sherriknits

No, I’m not losing my mind.  haha

2 heartwarming little stories:

• Some of the power companies who sent crews requested that they now return home.  The workers said no, they can’t.  The people here still need them.  So they stay.
  • Those same workers marvel at the resiliance of the people in the community.  Even when they have had no power for 5 days, they bring them coffee and donuts.  So, we are blessed by them, they are blessed by us. 
• Our friends began to move out of their house today.  Someone has given them a house to stay in and they are figuring out how to get their internet hooked up and all that fun stuff.  $10 to change it to the new house.  $45 for one month of cable since they are used to satellite.  Not so bad.  But that’s not the cute story.
  • People wen tto help them move their stuff today.  There were so many people that they told hubby not to come (he did anyway).  They had gotten their tree literally about an hour before the storm.  The wife/mom was lamenting that they bought and decorated their tree and she didn’t do laundry or dishes and they lost their power immediately after decorating the tree.  Some friends went to their house today with a trailer, put the tree on it and put a bag over it and moved it fully-decorated to their new house.  Is that cool or what?

We went on our date tonight and it was fun.  We went to the mall and saw several people we knew and heard lots of stories.  Some had power now, some not.  What a sense of community, though.  This young kiddo we’ve known since he was months old, he is now about 16, stopped and talked to us for about 20 minutes.  I don’t think in all the time I’ve known him he ever talked that much.  We all just need to connect.

I so wish I could get pictures of some of the stuff I saw tonight but it was dark.  The power trucks are out on the highway working.  And a sad one…this really cool restaurant that has been around forever…used to be really good, then went downhill, then new owners about 2 years ago brought it back and we have never driven by but what the parking lot was jammed. It’s out in the middle of nowhere.  On Monday, crews were there working and suddenly they heard a sound like a freight train and suddenly someone screamed “RUN!” and a huge wall of water and mud came cascading down the hill and totally demolished the restaurant.  Last night the news said the insurance will not cover the loss, now totalling a million dollars.  (not sure how that is, but that’s what they said).  We could barely see it when we drove by.

And listen to this.  There are some construction companies who are going to houses who lost their roof and for free putting tarps on them … the tarps are being provided free by Home Depot!

A grocery store has been giving out free ice.  An employee told me today that they are going to give a one-time coupon to everyone for 20% off all groceries so people can get back on their feet.  *smile smile smile*  It is so heartwarming.

Anyway, most of what we are seeing is the kindness of others.

I promise I will stop talking about this soon, still trying to sort through it all.  I do hope to pick up some knitting needles sometime soon!!

Power has been restored to most of the area and those who don’t have it should have it by this afternoon.  The area of town that holds Starbucks, Walmart, McDonald’s, etc is lit again.  I’m not sure what the problem was there because I heard it was a priority area…then one of the very last to get back up and running.

I forgot something important when I posted last night … I had meant to mention our gratitude to all of the teams of power company workers who have come in from all over the place.  This morning I drove past the one decent motel here in town and the parking lot was full of those white trucks.  It was still dark so I couldn’t get a picture.

Something that really affected me yesterday was the signs on businesses thanking the workers, one business was advertising dry ice for another business, others told of the availability of generators and then just the simple hand lettered “we’re open” signs…it all just affected me and I can’t find the words to explain my feelings.

And when we drove out to our friends’ house yesterday, I saw a gentleman from our church standing at the exit off the highway in the rain.  I turned to look as we drove by and hubby said he was working the food bank and wanted to let people know if they could get through the road or not (people were working on a downed tree right there).  Seeing him there made me cry.  It was cold and wet and I’m sure he could have sat at the food bank and let people figure it out for themselves, but he wanted to let people know they were open indeed, in spite of the fact there was no power.  The goodness of those who are giving! I think we’ll be hearing stories for a long time to come.

Here’s our tree.

When I turned around to come back inside, I saw this breathtaking sight.

Isn’t the sun just beautiful the way it’s shining on the house? And now we see the house until next Spring.  I think I’d rather have raked a few leaves rather than what we went through.  The leaves are probably 20 miles away.   lol

And now I think I will return to my knitting.  I probably knit about 10 rows on this square over the last 5 days.