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Craziness in the Pacific Northwest!


KayC

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I won't have electricity or phone for probably another week or so, my car is behind 6 ft of snow, my son got my text by phone (used 30% of my battery to send it!) and came yesterday but couldn't get through, the hwy is closed, got here this afternoon. He hooked up his generator, my food is outside but will have to throw a lot of it away. He checked my freezer which I hadn't opened, even the ice cream bars are okay! That was great news. I felt so isolated. I've lost several trees, two on Arlie's fence, one across my driveway, my apple trees, you could hear them breaking all night the last couple of nights! Scary! Poor Arlie hasn't had a walk since Sunday. The whole town is black, worried about my sister, they don't have a fireplace. My son called them, they said they're okay. All businesses are closed, even some in Eugene. I have over 4 ft of snow and it just keeps on snowing. My son is going to shovel my roof off before he returns home tomorrow. I have been worried the roof would cave in, it's just an old mobile home, not a high pitch to the roof. The new garage roof expels the snow easily...in front of the vehicles! LOL
Looks like I won't be going anywhere for a while. So long as I can get to the church before 3/15 to make out their payroll..if not, maybe someone can come get me to do my work down there. I guess it made national news. Eugene had a foot of snow too, my son traded vehicles with my daughter so she has AWD.
I just got internet because he has the generator hooked up now. So long as I don't run out of gas.  The businesses are shut down here, we had 60 teens stranded at our (Baptist) church, made national news.  Have done a lot of praying.

This is something I have not experienced in my 42 winters here.  Always before I wasn't alone when something happened like this.  It's very different going through hardships without your husband.  VERY different!  

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So glad to hear you’re Okay!  I was getting a little worried since I didn’t see you posting...its so crazy all the snow you’re getting.  Be careful and stay warm!  

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Oh, Kay, I feel so bad that we're all so far away from you.  What a relief that your son was finally able to get to you. 

This winter has been weird all around, even snow at the coast in California.  But our crazy is nothing like yours. 

Please stay warm and safe and know that we are all sending hugs, comfort, and prayers to you.

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Moment2moment

Kay! OMG! That is horrible. I know the feeling of living isolated like that in the winter. So glad you have your son to help you out. 

I lived up on a ridge in a very remote rural area for 7 years.  We'd have power outages or deep snow and get stranded up there with no way in or out. It was very distressing.

I will be praying for you in your situation. Hang in there, they say spring is coming!

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@KayC  I am so sorry you are going thru this, I did hear about it on the news.  I can't imagine no electric or phone.  So glad your son was able to get to there to help you. I feel your pain....we are also getting so much snow, seems like every couple days. I spend half my day out shoveling or snowblowing and am so exhausted at night.....  I am praying for SPRING for us all. 

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Kayc wow!I'm so sorry you are going through this.My cousin is in Springfield and also going through it.Stay safe and warm and don't go near trees.We missed you.My heart is there dear one[emoji8]

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Grieving.com mobile app

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@KayC Wow sounds like it has been a mess for you. Glad your son was able to come and help you out. Take care and stay warm.

Lots of hugs and prayers for you.

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@KayC Whoa, that is super crazy!  Glad that you are alright.  That is an immense amount of snow.  I can imagine how happy you will be when this winter is finally over.  Stay safe and toasty!

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@KayC  I hope you are doing ok. Noticed you haven't posted. Mabbe no electric? Hope your snow situation has gotten better and that you are keeping warm. Prayers that you are well. Jeanne

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My son brought a small generator but they won't have elec. back on until the 11th and I'll run out of gas beforehand.  Only running it about ten hours a day as I'm rationing the gas.  It powers my refrigerator, freezer, and computer.  I haven't had time to be on line as I've been shoveling snow.  I've lost 25 lbs this winter from shoveling!  And of course no electricity means no water, it's direct powered so the gen. doesn't help there.  Means no flushing the toilet, no showers.  Neighbors and my son brought me water, I keep some on hand but never anticipated this long!  The longest I'd been out before was five days, not two full weeks!  They aren't delivering mail either.  In 42 winters, I've never seen this!

