Many of you may remember the horrible ice storm we had in December 2007 that put 250,000 people in the Oklahoma City metro and a million people statewide out of power.  That storm really tore up my yard and house when the huge tree you see in the photo above dropped a few branches on the house, and power pole.  You can barely see the power pole in the bottom right  under the tree in the photo above.  This was not the first time this tree had caused damage to our house by ice or thunderstorms.  Finally a month later, in January 2008 I paid to have this tree cut down and it was not even in our yard.  It was in the neighbor’s yard against the fence and they could not afford to cut it down.  Below is a picture that was taken later when our power company installed a new pole and transformer.

As you can see in the photo above, the power company installed the new pole and cut the top half off the old pole and just left it there.  They told me they were leaving it there because it had other utilities attached to it and they are not responsible for theirs.  You may remember me posting about a month ago how my Internet was very undependable and that was upset about it.  I started posting Twitter messages about it and some of their employees noticed my Twitter messages and called me directly.  In that post I told about how they came out and worked for hours and got me working again.  At that time they put in a work order to have their lines moved over to the new pole.

In the photo above you can see how the lineman hooked up some sort of a wench to pull the line over to the new pole.  Apparently the line was tight because it took two days to get it moved over to the new pole.  The same day it was taken off the old pole, roughly two weeks ago, we called the power company and asked them to come out and take the old pole down.  Well today they showed up to remove it.

This is a photo that I took as soon as they left.  Now there is only one pole in the yard and it looks much better.  It only took them about 20 minutes to take the pole down and be gone.  They cut it above the ground with a chain saw and then cut it in five pieces.  Then they cut the pole below ground level and covered the hole. 

One of the things that you cannot see in the above pictures is how things have changed since the ice storm.  When the storm arrived, you could not see the house behind because the back fence and the one to the right were filled with trees and bushes.  It was grown up so thick that you could not get to the fence.  That ice storm was a wake up call for us.  Over the months after the ice storm, my wife and I were out there with an axe, hand saw, and pruning cutters cleaning out the brush.  Then we started treating the fence line all the way around so that nothing else would grow in the fence.  It looked horrible back there with all the brush growing into the power lines.  The gas meter reader had to be estimating the readings because the meter was buried in shrubbery and trees.  Since then we make a point to treat the fence line on a regular basis so this does not happen again. 

It is hard to believe that it took two and a half years since the ice storm for them to finally take the pole down and not have two ugly poles in the yard.  It made it very difficult to mow around.  Now we can treat the grass and possibly have a decent lawn for once.

This tree is finally dead after I have cut roots, cut the bark, and poisoned it.  After the terrible ice storm we had back in December we lost power for a week.  These fences were covered by trees all the way around.  I have poisoned them and cut them down over the last few months and this was the last hold out.  This tree is on the other side of the fence and has been a vacant rent house.  As you can see in this photo, this was growing right into the power lines with a transformer on it. After the ice storm, OG&E installed a new pole but left over half the old pole so now we have two of them.  As you can see they are very unattractive.

We have had two major ice storms in the last five years that have not only knocked out the power for a long time but has had damage to my house and power box on the back of the house.

In the picture above you can see this same tree with all the ice on it.  The picture below shows it from a wider view with all the other trees that we have already removed.  As you can see, this was a nightmare.  It was like a forest in the power lines and we were constantly losing our power.  It was nice having the coverage but not at the expense of the never ending damage.

This last storm was the final straw as all these houses around us are rent houses and the neighbors just let them grow wild into the power lines while we lose our electricity when storms come in.  This tree took multiple high dosages of woody brush killler into about 13 1 inch holes drilled into the trunk.  I also cut the bark all the way around it.  This should be a little more peace this winter knowing there are no trees to fall on my house.  Not surprising the neighbor’s have been glad to see them go but could not afford to cut them down themselves. One of the trees that you cannot see in this picture cost me $1,500.00 to cut down.  I was not brave enough to cut it myself as it was very large and was growing into the high voltage lines on the top so we hired someone that was licensed and bonded.

As you can see, the tree above colapsed on the fence after a storm in 2005.  I really hate to kill trees because I love the way they look.  Unfortunately in my small yard with a 70 foot tower and a power pole with a large transformer on it, trees are just not an option.  I realize that my actions will not likely prevent the next  power outage because this naighborhood is filled with situations just like mine.  The one thing that I will not have to worry about is an insurance claim for damages done to the house.  The first storm was so bad because at the time the only heat we had was our central heat and air that requires electricity.  That night the temperature dropped to 19 degrees.  I had to borrow a portable propane heater from a friend to keep the pipes from bursting.  Unfortunately it put off fumes where we could not stay in the house.  I plan to cut this tree down now that it is dead.  This way it will be out of the way.  Everyone involved is happy to see all these trees gone from the lines.  One time, I had to make a claim because the power line was intermittent and blew out one of my computer monitors and my neighbor’s television.

It looks as though the nightmare is almost over and maybe we do not have to sweat the next time an ice storm is forecast.  The last storm we bought a power generator so we can still live in the house.  I hope this is the end of all the repairs.  As much as I like trees, this is not the right environment.

Now as I type this, it is thundering outside and I love it.  As most of you know, I just love weather and particular severe weather.  Do not get me wrong, I do not want anyone hurt, or have their property damaged but I have always been fascinated with severe storms.  This year may be an active  year.  I turned on the television to the weather channel last night and they said that in January there had been 75 tornadoes in the United States and February has had 90 of them.  So far, we in Oklahoma have not had any yet but the fact that we have had a very bad ice storm with lightning and thunder, and now we are having another one, it looks as though it may be active.  I have several friends that likely will not want to hear this information as they have been victims of tornadoes in the past.  As many of you know here in Oklahoma City we have had many large tornadoes including a massive one in 1999 that destroyed thousands of homes.  Lets hope we do not have anything like that.

