Celebrating a Year!

A year ago Arkansas was hit with a winter storm that all but crippled the area for weeks, months in the rural parts of the Ozarks. Our woods were a wonderland of ice, beautiful to look at but so very dangerous. Thick layers of slippery ice covered the roads, trees and power lines. I had stocked up on food, water and other necessities preparing to hunker down when the storm hit. It was that exciting "home from school" feeling that first day, all safe and cozy inside with the fireplace blazing and soup cooking on the stove. Our little Cocker spaniel Ben slept snuggled on the couch and I kept the TV tuned to the weather channel, amusing myself with my favorite blogs. I watched the icy stuff coat each tree making plinking noises as it hit the decks and iced them thick just like a cake. About mid-afternoon the idyllic Little House on the Prairie feeling evaporated when the power and phone went dead. The following morning we had no power and no phone. The house was so quiet without Good Morning America, I was beginning to get "Cabin Fever" already! I did have the presence of mind to brew two pots of coffee the day before the storm and one was still warm in the carafe. Over the holidays I had bought a new fondue pot with sterno fuel so this was my only means to hot food over the next couple days. I made oatmeal, maybe a hearty breakfast would keep me full longer. I added butter, brown sugar and banana...feeling very proud of myself for being so resourceful! Immediately I realized eating out of the same pot would eliminate the dish problem (no hot water) and I was beginning to feel a little bit like a pioneer!

In the afternoon the trees were bent with the weight of the ice. There was an eerie creaking as they began to bend and break. You could hear heavy oak limbs falling in our woods. The sky was sending sleet in the form of small icicles for most of the day and into the night. When it was all over we had 3 inches of ice on the ground and trees across the Ozarks were split apart with the weight. I kept my radio on for news and I had my cell, but really things came to a complete stop. You couldn't drive, stores closed, even emergency vehicles were stopped by all the downed trees and power lines. My local radio station took call ins from people in distress, an 83 year old lady who had a power line across her fence and unable to feed her horses. Later I learned that the radio station sent an employee out to throw the bales of hay over to the horses. Some guy with a great sense of humor called to say he had stocked up for the storm, had dry wood to burn and a pot of beans on the stove...and he hadn't called for a bailout from the government or assistance from FEMA! We are a hardy bunch here, able to figure out our problems and pull together in a crisis. The kindness of neighbors, the hard work of the linemen who braved the bitter cold days and nights on end; we each have a strength in us that we don't know exists until pressed. My Dad used to call it "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps", meaning getting out of a difficult situation by one's own efforts. It took the combined efforts of many to fix what Mother Nature did in just 24 hours.

It's been a year now since I started the blog. I never realized that sharing the pictures of the ice storm would be the start to a year of daily posts! Along the way I've had a meltdown with a Picasa Boo Boo, shared many memories and met some amazing people!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you who have taken the time to comment on a post or a picture or to say, hey I like the music. I've found my voice through this blog and most days I don't even have a clue what to talk about!

Thanks for visiting GrannyMountain and remember...

the Welcome Mat is always out!