My news and Sharon.......

[Guest guest]

Jackie-

I am so glad to hear that you made it through. I have been keeping close watch on the weather in Oregon, as I have family who live in Klamath Falls. I am so sorry your power was off for so long! In your condidtion, that could have been very dangerous. I appreciate you giving us that piece of advice. I wasn't aware that those arrangements could be made.

I am sorry about not answering your email. I don't recall receiving it. But, I am back now and I hope to keep in touch more often. Get plenty of rest so you can come back again real soon.

God bless...

http://360.yahoo.com/vallee45

-- My news and Sharon.......

Hi everyone! Well what an ordeal I have been through since Thursday. We had one of the worse wind storms since ’94, and my little town got hit the worse besides the Oregon beach towns. My power went off at 7:40 pm Thursday night and it didn’t get restored until Sat. at 12:40 pm. The weather was cold, and all we had was a regular fireplace and presto type of logs to try and stay warm. We also had no water as our community is on a well and the pumps need electricity to run them. So me, hubby, Tina and Max [the dog] were trying to stay warm with comforters, and scarves, and layered clothing. Since I have sleep apnea, my machine was out, and I had a very difficult time sleeping. Even sitting up in my recliner, because every time I nodded off I’d have an apnea episode and it would jolt me awake. Needless to say I got very little sleep, and I have been fighting a bug or two these last few months, and so I wasn’t feeling that great to begin with. We kept calling the electric company getting updates to when our power would get restored, and there was a recorded message that said they didn’t know what or where the problem was. So Fri, I called the customer service to let them know we had a home that had medical equipment that was used to help me breathe at night for sleeping. They said I needed to have it noted on my electric bill because they prioritize where they go first to fix any outages. They said the soonest they could get to us was Sat., where as most of everyone else it wouldn’t be until Monday or later. Now that they know I have MS, they will put me on the high priority list. We had a motel room reserved just in case it didn’t get restored Sat., but thank God it did before we had to check in.

But……….with the added stress of being so cold, and having my daily routines disrupted, no sleep hardly, I am pretty weak tonight. I’m headed to bed now, but I wanted to check in and let everyone know that if you haven’t done so already, let your utility, and fire dept, police ect, know you have MS, and/or other medical problems so they know to get to you first.

Also, Sharon I’ve written you a few times over at your other e-addy, and I was wondering if you had a chance to see them? I read where you have been sick too, so I hope you are getting better and getting your strength back soon.

Akiba, great news about all the goodies you were given to help with your Christmas. I’m glad Robbin is getting presents too.

Welcome Val. I wrote you about a month ago, but didn’t hear back. Glad to see you posting again.

Hi to the newbies, and I’m sorry if I can’t mention everyone as I’m really tired tonight, and I had 117 e-mails waiting for me today and I’ve finally got thru all of them, but I don’t remember all of what I read. I’ll try and catch up with everyone soon.

Hugs and Smiles, Jackie [Oregon, freezing tonight, but I’ve got heat now!!] Yay!!!

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Because we are out in the country, it's not unusual for our power to go out anytime of year (especially when we get a LOT of snow) so we are prepared for it ! We always have canned food in the cupboard, we have kerosene heaters my hubby uses for heat in the barn when he's working on cars so we use them in the house so we have heat in a few rooms and they are great places to set a pot of stew or soup on top of so we also use them to cook with. Because I make soaps & candles, we always have candles and the lantern we have for camping gives LOTS of light and heat too. We keep all our camping gear in marked totes in the storage room so when the power goes out, we get out the totes and 'camp' at home. We get our water from a well and have a generator for that and can also 'plug the house into the generator' so that the fridge and freezers can keep running. Sometimes we leave the freezers out in the barn unplugged and plug in the TV. Because of my MS, I am so sensitive to temps so we have a/c for our bedroom in the summer and hubby makes sure that we have kerosene on hand all winter in case the power goes out. Last week, we were without power for almost 2 days because wire had come loose from the pole. We were the only ones affected. Since we are the last house on a dead end road, we are the only house connected to this pole. A couple of years ago, the pole was hit by lightening during a rain storm and the meter on our house blew up ! There are still scorch & burn marks on the bricks. I happened to be looking right at the transformer on the pole when it was hit - talk about a light show !!! Sparks were everywhere !! Blue light/fire/sparks shot out of the outlets - there is still black marks on the wall in 1 room from it. Had to get all new covers for the outlets - every one was either charred and/or partly melted from it. When the meter blew up, the house shook - and this is a BIG house (9 rooms) and the oldest section is nearly 200 years old. It takes a lot to shake this house !

a .......... in Michigancoming soon - Farm Fresh Soaps and Candles.com !!!

Hey Sharon!

Luckily we had several water jugs in the garage that were still sealed so we used them for drinking. The biggest problem was staying warm, which a regular fireplace is almost useless. If we stay here we will get an insert. Also with as much rain as we get, we need a rain barrel, so we can have water to at least flush the toilets. We have a lake one house over, and Steve took a big bucket down there, and what he went thru to get to it was a comedy of errors. He is as bad off as I am pain-wise, he can move better than me, but he’s ready to go back on his prednisone tomorrow.

I guess you can get a marine battery and converter to use for our CPAP machines, but they are a little spendy, and tomorrow I am going to find out if my insurance will pay for them. The backup battery would need to be a rechargeable one too. The other thing would be to get a generator which we have talked about and when we can afford one I think that may be the better way to go. Our area is famous for ice storms too, and the last one we had was 2 years ago, but the power was only off during the day. We were headed for a motel that time when the power came on.

Not being able to breath was awful. It has taken a toll on me, and I hope there won’t be any long term repercussions. Sleep Apnea can cause heart problems, and I am sure that’s how I ended up with mine. I don’t think either one of us really thought too much about the after affects of such an ordeal. I have always been one to just stick it out, and do the best that I can, but now I have other things to consider. I thought of you several times living in AK, and as much as both of us have a heart to live as self sufficient as we can, MS and the other illnesses override those desires sometimes.

I have a friend who has several of my same illnesses, and she is moving to bare land in the Okanogan forest up in Washington state. I applaud her if she can do it.

Love, Jackie