Wet cold sucks. Black ice on asphault sucks. PTSD about loosing power in an arctic ice storm sucks (memories of Feb. 2021, remember?). Big trees dropping thousand pound branches on your roof while transformers blink like Las Vegas fireworks in the night is tough to sleep through. Getting "chilled" out of your pool for five days super sucks. And feeling like you should stick around the house to take care of emergencies that might crop up instead of getting out photographing is beyond frustrating.
People died again here in Texas this year when the weather went to crap. Even though in central Texas it never got below maybe 25. And here in Austin I think we hovered at 29° for most of the week. But it was still tough since the rain was cold, the trees and power lines were cold and just about any moisture that fell immediately stuck to something it really shouldn't and just made a mess of stuff. Most died in car wrecks.
When the freezing rain stopped and the black ice melted away this afternoon I walked around the neighborhood to take a look. On every block grand old tees were injured and lost plenty of branches. Ice was still falling off the leaf canopies as well as the power lines. But I think the rough weather is winding down.
I've pulled all the big and menacing looking fallen branches away from the house. The ones that are somewhat upright and ready to fall again but this time through a double glass french door ($$$) or one of the new windows ($$). Some of the biggest branches had to be chopped up in order for me to be able to move them. At 67 years wise I've decided not to try and lift stuff that's heavier than my body weight. So I've been chopping the big stuff down to size with a cross cut saw. No, not an electric one. Just a hand saw. It takes a while but at least I'm getting exercise. Someone suggested a chain saw but the last thing I want to do is operate a noisy chain saw and potentially slice through a thigh or lose a hand. And they're so noisy. Seemed more "environmentally" sound to go all manual. At least my neighbor who is an emergency room physician believes it a wise move. He's seen me try out power tools...
Why did I go to all the trouble to pile everything up in one place? Well, I've got a lone portrait assignment scheduled for tomorrow morning and I thought it was basic customer service not to have my client stepping through a tangle of fallen wood to get to my studio door. Call me old fashion.
We're shooting with flash in the morning. Using a Panasonic S5 for a change. And a good, ol' Lumix 70-200mm lens.
Oops. My CFO (B) just informed me that it would be nice if I spent a little time vacuuming the studio floor as well. And maybe giving the rest room a bit of a shine. Jeez. It just never slows down.
I went out to shop for some groceries today. What a mess! All three grocery stores surrounding me in my "food paradise" experienced long power outages in the last two+ days. All three had to dump every last product in their frozen foods display cases, and all of their refrigerated foods. Sure, I could buy dry goods, canned goods and fruits and vegetables but I was looking forward to celebrating our survival with something fun --- like some salmon or a steak. Maybe a nice brie cheese. Some organic kimchi. Maybe even a shared, small container of coffee ice cream. But no. I picked up some of my favorite bread, an interesting can of vegetarian chili, some more of my favorite crunchy peanut butter (which experts now say is really, really good for you!!!) and a nice bottle of red wine to serve tonight with pizza. Not a very satisfying shopping trip but at times like these I'm reminded by family and friends that I'm lucky and so privileged that I'm almost the definition of spoiled adult brat. A few days without delicacies or indulgences should be just fine. At least I'm told it's so.
No new cameras or lenses to talk about. But I'd better get on the vacuuming. And toilet cleaning. I'd hate to fall short....
That branch is usually ten feet above my head. Put ice on it and it bends over precariously.
I hope it bends back up.
As long as it doesn't fall on top of my car I guess I'll be okay.
sunny tomorrow and I just got a note that the pool
will be returning to regular hours. Ahhhh.
4 comments:
FYI they make electric and battery powered chainsaws these days. A lot quieter and handier than those big gasoline saws. I've owned Stihl and Husqvarna gas powered saws but I'm now the proud owner of a battery powered DeWalt. I'm too old and stiff with arthritis to crank and handle gas saws anymore. I just bought the DeWalt and haven't tried it but I'm getting ready for those limbs that always tumble from the big pecan tree in the back yard. The electric type saws are nice and they work great as well. As long as you have electrical power and an extension cord long enough. That's been my experience as least.
I suppose it's a case of getting some baking ingredients for times like these - or maybe it can wait until the times have arrived.
Sorry to see how hard you were hit by the storm. Something similar happened here some years ago. (You can google «ice storm quebec») Not a pretty sight, in fact, pretty scary. Yet some photographers got great pictures of pylons broken and toppled by the ice. Climate change! Take heart!
I have some trees down in my yard also. And I do have a chainsaw. Very rarely used but very effective. A lot of fireplace wood could be cut up there in a short time. Tried the 2-man cross cut approach 50 yrs ago when in grad school living the rustic existence, with wood burning cookstove and space heater. What a blessing to get a chainsaw.
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