What to do?

for August 15-17

 

Hello,

 

It was difficult when we were without power because Leroy had been using an icepack on his head for relief several times a day. That did not work with just ice available. We were glad to get power back in a few days for that reason alone.

 

Sarah texted Leroy at some point on Saturday to let us know that one of her high school friends could provide someone with a hot meal. We had power so we did not need, but she suggested we check with a neighbor. That is a great idea, but I found it hard to figure out the logistics since I had no idea about the details. Finally, on Sunday, I did ask one neighbor. He assured me that his younger relatives who lived with him were taking good care of him. However, he did tell me that he needed power for a CPAP machine and the electric box had been torn off his house so they needed an electrician. The power company was doing work on the poles, but not at the houses. I did not have a clue how to proceed with this so I just held onto it and asked a few people. No one had a good answer. I wondered why his relatives did not take care of this, but I learned from someone else that they were possible drug addicts. Life is complicated.

 

I did learn that there were two places in the neighborhood where people could get meals. Our neighborhood grocery store had notices where resources were available.

 

Early on Sunday a couple came to visit us and we sat in the outdoors six feet apart. It was great to connect. By the end of the day Leroy was not feeling as well as he had been. I felt guilty because I had suggested he cut back on the pain pills.

 

Brian called to tell us that he and Sarah were coming back on Monday and leaving on Wednesday so he could help with the internet hook up. I told him I still did not think it was going to happen because people who had the same service did not have it yet. He replied, “They assured me it was going to happen.”

 

I had them buy some food and bring it with them. I had heard some stores were still very low on supplies.

 

I was happy to see these children even though I was sure it was going to an internetless trip. All our children had gone together to get us a larger new TV as an anniversary present. Brian was also bringing that along with setting up the sound bar. I believe that Leroy and I have moved into a new era of life where our children feel they should take care of us. I am happy to step aside for some things.

 

Leroy had a Dr. appointment in the afternoon, Sarah went with us.  I thought another pair of ears was a good thing. She was not especially impressed with this man. He was quite concerned that Leroy’s weight had dropped from February, which he blamed on dehydration. In all of this heat that could a problem. When home, Sarah measured the amount of water two pitchers would hold and we all agreed that Leroy would drink more water.

 

Sarah asked her high school friend about how to find an electrician. She knew a place on FB where she could put up a plea for help. Someone responded to that.

 

Paula

Wandering Around

For August 13-14 #8

 

Hello,

 

After Sarah and her girls left, the house seemed a bit empty, but I was grateful not to worry about how to feed them, although Sarah, and the girls too, were a help with many things. I was grateful they did not do a lot of complaining about conditions. Natalie, (8 Years), commented one day, “I don’t like trees.”

 

I was in serious mourning for the loss of many of these trees. Also it was heart wrenching to see them so stripped of leaves and branches. Recently, I had read a book in which a boy with autism said, “I can hear the plants scream when they die.”

 

I kept wondering did the trees cry and scream when this great wind whipped them, snatching their life away. I certainly cried some for their loss. I still feel like crying from time to time when I see the devastation three weeks later.

 

In the meantime, I continued to hand out ice for the next three days because these neighbors had just coolers and could not take too much at one time. We, along with our downstairs friends, loaned out coolers too. I felt like explaining all over that I did not buy the ice, but I was just storing it. I did not feel that I deserved their gratitude.

 

We had planned to get new internet service the following Saturday. Brian had planned to come on the 15^th and help get that set up for us. We got the message to him that it was not likely to happen as we heard that even long time customers in the neighborhood would not have internet by that date.

 

It was like living in a tight little world of our own with little contact with the outside world. It seemed even after five days almost no one knew about us, or at least we saw little outside help. It was neighbor helping neighbor. So grateful for caring people, safety, water, a gas stove, and a car that works. Every day I was astonished at how little we had been hurt even if, as granddaughter Lexi said, “This is like a war zone!”

 

Paula

The Missing Piece

August 29, 2020 Reporting on Aug. 11

 

Hello,

 

I think I saved one file on another. Now writing about that time. Also I see that I said Sarah was going to drive 4.5 miles it should have read, 4.5 hours to her brother’s house.

 

On August 10^th the day of the storm, we tried to contact Miriam and Sarah to tell them not to come because of no power, little food and no stores open. Because of spotty phone service we were unable to reach them. I even got up in the middle of the night and tried, hoping that more space might be available as others might be sleeping, but not luck.