Yeah, Eugene/Springfield got up to 14" too, which is unusual.  I grew up in Eugene and in 1969 we had 4 ft there!  It closed the whole town, just like it has here.  I've never seen our hwy (58) closed more than a day.  My son was on the news!  He took three days off work but only got to be with me 26 hours because of the hwy closing and you had to have an appointed time with the convoy in/out of town.  Absolutely crazy!  I've since learn that 60 Baptist kids and 20 chaperones were stranded at our little Baptist Church until the Hwy opened, it was closed 5 days.  Neighbors helping neighbors, people scared they'd freeze but stranded.  Our church hooked up generators and had a warming center and are feeding people, of course I couldn't get to it, I haven't been anywhere yet, it's ten miles away and the roads are treacherous!

My roof was in danger of collapsing so my son shoveled most of it off.  

Going to close down for the night.  You're all in my prayers and I hope you're doing okay.

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My dear Kayc,how awful for you.I've been on hwy 58 and it can be tough in just rain.I pray for your safety and well being.We miss you very much.it's good you have a generator hope someone can get gas to you.All my love[emoji8]
Billie

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Grieving.com mobile app

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Oh my goodness Kayc, I can't imagine how hard this is for you... and especially being by yourself. Thankfully your son was able to get to you,  at least to check and help you out alittle.  Be careful shoveling, take breaks alot, its hard work, especially for a retired woman.  I cannot even complain about our snow, I am fortunate, have electic, water, heat, etc.  The plows get out quick for us.  Prayers for you, and for winter to be over soon. Jeanne

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Moment2moment

So relieved to hear you are ok! Prayers for your safety and a quick relief from all that snowbound scariness. You hang in there, ok?

Love, 

Lily Bell

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I am only powering the generator up about 10 hours a day to ration gas, so during eve/night it's off.  All my time is spent on survival, shoveling snow, moving food, checking on neighbors, etc.  I have trees and limbs down everywhere, not sure my insurance covers that or if the deductible is a moot point so I'll have to pay someone to help me clean it up come Spring.  I've never seen anything like this.  The news said there's 1,000 trees down PER MILE!  That's why the Hwy was closed several days.

Will have a lot of catching up to do when the electricity comes back.  Just trying to live through this...this last week has felt like a year.

Before my son showed up, food was spoiling, I was all alone, feeling very isolated, buried in snow literally everywhere, at night it was pitch black like I've never seen and you could hear trees breaking, snapping, coming down right and left, on my property, on neighbor's properties, everywhere, like firecrackers going off!  I heard the ceiling making pitching noises, I was afraid the roof would cave in.  This went on for three nights, the first two were the worst.  You can imagine how I felt when my son walked in Wednesday!  Took him 29 hours to get here because no one could get through!  There's been countless news articles on it, the state declared an emergency, didn't mean they did much of anything.  Red Cross got help to the town but of course I live out where it's worse and didn't hear what was going on in town, couldn't get down there.  My street is horrible in front of my place and nearby.  The plows aren't clearing the roads, they made a worse mess in front of my driveway, then it froze up at night.  Our town is going to make disaster preparedness a priority to plan for, they had nothing in the works, it's just a small town about 3,300 and neighboring towns so far away.

We have seen the best in people come out though, neighbors bringing each other food, water.  One of the motels offered free showers, but it's 8 miles away from me.  My church has been providing meals to people, don't know where the money will come from but it has been amazing to see everyone pitching in, doing what they can to help each other.

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I was just thinking that I should never again complain when we lose power for hours or even a few days.  High winds, heavy rain, and lousy infrastructure in our rural agricultural region mean that we lose power intermittently each winter and spring.  But even when it's literally freezing, we don't go below 20-25 degrees at night and not for more than several days in a row.  And we don't get feet of dangerous and damaging snow.

Kay, This may sound dumb, but is there anything, anything at all, that I can do?  I feel so darn helpless sitting here knowing what you are going through, but unable to lend a hand.  Is anyone getting through to you now that your son has left?  Is the Red Cross going to be able to bring you emergency supplies?  Can I donate to the Red Cross or another group that might be able to help you? 

Please, please let us know if we can help you in some way.  Being sorry for what's happening to you and sending thoughts and prayers is all well and good, but it doesn't seem like it's enough.

I'm sending those thoughts and prayers for your safety in the hope that somebody up there is listening.  You're too good a person to have even more challenges than you already do.

