Storm Repairs

Every year, the first Saturday in December, Rara & Papa have an open house for the neighbors on their street. Similar to their ward Christmas party, they debated holding it, under the circumstances. But they also decided to still have it to raise the morale of the neighborhood. Of course, everyone felt badly about our circumstances – that we didn’t have power, and didn’t know when we would, since we also had to have the mast repaired.

As we talked with one of their neighbors (and former bishop), we explained what all needed to be done. He said, “I can do that!” He is a builder, and told us that he had all of the tools, supplies, and experience to fix the mast for us! By this time, it was late Saturday night. We decided to head over to our house Sunday morning to work on it.

So, Sunday morning, about the time that church services were cancelled or shortened, and about the time that the clean-up crew came back to cut apart and haul away the tree, Rick climbed onto the roof. He had his tools, his tar, and Ryan as his assistant. Papa and I stood where we could monitor both the work on the roof and the work in the front yard. We also continued raking and cleaning up smaller debris in the backyard.

As he was working, we suddenly realized that several power company workers (from Provo and Springville) came walking through the yard behind us. He called us over, and said that they were told on the street above that I was still without power and needed help. It turned out that my friend, Sherrie, saw them working on her street. She knew that we were still without power, so she went outside and told them they needed to come and see what they could do to help me. She told them that I am a single mom, and really needed their help. She is also a single mom, and we’ve become good friends. I’m so glad she was looking out for me, and had the courage to go outside and instruct the power workers to walk through the neighbor’s yard to get to my house!

(I forgot to mention in earlier posts that from the very first day, we saw power trucks from Logan to Springville, working through the night to restore power everywhere. It was wonderful to see so many cities from northern Utah rally to help during the disaster, as well as all of the individuals who chipped in to help.)

So, as Rick was finishing on the roof, one of the Provo/Springville guys came over to take a look at the mast and the meter. He verified that there wasn’t any internal damage to the wiring, and since the mast was fixed, they could restore the power! I haven’t seen as many sights as beautiful as the power dude climbing the pole to reconnect the wires!

Something that made me chuckle – as they were finishing connecting the wires, Sherrie drove up, and walked into the back yard to make sure that they had really made it to my house! I hugged her and thanked her, and then I hugged Rick and thanked him. I’m so grateful for such wonderful friends who watch out for our family! We have many.

By the time the power workers finished, the clean-up was done in the front yard. We checked to make sure that the power was on and that the furnace started up. Then, because it was still so cold in the house, we went back to Rara & Papa’s for a few hours. We had picked up Copper the day before (due to the cost of keeping him there, primarily), and had him at Rara & Papa’s. It was nice to finally all be home in our WARM house! I spent the rest of the day cleaning out the fridge, and throwing away most of the food. I try to be so frugal (and even taught a couple of Relief Society lessons on how to be frugal!), that it was hard to throw so much away. But since the power was off for about 80 hours, I decided to be safe. :)

Unfortunately, when the power was restored, we realized that our phone and internet was not restored. When I called to have it repaired, they told me that they could have a technician to my home on Thursday – a FULL WEEK after it initially went out! I explained that I worked from home, and asked if there was any way they could get to me sooner. Nope. The hundreds of other customers without phone and internet wanted it “sooner,” too. So, every day the week following the storm, I took Ryan to school, and then worked at Rara & Papa’s all day. When Ryan was out of school, we’d go to swim team, and then go home for the evening. It was crazy, but it made me appreciate the flexibility I have of working from home.

Storm Clean-Up

Friday, December 2, Rara & Papa’s power was restored, so Ryan & I packed up our stuff and went to stay there. Since I had hardly worked the day before, I worked most of the day to try to get caught up. School was cancelled on Friday due to all of the damage, including several trees at Ryan’s school. Rara hadn’t seen the damage at our house yet, since Alice & Claire were at their house the previous day. So we went to our house and checked out the damage in the storm-free daylight. (Note Ryan and Papa in the lower right to get a feel for the size of the tree.)
Swim team was cancelled Thursday, but was back on for Friday. Ry & I left Rara & Papa’s to go to our neighborhood to pick up Maddy, the girl we take every day. As we drove by our house, we saw several cars and trucks at our house! Our ward (neighborhood) had rallied, and there were a dozen men (and a couple of young men) working to cut up and clear the tree! Ryan and I took Maddy to swim team, and then went back and helped with the clean-up efforts in our yard until it got dark and the crew disbanded.













This was what our thermostat looked like. Yes, it was 39 degrees INSIDE our house! We had both fireplaces going, hoping things would stay warm enough so the pipes wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t.
Friday night was Rara & Papa’s ward Christmas party. There was some discussion of whether to even have it, under the circumstances. They went ahead and held it, and I’m glad they did. Several people in their ward were also still without power, so the big group of us met for a hot dinner in a warm building, and enjoyed sharing storm stories.


All day Friday and Saturday, everywhere we went, we heard the buzzing of chainsaws cutting up trees. By Saturday afternoon, the majority of the trees that had fallen in the storm were piled at the parking strips of the affected homes. Then Saturday night, meteorologists warned that another wind storm would be coming through the area Sunday night. Warnings were issued about the possibility of debris becoming projectiles in the subsequent storm! So, Sunday morning, word came that church services would either be shortened, or cancelled completely, in order for everyone to help to completely clear the debris from neighborhoods.

Once again, Sunday morning, several cars, trucks, and trailers were in front of our home, and chainsaws were buzzing. Several people worked quickly to cut up the huge pile of branches in our front yard, load them into a trailer, and even rake and sweep away all evidence of the destruction that had just happened. It was amazing!

