My Electricity In Tulsa Just Came On
I’ve been in something of a purgatory since Saturday night. No electricity, no internet, no home phone, no cell phone.
The electricity just came back on about an hour ago. Which is how I’m finally able to communicate.
I was sick all day yesterday and today I am pretty week. Feeling a little dehydrated.
I knew it was probably something like that because this morning I was cold and wrapped in a throw. And the heat and humidity in here was high.
So I have a freezer and a refrigerator chock full of bad food I’d just bought, much of it Saturday. The timing was bad.
I will have to wait till I’m feeling better to clean it out before I can order more food. If the grocery stores around here have power and food left. I have no idea about any of that.
I’ve gotten accustomed to eating cereal with water. And a bit of fast food that just made me feel worse the past couple of days.
A Bad Storm:
This was a bad storm. When I went out my front door Sunday morning a big branch was in front of it.
There are still limbs on apartments and cars and sidewalks here. Fences are down.
Cars still have carports sitting on top of them with trees or big branches. I was lucky in that respect.
The big cypress tree in back never (knock on wood) seems to get branches knocked down. Not since I’ve been here.
Oddly enough, none of my plants out back were harmed.
Sunday morning I drove out to see what was what. There were no traffic lights working.
Downed power lines were laying across heavy trafficked streets. There was much turning around to try to find to a way to drive safely. It kind of looked like a war zone.
Most traffic lights are still out so lines are very long as everyone has to stop at a stop sign. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get this mess turned around.
Several fast food places are open with generators. For miles around. And they were running out of food fast with long lines of customers in cars waiting in line.
I imagine there will be many people trying to get groceries if there is food to be had.
It hit all around us too, but since I haven’t gotten any news since Saturday, I don’t know the extent of it.
Neighbors here said 100 mile an hour winds swept through Saturday night. And that wind just mowed through and knocked down whatever was in its path.
This complex is like a ghost town. People who could leave and had somewhere to go left. The ones I know who stayed were me, Ron and Pat, and John across from me.
My daughters didn’t have power either. Kasi got hers back on Monday, and Kendra got hers back on yesterday.
Kendra’s boyfriend went to an AirBnB in Oklahoma City 90 miles away at the first of the week. Because as you can imagine, motels and AirBnBs that still had power were all full.
I’ve been worried about Ivy with all that fur of hers. But she seems okay.
When the power kicked back on, it was like I didn’t know what to do first.
I’ll write more when I feel a little better. When I can think a little straighter.
Just wanted you to know I’m still alive and kicking.
It’s awful being without power for that long. I’m glad you’re safe, and hope you’re feeling better soon.
A tip from my son who works in emergency services near the coast of North Carolina. He has worked through the several hurricanes that have hit NC in the last few years. Fill a plastic bottle with water then freeze it. After it is frozen place a penny on top of the ice and put the bottle back in the freezer.
As the power stays off and the freezer warms the ice will melt. How much the ice melts and how far the penny drops in the bottle is an indicator of how warm the freezer got and how safe the food is.
Also, from County Extension Offices (US Department of Agriculture), if your food still has lots of ice crystals it can be refrozen. Just try to use it as soon as possible. Obviously if you don’t open the freezer (or fridge) when the power goes off the longer the food will keep.
Glad you are ok with the storm damage. That is scary. Hope you start to feel better.
Brenda, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Please know we’re all thinking of you.
Be sure and take inventory and price of groceries. Contact the power company and they might reimburse you. They have reimbursed me before but you have to ask.
I heard about the outage on FB from a friend who also lives in Tulsa. How awful to be without electricity for that long! It’s so hot and then you lose everything in your fridge and freezer. I think I would be ok as far as food, as I always have peanut butter, nuts, crackers and tuna. We are on a well though, so when we lose power, we have no water.
So sorry that you’re also sick. I wonder if you got food poisoning from something? And then with the heat (esp with no fans and AC), if you weren’t drinking enough water, dehydration can make you very ill, too. Please make sure you’re at least drinking enough water. Take good care, Brenda.
Brenda, thank God you are ok as is your car and property.
