Ice Storm Photos from Hutchinson Kansas

We've got a major ice storm going on in Hutchinson, Kansas, where I live.

I wanted to share some photos with you, but it's difficult to move around town for any amount of time. There are trees and power lines across the roads in various places. As always, it's sporadic. Last night I had no power, but one street to the north they had power.



If you look in the foreground of this photo you can see the real problem - a power line just laying across the road. I was able to drive right up to it. I turned around instead of driving over it. The road was not blocked - there are so many things like this that officials just can't control it all. There just isn't enough manpower to do it.



Here's the problem in a nutshell. See how heavy the tree is? Now, look at the power line and notice it's bowed not only from the ice, but also because a branch is balancing on it. This is not good. It's on Sherman street in the Houston Whiteside area. Unfortunately for me, that's very close to my house so this probably doesn't bode well for me and my neighbors as far as power goes.



Here's another situation in another part of town. It becomes a guessing game - which will break first - the tree or the line.

That question has been answered in many places.

There are trees on roofs



On trucks...


in yards...



and across roads...



Many times you have to back up because the road is completely blocked.

I'm in my office and downtown has power - at least at the moment. I'm recharging all my rechargeable flashlights and the zune so I have a radio.

I still have no power at home, although I understand it was on for a couple of hours overnight. That would explain why I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably warm I was when I woke up. Unless we get power soon, that will not be the case later today. I opened the drapes to let what little sunlight there is into the house. But, it's not really sunny - very overcast. It's 32 and supposed to go down to 20. If it would just warm up a couple of degrees or the sun would come out it would do wonders. But, they're saying we're getting another inch of ice tonight.

There are 11,000 people in Reno County without power. In a county that has only about 50,000 people that's a significant portion of the population. And that doesn't account for the rural electric, which estimates another 4,500 are without power. Hutchinson is the county seat of Reno County. Estimates are that 70,000 are without power across the state. Repeatedly I'm hearing that Hutchinson is one of the hardest hit areas - and it would seem that Reno County accounts for a large percentage of those without power.

Of course, you can't help but see the beauty in it, too. It would be easier for me to see the beauty if my house were warm.



Crews are out everywhere, but of course we're all impatient. They're not making any promises about when we can expect power. If it gets too bad, and my office continues to have power I can sleep here. There are two shelters, including one at Trinity United Methodist.

I will be leaving here soon to get something to eat. I don't want to open my fridge so am going to go out and get some food. I will continue to update from my phone when possible. Although I'm posting this to numerous places, I only post to the blog at www.patsyterrell.com from my phone so check there for the latest.

Tags: ice storm

Ice Storm Photo

Here's the problem in a nutshell. See how heavy the tree is? Now, look at the power line and notice it's bowed not only from the ice, but also because a branch is balancing on it. This is not good. It's on Sherman street in the Houston Whiteside area. Unfortunately for me, that's very close to my house so this probably doesn't bode well for me and my neighbors as far as power goes.

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Check the blog at www.patsyterrell.com for the latest. I can update it from my phone even when I don't have net access and power.

Ice Storm in Hutchinson Kansas

This is at the southwest corner of Severance and Third Street in Huthinson Kansas. It's about half a mile from my house.

I'm at my office where I have power. I will continue to update, but only to www.patsyterrell.com/blog.htm since I can post there from my phone. So, if you're reading this somewhere other than my page, check the blog at  www.patsyterrell.com for the latest. 

Ice storm and rain storm

I am back home. It's not miserably cold in my house but I'm going to want some heat in the next few hours.

it's still only rain. I think the weather forecasters have gotten over zealous once again.

But it's weird. There's ice on trees, lines, fences, etc. It's 32 degrees. It seems as it rains some of it is freezing onto coated surfaces and the rest is coming down rain.

We took pix but have no power to upload them. But it looks like I have power at my office so I will get pix online in a few hours. I'm going to sleep until daylight when I can see better.

There are huge chunks of trees in the streets and on people's lawns. The $400 I paid to have a big tree cut from beside my garage seems like money well spent right now.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Power crews are out working. As usual it's odd who has power and who doesn't. Houses on one side are dark and three doors down they have power. I would be mighty happy to go home and discover I had power but I didn't see any crews in my area. Pity.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Greg and I are out driving around. Lots of trees down. People just a few blocks away have power. The roads are just slushy but trees are coated with ice.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

I can hear trees breaking and crashing and what I assume are transformers blowing. It's dark everywhere. The only other sounds are train whistles and the occasional vehicle.

Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Ice storm in Hutchinson Kansas

We are in the midst of an ice storm here in Hutchinson Kansas. I have no net access except on the phone. It's only raining so far but it's 32 degrees so it's freezing on the trees and power lines. My power has been off three times but it's on right now.

In the big storm of 2005 I never lost power so the fact that it has been off three times in the last three hours doesn't seem like good news. And it's flickering now.

I have the heat turned way up and the electric blanket on to keep things as warm as possible in the event the power goes. Doesn't it seem bizarre that something we're so dependent on is at the whims of the weather?

The cable company is rather laissez faire about the fact that people have no access to tv weather or the internet or phones for those who have their phone through cable. They said they'd get to it tomorrow.

Things look beautiful outside - if only it weren't for the threat of no heat.

Speaking of which... The power just went off again... And stayed off. I have 5 minutes of battery backup. Looks like I'm done for the night.
Patsy
www.patsyterrell.com
(sent from mobile device)

Bracing for an Ice Storm

This is the view of Main Street from my office. You can spot our new Christmas decorations on the light poles. They're wreaths with bells inside them. I took this a little after 5 today, but it was already twilight because of the rain. You can tell everything is wet. We're thankful for the rain at the moment, because rain is not sleet.



They're telling us it's going to be very nasty - sleet, snow, ice - a "wintry mix" as they love to euphemistically put it. The Governor has already declared all 105 counties disaster areas.

So far my power has been off once for about 45 minutes and it's flickering again. I'm not sure why this is, since there's just rain coming down. In the major ice storm of 2005 I never lost power. So, why it went off in the rain is a mystery. I find it very, very, very weird that at this point in our evolution as a society that we still have to worry about things like the power going off.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I love everything about the holiday season. Strangers wish you a Merry Christmas, just driving to the grocery store means there are pretty lights to look at, you get cards from friends you don't hear from often, your house has pretty sparkly things in it, and, to top it off, there are presents! How can anyone not love it?

This, of course, is in addition to the religious significance of the holiday season for people of many different backgrounds. I'm already looking forward to Christmas Eve services.

When you think about it, isn't it really a lovely custom to drag a tree into our homes and stick baubles on it? When you think about the basics of what we're doing - bringing a tree into the house - it's somewhat astonishing. Of course, now they're plastic and metal and the baubles are electrified, but the basic idea of hauling in a tree is interesting. Bringing the outside in is no modern idea of home decor, obviously.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Questions People Ask Me at Christmas

Greg took this ornament photo the other night and I just love it. He's so darned handy to have around. Handy as a pocket on a shirt is the phrase, I believe... although Greg is far better than a pocket.

Each year people ask me lots of questions about Christmas. Some of them I expect - some surprise me.

1. How many lights are on the tree? more than 10,000

2. How many ornaments? I don't know. Greg estimates 2,000.

3. How long does it take to do the tree? I kept track this year and it took between 70 and 80 hours. I realize that's somewhat ridiculous, so I'm looking for ways to simplify it.

4. How many trees do you have? It varies every year. This year I have five in addition to the main tree. They are 2, 3 and 4 feet tall, with a taller one in the kitchen that's one of those tall, skinny ones.

5. Does your power bill increase? I don't know. I have an average pay plan so I don't know the difference. I had an outlet installed that is on its own circuit to run the tree. This year I have put more lights on than before and that circuit breaker has thrown. So, I've divided the load out over three circuits. Before next year, the electrician will have to come back and put in another outlet that is on its own circuit - maybe two more.

I am so weary of the breakers throwing. Four different electricians have told me that Christmas lights don't pull that much juice and that one circuit would be more than enough. Obviously, that is not correct. I'm not sure why I can't have as much juice as I want. I'm willing to pay for it. I keep employing people that can facilitate it, but - yet again- I'm out in the dark throwing circuit breakers. Where are these keepers of the juice then? No doubt tucked into their warm homes, with sufficient juice to run their Christmas trees. Juice. I need more juice. I want more juice.

6. What is your favorite ornament? I don't have a particular favorite. I have lots of special ones that people have given me or made me or that I've picked up on trips.

