Close to Nowhere

Politics have been knocked completely off the radar!

All anyone can talk about right now is the upcoming “Great Ice Storm of ’21.” It’s going to rival the “Great Ice Storm of ’94.”

You do realize that it’s been 27 years?

Yeah, I almost fell off my chair when I realized that.

During the Great Ice Storm of ’94, I nearly froze to death – like everyone else in the South.

It started on a Thursday morning. I know that because Thursday was my day off at The South Reporter.

I was sitting on the couch in the living room, looking out the window at the gray, dreary, rainy, icing-up-already day and thinking I was going to drag out the breadmaker and make some bread.

Just about that moment the power went out.

It was three weeks and one day before the power came back on. I was at work. Former editor Walter Webb was worried because I was sitting at my computer crying after Pop called and said the power company had been there, but had driven off. He sent me home. The power company came back and by the time I got home, I had power – and a hot shower!

Some folks got their power back sooner. Some, later. To me, they didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that “I” didn’t have power. “I” couldn’t take a shower.

You know, if you live in a rural area you probably have a well. Wells run off electricity. Without electricity, wells don’t run. If your well doesn’t run, you don’t have water anywhere. Which also means you can’t flush the toilets. Talk about a nightmare!

In anticipation of the upcoming Great Ice Storm of ’21, I’m writing this column early on Sunday. I’m using son Kris’ laptop in the living room, because it’s frigging cold, and I can huddle in my quilts near the heater while I’m writing. (New little dog Rowdy is tucked under covers in my lap shivering and cat Hobbes is piled in here also.)

I got up and walked out of the living room and saw HSUD trucks on the road and in the driveway beside daughter Dana’s house. She’s been having brown-out problems, and they were here to fix that.

I yelled back into the living room for Kris to save my column in case the power went out.

At that second, the power went out. Thank all the saints in heaven, Kris managed to save this!

It’s not sleeting here at the moment. But Ron Childers on Channel 5 in Memphis, Tenn., is promising a 95 percent chance of sleet and snow and ice – inches of the stuff. That means the power is likely going out.

I worried about the linemen Sunday out in this freezing weather working on the power problems.

I can’t even imagine how cold it must be climbing up those poles. And if the weather gets wet it’s going to be worse.

To all the linemen at every utility company around here – huge thank yous and loads of blessings to you!

I pray you’ll stay safe and warm and I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for my lights and my heat.

God’s grace to all of you!

Linda Jones of Laws Hill is a former staff writer for The South Reporter. She is retired but continues her weekly column.