Posted: December-18-2009 at 4:24pm | IP Logged	Tweet

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas........

Up here in he Elk Garden / Beartown Mountain area of Southwest Virginia, we currently have about six inches of wet heavy snow... and it's still coming down.

Got the kerosene lamps and the propane heaters on standby because I know that we will be needing them before daybreak. The power has been off in several areas around us this evening as a result of broken lines and falling trees.

Shawn (Van 84) picked a good time to head south didn't he?  HA HA He is working this weekend in Daytona. He is there for ARCA testing.

Posted: December-18-2009 at 4:57pm | IP Logged	Tweet

We've got a lot of snow here in Bristol too.  Not sure how much yet.  The good thing is, is the power is still on.  Thank the good Lord.  I know in Abingdon at the North Fork River Bridge where my in-laws live, the power is out.  7 miles down toward the Abingdon town limits the power is still on at my parents house. 

Lynn, that is one thing I miss about living in Honaker, Russell County, is that you guys get a whole lot more snow that us down here in the Tri-Cities. 

Posted: December-19-2009 at 9:47am | IP Logged	Tweet

We had about 15 inches of snow at daybreak this morning.... looks like most areas around us have 8 to 10 inches. Many areas around us without power as a result of the heavy snow snapping power lines and poles, or trees falling across the lines. There are a lot of secondary roads still blocked by combination of fallen trees and deep snow.

Thankfully, the power is still on here.... and we have dug our way out.....

Posted: December-19-2009 at 5:24pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Well... I have to say that as I worked my way down the driveway this afternoon removing snow, it seems that we actually had more like 10" of snow here at our place instead of 15". The snow was about 15" deep on the patio and walkway between patio and garage, and out to where our vehicles are parked... but, more like 10-12 down the drive and all around.  .....still enough for me.  LOL

Posted: December-19-2009 at 7:30pm | IP Logged	Tweet

   I hope everybody back that way is fine, Haven't been able to get in touch with Chris.

   I set out for Florida Friday morning, drove through a lot of snow going thru the Smokies and western N.C. but made it safe to Tampa.  You all probably don't want to know what it's like down here.

   I'm coming back on the 31st and help Jamie Whitt at Rockingham, if his ankle mends enough for him to race.

Posted: December-19-2009 at 11:51pm | IP Logged	Tweet

In wonderful western NC we have 18" of snow and it's still falling hard. The weather man said tonight that more was on the way at the end of next week. Looks like we are in store for a white Christmas this year, sure makes the local ski resort onwers happy as the skiing and snowboarding are great. but for a old racer like myself I need to be in Daytona with Shawn. Hopefully we will be dug out of this mess by the first race of 2010 at LPR. Boy I sure do miss the sunshine and warm weather.

God Bless and hopefully we will see you at the races in 2010.

Posted: December-20-2009 at 8:05pm | IP Logged	Tweet

   Chris told me he had good news, and bad news for me.

   The good news was that I wouldn't have to go far to find firewood for my shop,  it's now laying all around my property. The bad news is some of it's on top of my power line.

Posted: December-20-2009 at 9:10pm | IP Logged	Tweet

"SpeedRacer" was dead-on about the wet, heavy snow all around the region. That created heavy power lines and tree limbs.

Here in west Johnson City I got seven inches (measured on my front deck). Power lines were drooping as were tree limbs Friday night when snow was falling heavily. My power flickered a few times Friday night, but I was just so thankful my power stayed on, because I don't have any backup heat source and neither do my two sister's at their homes. Well, one of them does have a gas heat pump and gas logs in her fireplace she could use in case of emergency. 

I was glad the power stayed on at all of my family's homes, too, except my cousin Melanie, she and her hunsband and their three kids (6, 3 and five months) lost power Friday night about 10:30. She said they all slept in same bed bundled up under piles of blankets until Saturday morning. Kevin was able to get their car dug out of the driveway around 11 a.m. Saturday and they went over to my aunt and uncle's to stay. Power at Melanie's home outside of Colonial Heights came back on Sunday afternoon.