7. Did your mom decorate this way? No, definitely not. And I can practically hear her laughing from the great beyond whenever someone asks that. She put the tree up one week before Christmas - Dec. 18 - not a day sooner. And it came down either Christmas afternoon or the day after. She was "normal" and I'm a fanatic. However, she ALWAYS put up a tree - even her last Christmas.

8. Are the presents real? Yes. I cannot imagine that anyone has time to wrap fake presents but I guess people do or no one would ask that. This girl doesn't have time for wrapping fake presents.

9. How many people do you buy for? About 30 - mostly family and a few friends. But bear in mind that some of those presents are simple things - like ornaments for my Creative Sisterhood group.

10. When did you start doing this? I first started buying ornaments in 1984, I think. I had small trees even when I was in college. I had my first big tree after I moved to Kansas. My then boyfriend, Curtis, wasn't around for some reason, and Greg helped me haul it into my apartment, which was the lower floor of a house at Fifth and Adams in Hutchinson. It was not as involved as the trees I do now. But things quickly grew into the "mega trees" I do now.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Christmas Party - Part One

Tonight was my annual Christmas open house. When I set the date months ago, I had no idea we would have an ice storm tonight.



Of course, ice doesn't deter some folks, so we had a party despite the ice.









Mark came down from Kansas City and brought his mom along. Kris and John came from Wichita with their friend, Tom. And Ray drove in from Pretty Prairie, which is about 25 minutes away. It was a fun night.

Fortunately, when this was forecast yesterday, I slowed down my cooking, so I didn't make nearly the amount of stuff I usually do. I had plenty - even have some left - but there wasn't the normal variety. But, I think everyone had enough.

Kris and I, of course, had to take our usual "cute girl pic." Greg obliged and then suggested we expand our group, which we gladly did. That's Trish, me, Kris and Andrea.



Mark's mom has never been to the party before. I hope she had fun. She and Julie were enjoying chatting.





Trish and Jim have their house on a homes tour for their church tomorrow. I'm not sure if the weather will cooperate for them or not.



I love this photo of Ray and me and how Green Santa is looking down on us, as if he needs to approve our discussion. Greg graciously took photos for me, but we missed a few people. And, as usual, I don't have any of Greg. I've got to remember to address that in the future.

And, I'll get another chance. We've decided to have the Christmas Party - Part Two next Saturday night. So, if you didn't get to come tonight, come next Saturday. Mia decided to head back to Joplin after a concert last night in Wichita, because there was such a huge ice storm predicted for the area between there and Joplin. I think she made the right decision because it looks bad. So, I just decided I'd have another gathering next weekend, when the weather is supposed to be nicer, and then she'll be able to come too. So, if you still have the invite hanging around, just cross out Dec. 8 and put in Dec. 15.

As requested by some party goers, here's the recipe for

White Texas Sheet Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup water

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in remaining cake ingredients. Pour into 15 by 10 baking pan - batter will be thin. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until done. Cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make frosting by combining butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, add other ingredients and spread over warm cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Party Weather - Not

I took the day off to prepare for my open house tomorrow. I made a trip out for groceries and settled in to cook. Of course, a little bit ago I discovered I was out of powdered sugar so had to go back out. How could I be out of something as basic as powdered sugar? Who knows, but I was.

I'm not making as much as I usually do because I'm guessing I may have a small turn out. We are under a winter weather advisory from midnight tonight until 6 p.m. Sunday. Of course, the weather people have proven many times they can't really predict the weather, so we'll see if it happens. I'm just going to prepare for things being normal and hope they are.

I'm concerned about Mia. She came out for the party. She and Greg had tickets to a concert in Wichita tonight and I'm wondering if she's going to be able to come to the party. Hopefully, we'll know more about the weather tomorrow, but I wouldn't want her to get stuck in a storm. It's miserable driving in ice.

Susan already emailed saying she's not coming, which of course I understand. It's a three hour drive from the farm here and it looks like there's some nasty weather between us. I haven't heard from Mark, but I doubt he'll come from Kansas City. It's a pity, but of course, I have no way of foreseeing such things when I'm picking a party date. Maybe I'll just do it again next weekend for whoever can come if this weekend is too nasty. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Well, I'd best go clean up the kitchen so I can wake up and start cooking again. It's so much nicer to wake up to a clean kitchen than one that looks like someone has been cooking in it for a few hours. I'm not a tidy cook. Not at all. Those food photos I show here on occasion - if you notice they're carefully cropped.

