Little St Nick
Hi! I'm still here, just been busy. So how about a little update? Ok then:
I was without electricity for about 36 hours. Sucked big time! By Saturday morning at 11 am my little house was only 40 degrees! I hadn't been staying there of course. My parents left for Florida on Wednesday so their house became my refugee camp. My electricity went out around 2:30 am Friday morning. Steve and his son Justin got to my house at 5:30 because their's was out too. While they scraped my truck Amber and I got ready to leave. I remembered Norma's mom had left the day before to go stay at a "fancy" hotel, (I don't know if this lady is call girl or what ??) which left Norma up at her house by herself, so I thought. When Justin and Amber drove to her house, Norma's disabled grandma was staying there also. I couldn't leave them both there so I piled them in my truck and Steve, Justin, Buster (the dog) and the cats were in Steve's truck. We all went to my parent's house to see if she had electricity and thankfully they did.
Steve's electricty came back on Friday evening around 5:30 but mine was still out. I stayed at my parent's Friday night with Amber, Norma and her grandma. On Saturday I went to my house and took everything out of the freezer and refrigerator and brought it to Steve's house. I left all the faucets running so my pipes wouldn't freeze. In mobile homes the water lines run from an outside box fully exposed to the belly of the trailer. Heat tape and a heat rod normally keep the lines from freezing but without electricity to run those two heaters the chances of them freezing in a matter of hours is very possible. I've had my heat tape go bad during the night and wake up to frozen lines in the morning, so it doesn't take long at all. I'll probably have an enormous water bill this month but at least I didn't have to contend with frozen water lines. My electricity came on about 4:00 Saturday afternoon...I was estatic!
All in all it was terrible. My food didn't go bad and I had a warm place to stay that didn't inconvenience any homeowners. My parents are safe and sound in Panama City Beach, Florida. CM got electricity around the same time I did although on Friday and Sunday, Steve and I had to help both her and Paco get both of their vehicles out of precarious situations but they are mobile and that's what counts.
Amber and I will be leaving two weeks from this Saturday for Florida and we're both very excited! I finally bought her the reasonably priced cherry luggage so that's taken care of. This trip and the things I bought for her on Black Friday pretty much finishes off any Christmas presents for her. My parents just want me to take them out to dinner down in Florida for their xmas present. My sister and I don't exchange presents and I already bought my nephew something, wrapped it and gave it to my parent's to put under the tree in FL. CM already has enough children to buy for so we've never exchanged xmas presents...we save that for bdays! Steve and I are not doing the gift thing and either are me and the guys at work so I'm done shopping!
The weekend before the storm, you know when it was like 70 degrees, Steve built new steps on my deck and braced up my deck. It looks a hell of a lot better! He still has more things he wants to do to the deck so I'll share some pictures when it's completed. Steve has helped me immensely with fixing up my mobile home and it all makes me feel so much prouder about where I live.
OMG. I am so glad you had somewhere warm to go! I have cut back on my Christmas gift giving this year, too. I am tired of running myself ragged buying for EVERYONE.