Promolife And The Ice Storm Of 2009

Boy you haven’t lived until the power goes out for days, temperatures dip into the teens every evening, and so much ice collects on surrounding trees that each minute a branch can be heard falling to the ground. Such was the case of the winter storm Promolife just lived through.

Monday, January 26th

Monday evening a rain storm moved into the Fayetteville area. As temperatures went arctic, rain began freezing to the trees.

Tuesday

Throughout Tuesday the rain continued in a downpour. Blades of grass turned crystaline, crunchy to walk on, agonizing for dogs, yet beautiful to watch grow. And then the power went out and what was beautiful from inside the dwelling turned into worry as concern for the building materialized.

With no heat for comfort, or media to occupy the mind, the silence created the ambiance of a slower, less complicated century. And yet, what was happening made life infinitely more complicated.

Wednesday

Throughout Wednesday, every moment of the day, somewhere in Fayetteville a tree dropped a limb.

Gerry and Yvonne were working in temperatures around 40 degrees. The gas generator they set up to run the business kept fluctuating, which ended up causing damage to the surge protectors. As the day progressed the hope that the electrical grid would come on faded.

Thursday

On Thursday Toby joined Yvonne and Gerry at the office. He became their lifesaver when he showed up with a kerosene heater. Taming the bite in the air calmed everyone’s nerves. As the day proceeded the temperature outside started to warm. Ice began falling from everything: trees, wires, houses. Pounds of frozen mass continued to drop throughout the day. Trees rained semi-circular cubes to such a degree it became a daredevil’s task to walk beneath them. And as the day progressed the hope that the electrical grid would come on faded.

Friday

Friday was like Thursday but warmer. The ice finished dropping to the ground. Once again as the day progressed the hope that the electrical grid would come on faded.

Saturday

Saturday was a day the Fayetteville community went outdoors to take in the sun’s warmth. People began clearing branches from their yards, piling stacks of them neatly at the curb.  And without fail as the day progressed the hope that the electrical grid would come on faded.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

After Sunday reflections about the storm became the topic of conversation. Thoughts about our lack of preparation, both physical and mental, came to the forefront.

Feelings over the difficult week lead to ideas about the future. Promolife’s motto, “Promoting a Healthier Lifestyle,” reminded us of just how hard it is to live a healthy lifestyle when you are scrambling for survival. This has been a huge wake up call for everyone who works at Promolife.

All of us here keep talking about how we need to prepare our homes, and this business, for future power outages. Ice storms are a winter reality for the Northwest Arkansas area. The next one probably won’t be as bad, but there will be a next one.

Promolife handles some survival gear. We sell solar water heaters, a water distiller that can be manually heated, solar refrigerators, portable hot showers and other emergency water systems. Other than these few items Promolife had not ventured into the realm of renewable or alternative energy devices. We are in the process of adding more at our sister site, Going Green at green.promolife.com, as well as on our main site.

Why We Procrastinate

There are three main reasons why people haven’t already moved toward renewables:

* The thought that a disaster can never happen to them,
* Lack of time to research and set up a new and unknown technology,
* Not being able to afford the expense.

All three reasons are sensible yet in general can easily be overcome. The money issue may be the hardest for many to conquer. In that case start small, then add to the system as funds become available. It could become a lifesaver to ready just one room of the house for survival. It is essential to prepare alternatives for your heat or cooling, water, lighting, electricity, food storage and food preparations.

Friday

It has been 10 days since the power went out; we have adapted fairly well to the situation. Yesterday a new glitch developed; the generator blew the modem. But today we are all smiles, for just minutes ago our hopes were finally realized. The electrical grid is on again!

Article written by Cat Pippin Lowe for PromolifeNews.com.
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