I don’t know if you have heard or not, but we had an unusual snow storm here in Texas. The whole state of Texas had a winter storm.
I would like to be able to say I enjoyed it, but this was not an enjoyable kind of storm. Power was out for days, water went out and people died.
I lost power at roughly 9am on Monday, February 15, 2021, it came on again at about 10 am for 15 minutes, then back out. It would continue to come on for 15 minutes and go out for anywhere to an hour to two hours at a time. Until Wednesday February 18, 2021, then it came back on at 2:30pm and stayed on until 9pm, then back off until roughly 11pm. It has been on since then, I am very fortunate.
When it first went off I realized I had some firewood in the garage. Not a lot, but I thought surely the power would be back on by the time this is all burned up.
It was not, I am very fortunate I am a procrastinator, this past summer I had trimmed the big tree in my front yard. I cut three huge branches off of it. I drug them to my backyard with the intention of cutting them into smaller pieces for to have them hauled off.
I never did, so I went into the backyard with my hand saw and began hacking away at them.
I used all but one to keep a fire going in the fireplace, I was incredibly blessed to have had that. There is a reason God created me to be a procrastinator and now we see why.
I had plenty of food, and I had just bought a case of water, which I used for the animals. The drip from the faucet was enough to fill bowls and pans so I could flush the toilet.
When the power would come on I would quickly charge my phone, cook some food and run the heat.
I recognize I am fortunate and am mourning the lives lost, I am angered at the managers of the Texas power grid. They sold off the excess of our energy thinking we would not need it for ourselves. They then thought about buying it back but didn’t want to pay the price the up north companies were going to charge them.
They are responsible for the loss of life here in Texas and I pray that the families sue them.
From what I understand the majority of the board of directors of Ercot don’t even reside in Texas. This has to be corrected, we have our own power grid, we have to be in control of it. Period, end of discussion, Texas should be self sufficient, not relying on out of state people to decide the fate of the residents.
Every state should be self sufficient, every state should have it’s own power grid. No outside country should be able to access any of the United States power grids. Ever. Just as we should not have our hands in any other countries power grids.
Our infrastructure was not designed for this kind of onslaught, we are a hot state by nature. Our houses are built for heat not cold, we have no salt or sand trucks as we rarely get this kind of weather. To invest in those things would be a waste of money. So we are not prepared, no one could have foreseen this sort of thing happening.
I ventured out Thursday afternoon, I went to Brookshires, to find they were closed. I later learned that a pipe had burst in the store.
So I went to Walmart, a place I never go, but I really didn’t want to go on the highway to Target.
Walmart had plenty of food, produce, meat, no milk, but did have heavy cream, they did have eggs, bread lunch meat. So there was plenty for the people in my town, no bottled water, we are still under a boiling notice. So I have boiled water and put it in the fridge for myself and the animals.
I am still not sure how all of this happened, I know I pray for snow, but I didn’t think God would deliver the past 10 years worth of prayers all in one week.
We are currently sitting at 50 degrees, all of the snow and ice is melting at a fast pace.
Please pray for our great state of Texas as we go into recovery. The loss of life, the burst pipes, water damage, structural damage, it will all be huge. I can tell you this, Texas is filled with the most resilient people I have ever known, this state will be back better than ever. I am so proud to say this is my adopted state and I raised three of the those great Texans.
Angie World 