My parents live in Union and they still don't have power but streets next to them do, its so weird.

 

Huh, I am in Union and we never lost power.

No power in Independence.. Blah..

 

Got ours back apparently around 1 last night. I went and stayed with some friends in Latonia. They had power but no cable, so we ended up at a bar watching the Dallas vs Philly game.

 

36 hours without power at my house was not cool. I could only handle 6 hours of it before I headed elsewhere.

No action or no power?

 

Or, let me guess....both!

 

:irked::irked:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Correct on both counts...

Huh, I am in Union and we never lost power.

 

The "other" side of 42 was out, though. UDF, Double Decker, etc.

I'm back in action!

 

For the past three days, this is the only thread I've been able to look at. Thank God for the new-fangled cell phones with Internet access. Otherwise, I would have had to kill myself by sometime early yesterday. Well, I've got a lot of missed posting time built up, and I've got to get it out of my system. So fair warning: this is going to be a long one!

 

What a crazy few days we've all had. I know some of us are still in the thick of it. I pray that all of you still in the dark get your power back as soon as possible. I understand that over 1.5 million customers in the Mid-west, and 550,000 in Kentucky alone, lost their power. They say we will probably (we hope) never see anything like this again in our lifetimes. It was truly "the perfect storm." My story in all this isn't a big tragedy or anything; but I will say that it was probably somewhat unique.

 

As almost everyone knows by now, I use a battery-powered chair to get around. I also have a powered bed, and some electrically operated equipment that I need (mainly at night) because of a bad case of crappy lungs. So power failures are kind of scary thing around here.

 

Our power went out about one second after I hit the submit button on a post earlier in this thread. That was at 2:51 PM Sunday afternoon. Every other power failure we've had has been cleared up within a few hours. So there was, initially, no reason to get worked up. But then the reports started to come across the radio of the scope of the outage. It quickly became apparent that we might be in for an extra long wait.

 

That afternoon, I heard a news report that the roof had blown off the Delta hanger at the airport. Knowing my brother works out there, I called to find out if he had heard the news. Oh, he had heard it...he was in the hanger when it happened. They had sought shelter there when the wind started blowing big pieces of insulation all around. Nobody was hurt; but the airport was shut down (and dark) for several hours.

 

Late Sunday evening, my cousin (who lives nearby) called to tell us that the people at Duke told him we were looking at Tuesday morning before we would be back in service. As will be no surprise to some...I began to freak!

 

The very first thing I noticed was that the chair was very low on battery power. Ordinarily this would not be a problem. As long as I didn't move around too much, there was enough "gas" to get through the day. But what about tomorrow.

 

The next morning, I started the day in my back-up chair. It's a piece o' junk, and couldn't pull an ant hill in a stiff breeze; but at least it got me moving. The first order of business was for my family to fan out and find ice (of which there was none to be found Sunday) and places to recharge all the various batteries. My chair became custody of the guys up at the Ft. Thomas Fire Department. A huge thank you to the FTFD!! They plugged it in behind the fire trucks and wrote my name on a chalk board by it. I was a little afraid that they'd requisition it as their newest firefighting vehicle; but that didn't happen.

 

The battery for my breathing equipment went to one of my mom's friends. My buddy, Run to State took care of the rest. He and his family were quick to offer any help we needed. He even offered some of his wife's "chicken chili." And I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he makes his own (beef) chili, which he likes a lot better. Seriously, thanks again RTS. Oh, and we finally found some ice down at Churchill Market. Gotta give 'em a plug for having ice.

 

Last night, after going around to reclaim all of our power sources from their temporary foster homes, we crashed on the back deck in a fit of boredom. At about 10:05 pm, I saw a flashing yellow light out front. We all went racing through the house and out the front door as if we'd heard sleigh bells on Christmas Eve. As we got outside, a Duke Energy truck had just passed our house headed north. Our neighbors all began to stream out to join us in the moment of joy. But within a few seconds, the truck disappeared over the hill--and with it, our brief glimmer of hope. Then, just as suddenly as before, the flashing lights came back!

 

This time it was two large Duke Energy trucks.They approached slowly, with lights blazing and multiple spotlights scanning the power lines and phone poles. We all applauded and cheered ike it was the Fourth of July parade...but much better. All they needed was some flying candy and Katie Stein giving out fans. It was like the allies marching into Paris, with our neighbors and us playing the part of the joyous peasant folk. :lol: This was truly the most bizarre spectacle I've ever been a part of.

 

As the excitement waned, we sat down on the front porch in the azure glow of the harvest moon and awaited the return of the 21st century to our little piece of the world.

 

It never came...

 

By about twelve thirty or so, we finally gave up and decided that what we had witnessed was merely a propaganda ploy--a show of force to reassure the stricken masses. It appeared that we'd gotten all excited for nothing.

 

I went to bed and listened to what was left of my iPod. Then, at exactly 1:50 AM, my computer sprang to life and every light in the house that had been inadvertently turned on at some point over the past 35 hours simultaneously illuminated. It was party time! :ylsuper:

 

The main casualty in this was almost all the food in our refrigerator and freezer--most of which had just been bought on Friday. Other than that, we got off pretty lucky. Just had to spend a day cleaning up parts of our neighbors trees out of the yard and lost a good chunk out of one of our own.

 

Watching the national news today, there's not a single mention of what's going on here in Kentucky. I can understand that the focus is--as it should be--on the Gulf Coast. But we're experiencing (what is for us) an unprecedented event; and we've been effected by Ike too. I thought at least we'd get a mention.

 

Okay, until I think of something else to go on forever about...that's it for now. I hope everyone is safe and you all get your power back real soon! :thumb:

Edited September 16, 200817 yr by Birdsfan

Man, you're not kidding. That was long.

 

I read the 1st 3 paragraphs. Maybe I'll get to the rest later.

Seriously, thanks again RTS. Oh, and we finally found some ice down at Churchill Market. Gotta give 'em a plug for having ice.

 

Even though they have ZERO chance of being able to read it...

Power came back on in Ft. Mitchell around 10 am or so. Blah now I have to do work.:fight:

Man, you're not kidding. That was long.

 

I read the 1st 3 paragraphs. Maybe I'll get to the rest later.

I had a little extra "wind" left over.

 

 

Wanna hear more? :jump:

Power came back on in Ft. Mitchell around 10 am or so. Blah now I have to do work.:fight:

My brother lives out there. He said the people across the street and behind him have power; but there's was still out as of the last time I spoke to him.

Even though they have ZERO chance of being able to read it...

Why? Can't they read?

On a side note, I've been to work the last few days and the ghetto has shown zero signs of even a slight breeze...

No power in Independence.. Blah..

Still haven't seen a Duke truck anywhere.

Still haven't seen a Duke truck anywhere.

 

You get my email yesterday?

Still haven't seen a Duke truck anywhere.

 

Ours came back after midnight last night. I live a mile south of the schools, so I'd think it shouldn't be too long.