Stay in bed on on the couch and rest. Make sure to drink something, you do not eat to be dehydrated, it is very bad for you. But I am sure that you know that. Ask the delivery service for some electrolytes.
As for your food, most insurance companies have a 1 time a year food spoilage clause of up to $500.00. Make sure to check with yours.
If there is anything we can do for you please ask.
Thanks for letting us know you are ok. What a mess! I’m so glad the power has been restored and now you can rest with the A/C.
So glad you made a post today . I was beginning to worry about you . Glad you ok for the most part . I hope you feel better soon .
A few yrs ago I was without power for 3 days , at least it was summertime. And I also lost the food in the fridge and freezer. It was a long 3 days .
Take care of yourself and Ivy . I’ll be looking forward to your next post .
So sorry for all in the path of bad weather. Please rest, hydrate and eat well. Take care of yourself. I missed “hearing” from you and didn’t know you had bad weather. Not surprised the way the weather has been. Hoping things will be back to normal soon.
Geez – after reading the comments (I should have done that first, sorry) – I thought that perhaps because of the power outage if you are drinking tap water from your city water supply it may have been temporarily contaminated/ compromised by the power outage and that, in combination with the heat and humidity that you are in since your AC was out, could have caused your illness, exacerbated by stress. If you can get a temporary supply of bottled water, perhaps that might be better for you to drink until you are fully recovered.
Wow, I had no idea Tulsa had gotten hit by such a storm over the weekend. I don’t watch news on TV and I didn’t see anything over the past few days in the brief visits to my news sources about the storm system damage in Tulsa.
Earlier last week I was worried whether your apartment complex might be affected because of the tornado activity in southwestern Oklahoma, but that weather activity was nearly 200 miles away from Tulsa so I figured you were safe, and you put up a blog post the next day and didn’t mention anything about extreme weather. I had no idea you were hit by a new storm system.
Sounds like your area got straight line winds, I think they are (or are similar to) a derecho, which can be just as damaging and just as deadly as a tornado or hurricane strength winds. I hope you are feeling better. Living in hot and humid conditions without AC is no joke. I wouldn’t be able to do it, I know that for sure. If highways are cleared supplies including (I assume) dry ice for preserving food and food supplies will be trucked in. The unknown factor is whether the power companies can get the power lines working again so new fresh food supplies can be safely refrigerated or frozen. In severe damage situations, it’s usual for out of state workers to come in from other power companies to help restore the grid so hopefully Tulsa will be back up and humming in no time. I’m sorry you are sick, that’s a double burden while dealing with a major power outage and massive storm damage in your city. The blessing is that you, Ivy, your family, your friends in the complex and your garden were not hurt. Take care of yourself and Ivy. Don’t worry about us – we’ll still be here when you get things back in order and Tulsa gets back to normal. Take care of yourself, girl!
Glad you and Ivy have a roof over your head. take care
So sorry you’re not feeling well, Brenda and hope that turns around soon. What a terrible storm! So glad it didn’t damage your garden. Hope your insurance will cover all that lost food, and that restocking is easy. First eat lightly and get back to feeling better. That’s the most important thing. Then you’ll have the strength to deal with the rest. Not surprised that Ivy took it in stride. She was with her mommy, so all was well in her world, no matter what else was going on.
Thanks for checking in…we know the agony oh so well, with still dealing with hurricane damage in our area from Ian. Losing power is the worst, and being cut off from the world is the 2nd worst! Do you have a battery-powered radio? That saved our sanity with the power outage. At least we could listen to what was going on around us.
Hope you feel better soon…I feel like the stress brought this on. Bet you are encouraged now to keep a ready stock of food that doesn’t need cooking…crackers, peanut butter, protein bars, meat sticks, and so on. Apples save the day as well.
Take care, friend. Jane in Florida
Glad to hear you have no property damage. Hope you are feeling better!
