MOTM

Well, I'm still alive after what has been three very difficult days.  I have
about 3 more difficult weeks ahead.  I am still missing some of the MOTM
group messages to this address.  So, I may have not have read much of the
mail yet.

Wednesday, a major ice storm moved across north central Indiana.  Power to
hundreds of thousands of customers was knocked out, including my own.
Thursday morning about 3:30, a 60 foot tall ash tree came crashing into the
roof of my house crushing 4 roof trusses, opening a 6 foot diameter hole,
and sending the dining room ceiling and loose attic insulation cascading
into my dining room.  Did I mention is was raining?  My wife and I quickly
moved all the furniture and belongings out of the room and managed to save
everything including my antique walnut table (family heirloom), walnut china
cabinet (including china), and my wife's curved glass doll cabinet and the
12 or so dolls within.  We got buckets and plastic and managed to keep the
contents of the attic (now dripping wet) from destroying the carpet we just
installed last year.

We just got our power back on tonight.  So, for the last three days, my wife
and I have been hunkering down trying to hold it all together waiting for
power to return.  Since I live rurally and rely on a well for water, without
electricity, I have nothing.  Because of that, I was prepared with a
generator which I have wired into my house to carry all the essential
services.  So, we had heat, water, refrigerator, freezer and a few lights
during this three day ordeal.  I can even alternate the generator to the hot
water heater for an hour each day so we can still take hot showers.  For
those of you that think your electricity bill for a month is high, I ran $75
worth of gasoline though the generator in three days for about 20% of the
service I am used to.

I still have to get through 3 weeks of construction to rebuild the roof and
ceiling in that part of the house.  While I only have a 6 foot hole now, the
contractor tells me that one day next week, I will be able to stand in my
dining room and get a good view of the sky.  So, I can predict that my
presence here and my response to e-mail will be slow and erratic over the
next few days.

For those who think this sounds like a sad sob story, it really is not.  I
just want my customers to understand that significant shipping delays are
possible.  Nothing I was supposed to ship this past week after Monday went
out the door. I can only promise to ship that stuff as best I can.  I am
actually quite thankful.  My wife and I were not hurt.  Three days before,
my entire immediate family was in that room for the holiday.  None of the
contents we treasure were damaged.  I have good insurance.  I've hired a
good contractor already, and this is all in the opposite end of the house
from my studio electronics.  Anytime we started feeling down, we just
remembered all the suffering around the Indian Ocean, and all the people
trying to survive in this part of Indiana during below freezing temps
without generators.

Stooge Larry