Post Irma

Hurricane Irma did come through Georgia as predicted and ended up being a tropical storm when coming through our county. Schools were closed Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because of power outages still and road closures. Just today, the owner of the company taking care of our yard and grass cutting services came by to check on us and says he has many customers still without power, including about 1/4 mile down the road from us.

As we wrote on Facebook, there were enough concerns about us and the storm that we did get a surprise delivery of a generator. I could list so many family members in NC that have experience with generators and hurricanes that called to check on us -from educating us on the types, sizes, what we would need for medical equipment to just asking if we were OK-so much information. My mom and step-dad recruited our neighbors, Kris and Angela Corathers, to go to a local store, get, deliver, and set up a generator that they had called around and purchased. From what we've learned, a delivery was being made Sunday at 3:30 and Angela was there waiting for it at the Ace Hardware within a few miles of our house. They also ran into Joe, who lives down the street in the hardware store, who helped them load and set everything up. Another neighbor, Jerry, was involved with setting up and the initial gas. I'm sure the story is much more complex.... There was so much generator knowledge gained from my brother and my Daddy-how do these 2 men know this much about electronics?!?! Thank you to 2 of my parents and several neighbors that banded together to make sure we had one.

We had one of the best scenarios that we've heard. We lost power for about 6 hours Monday starting around 4:30. Joe came by immediately to crank our generator, which we only used for an hour to let it run, get out of the power recliner, do arm exercises, and just start planning. While watching the winds and cold rain out of the back door for a few hours, Jason came up with a plan for turning on and cutting off the generator through the night, along with where and what to plug in. Around 8:30, we had the refrigerators and TV/DVD plugged in for a movie (and of course, the ventilator!) Our yard is pretty messy and there are a few limbs down. Somehow our very pitiful cedar tree out back is still standing. There is a bird house I wanted from that tree a few months ago that has something in it (bees, a snake) and even that is still in the tree! Jason and I had a bet on it falling, and Jason won-that is some strong tree!

Jason and I went on a date last night (see next post!) and left the house for the first time since the storm. We were pretty amazed that the road we live off of (Whitehead Road) has a downed tree at nearly every other house. I am still hearing chain saws outside, even today. Several neighborhoods off Whitehead have exposed power lines, which could be the reason for why power is still out. The lines in our neighborhood are under ground. We could also be on a priority list because I know of 2 other families that use a power wheelchair in our neighborhood.

From photos below-we use Sugar Ridge Drive to get to the grocery store and you can see the exposed power lines. Pictures from Tuesday. By Wednesday night, it was more cleaned up than this....

Sugar Ridge

downed trees