I think I'll mix up a batch of fudge before I go to bed. Then the only "must do" tomorrow will be an angel food cake.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Quote of the Day - the Grinch, aka sage wisdom

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  ~Dr. Seuss

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

New Banners

Did you see the new banner at www.patsyterrell.com/blog.htm?



I made three new ones tonight - as if I have nothing else to be doing. Just because you're such a nice person, I'm going to preview them for you. I hope it doesn't ruin the surprise when they eventually show up as headers.

And, again, I can't suggest to you strongly enough that you keep a professional photographer handy at all times during the holiday season. It facilitates such things to have images stockpiled. When Greg isn't busy photographing Ace Jackalope, he is available for photos of other cool things - like Christmas goodies.






There's a few thousand dollars worth of graphic design training for you - pressed into service for something truly important - Christmas banners for my blog. Money well spent.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Online Life and Real Life

When I first started blogging, someone who had been doing it for awhile gave me some advice, which I ignored. The advice was that you should not let anyone in your real life world know that you had a blog. She had abandoned three previous blogs because people she knew had gotten annoyed by something she wrote. For the past few years she has been blogging her life without anyone in her real life world knowing that they are being discussed online. And she discusses them in very raw terms.

I am just not a person who can have that sort of secrecy in life. I'm not exactly an open book, but I'm not good with secrets either. I guess I'm just middle of the road when it comes to my own life. However, I try to be respectful of other people's privacy and try not to ever say anything that would be hurtful or harmful to anyone. This means, on occasion, that I have to edit myself from saying everything I'd like to say, but it's a worthwhile tradeoff. It's much the same as you would do if you were talking with someone in person - I don't publish anything online that I wouldn't say to someone in person. And it's not always negative - sometimes I can't say something really positive about someone specific because it would put them in an awkward position with someone else.

Of course, I rarely mention anyone here except in passing - we went here, we did that, we talked about this, etc. etc. etc. Photos that include other people are limited to happy things like tea and bridal showers and afternoon walks and such. Whenever I talk about anything negative I do so in generic terms unless it's a situation that's long past like an old boss from my college days who was more humorous than horrible - at least in retrospect - and even then I don't mention names. College days would certainly fall into the category of "long past" in my life, and in this case I'm sure he's long dead by now, anyway. But, I digress...

I was thinking about all of this in the last few days when FaceBook retreated from its position on Beacon, which published what purchases members made online. MoveOn mobilized to get them to stop, and FaceBook did immediately, for which I give them credit. In the meantime, some people's Christmas gift surprises were spoiled, which is a pity. But, it made me think about the whole issue of our online lives and how they intersect our real world lives.

I see more and more opportunities for those lives to intersect and think that's where this whole thing is moving. In many ways I like that. There are a few people I've met in real life who know me only from the blog. It's interesting. My blog also keeps friends and family involved in my life, even though we don't see each other regularly. I think using the online world to enhance real life is one of the great values of it. 

I'm not a personality type that could keep a blog private, anyway, but I'm not sure why you'd even want to bother. These are all things that are being negotiated on a daily basis by people around the world. We live in interesting times.

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www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Presents

A few years ago I started doing "themes" with my wrapping paper. Now it has become something of an obsession.

Add to this my unnatural love of paper of all sorts, not to mention designs - specifically Christmas designs - and what you end up with is an assortment of wrapping paper that could cover enough presents for a small army. OK, maybe a medium sized army.

The day after Christmas I turn into Robo-shopper. Considering how uninterested I am in shopping in general, this is somewhat amazing. But, I get up at dark-thirty and drive the half hour to Paducah, and wait in the cold outside whatever store, to make sure I get a good deal on something. I need a deal.

One of my finds last year was this paper. It has stars on it - one of my favorite motifs. Of course, this wasn't the only wrapping paper I bought last year. It seems each year I buy two or three designs, despite I'll only use one each year. You don't have to be a math whiz to see that this leads to lots of rolls of wrapping paper in my house. I'm always certain that I'll find something to go with something I bought years earlier that will make it a perfect combination. As of yet that has not happened, even though I've added at least a dozen rolls that were good contenders for that. But I remain optimistic.

In 1991 I started adding ornaments to packages for my family - with names and dates on them. Some years I made them and some years I just added that info to something I bought. This year I found these stars, which are the perfect match for the paper. You knew the ornament had to coordinate with the paper, didn't you? Surely you did.  Last year I had red paper with silver snowflakes on it and the ornaments were silver snowflakes. That was one of my best combos ever.