 

In the morning, I started off for the airport at the time I remembered. It was saved in my phone and the computer which were quite inaccessible. I saw six fallen semis on the short ten mile drive to the airport. At the airport, thinking I was early, I was quite surprised to see them outside waiting for me. I miss remembered the time. They had been waiting for 45 minutes. Sarah was considering what she should do since she could not reach us.

 

In a panicked voice I said, “Who has a phone signal? Who has power on their phone? You must call Miriam and tell her not to come.”

 

They thought I was a bit to of the side of sane. I had to convince them that it was not good here. Around the airport it looked just fine and they said there had been no mention of conditions from the flight crew. We caught Miriam’s family just as they were ready to get on the plane. They had even seen their luggage get loaded. I yelled across the car, “Stay home it is terrible here, no power and not so much food!”

 

We did not know what they were going to do, but we started home. “Someone has to charge their phone in the car. We have no power and no expectation of getting any soon.” I commanded.

 

When I drove on the overpass I could see the interstate was jammed with cars so, with great trepidation, I headed off through town.

These DC people did not think it looked bad at first, but soon we were seeing more trees down or with missing limbs. I kept saying, “Just wait!”

 

They soon saw much more damage and clogged streets. I was on a larger street so it was not too bad. We drove up to a grocery store and there were cars in the lot. “We must stop and get some food. Think about what you might want that will do for one meal with no leftovers and no frozen things.”

 

We gathered a mental list, put on masks, and went inside where there were a lot of people and many were not wearing masks. One of the kids commented that they have to wear them to go in a store. There was also little social distancing. There were many bare spots on the shelves, but we found enough to manage. I had been planning to go shopping with them because they eat so differently than we do.

 

On the drive deeper into the city, they could see many smaller streets still clogged with tree and branches. Course street lights were not working and stop signs were gone. Luckily most people were proceeding in an orderly manner and with courtesy for others.

 

As we went on, Sarah and Lexi noticed that their phone service was not as good as it had been. Welcome to a new way of being.

 

Paula

Sarah Leaving

Record for August 13 # 7

 

Hello,

 

With no power, heat, and no easy way to store food, Sarah and the girls thought they should leave. Sarah learned that it would cost a lot more money to change the flight to her brother’s as she had originally planned. Because her phone service was so limited when she was able to reach her husband in DC, she had him check on renting a car for the 4.5 hour drive. That was secured and she was leaving the day after Leroy was in the emergency room. We were both comfortable with her doing that because Leroy was so much better. Like his old self! Earlier, I overheard Sarah tell one of her siblings, “Dad looks like an old, old man.”

 

In the morning we fussed around about how to fill the prescription, but could not reach any pharmacies on the phone. Just going back to the hospital seemed like the best course. On the way we passed our smaller, local Hy-Vee store. Leroy said, “There are cars in the parking lot, I’ll bet the pharmacy is open too.”

 

We went in and got the script filled. So grateful! Someone had the plan to open this store, keeping it powered by a generator in a semi. It is especially important in our neighborhood, because some people who use it do not have cars.

 

Our downstairs friends had driven 39 miles away and got gas for the car and ice for storing food. They shared two bags. What a gift! It is amazing what suddenly becomes so important.

 

Sarah, the girls and I headed off to the airport to pick up the rental car. On the way Sarah noticed that a gas station close to the airport had its lights on. Not many cars were there. “Can I stop and get gas?” I pleaded.

 

“Of course,” Sarah said.

 

I had less than 80 miles of driving left. We pulled in noticing that one pump did not have any cars by it. There were short lines elsewhere. Sarah got out and checked the empty pump. It worked so we just drove right up. Such a relief!

 

At the airport I again charged up devices including a rechargeable lantern. Sarah got her car and we drove each car back to the house where they had lunch before heading off to Brian’s house.

 

Our downstairs friends had another family member who brought in a lot of ice. Because my refrigerator was emptiest I stored five big bags of ice. Late in the afternoon our power came on. Oh happy day!  It was not long before we learned that only some of the houses had gotten power. We were an island of power in a sea on no power. Both joy and guilt warred in our souls.

