Woot! In the Sticks—literally—but DSL Working!

Quick update….our hands are very full at the moment.  Longer post coming later if all stays up and well.

I haven’t seen the inland storm track for Ike, but it is suspected that Ike went just to the left of us.  We certainly were on the edge or under the eye wall when it passed early Saturday morning.

Trees, limbs and other miscellaneous house-parts are scattered across the yard.

Today with the arrival of the cool front, the rains subsided and we were able to get the generator pulled outside and fired up.

Amazingly once we got a mini-fridge and some fans going, we turned attention to the hope that we could get some additional accoutrements of modern life up.

I successfully got Pop’s Dish-TV service going and now we are able to see the events and devastation around the region that is also sitting in our yard.

Because Pop has a land-line phone and DSL service, and the phone lines appeared to be functional (mostly), I re-rigged his DSL in our “command-center” bunker (his study) and, sure enough, now have broadband Intertube service as long as the lines, Central Office, and other services stay up.

We all are fine and have enjoyed spotty, but functional cell-service.

Unfortunately, until some heavy-rain waters recede and a lot of trees and lines are cleared from the roads, I’m guessing we will be staying put up here for at least another day or two.

Alas, we have not yet been able to get any word on the condition of our home.  We have been calling our home number to see if the answering-machine will pick up (a sign of power) but no response yet.  Family in the area blocks from where we live were contacted briefly, but we weren’t able to maintain a connection long enough to ask. Besides, it probably isn’t safe for anyone to be sightseeing at the moment, no matter how badly we want to know.

I’m sure we will find out more by nightfall or tomorrow morning.

For now all is well, humid, and uncomfortable, but we are gradually getting things put back in order.

Last major milestone for our temporary location is getting one of the neighbors who is the prairie-pro to help us safely hook the well-water pump up to the generator.

Then we can take showers and bottled water supply will no longer be a concern.

Cheers for now.

--Claus