I am typing this message using the Flock browser and really enjoying all the cool features.  If you are into social networks, you will love this program.  It has a built in blogging program, as well as a Facebook interface.  It also has direct connection to Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter.  We cannot forget Twitter.  I must admit that I am addicted to Twitter.  It is so fun to use by text messaging on my cell phone.  I am amazed how hard it is to get people here in Oklahoma to try it while the rest of the world uses it daily.  I like the way Twitter automatically updates my Facebook status when ever I send a “Tweet”, or message using my cell phone.  I like being able to just read the messages when I am at work on my cell phone.  Okay, I will shut up and let it go.

Those of you that are ham radio operators that follow our Del City Amateur Radio page may be asking what happened to it and the repeaters.  Last Monday, February 5th, I got tired of listening to the hum coming out of the 443.3 repeater as the WIN System would transmit.  I turned it off and then my dad turned off the 145.25 repeater the following day.  I asked him if he would mind if I turned them off for good.  I am tired of the repeaters and we have had a good run.  He understood and said he does not mind.  He does want to hold off on getting rid of the repeaters out right and giving up the coordination.  I wanted to turn them off for good but he is not completely convinced yet.  One thing is for sure, the IRLP is gone for good.  In fact, I have already formatted the 8440 node that was the WIN System. I think that we have had a good run for six years but my dad has put literally thousands of dollars into it when he has not even been able to use the repeaters.  I am not saying the Del City Amateur Radio Club is gone but definitely on hold and possibly gone.  In my opinion it has outlived its time.  I plan on using that node 8440 computer as a media center computer for our music, and picture source for the XBox 360.  I did take the web site down.

I have noticed quite a while back that Oklahoma City’s ham radio culture is vehemently opposed to Internet linking.  I have found that every six months or so, you get a new group of new ham radio operators that come along and think it is really cool for short time, then they meet other hams that are opposed to it, and they dwindle away.  To be quite honest, I do not enjoy it that much myself.    I like to listen more than talk on it.  With my busy life with school, work, and family, I do not have time to be maintaining repeaters that I do not even use.  I think that a huge debt of gratitude is owed to my dad for all he has contributed to this experiment.  My dad, W5QO has forgotten more about electronics and radio than I will ever know.  It may have been my idea to try IRLP, but my dad is the one that financially and technically kept this system going for six years.  He is the true backbone and the trustee of our club.  I also owe a lot to my cousin, Larry, KD5MAF has also contributed a lot in terms of technical support and financial aid.  Again, the repeaters are not gauranteed to be gone forever, that will depend on my dad.

I think that just about covers the events of the day.  I will post more as it comes available.  I am really enjoying the thunderstorm moving through.

Paul, K5GLH

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Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Flock, ham radio, Del City Amateur Radio Club, IRLP, WIN System, XBox 360, thunderstorm, ice storm, leaky roof, K5GLH, W5QO, KD5MAF

It is almost midnight on a Friday night and I just got home from taking my son’s friends back home.  They had an enjoyable evening at a concert.  Not exactly the kind of music that I can stomach but in all fairness, my parents did not like what I listened to either.  The weather people are talking about the thunderstorms that are headed our way tonight and tomorrow.  The temperature is below freezing so we may have some ice.  I do not expect to have the sort of ice storm we had in December that put our electricity out for a week.

Today was very good for me at work because I found out for sure that I was selected for a new job that is a huge step up.  That was very good news for me and my family.  I am very happy to get this opportunity.  I am very tired and about to go to bed soon since I woke up at 4:00 am and it is now after midnight so I will send this now.  I will add more later.

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Tags: icestorm

Welcome OG&E!  I cannot tell you what a welcome sight to see these trucks on the next street over from mine.  We lost power on Sunday, December 9, 2007 and as of today, the 14th we are still without power.  This is the first time this week we have seen the electric company in our neighborhood.  I do not wish to imply at all that I think they are doing a lousy job but the contrary.  If you could drive around my neighborhood and see the damage and the abandoned houses you would see what an unbelievable job that OG&E has to deal with.  I want to express my gratitude for the hard work these people are doing.  In this picture you will see an auger truck with a crane lifting a cable.  The other end of this cable is attached to a power pole behind these houses.  The pole was leaning at a 45 degree angle before being pulled straight with this crane.  There are currently three workers on that pole disconnecting the wires.  I can only assume that auger will be used to dig a hole for a new pole.  I am so thankful we bought this generator on Wednesday so at least we have a couple lights, TV, and the laptops.  I did not bother trying to reconnect the desktop computers because there are so many cables to disconnect, it would not be worth it.  I did get the DSL modem, and wireless router connected so we can get on the Internet.

Patience has been running low around here since we are all stuck in one room.  We had to block all the bedrooms so we could keep one room warm with an electric heater.  We normally use a central heat and air unit but that does not work real well with no electricity.  Since my dad is also still out of electricity, both of our repeaters are obviously still out of power.  I am not to confident with the condition of the antenna for the WIN System either after the tower taking a hit from the neighbor’s tree.  The tower is not being held up by the guy wires right now because they are very very loose.  I can sway them three or four feet in any direction.  I need to get some better anchors for the guy wires.  I will keep you up to date on the conditions.

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