 

I went around to neighbors asking if they would like ice. One woman almost cried because in town you could not get ice. If some came in, people bought it right away. I found three other neighbors who needed ice. They were quite happy to get it. I also gave them some the next days until the ice was all gone.

 

I did a lot of just wandering around after this storm. When I would see someone outside they almost always wanted to talk about their experiences. Many of them would start the conversation by saying, “We are okay.” This situation connected us in a new way. Blessing in disguise?

 

Paula

Home in the Dark

Record for August 12 # 6

 

Hello,

 

Sarah had called to let me know they were going to bed, but they would leave a flashlight on the back porch on the bench. They had also cleared a path through the pile of branches so there would be nothing to trip over and the sidewalk was clear. Lexi even went over the walk imagining that she could not see very well. It was quite fine, but it was dark.

 

It was very strange to drive home in the ten pm. darkness. I even used the bright lights on the car when there were no other cars. No street lights, no stop lights, no stop signs, no lights in houses, and piles of branches intruding in the road created a different driving experience. It was a bit eerie and disconcerting. I felt like I was in a strange place that I did not know, wondering which is my street.

 

At the house there was a little moon light, I could have used the light on my phone, but I was holding on to Leroy, my purse, and a bag. There was some contrast between the color of the sidewalk and the grass so once we reached the sidewalk we did not have any trouble.

 

It was so wonderful to get into bed, even without a lot of light to help that process. The night air coming in the windows was a bit cooler so that was good too.

 

Our electric toothbrushes had enough power stored that we could still use them. Oh we did eat a little before bed because Leroy had had nothing since the morning. I had had two granola bars, but they did not want him to eat anything before a test.

 

What a wonderful thing to be safe and have a possible diagnosis for Leroy. Now it seemed hopeful after despair.

 

Paula

Oh, No!

Record for August 12 # 5

 

Hello,

 

Leroy was sitting on the deck feeling useless as he could not help with much. I was standing in the back yard when Leroy said, “Get Paula.”

 

When I got to him, he said in his now normally soft voice, “I cannot see out of my right eye. Everything is completely black.”

 

Our downstairs friend said, “Stroke!”

 

I had been thinking the same thing. I said, “Sarah, help your dad out to the car and I will gather things such as keys.”

 

Sarah carefully helped Leroy get to the car and I frantically ran around trying to think of what I might need.

 

At the hospital, they were extremely busy. By this time Leroy’s vision had come back. We had to wait in line to go through the Covid temp check and questions. At that point I told the person, “I think it might be a stroke.”

 

She said, “I think so too, but at registration they will take care of it.”

 

We waited in line at registration, giving me time to look around. Almost every seat in the place was filled. When we go there, I thought the woman seemed so calm, but she almost immediately got on her call system and said, “Seventy-one year old male, possible stroke.”

 

Quickly a wheel chair arrived and they whisked Leroy off to a room. I was happy to be able to stay with him. He was seen very quickly by a physician who asked a number of questions. They did a CT scan, chest x-ray (or Leroy thought they did), and blood work and perhaps more things, but I stayed in the room while they took him here and there. The Dr. was interested in why Leroy had been there the week before. He asked, “You have had a bad headache for four months and no MRI? And not seen a neurologist?”

 

To the negative reply he said, “You will get an MRI today and the neurologist on call will see you after that.”

 

I felt so relieved.

 

This part of the hospital had just gotten power. I asked if I could charge our cell phones and the nurse said yes and told me to sign onto the WI-FI. We were there nine hours because it was quite a wait for the MRI, etc. But that gave me plenty of time to charge phones and speak with our children.

 

There was some mass or substance behind his eyes. The neurologist checked the pressure of his spinal cord fluid and did a spinal tap. He said, “You will need to get a biopsy of arteries on either side of your head for the final diagnosis, but I am fairly certain you have Giant Cell Arteritis. Before we left the ER they gave him a drip with something in it that completely took away the headache. They also have a paper prescription for steroids. It was on paper because as they said, “I have no idea what pharmacy is open. If you do not find one open, you can get it filled at the hospital.”

 

A weight was lifted from both of us.

 

I asked about the business in the ER. They said, “Heat exhaustion, difficulty breathing, spraining or pulling a muscle, falling, and chain saw accidents.”

 

We were fortunate to get a room as there were people all over in the halls.

 

Paula

Storm Pictures from our Street the next Day

 

More Storm pictures

 

Storm Pictures

 Sarah Send some pictures of our neighborhood.

