Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody do your Share

I haven't posted Ice Storm '09 pics in a while and since I didn't have anything interesting or funny to say, I thought I'd throw some of them in as a gesture of, well, nothing.

So, if you haven't been keeping up since the Ice Storm, we've had some serious, stronger-than-Awwnold-Schwartzenneggar winds[I totally misspelled that one, "Can you use that in a sentence please?], and then about two weeks ago, we had almost a foot of snow dumped on our beaten and battered neck of the woods.

I think there's only more thing that can top off this disasterous season and that would be that inevitable volcano eruption [uh, sorry I'm daydreaming I'm in Hawaii.] I mean, the earthquake that Dr. Brown predicted would make it's presence known in 1990. Well, I hope I'm not jinxing our weather, but I think the weather gods at the local news stations have done enough.

An-y-ways, I'm tired. Really. Tired. Must be that 10K marathon I ran this afternoon. Whew! On to the pictures...

And most of these are after the snow and ice melted and you get to see how damaged Hawaii, er, Hayti looks.





Power out at Sonic, but...


not at Wal-Mart only a few hundred feet away!! [Thanks to generators!]





























Power slowing coming back on...













Our jungle house

No, your eyes are not fooling you

I've been slacking on uploading more images from the ice storm...SHOOT ME!! ;) Well, I'm only attaching a few today and hopefully can catch up with it this weekend. As I've said in previous posts, clean up has been underway and the evidence shows with chopped trees, limbs, sticks, you name it, making their new home on the side of roads. Trust me, that are a lot of them!! But, it's somewhat sad to see. The skyline in our neighborhood looks bare and ragged, with the trees that are still left standing.

And we did get our yard cleaned up last Friday and we had to have seven, count 'em, SEVEN, trees cut down!! For some reason, it broke my heart and I have to admit, I shed a few tears. But, we will get to plant new ones this spring.

Again, I personally want to thank all the hard workers for their continued efforts to restore power to those who are into their 3rd week without it. I'm continually updating the recognition of companies who have been working here, so if you know of any company I missed, just let me know. I'll gladly add them to the list!

Now, on to more images. Have a great week and come back soon!


More from my yard [Thurs., Jan. 29]







Debris in our yard and power line workers in the background [Fri., Jan. 30]









Another look up Corrine on the 3rd day--not as pretty! [Fri., Jan. 30]



No working lights on the I-55 overpass

Three days after the storm and poles are back up on Hwy. 84 [Fri., Jan. 30]

Power trucks in the distance on Hwy. J, south of Hwy. 84 [Fri., Jan. 30]

More images to come soon

And around town we go...

Hey y'all! (That's Bootheel slang for, "Hi! How are you doing?")

Man, I have had so many hits on my blog this week! I've been emailed, called, stopped at stores, and even a message arrived in a bottle on the banks of the Mississippi River(no, really, because Internet and phone lines were down!) about the images I've posted of the Bootheel Blizzard. I'm glad that so many of you have had a glimpse of what we went through here, if you didn't get to witness it first-hand. The last ice storm to hit here was in 1978(or 1979, I'm not sure because I heard 1978 and 1979). I was told by a man that lived through that one that this storm was worse. So if you lived here then but don't now, maybe that could give you something by which to gauge this ice storm.

As I mentioned in my last post, clean up has been underway and great progress is being made. Except for my yard, but that's another story. We Bootheel-ians are quite resilient. The businesses are up and running again and the power trucks are dwindling by the day. Last Wednesday(January 28), we drove around town and I documented various locations and businesses. It really was like a ghost-town, except people were scurrying around everywhere, so I guess it really doesn't make it a ghost town. Oh nevermind. It just looked strange that no businesses were opened, except one convenience store. There was no power, no gas, but there was a line of people waiting to get inside to buy whatever they could off the shelves. Now, that's business as usual!

Okay, I'm attaching images from around town during the day and a few from night, which aren't very clear because I couldn't expose for such darkness. But you'll get the idea that it was dark. By the way, none of the images that I'm posting are edited, with the exception of the frozen, freaky tree. They are just straight out of the camera(SOOC, or SOTC, or SOOTC, whatever you choose. Who cares.)

Oh, by the way, I didn't really get a message in a bottle. Actually, the message was packed in a floating cardboard box, but since cardboard is not waterproof, I never received it.


Going south on N. 6th St.



Traveling west on Hwy. 84



Look at the line of people, cars filled the parking lot!






Pizza Hut took a beating--that pole ended up breaking!






Going east on Hwy. 84, heading up the overpass



Looking south at I-55 from the overpass



A view of some of the power trucks at Pilot's



Going east to Caruthersville--Check out all the downed poles! I think a lot of these ending up breaking.



Heading west back to Hayti
















The line of people waiting on gas, yes they were in the right lane on the highway waiting!






This is the hospital emergency entrance. Notice the cones where power lines snapped and damaged vehicles and even an ambulance!






Another east view of our house--not very pretty, but thank God, that big tree never split!



West view of Hwy. 84 west of railroad tracks









Pitch black in Hayti--curfew imposed from dusk to dawn










More images to come soon