I've thought about all of you over in Southwest Virginia, because on local TV news it said as much as 70 percent of people were without power. That's awful in cold conditions like this. If I never see a flake of snow fall again, that will be fine with me!!!

My next-door neighbor works in Kingsport and gets off work daily at 5 p.m. With snow falling like crazy Friday afternoon, they left work at 3:30 and got home at 12:15 that night. It took them from 3:30 until 5:30 to get through Colonial Heights to I-81, and after getting on I-81 to I-26 and heading towards Johnson City, they only went about three-quarters of a mile and traffic was stopped. A couple tractor-trailers had jackknifed and had both lanes on interstate blocked. My neighbor sat in their vehicle on I-26 for six hours, never moving an inch. I was listening on my scanner Friday night and to say the situation all around the region was a mess is an understatement.

For everyone who thinks a white Christmas is special, well, I respectfully don't agree. Why? Because if you're just planning on staying home, it's fine. But if you've got family plans to gather and there's snow on roads, it makes it difficult (and even dangerous) for all the family to travel and be together. With the forecast now for Christmas Eve calling for freezing rain and wintry mix, my aunt and uncle who live out near Tri-Cities airport, they're considering delaying our family get-together. We've got family from the Knoxville area and also over in North Carolina who plan on coming for the day, but if weather conditions look bad ... they won't be traveling. They don't want to get stranded by snow and not be able to get back home Christmas Eve afternoon so Santa Claus can visit their kids later that night. So I'm wanting clear weather and no snow. I want to spend Christmas with my family.

Hey "tyrodtom," send some of that warm Florida sunshine up to East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Well, some may like the snow and want to keep it. Just send sunshine to west Johnson City and I'll be most appreciative. Today (Monday) is first day of winter. I believe each day will now start being one-minute longer of daylight. I'm counting the days down to the arrival of spring and moreso the warmth of summer. I've said it before, and I'll say it again ... give me the warmth of summer over the cold of winter anyday. I'll never complain with it being 85-90 degrees, but I sure will when it's in the 20s or teens and snowy. When I was younger snow and cold was OK, but with age I absoultely despise wintertime and cold weather.

One big issue with the cold in winter is not everybody has good warm homes, and you're always hearing of fires destroying homes and killing people. Here in Johnson City over the weekend and man and his wife died due to being overcome by carbon monoxide after they'd been running a generator in their basement to run a heater off of, due to their power being off. Cold weather creates much more hardship on people than warm weather does. In winter sometime it's just very difficult to stay warm, whereas during summer when it's hot you can always get a cold drink and not wear as much clothing.

Merry Christmas to everyone, but I hope it's not a white Christmas!!! For those wanting snow, let it snow after the holidays are over and families have been together.

Posted: December-20-2009 at 9:20pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Robbie Henry wrote: We've only had rain so far around Knoxville, how bad is it for our racerslounge brethren in upper East Tn and Va.? I don't envy you one bit, snow can be beautiful but it sure can cramp your plans too!

Hey Robbie, I was talking with a buddy of mine on Saturday who lives about a mile from Volunteer Speedway and he told me there was only around an inch or so of snow down that way. It seems the weather-line for snow was a little accumulation in Greeneville and the more eastward you moved there was more snow.

You talkin' about rain in Knoxville on Friday afternoon, Robbie, I was on phone with a friend of mine about 2 p.m. as she was driving on I-40 back to where she lives in Dandridge, and she said it was pouring down rain. I told her it had been raining hard here until changing to snow about 20 minutes earlier. It was wild, hearing heavy rain hitting the roof and then all at once it got quiet ... and that's when precipitation turned to snow. I'm telling you, snowflakes were big as golf balls.

Dean Jones, who owns Primetime Designs in Asheville, N.C., he's the official souvenir vendor for Volunteer Speedway. In an e-mail Dean said 17 inches of snow had brought Asheville to a standstill. On Saturday I saw video footage on CNN and also The Weather Channel of stranded vehicles on I-26 and I-40 in Asheville and nearby Hendersonville out towards Asheville Airport.