We all have been worried…my sister in law lives in Jenks so I knew about the storm…sorry you are sick on top of it. Feel better soon. Rental insurance does pay for lost food…of course you may have a deductible. Thinking of you💕
I do hope you are feeling better each day. Priority #1! That was quite a storm you had and many days without power – were tornadoes in that mix or was it just high winds? 100 mph winds are like a Cat 2 hurricane! In South GA we had about 10 inches of rain last week w some strong winds, but certainly not 100 mph. A very large funnel cloud touched down about 40 miles north of me one day – fortunately it was on farmland so no homes/lives were affected (except the farm’s crop of course). I am glad your beautiful garden was not damaged. I hope you feel better and things get back to “normal” very soon.
Oh Brenda, that was a horrible storm. I am glad to hear you didn’t have significant damage at your house. Out here for three Thanksgivings in a row we lost power for 3 days. The first year it was out 3 days then again a few days later for 2 and again 2 days later. I try to buy dry ice when we’ve been warned of power outages. One year our town was without power except one small area. Feel better.
I was worried when I heard about the storms in your area. I am sorry that you’ve been sick but glad that you are otherwise safe and sound. Don’t push yourself too hard to get everything done at once. Slow and steady. The house cleaner lady is a great idea.
Hope you feel better soon. Stay safe.
So sorry to hear this…no doubt the lack of good food and AC hurt you more than just discomfort!! Glad power is back. Hope things settle down. Weather here is stormy but not like that…mostly just inconvenient for now. We try to stay home when its stormy cause somehow that makes bad drivers, which most are here, into even worse ones!!
Glad you are back but very sorry to hear that you have been ill. I hope you feel better soon. That was a terrible storm. Take care and I look forward to your future posts when you are feeling better and life is back to normal.
Oh no Brenda that’s sad! I’ve been sick too since Saturday night! The next town over was flooded with roads closed and damaged roads! Water damage even in some houses on the first floor! It rained hard around here with some limbs down. Glad to hear your ok!
I’m so sorry to hear you are going through this Brenda. I hope you recover from feeling sick soon, so you can cope with this situation!
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Dear Brenda and Ivy, I am so sorry about this and hardly know what to say except I’m sending all best wishes to you. I sure hope that you feel better very soon and that you can order good food. That’s a good suggestion about having your housecleaner assist in cleaning out the fridge and freezer. It’s a difficult chore even when you feel alright.
Hugs! And thank you so much for updating us even though you aren’t well and have so much to deal with.
Ha! At least, here’s a grin for you in the middle of this mess: Look what AutoCorrect felt the need to do to Ivy’s name in my earlier comment. 😂
AutoCorrect and I have been locked in a battle of wills for years. I’m ready to disable that stubborn thing.
Me, too! (grr)
Hmm…just saw that, on my laptop, Ivy’s name is spelled correctly. But that wasn’t the case on my phone earlier today.
Oh, NO!!! What a nightmare!!
I’m grieved to learn about all that has happened to you, Brenda. Especially sad to hear that you’re not feeling well now as a result. and that you’ve lost all that food and money. Glad to hear Ivy does not seem to be affected in a negative way.
Praying for you to recover quickly in every way—in terms of the sickness that has come upon you, and then replacing all the food that spoiled, and any other tasks. But I’m happy to hear your gorgeous garden was not damaged in any way.
My first thought as I started to read your post was, “At least she and I’ve can go to one of her daughter’s houses.”
So sorry to hear that neither of them had power, either.
So glad you have your power back, that’s a step in the right direction. Be sure to drink lots of water. Perhaps you can call your housekeeper to assist with cleaning out freezer and fridge then you could try and schedule a grocery delivery. Take care and rest.
Long time lurker here. I am happy to see you have your electricity back on. i live a few miles south of you and we were lucky to get our’s back at about 6:30 P.M. on Sunday. We had to throw out everything in the fridge but the freezer kept everything in there frozen solid. Yesterday, I took a ride up Memorial and all the traffic lights were out between 41st and Admiral. A drive through my old neighborhood off 15th between Memorial and Sheridan was sad. No electricity, of course, and lots of downed and badly damaged trees. I saw one house with a tarp on the roof and another had a large tree down on it. a nearby apartment complex had a tree in the pool. I feel so bad for the people who are still waiting to get their power back.
I can imagine that you are stressed to the ultimate limit. I’m sending lots of good thoughts and prayers your way. Take care of yourself and Ivy.
Lots of hugs, Brenda!