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@KayC  Am glad your still doing ok but also wish we could do something to help you.  I' m a pro at snow shoveling, if only I was there to do alittle of that for you. Know we are thinking of you and prayers for getting through it safely. Jeanne

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I'm with foreverhis and jes if there is any way we can get someone or something to you or donation to your church let us know we miss you.Big Love
Billie

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Grieving.com mobile app

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Moment2moment

Kay

If you need financial help, let me know as well. We will figure out how to get some funds to you-mail, Paypal, whatever. I doubt any mail will be delivered anytime soon.

What is the name of your small town?

Love and prayers your way,

Lily

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I just love the members here.  We're essentially strangers when we meet, yet everyone rallies around to help in whatever way they can when one of us is in trouble.  Doesn't matter if it's emotional, physical, or financial.  It gives me hope for the future of the human race.  It gives me hope that our prayers are not in vain and that our soulmates are relieved to know we aren't alone.

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We just got our power back after over 8 days without it, still do not have telephone service.  Have not had garbage pickup, mail delivery, no running water (no flushing toilets, showers).  I was buried in snow!  It was pitch black nights all alone listening to trees coming down on my property and the neighbors', snap, crackle, pop, continually, very very eerie!  Never felt so alone and cut off!  I couldn't even get to my coolers, because there was a six foot mound of snow in front of the building/door and my car & truck.  I was truly cut off from the world.  My cell phone doesn't work there but I tried texting my son, it took 30% of the battery juice to send the message and took two hours to send.  I heard nothing back.  I still have not received the texts he sent to me.  Hwy 58 was closed coming/going from town, not that I could get to Oakridge anyway!  The streets full of snow, no sign of a plow!  Neighbors began venturing out, the younger ones checking on the older ones.  People cold, thirsty, hungry.  I'm still dehydrated but am doing my best to hydrate.  I came down with an infection and couldn't get to a doctor.  This happened on Sunday night over a week ago and I felt so isolated and alone!  If George were here we would have shared in the work and it would have been an adventure, but this was no adventure, this was hellish.  I've never worked so hard as I have the last five weeks, shoveling snow, struggling to survive.  All night long for three nights I listened in the black eerie silence as trees and limbs came down, they are all over my property, two broke on Arlie's new fence, and one landed across my driveway.  There is so much snow it's hard to maneuver or walk in.  The cleanup will have to wait until Spring when the snow melts.  Tonight on they predict more snow every day/night...

It was very hard not even having the ability to call for help.

Wednesday afternoon my son showed up.  When I saw him come in the door, I burst into tears and cried, "You're an angel!"  He took three days off work but couldn't get to me because the highway was closed for five days...he had to spend the night in Pleasant Hill, then drive up when they finally opened the highway by appt with a convoy...he was interviewed and him and his Pathfinder were on t.v. but I didn't know any of that, I was cut off from the world.

He set up a generator to give me refrig/freezer...I'd already lost much food because I couldn't get to my coolers, only had one on the deck.  I shoveled snow until my back hurt, he and his friends dug me out but the roads were still too bad to navigate.  26 hours later he had to leave to catch the next convoy out of town.  The generator was a godsend but 3 days later it quit.  Don't know what's wrong with it, I'm not mechanical at all.  I piled everything into coolers again.  The pastor and a friend showed up and dug my car out, although I still haven't taken it out on this, my street and particularly in front of my driveway is some of the worst.  I drove my truck to the church yesterday to do their books, took me twice as long as my brain was near shutdown.  Someone was supposed to show up to look at my generator at 2:30, they never showed.  I'd just gotten everything back in coolers and loaded the fire by flashlight, was reading before going to sleep, and I look up and see lights on across the street!  I unplugged the cords, flipped the circuit breaker box switches, and put everything back in the refrigerator.  I did 3 loads of laundry and a load of dishes before going to bed late that night.  This morning I showered, cleaned house, another load of dishes, cleaned out the freezer/refrig. and got garbage ready for pickup (it's been 3 weeks).  This has been the longest 8-9 days of my life!  I still have to get more wood in and sweep the deck and have no energy to do either.

The storms we've been having are the worst I've endured.  My 42nd winter up here and we've never been w/o elec. this long or phone either.  And I've never gone through this alone either.  I've lost so many trees, the apple trees for the deer...ahh, but it will all wait.  Arlie can't run in his yard anymore, too many limbs everywhere.  Can't even get to the front gate, about 6 ft. of snow on either side of it, in fact he hopped from one pile to the other on the other side of the gate and escaped!  Had to dig the inner pile away from the gate.