Posted: December-21-2009 at 9:18am | IP Logged	Tweet

And, with the wet weather we've had this year duing the spring/summer/fall months I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more heavy snows before it's all said and done. Don't get me wrong, I like the snow, but as much as you folks got it was way too much of a good thing! When I got out of high school and into the work force and realized that a snow day wasn't necessarily a day off I began to dread it more.

RW, it was all just rain down here, we got about and inch and 3/4 of rain which, if it was snow, would've been equivalnet to about 17 inches of snow since an inch of rain equals about 10 inches of snow (according to a local weather man).....so, I was thrilled that we only had rain.

I'm asssuming that the local tri-cities school system is out for Christmas anyway so no snow days for the kids....and I do remember how much fun those days could be!

Posted: December-21-2009 at 7:07pm | IP Logged	Tweet

"James K" and everybody else in Southwest Virginia without power, I sure hate it for you all. Local TV news reported on Sunday that 95 percent of Wise County, Va., was without power.

Besides "James K" I also assume Chris and Karen Tunnell are without power too.

I have a feeling "WOO-WOO" is without power too, because I've not received an e-mail from her since this past Thursday night.

Possibly "tinkfan75" is also without power, because I saw on TV that Roanoke, Va., received 18 inches of snow.

Hey Robbie, our local TV weatherman also mentioned that one-inch of rainfall will equate into 10 inches of snow. Maybe I learned that in either junior high, high school or college, but that was several years ago and if I did know it, I had forgotten. C'mon Robbie, you'd loved having 17 inches of snow. HA HA HA ...

Do you reckon the UT Vols men's basketball team and Lady Vols were out in sunny California over the weekend thinking of parts of East Tennessee slammed with snow, and that's why both teams played so poorly? HA HA HA ... Pat Summitt will be taking the girls' names off their uniforms again. Maybe Bruce Pearl needs to remove players' names from uniforms, too. Or maybe he needs to take a ballbat to Wayne Chism's knees and tell him everytime he shoots 25-footers he can expect to be hit in the knees. HA HA HA ... He can shoot outside, but geez, with his big body he needs to be down inside the paint.

Posted: December-22-2009 at 3:16pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Well today has been better. They now have power in all of the towns but us In the country still have no power. The water is getting low though no power to run the pump stations. I have to go work the shelter again tonight. Still 50 or so folks there. So still keep praying for all of us here.

Posted: December-27-2009 at 7:32pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Yep... and they say that the power should be restored at Sue's mom's house "before New year's Day"....... seriously......

I suppose that is better than saying they hope to have it back on by next year. HA HA

Posted: December-29-2009 at 5:00pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Same sort of deal concerning power at Sue's mom's house..... none yet....

Sue called today just to see when APCO might expect the power to be back on. The lady she talked with assured her that the power was restored on December 25th. Sue explained that the contract workers from South Carolina have what looks like 20 trucks up the three mile stretch of road to her mom's house, and that it has been that way since the Monday before Christmas. Sue told the lady that several of the downed poles have not yet been reset, and quite a bit of the service wire is still down and has not been replaced...... and that she only wanted to know if they have an estimate of when the power may be back on.

The lady with the power company said, "Mam, you need to check your meter base and see if it is plugged in properly. I am looking at the report which says the power was restored at that location on December 25th."

Well....DUH.... 

Regardless of what their report shows, several workers are still diligently working on getting poles reset and electric service lines strung up that road.  LOL   ....and, the lines are still on the ground there.

Posted: December-29-2009 at 5:35pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Just want to point our that my post above is in no way negative toward the line workers and repair crews. Those men and women have had a tremendously tough job, and worked straight through the Christmas holiday and it now looks like they will be working right on through New Year's. Words can't express our appreciation for their hard work.

We are just disappointed that the power company help desk can't give more accurate estimates of current status, or when the power will be back on, and especially disappointed that the want to refute your word when you say, "No, the power isn't back on yet."    HA HA

Check the meter base indeed.......

Posted: December-30-2009 at 6:56pm | IP Logged	Tweet

....and, Appalachian Power still "officially" says that the power is restored at Sue's mom's house, and has been since December 25th.

