SoapZone Community Message Board

(scroll down to the paragraph about the fourth tornado in NE Ohio that afternoon)

About 4:30 PM Tuesday, our power flickered and went out. It's been out since then, with First Energy saying it might not come back until Wednesday. We were actually lucky...I spent an hour picking up branches big and small Wednesday morning, Dad's flagpole snapped clean in half and a tree in the tree line at the back of our property came down in our backyard but landed near nothing important. Don't know whose tree it actually is--ours or the neighbor on Kirkwood whose property abuts ours--but I know Dad's not going to do anything about the tree any time soon. For a short while, we couldn't even leave our "block"...normally when coming home, I turn onto Kirkwood, then turn right onto Cranwood (my street). If for some reason Cranwood is blocked, I can circle around, going down Kirkwood and then turning right onto Spruce before turning onto Cranwood....but Kirkwood is still blocked by a telephone pole down just a few houses past the turn off for Cranwood, and there was a power line down on Cranwood close to Kirkwood. Around 6:00 on Tuesday night, Dad decided we should try to get dinner somewhere...we made it to the Chesterland McDonald's (where I'm posting from right now--some folks lost power, some only cable/internet, Mickey D's in Chesterland lost neither). It took us four detours to make what should've been almost a straight shot. Almost every road in town is blocked by either a downed power line, a downed telephone pole or a downed tree (or trees). The way back had even more detours. Luckily, most folks are prepared. People hauled out chainsaws to cut up downed trees whether they were their tree or a neighbor's tree. Many people have generators...of course Dad never got one. He thinks they're a "luxury". He might change his mind after we empty the fridge and both freezers and toss a couple hundred dollars worth of groceries. I had to shower before work yesterday at a neighbor's house and will do so again tomorrow and maybe Sunday.

The outages were weirdly random. Bff lives in a town where 68% of the residents lost power. Hers was out all of 10 minutes. Her sister, 11 doors down, has power but no cable/internet (and it's driving her crazy). Good church friend had no power the rest of Tuesday night and all of yesterday but had it back this morning. In town, some of the businesses have power, some don't. One gas station is open; the one right across the street has no power. I thought I might get out of a day of work yesterday as I had the evening shift; most of Chagrin Falls lost power but it inexplicably came back at Chico's, and ONLY Chico's, yesterday about 30 minutes into my shift. Unsurprisingly, we didn't have a ton of customers.

This power outage comes at a really lousy time. This Saturday, bff, good church friend and I are going to a local park for a craft show/flea market. This time, we'll be the sellers. Bff is selling lighthouses made from flower pots and solar stakes. Gcf is selling some bracelets she's made from pony beads. I'll be selling my rolled paper bead bracelets, earrings and a couple necklaces, plus a few pour paintings and hopefully a few items that were too "vintage" to put in the garage sale a couple weekends ago. I'm both nervous and SUPER excited...of course I'm nervous because I've never done anything like this before. We don't really have any good kind of display (I was going to work on that this week) and who knows if people will be in the mood to buy after having to possibly pour money into home repairs? Who knows if they'll even LIKE what we're selling? But I'm excited too. *I* think my products are sales worthy, and even if I just sell a few of them, it'll be extra money that will be much appreciated. Bff has a few cousins who live close to the park; they've graciously (and entirely on their own) decided to come down and create hype around our booth. I might get a few pity sales out of them <g>.

But first, I just want to get power back at our house. Until I do, you might not hear from me...I can't hang out at McDonald's every day. Though I AM appreciated the a/c...and toilets that flush.