I was working hard in the clean-up process, and didn’t take any pictures. However, my friend, Becky, took a picture of some cute missionaries helping with clean-up efforts in Farmington. This picture is a perfect representation of what happened that Sunday.

And here’s a picture (I think I got it from KSL.com) of the line of trucks and trailers at the landfill.

Other Storm Damage

Because we were in the middle of our own crisis, we didn’t really drive around the rest of the city much to see the damage (other than looking for WiFi so I could work). But I wanted to include some of the local damage in this post (and thus our family history/journal). Thanks to my mom and my friend, Melissa, for sharing your pictures.

Damage in our neighborhood…





Damage in Rara & Papa’s neighborhood…



Damage at the cemetery (yet the lone tree by my brother’s grave withstood the storm!)




Damage around the rest of Bountiful/Centerville…

THE STORM!

The last couple of days of November, meteorologists warned about a big windstorm that would be coming through our area November 30/December 1. Sure enough, that night was horrible. I really didn’t sleep because of all of the wind. We have an addition on the back of our home that makes funny squeaky and pounding noises when the wind is bad. It seems that every time I finally got back to sleep, the noises would wake me up again.

The power went out twice during the night. The beeping of all of the electronics woke me up each time the power came back on. At about 6:30 am, the power went out again, and didn’t come back on. Ryan couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t sleep, and Copper couldn’t sleep, so we got up. Ryan looked out the window, and saw that one of the large pine trees about 3 houses down from us had blown over in the night. That really upset Ryan.

At 7:40 am, Ryan and I were in our kitchen. I was on the phone with Papa, talking about the night and the damage. All of a sudden, in slow motion it seemed, our huge pine tree came falling toward the house. It was very surreal. It looked like it would hit the house, although when we went outside later, it really was several feet away. As it hit the ground, it made a “whoosh” sound, and kind of bounced as the pine boughs cushioned the fall. I said to Papa, “Our tree just fell.” He had to repeat it back to me to make sure he had heard me correctly.

This tree was a piece of Jensen/Inman/Olson family history. As a young girl, Rara planted it as a seedling next to the home where she grew up. When she and Papa moved to this house, they transplanted the tree to our yard. I remember the day we moved it here. The past few years, Ryan and I have enjoyed it as this house has become our home. Seeing it (about 60 feet of it) lying across the yard was emotional for all of us.

It soon became apparent that when the tree fell, it pulled the power lines from the power pole in the middle of the block. Our power lines were lying on the ground under the tree! As we ventured outside after the winds died down, we found that the force of the tree falling had also pulled the mast (where the lines attach to the house) partially over, as well. It was obvious that we would not have power for a while.

Not knowing that the power was out in all of South Davis County (Bountiful, Woods Cross, West Bountiful, Centerville, and Farmington), I called Ryan’s school to see if school would be held. The secretary told me that they had not received official word that the school would close, but that if we felt that conditions were too severe to get Ryan to the school, we could keep him home. My conscientious student had a major project at school that day, and was concerned about missing it. Because of the downed tree and power line, I couldn’t let Copper outside, so Papa came and got Ryan and took him to school. Less than an hour after Ryan went to school, he called me. “Mom…there are only about seven kids here in my grade, so the teachers recommended that we call our parents to come and check us out.” Again, because of the conditions, Papa went and checked Ryan out of school. Alice & Claire were at Rara & Papa’s, so Ryan went there to hang out. I was still trying to communicate with people from work to let them know the situation.

We decided that it would be best to take Copper to his favorite home-away-from-home, the Utah Dog Park, for a couple of days until we could get things taken care of. So I picked Ryan up, and we took Copper there. Ryan and I then drove around to see if we could find someplace with WiFi so I could work for the day. That is when we realized how widespread the power outage was. Traffic lights were out all over Bountiful. Restaurants that never closed were closed, with signs on the doors stating that they were closed because of the storm and power outage. We took a few pictures as we drove around.


We finally found that all of North Salt Lake City had power! We grabbed lunch at a NSL restaurant (along with half of Bountiful), and took it to Rara & Papa’s. Then we drove back to a place in NSL that we had spotted with WiFi. I worked there until it closed at 6:00.

Rara, Papa, Ry & I decided to drive into SLC for dinner, and went to the downtown Denny’s. We laughed when we saw how many people from Bountiful were there, including the family of one of Ryan’s best friends. We sat near them, and compared horror stories about the day.

Everyone’s power was still out, so we went home, put on several layers of long underwear and flannel pajamas, started a fire in the fireplace, and slept in sleeping bags in the living room. (The pictures without the flash are blurry, but show the fire better.)

Putting Up Christmas Lights

Ryan was thrilled this year to be able to help Papa put up the Christmas lights – on the ladder!





After climbing the ladder to string the lights over the bedrooms, he decided to get on the roof, hang over, and hook the lights from above. I had to go inside so I couldn’t see him. It made me nervous.



Shortly after these last pictures were taken, Ryan decided to “test his pass accuracy” by throwing rocks he found on the roof and in the rain gutters at the mailbox. (You moms see where this is going, I know.) His accuracy isn’t that great. One rock hit the back window of Papa’s car, breaking it. We obviously had a lot of opportunities to talk about thinking through consequences before acting. But you know the “7 years of bad luck” for breaking a mirror? Ryan’s decision seemingly started about seven weeks of bad luck for our family (his observation, not my attempt at guilting him). More to come…