Yet, this afternoon the contract workers from South Carolina still had quite a number of trucks and workers over there still trying to set new poles so that they can later string new electrical wire. The "official" status on the APPCO/AEP web site shows zero outages in Russell County as of 1:30 this afternoon.   Same for Scott County.

Sure is good to know that the power is back on....... Maybe the lines are just "clogged" and that's why there is no electricity coming through... ya think?  HA HA  Of course the fact that a lot of the service wire is still on the ground and not connected to anything might be a factor, too.

Posted: December-31-2009 at 3:34pm | IP Logged	Tweet

sounds like you guys got the same power people as us only with a new name

speedracer according to hydro up here the computer is NEVER wrong regardless of irrefutable evidence.

I am curious up here on our bills we have the hydro used charge and a transport charge do you guys get that or is it worked in the price?  if it separate I hope they don't expect you to pay the fringe charges for the time you have no service at all.

good luck with the power, a generator panel for my house is looking like a better idea now

Posted: January-01-2010 at 7:19am | IP Logged	Tweet

Actually, all of the AEP/APPCO customers are supposed to be on the computerized reading of meters. I know that all in our county and surrounding counties are. Nobody comes to the residences to read the meters.

The hilarious thing is that when the AEP/APPCO reps in Ohio keep telling us that the power at Sue's mom's house was restored on December 25th, we ask them to take a reading of the meter and check the daily usage. They "can't do that". The reason they can't do that is that there is no power to the meter.  DUH.....

We have learned some things in talking with some of the contract workers who have actually been in the field working day and night trying to make repairs. Some of the things we have learned.... AEP/APPCO's lines which are in wooded mountainous areas have not been properly maintained over the years. WOOWOO, you mentioned how you used to see helicopters spraying along the lines and the clear paths through wooded/mountainous areas for the power lines, etc. Well, the guys doing the repairs say that in many areas of SW Virginia they have been working in thick forest growth, and that trees have grown up through the power lines. They have been not only clearing fallen trees and replacing poles and lines... but, they have also been cutting and removing many many standing trees which have grown up through the power lines over the past several years. They said that in a lot of areas they have literally had to clear (by hand) the right of ways which SHOULD have been routinely maintained by the power company. They also said that they have run into many instances of excessive splicing of service lines (i.e. the lines have more than the allowable splices per measured distance), so that they have had to call in inspectors to look at the condition and approve relacing entire stretches of service line. They say that they have also found that a lot of the service line dated back to the 1950's and should have been replaced through routine maintenance years ago.

In short.... they found serious issues beyond all the damage from fallen trees and heavy snow. Clear right of way for power lines? You are correct WOOWOO, these guys can't even get equipment to the lines in many areas now! They have had to literally clear paths in, and a LOT of the work is being done by guys carrying materials in and working by hand because they can't get mechanized equipment to the problem areas. Fifty years ago, even 25 years ago,we wouldn't have had a lot of the damage we had with this snow because trees were kept trimmed along the right's of way. And, 50 years ago, or even 25 years ago, the workers could get to problem areas. Now it is overgrown and forested as a result of poor maintenance.

We called the AEP/APPCO help line again this morning, and this time they did recognize that the power is still off, and said that it should be back on by 2:00 p.m. today..... but emphasized that the time is only an estimate and that it could take longer.....  HA HA

Sue asked if they could have a supervisor from the Lebanon APPCO location call us because they would have a much better understanding of what is actually going on than a CS Rep sitting at a computer monitor in Ohio. The CS lady said that she couldn't do that, but she would be happy to make a note in the outage report file that the customer would like to speak with a local rep..... and then said, "It may be Monday or Tuesday before anyone can call you back, IF they can call you. You have to understand that they are all really busy right now".

......... Actually that was no surprise......

Posted: January-01-2010 at 9:50am | IP Logged	Tweet

Heck... a lot of people in SW Virginia would just like to have some power to be metered at this point...... 14 days is a long time without electricity in the winter.

It's especially bad that they just keep giving those false restoration times. At least today they finally changed it from "hopefully by midnight tonight" or "it was restored at that location Christmas day"... to "should be back on by 2:00 p.m. today.  HA HA