The Last of Us

Zombie apocalypse is probably too strong a phrase for what Nashville has experienced the last three days but it's not far off.  

As I sit here in The Well on Music Row - my first time to sit down in a coffee shop and take a breath since Saturday (3 + days ago) - Nashville is crawling out from under the worst ice storm since 1994.  Well over 200,000 people were without power starting Sunday morning.  Many, including our next door neighbors on both sides, are still without power.  Almost 200 poles snapped.  Trees and branches are down, literally everywhere.  Many roads are completely blocked, including Portland Avenue at 21st Avenue.  

It's like a tornado hit the entire city at the same time.  I have never seen anything like this.  Never.  So many trees lost.  Entire neighborhoods are to look entirely different when this is over.  The damage and the cleanup costs will be well over 1 billion dollars, I am sure.  So many people, including those in our neighborhood remain without power.  Everywhere, many old growth trees split right down the middle under the weight of the ice Sunday morning.  It looks like a bolt of lightning struck the crown of so many trees, cleaving them in half.    

From next door, Maureen and her dog, Clio, are in a hotel nearby with what seems like all of 12South.  Ms. Rachel, on our other side, is at Vanderbilt Hospital.  When she lost power, she switched to her portable oxygen tank.  At 89, she doesn't have family nearby.  As her oxygen supply dwindled late Sunday afternoon, Jude called an ambulance at her request.  We ran an extension cord from one of our outside outlets in front of our house into Ms. Rachel's house, so she could plug in her oxygen tank.  Like MacGyver, it worked!  

When it became clear the ambulance wasn't going to be able to get to her anytime soon, JP and I helped her walk up her sidewalk and over to our house.  We had cleared her sidewalk and ours, too, but not the sidewalk in front of houses.  It was slow going, as she held onto her walker, JP and I on each side of her with Jude close behind her in case she fell.  We made it and settled Ms. Rachel into the reading chair in our living room, covered in blankets because she was so cold.  

Jude warmed up some pasta I had made the previous evening, so Ms. Rachel was able to eat a hot meal.  We talked for a while, then she called her grandson and her sister to check in, before falling asleep in the chair.  The fire department arrived at our house to check on her just past midnight.  About 1 a.m., the ambulance arrived, and Ms. Rachel went to Vanderbilt Hospital.  

The temperatures have been in the single digits at night and not much higher during the day, as a result of which the trees are still covered in ice.  A lot of the ice on the streets - particularly the main streets - melted or was salted and plowed by Monday afternoon.  The neighborhood streets are still dicey in places.  JP and Joe have been out of school all week and not in remote school - much to their delight - because so many are without power and internet access.  

Because our internet has been out, the last two nights we watched old movies on DVD's!  JP was able to figure out how to operate the DVD player, which is more than Jude or I could have done.  Two nights ago, we watched Anchorman:  The Legend of Ron Burgundy.  Quite funny, as the boys love Will Ferrell.  Last night, we watched Point Break, the ultimate "good bad movie."  Awesome.  

There is more to tell and photos to be posted but I've got to get back home and get to work.  Hopefully, the tree company will arrive this morning to take a look at the trees in our back yard.  The one that fell into Ms. Rachel's yard has to come down.  There are large branches broken off and caught in the crown of the biggest tree in our backyard, one that hovers over our house.  There also is a large branch on the roof of our new screened in porch.  It's a mess.

Still, we're safe.  We have power, for now.  Jude's parents have power.  Blessings everywhere.