Junk Brothers on Ice

MO_JUNK · January 15, 2007, 09:05:36 PM

Evening Everyone. If you've been watching the nightly news and/or the Weather channel you've probably been hearing about the Winter Blitz along the I-44 corridor. Life is not pleasant here. I know brother (Wz-Junk) routinely posts here so thought I would would give you an update. John has been without electricity since last Friday afternoon. In anticipation of the storm he purchased a generator for basic needs. They were hit hard an ended up with a couple of inches of ice on everything. Trees are down everywhere and the roads are impassible. I live in Rolla, about 180 miles east of Wz and our area looks like a battle zone with trees and limbs down in every direction. It is an eery feeling to stand outside at night and hear the crashes of the limbs and trees in the woods. We have had periods without electricity but many in my area have been out for long periods of time. We weren't hit as hard as Wz. There is not a generator or portable heater to be found and there are long lines when kerosine is available. I talk with Wz a couple of times each day via cell phone. Today he and a neighbor pulled his generator by sled to the neighborhood well. They were able to power the well long enough for neighbors to obtain water for drinking, flushing toilets, etc. He said he made some makeshift snow shoes by screwing drywall screws through the soles of some old track shoes. We haven't heard from Hoolie(#974). He lives close to Tulsa which was hit very hard. Anyway, everyone is fine and thought you might like to know why Wz hadn't been posting as of late. He didn't mention having had the roadster out. We look forward to seeing many of you in the Summer. Sam

slocrow · January 15, 2007, 09:14:21 PM

Thanks for the update. I knew some folks got hit real hard. John joked that he was going to be sledding the generator between the house and shop. Of course that was before we realized that h e l l froze over. Wishing everyone the best................Frank

Charlie Chops 1940 · January 15, 2007, 09:28:48 PM

We had that happen up here about 7 or 8 years ago in May...not so much ice as wind with trees down and loss of power for 4 or 5 days. Something made me go get a genset at Sam's Club on the morning of the 2nd day. Had previously never considered it. I think I got #4, and no's 3,2 & 1 were in line behind me. Sure helped keep the food frozen. My wife was in the hospital at the time and was released while the power was still out. We got through it okay and helped the neighbors some - those that stayed.

We all feel for you. Sounds like things are working out best as can be expected.

Charlie

40 · January 15, 2007, 10:19:05 PM

Good luck to you and relay our best wishes to John......Too bad many of us are too far away to be of any real help.Sure glad John was thinking ahead and picked up that generator....But....Not nearly as glad as he is I bet!!

rooster · January 15, 2007, 10:50:43 PM

I made threw this storm ok, but a gererator is still at the top of the list. Im out of firewood at this time. There is still 70K out of ele in St. Louis area, its going down into the low teens tonight. There are convoys of ele trucks in the area from Mich. and Penn. , there working there butts off! If figure there's about 8 or 9 weeks till better weather.

Good Luck to the Junk Bros.

34ford · January 15, 2007, 11:10:00 PM

Had a storm like that go central Nebraska last week of December. Here's a site with some incrediable pictures of the ice and damage. They said on the news tonight there are still 700 people without power. Have to replace 13,000+ power poles.

http://www.extremeinstability.com/06-12-31.htm

bob

1FATGMC · January 15, 2007, 11:46:37 PM

Thanks Sam, John called me yesterday and said he was sitting outside just watching all the trees disenagrate before his eyes. He did have luck in that he got the generator and also the chimney fixed right before the storm.

He got me worried about Hooley, so I called him and he was driving around the Tulsa area getting car parts. He said towns around him had power outages, but so far they were ok. He is suppose to go back on the mail route tomorrow if possible.

Sunny and cold here in Utah. Lows in the teens and highs in the 20's the last few days. We got a little snow, but it is almost all gone. I feel sorry for you guys,

Sum

enjenjo · January 16, 2007, 12:15:24 AM

A few years ago, during an ice storm, I stepped outside, just in time to see all the branches break off one side of a 40 ft pine, and fall into a pile.

dragrcr50 · January 16, 2007, 12:18:42 AM

Well I feel lucky then , we have about 4 to 5 inches of ice here as well in the okc area but do still have electricity, ours was more sleet than freezing rain. still burning wood in the shop, but it takes a ton a day to keep workable warm....... I hope John and everyone is ok, we had the kind he is having a few yrs ago and all you could do was listen to all the tree limbs breaking , man that is an eerie feeling... take care guys.....

Normspeed · January 16, 2007, 01:27:21 AM

Hard to imagine that kind of cold, when I'm in SoCal. We're in the middle of a Live Team Coverage cold snap here, and around 3pm I closed my doors and windows cause it was actually getting chilly in the shanty.

My son drives a big truck and he's been in the thick of it. The high today where he is was 12 above. Hope you folks all make it through ok.

58 Yeoman · January 16, 2007, 06:17:58 AM

Bad enough being without electricity in GOOD weather. Good luck.

btrc · January 16, 2007, 07:09:17 AM

Last winter we were without power for 9 days, with temperatures down around zero some of the time. We were able to get a generator the 3rd day so we were warm after that but still there is nothing better than coming home from work and finding the power restored. Then I spent the rest of the winter hauling branches to the dump. 41 trips with a pickup and trailer. That's why I just finished last winters car projects last Wednesday.

Bob

purplepickup · January 16, 2007, 07:53:40 AM

You guys really got the worst of this one. We had a lot of rain but it didn't turn to ice until most of the rain was gone. Some of our pines lost branches but not bad. Power is out here and there but ours is still on.

We keep enough survival stuff around to last a while if we need to. Having the cabin that doesn't have electricity has given us lots of experience in doing without.

Things like this are bad but some good does come out of it. I hear a lot about neighbors helping neighbors and communities working together. In today's world sometimes it takes a disaster for some of us to meet our neighbors.

I hope things get better soon for everyone. I see it's supposed to get down to 6 degrees at WZJUNK's town tonight.

entodad · January 16, 2007, 09:21:54 AM

Quote from: "MO_JUNK"We haven't heard from Hoolie(#974). He lives close to Tulsa which was hit very hard. Anyway, everyone is fine and thought you might like to know why Wz hadn't been posting as of late. He didn't mention having had the roadster out. We look forward to seeing many of you in the Summer. Sam

I live close to Tulsa as well, but on the west side (Mannford). We dodged this one here by about 25-35 miles. All we got was heavy sleet and a little freezing rain, not the 2-3 inches of the crap that east of tulsa got. This reminds me of when I lived in southeastern Arkansas and we got an ice storm in the early 1990's. In that one it rained for a while to get everything good and wet, then it got cold and the rain froze, then it sleeted about 2-3 inches, but the sleet stuck to the parts that had frozen, then it rained and froze on top of that. ultimately there were between 4-5 inches of ice on everything. I had no power for 2 weeks. Over in Greenville, MS, some went without power for 3-4 weeks becaust the ice was so heavy that it broke almost every power pole around. Not just the little poles, but I saw a thirty mile long section of high tension lines where the poles and towers were on the ground. Not to mention all of the tree farms that lost big. 10-15 year old pine trees were the hardest hit. older one shed their branches and survived, younger ones simply bent down and when the ice melted they straightened, 10-15 yo trees snapped in the middle and were worthless. Good luck to all in this mess
Doug

HotRodLadyCrusr · January 16, 2007, 02:03:38 PM

and here I thought I was going to read about an ice skating show that you and John were putting on.

Good luck to everyone. It's bitter cold here in Detroit, 20 degrees today. Just alittle ice at my place. Nothing to freak out about. The drive to work yesterday was fine.

My heart goes out to those that are experiencing issues.