yesterday got up to 60 for a little while before another front moved thru and dropped it back to the 40's during the day, near freezing at night. Our temps are usually within a few degrees of Tulsa's and this time we were lucky enough to be just on the other side of the line of freezing air temps. It's been chilly here for the last few weeks, but nowhere near freezing and that's why the ground is warm and holding the heat and not letting the ice stick to the roads. Our deck would ice up and the trees would, but the ground is warm(ish).

I'm sure Moni will be thrilled when the power comes back on, I hope it's soon. It's so boring to be without power, you can't even vacuum! All you can do is find a window to sit by and read, or knit, or whatever. And hopefully you have a woodstove- most peeps around here do, as we lose power almost every year.

I have family in Tulsa (DH was born there) We have not been able to get ahold of them, we are hoping they are all okay.
I guess people from OK. have been having to come over here to get gas.
Our power has stayed on without any outage for 24hrs now, so we are feeling lucky, school was canceled again today so I know there are a lot of homes in our area that are still without power:(

That's too bad that Moni and so many are without power. I hope the temp doesn't drop too much while it's off. We were without power for a week about 5 years ago because of ice downing powerlines. Luckily we were able to stay with friends.

I've been meaing to buy a kerosene heater ever since then but haven't done it yet.

We've been without power for over 8 hours before. Thankfully that was the longest time we've had to deal with it. It is very boring after a while. Plus, it could get pretty miserable if it's cold and damp out. I hope Moni has plenty of wood for her fireplace and fleese throw to wrap around her.

I live outside of Tulsa. We were only without power for around nine hours. The next neighborhood over on the next street has been out for over 48 hours. Right now I have cable, phone, and internet, but it's been on and off for the last couple of days. I've been trying to wash as much laundry and dishes as I can in case we lose power again. There is supposed to be another ice storm coming in Friday night.

We have a generator and a gas stove I can light with a match so we're pretty lucky. We were without power for a total of eight days during the December 2000 ice storms in Arkansas. We've learned from that experience. I keep candles, flashlights and easy to make foods like Hamburger Helper, ramen noodles, and canned soup in the cabinets.

I drove to a mall in Tulsa yesterday to get my kids out of the house. The hallways were crowded, but there weren't many people in the stores. I think there were a lot of people there who didn't have power at home. They were just looking for a place to hang out and warm up. Several gas stations were closed. The ones that were open were crowded. I stopped at one that appeared to be out of gas. Half of the stoplights I went through were out. Everyone was polite and waited in line to drive through it. The businesses that have electricity seem to be really random. Some of the restaurants and businesses you would expect to be open aren't. I drove home without streetlights last night. It was eery. THere are downed trees and broken limbs all over the place.

Yesterday it was 46 so the ice is melted. We are expected to get another storm this weekend. It's colder again today (around 30 degrees). We'll see what this weekend brings.

Oh Rita, thanks for posting that about the survivor tree! I'm bawling now. I'm so sad that my lovely, huge sycamore is in pieces, but I'm so glad that somebody thought to save the survivor tree. I love that tree.

A lot of Norman has power back on, but the central neighborhoods along the north side of town are still out. I finally figured out why everything is so spooky--with the silhouettes of bombed-out trees rising in the glowing mist and whole neighborhoods lying black beneath, it's almost as if the air-raid sirens have just gone off in London during WWII. It's certainly not that bad; it's just the visuals are kinda creepy.

I'm hoping my power comes back on soon. It's been out since Sunday night. But we heard last night that they got power on down the street and we saw that a few of the big downed lines had been fixed, so I'm hopeful. So far we've been fine in our bedrooms, but I think my water bed has finally lost all heat and will be too cold tonight. We are lucky to have an older gas stove that really warms up the living room just during normal cooking. My roommate (the cook) says she has figured out why her grandparents and their friends always ate the evening meal around 4--what woman wants to cook in the dark?? Making gravy by candlelight is quite an adventure! LOL

We just won't discuss how she left one of the burners turned slightly on and nearly asphyxiated us! What with all the fresh air I had to let into the house, last night was COLD!

My prayers for everyone in the ice storm--stay safe and be careful!!

julie

Oh, I hate to hear about you others being without power. It really only takes once to teach ya about preparedness, for sure.

I can't count the times during our 2002 ice storm that I walked into a room and flipped the light switch - even KNOWING that the power was out! It's just habit... so Moni has a good idea with her miner's helmets! :-)

Julie, I was also inspired that people thought of saving the Survivor Tree even amid the chaos of the ice storm. What a story... *sniff*