At Home

 I forgot to post this the other day.

Hello,

 

I am still writing about the 10^th. The front and side walk ways had been cleared enough to be passable. Leroy was outside on the deck with our downstairs friends. There was a large pile of branches on the deck and two large piles in the back yard. Leroy had felt well enough to help a little. I was horrified to learn that he did not go to the basement from the second floor. Pain must sing a stronger song, because he did not think it looked bad as he lay on the couch, feeling the house shake, and looking out the windows. I yelled at him a bit, but I was incredibly grateful to see him and learn that he had not been blown into the next town.

 

I walked up and down the alley being shocked at the mangled trees. I kept wanting to cry, but thinking I should be glad that we were safe and our house was intact. How could there be so much destruction and our home was ok?

 

Sometime before it got dark, we realized we needed to search out lanterns and flashlights. Luckily I knew where those were. We are also relieved that we have a gas stove. With a match or lighter it works. We also have a gas water heater. We could cook and had hot water. Many around us had no such luxuries.

 

Opening the refrigerator was a new kind of task with much thought going in to what I wanted to take out so it could be done as quickly as possible, hoping that most of the cold air stayed inside. All emotions were a roller coaster ride, alternating between joy and dismay. No air conditioning, but the day was not so hot. We were blessed with the simple joy of a clean safe bed to sleep in.

 

Paula

Straightening out life

 

Record for August 11-12 #4

 

We got people situated in the house and went out to explore a little. Leroy mostly just stayed lying down engulfed in pain because over the counter pain killers no longer helped to get rid of it. We also helped clean up around the house as there were many parts of trees to get out to the front where they would be picked up by the city. If you can imagine going down a street with piles of branches on each side of the road you might get a feel for what it was like. Often a street was impassible because of the size of the tree across it.

 

 I was careless and flossed my teeth in the back pulling off the temporary crown. I carefully saved it in a plastic bag hoping, but knowing it was a long shot, that I could go to the dentist the next day for my scheduled appointment. It did not hurt me expect when I might forget and let water or food touch it. That was a good thing.

 

The girls helped by picking up walnuts. They counted them in one container and multiplied ending with them gathering approximately 500 walnuts. That was a big help.

 

In the morning on the 12^th I took Leroy to the hospital for a test. While there we saw the scheduler and got the MRI moved up two days. I had to hang on Leroy because he was quite unsteady. He would groan from time to time because his head hurt so much. When we were going home he groaned, holding his head. “Does it hurt a lot now?” I wondered.

 

He replied, “No it itches.”

 

“No fair groaning for an itch,” I almost cried because I was feeling so helpless.

 

After I got him home, I headed off to the dentist. No phone service so I had to drive over to see what was happening. They had a sign on the door that they could not work without electricity and would contact people later.

 

Then Sarah and I headed off to the airport to learn if Miriam’s family had gotten on the plane of not. At the airport we parked in the cell phone lot and walked to the terminal where Sarah could get power. She learned that the family had gotten out of line and even gotten their luggage off the plane.

 

Sarah had suggested we take all devices that needed power so we sat in the lobby of the airport and charged everything as well as made some phone calls.

 

On the way to the airport we saw cars lined up and I could not at first figure out why. It was because a gas station had lights. So they had gas. I guessed there were 50 cars in line. I wondered if they last cars would be gas. I could still go over 100 miles so I thought I would hope that power would be restored closer to home. If not I could still go a bit of a distance.

 

Paula

 

Arriving at home on August 11

 Hello,

 

I am still writing about August 11, 2020. So many cars were on the streets trying to find alternate ways to their destination. One of the big problems was that with so much destruction it was hard to recognize where I was. The trees were not standing in their proper place, plus as fallen items they hid other things. I finally ended up going close to the museum which gave me good orientation. The hospital seemed like a good place to head to as those streets were surely open. Unfortunately many others must have had the same thought. I made little progress. At that point parking in the church parking lot and walking the mile home seemed liked the best idea. When I got to the church people were still there, even though they too were without power. My phone battery was done. Why oh why had I not charged it when I saw it was getting low. Why was the car charging cord in Leroy’s car? I asked one of them if they could contact Leroy to let him know where I was because I had taken more than an hour to make that much progress. One of them tried, but the call did not go through. I also decided I should use the restroom before I headed off because I did not know how long it would take me. One of them fetched a flashlight because it is totally dark in the restroom.