This was the heaviest wettest snow...about 4'5" but the weight of about 8'.  There were 1,000 trees down every mile along the highway.

BTW, my son shoveled most of the house roof, couldn't do the patio roof as it's too slippery, did it in about an hour before he had to catch the convoy out.  I'd been concerned about it caving in which just made the popping noises in the ceiling sound all the more eerie!  More snow coming tonight on but I do not trust what the NOAA says, last time it said the storm would miss us and we'd only get 1 1/2", ha!

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Oh Kayc,I'm terrified for you.I'm so glad you got some power on it Must have been hell.8 long days and more to come.If there is any way for us to help you or your church or town let us know.I've been to Oakridge many times,it's my shortcut to Reno.We miss you.Much love and prayers to you

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Grieving.com mobile app

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I live in the mountains above Oakridge, OR.  It's rural community, 1 1/4 miles from the Eugene/Springfield area where I was born and raised.  This is my 42nd winter here and I've never seen anything like it!  I'm hoping the worst is over and now comes the cleanup, come Spring.  Will hire someone to help with clearing away the fallen trees/limbs, there's plenty to do!

Thank you all for your interest, you are my extended family!

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Moment2moment

Wow! What a story. So glad you got the electric back on. Any thoughts I had about moving back to that ridge just flew out of my mind!

 

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@KayC  Welcome home..we missed our earthly angel.  So glad things are looking up abit and you have electric, and praying for no more snow for you. Take good care of yourself.  Love and hugs. Jeanne

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Thinking of you, keep safe and hope everything is soon back to normal

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@KayC  I'm going to be brutally honest and tell you that I've had a few dark thoughts the past few days.  I was so afraid that the reason we weren't hearing from you wasn't just that you had to ration the generator, but that something happened to you.

When I popped online for a short bit last night before bed and saw you had posted, I felt so relieved.  I will be praying that you do not lose power again or have another several feet of snow trying to destroy your property and home--and you.  Can you get the generator fixed? I certainly hope so.

We had lightening, gale winds, and driving rain again last night.  When I dragged my behind out of bed this morning, I discovered that the wind had pushed our fairly heavy BBQ 4 feet over into one of our side fences.  Worse, the back fence partially fell over because the ground was so saturated, the corner eroded further, and the lot behind us is sloped.  Our contractor had just finished concreting in additional/new posts on the other part of that fence because it had been leaning back for a couple of years.  When I talked to him today, we agreed that we should have done the whole darn fence last week.  We'd both been thinking that, but didn't mention it to each other.  Rats.  Well, at least I got my exercise today by finding 2x4s to cantilever it up, dig in extra soil to backfill, and using our handheld cast iron tamper to compact it.  One of our neighbors came over and shored it up further until I can get the repairs done.  It's raining, windy, and very cold again, so I guess it won't be right away.

Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you through this horrible time.

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On 3/5/2019 at 4:22 PM, Moment2moment said:

Wow! What a story. So glad you got the electric back on. Any thoughts I had about moving back to that ridge just flew out of my mind!

 

I've been here 42 winters, never seen another like it.  They're calling this the 50 year storm, they had one in 1969...I was living in Eugene at the time and got 4 ft of snow there...never seen it like that in Eugene before or since.  So maybe they're right, hope so, by the time another 50 years rolls around, I'll be long gone.  ;)

It wouldn't be so bad if I had someone to go through it with, you know?

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14 hours ago, foreverhis said:

We had lightening, gale winds, and driving rain again last night.  When I dragged my behind out of bed this morning, I discovered that the wind had pushed our fairly heavy BBQ 4 feet over into one of our side fences.  Worse, the back fence partially fell over because the ground was so saturated, the corner eroded further, and the lot behind us is sloped.

I am so sorry!  It seems calamities are happening all over not only the USA but the world!  I've always been thankful I don't live somewhere where they get tornadoes and hurricanes, but then this happened and it's been very hard to deal with.  I hope Spring comes soon for all of us and we can find the help we need to hire to get the work done.  It's looking like it's going to be a busy summer righting everything that's happened.

Got some snow last night, have it cleared now, but snowing again, ugh!

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Yep, the weather patterns are in severe extremes.  While I do not think it is entirely man-made, there is no doubt the we are hastening and exacerbating the natural changes that have always occurred. 

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