February 2 (02/02/02) - Kansas City was hit with it's worst ice storm ever starting the afternoon of January 31. Before it was over, 350,000 homes were without power ... and many still are! The entire Kansas City area looks like a war zone and many, many trees were lost due to the inch of ice bearing down on them. Most grocery stores lost everything that had been refrigerated/frozen.

The entire Overland Park area still looks like a crystal city. In the morning with the new sun just coming up, all the crystaline ice on the trees had turned a brillant red. Kansas looked more like a ruby city, rather than an Emerald one, for those few minutes. It was beautiful and very zen-like.

joyce, john and the tuckmeister were lucky enough to lose power for only two days. They lost power Wednesday night at 10:15 PM and got it back Friday night at 10:15 PM. They stayed in the house and were able to keep the family room between 55 - 60 degrees by burning wood in the fireplace. The other rooms were 49 degrees.

joyce and john had comforters, sleeping bags and plenty of emergency lights/batteries/candles. They had hot water and cooked on their fondue sets with plenty of stocked-up sterno cans and on the barbie. They just kept the freezer closed, but moved the refrigerated food to playmates on the deck. They haven't looked at the spa yet, but hope it hasn't broken any pipes and is still running.

john and joyce heard their neighbor's mighty oak (32 " base) come crashing down on john and joyce's rock garden on the west side in front. This huge tree snapped off at it's base! joyce and john probably lost the spiral Alberta Spruce and a globed Blue spruce "on a stick" in that garden.

In back, joyce and john lost one major limb off a large redbud and many of the privacy junipers surrounding the back of zenpond are snapped in half! These trees cost $1000 when they were small, so john and joyce have had a real loss there!

john, joyce and teaky didn't realize just how stressful losing electricity for two days could be. They both crashed last night hard and are still exhausted today. They went out for breakfast this morning, along with everyone else in Overland Park, with a new appreciation for the simple things they had been taking for granted.

February 20 - john says he needs to make a correction to the above entry. There were two inches of ice on the trees, not just one. That makes a big difference in the weight on the trees. All power has been restored now, although some people were without power for three weeks. There are giant piles of broken tree limbs on both sides of every street one drives on.

john says he would like to record some "lessons learned" from the ice storm, so here they are:

1. john had a large supply of batteries stored in the freezer and about 15 Sterno fuel cans under the sink for heating food using several fondue stands and a chaffing dish warmer. The hot water heater was still operating, so there was still hot water for washing dishes, etc. It was too cold in the house to think about taking a shower.

2. john and joyce heated the house with firewood in the fireplace. The family room stayed between 60 - 65 degrees and the back rooms stayed at 49 degrees. The temperature outside dropped at night to 10 - 18 degrees. john opened the doors under the bathroom sink and let the sink drip slowly.

3. The extra supply of charcoal came in handy for cooking meals on the barbecue.

4. john and joyce stayed home because of the tuckmeister (aka tucky, teaky, teaky-tucka, zencat). Many people quickly went to hotels with emergency power.

5. The 360 degree florescent, battery operated lamp was great. It ran on 4 D-cells for 12 hours with both tubes glowing or 24 hours with just one tube. john had just one of these and will be buying two more (Home Depot). joyce had plenty of candles burning also which created both light and a comforting warm glow.

6. There was nothing to do but try to stay warm. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy came into play! Things get basic and you have no desire to do anything but stay warm and secure. joyce and john spent the time listening to a battery radio and talking. tucka was under so many blankets john and joyce often couldn't see him, but could only hear him purring.

7. john had to get out of his sleeping bag during the night every hour to put more wood on the fire. The cold caused many more trips to the bathroom than usual.

8. Although joyce and john didn't have this problem, other neighbors did: if you had an electrical switch to turn on your fireplace with gas logs, you couldn't turn on the fire to keep the house warm. If john and joyce ever decide to go to gas logs, john might consider adding a manual by-pass, so that he could turn on the gas in the event of no electricity.

9. joyce didn't open the freezer and all food was still frozen after two days when the power came back on. Both john and joyce realized that they really store too much frozen foods in the first place. Canned foods (soups, etc.) however came in handy.

10. Both john and joyce marveled at how tired they were after they regained power. There was a unrealized stress going on during the power loss. It took them several days to get back to normal. john realizes just how difficult it would be to experience an emergency lasting months. People would begin to do very strange things.

This morning the Mallard ducks returned to zenpond. This is the first time since last fall. john will put out the cracked corn for them again. It is a warm day at zenpond and flowers are starting to appear in the area. Life is good.