 

On my walk home I saw plenty of trees that had lost limbs, large and small. Some trees had come up with the root ball in the air. There were power lines or cable lines in many places. People I met would sometimes tell me of some hazard that was ahead. I first walked on a street that had a small number of trees and that meant quicker progress. Traffic was quite slow with no street lights or rather just two in operation.

 

I passed a gas station with the gas pumps flat on the ground. I wondered if that was a danger. But I neither smelled nor saw any gas. There were two guys out by them. They were young store workers, but I wondered if they really knew what they were doing.

 

Turning onto the medium sized street, revealed a tangled web of trees. Here too, people were out with chain saws. I followed a young woman as we navigated around these possible falling trees. It was hard to tell what was stable and what was not. Most of the houses that I looked at were intact. I was quite relieved to turn on my street and see the front of the house was still standing even if the two beautiful trees in front looked as if a giant had decided to tear them apart. On this hour and a half trip I saw fire trucks, police, and ambulance. Along with others, those people were working hard.

 

Paula

Alive and Well

 

I am sending this out at the library because we still on august 24 do not have Internet at home.

 

Hello,

 

I do not have internet so I cannot send this, but I wanted to start writing about our situation. We are alive and almost well at this time. I will explain the wellness some time later.

 

For now I want to tell about our journey through the greatest storm I have ever experienced. There are always new things, even after 72 years. This all happened on August 10, 2020.

 

I worked in Ely that day while Leroy stayed home, in part because he did not plan to work and partly because his headache was quite painful. Because of the pain he was mostly just lying around.

 

On the drive to work I heard on the radio that there was a strong storm coming with straight line winds and that people should not be out in that storm. For some reason I did not park in my favorite place under a shade tree because it was recycle day and there are often bins in that spot. I thought about parking in front of my co-worker’s car because there was a nice tree there that would also give nice shade, instead I parked in a more open place.

 

At about noon the sirens started going off, warning of a storm coming. Leroy called to tell me not to come home as the sirens were going off there and on the TV they were telling people to seek shelter. There were only we three workers at the library and we gathered flashlights. We watched out the windows and when it started in seriously, the windowless restroom became our safe place. The power went off very early, but we could see. Grateful for the invention of such alternate lights along with the phones.

 

We could hear the rain and some wind pounding on the roof. When it abated, we checked outside. There was still quite a lot of wind and some rain. The power did not come back on. Each of us found some small jobs that we could do without electricity. When we could see better, it was obvious that I chose a good parking place because both of the other two had trees or branches. My car could have been seriously damaged. My co-worker’s car just missed having a tree on it. Closer to two o’clock it was much quieter and I decided to go home. I wanted to check up on Leroy and to see what had happened at home.

 

I messaged Leroy that I was on my way home. There were a number of cars on the road. In one or two places there had been some branches cut out of the way so cars could travel. When I got to the four lane highway that I usually take, I could see that it was jammed with cars and emergency flashing lights. I then decided to take a street even though I worried about trees and debris on the road. About a mile into it traffic seemed to be at a crawl so I turned off on a side street only to see that a truck was across the road. I turned around and some kind driver let me into the queue. We crept along and finally came to a place where only one car could pass. Luckily, people were sharing the road by basically taking turns. After that I was seeing more and more trees down and destruction everywhere. Neighbors were out using chain saws and directing traffic. As I approached the electric power plant, I saw a utility pole snapped off at the bottom and hanging from the wires. These are big poles with three bars across. I counted eight of them in this condition. I knew then that all would not have power any time soon.

 

I drove over some larger branches than I liked, but others were doing it ahead of me. Then as I was going down a hill one of the people directing traffic, yelled, “Don’t go down there. Power lines are down.”

 

I turned around. I know this neighborhood only a little. Street signs were blown over so it was hard to know. Generally I have a good sense of direction so I tried to follow my “gut.” Often I would end up in a place that was impassible with a tree across the road. Sometimes I would follow someone else because they looked confident of where they were going. At one point I pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store thinking I might just go in there, but I realized it was all dark because of no power. The car had half a tank of gas and all of a sudden that did not see adequate. Luckily this car is not a gas hog. Too often I made little progress and sat in lines waiting to go to some unrecognizable place.

 

Paula