Then there are the ribbons and name tags to coordinate. For many years I just wrote names on the back of the presents with a sharpie because I didn't want anything to detract from the look. This year I bought two rolls of ribbon that were 100 feet each. That was almost enough to do all these presents. I had some other ribbon that I've used on a couple of them. How much ribbon it took to do all these presents was a question I was asked multiple times at the homes tour yesterday.

And I bet two dozen people asked me if the presents were real. Who has time to wrap empty boxes? I guess some people do. When I was thinking about the questions people might ask these were not ones I expected.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Through Other Eyes

It's always interesting to see yourself through other people's eyes. This is reprinted, with permission, from www.thelope.com. Frankly, I couldn't think of anything to add, defend or embellish.

By the way, Ace Jackalope is quite the Lope about Town (and Country). It's always worth checking out his adventures.

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See Patsy's Tree

Welcome to December!

Wanna see pictures of something cool, that you can actually go see in person?



If the Christmas season has a singular icon to me, it's my friend Patsy's tree.

Not the tree in the foreground, mind you.



This Tree

Over 10,000 lights.

About 2,000 ornaments.

All of it crammed onto a 7 1/2' tree that generates enough heat that you can feel it a few feet away.

Patsy's tree is often the focus of "excess" jokes among her friends...well, mostly me - but we all look forward to basking in its incandescent glow.

And you can too, Sunday, December 2 on the Reno County (Kansas) Mental Health Association's Christmas at Home Tour. Patsy is Executive Director of the association and has put her house on the annual tour as a refreshment stop.



I enjoy orbiting the tree with a camera, like a space probe recording the surface of an alien planet.



Many of her ornaments are souvenirs of road trips. This snowman hails from Quebec.



Of course, I love the starburst.



The soldier is a souvenir from a trip to London.



There are several Jesus'...Jesuses...Jesae(?) from a shop near the Vatican.





Rankin-Bass, how we do love thee.



Patsy's mom bought her this Avon Ornament back in the 1980s. It is one of the first ornaments Patsy got as an adult.



Our friend Mark got her this cow. Well, actually, he got it at the Kansas State Fair for someone else and Patsy latched onto it, chanting "It speaks to me, it speaks to me." It had to be this cow, and no other, mind you. Finally, he relented chose a different one for its original intended recipient.



Ace will be hanging out at Patsy's place. If you like, she'll take your picture with him and I'll put you on this blog.



Santae abound.



Personally, I like these vintage reindeer.



Father Christmas himself will be in attendance at one of the homes.

For information on tickets and the five houses involved, see the Christmas at Home Tour website, email Patsy at patsy@mharenoco.org or call her at 663-7772.

This is now assembled into the blue and silver tree. I snapped this photo a few days ago when I had the ornaments for it gathered onto a tray.

I have LOTS to do in the next 36 hours. I have to get some clutter removed and some cleaning done and some decorating finished.

Perhaps I should be doing that instead of blogging. Hmmmm... there's an idea...

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Ben Kweller

I'm on a Ben Kweller listening fest today while I work.

I was reminded of him by last night's Carson Daly rerun. I had forgotten just how much I like his music.

How can you not like a guy who has lyrics in his songs like, "Butterflies are passive aggressive and put their problems on the shelf, but they're beautiful anyway?"

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Three Days

I have three days before the MHA home tour. I have to get everything done for the tour, including having my house completely ready since I'm doing refreshments here. I have a busy few days ahead. Oh my gosh, do I have a busy three days ahead.

The up side of it is that everything will be done for my open house on the 8th.

This is an opportune time to say - if you've been to my Christmas Open Houses before or ever been invited before or were expecting to be invited this year - and haven't yet gotten an invitation this year - it's not because you're being slighted - it's because I'm still working on getting things mailed. And because I have three days before the MHA tour (see paragraph one!). So, consider this your official invitation, with your other official invitation to follow at some point, hopefully before the actual event. Anyway... I hope to see you on Dec. 8, 6:30 to whenever. I'm mailing things as fast as I can but things that need corrections in the database for some reason seem to not be getting done in a timely manner.

Well, I must go and do more things to get me and my house ready for upcoming events! And, sleep... I must sleep... at least some... some time...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words