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Our ice storm adventure

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Our ice storm adventure

Postby cstone01 » Sat Mar 05, 2022 12:52 am

This happened a couple of weeks ago. We live in western Tennessee and we had a huge ice storm. We lost electricity on our 28 acre property. Thank God we were not frozen in. This property does not belong to us. It’s a very long story but basically the ex-wife of the deceased previous owner Is suing his estate so the title is clouded. We’ve been living here almost a year rent free, mortgage free under contract to buy the house. We don’t want to put a lot of money into this home that we don’t own yet in case we end up not being here in the future so we do not have a generator yet.

There was a very large ice storm and all of my street lost power. Since it was an ice storm we knew the temperature would be greatly dropping. This house is also large and full of windows to see the land around it it’s wonderful and gorgeous until you realize just how fast it’s going to get cold. We lost power at 8 PM one night we were OK until the morning and then I started really getting worried about the temperature of the house. We put the birds in their travel cages and I Basically drove our 2 mile driveway back-and-forth until I ran out of gas and would have to go to the gas station. The roads were not that messy we got very lucky.

After we realize the power was not gonna come back on we started calling hotels which was an absolute endeavor. Everywhere near us was either full. Didn’t have power or did not accept pets after about 50 calls I found a Marriott an hour away with a sympathetic manager. I basically cried on the phone and told her that my birds were gonna freeze to death if we didn’t have somewhere to go. I also told her I would never let the birds out of the travel cages. I guess I lied and that’s really bad of me

So we took the birds to the hotel and we sat there for a day and realized the power still wasn’t going to come back on so I let the birds out in the bathroom where everything could be easily wiped up when they pooped that was great fun my husband was working at the time every morning I went back to check on my house to see if the power comes back on. Eventually I went to this Mexican restaurant next-door to the hotel and I told the waitress about my situation and she talked to her boss and they had a heated Outdoor porch area that they let me and my birds come sit on so basically I spent $100 A day drinking margaritas and having appetizers. I know it’s really bad and I’m ashamed to say but my birds ate a couple nacho chips but it was better than being in there travil Kennels all day long. The owners of that place were super super nice to let me sit out there and let my birds poop on their floor etc. I also gained about 8 pounds during our little unexpected staycation ratting bad food.

We ended up staying in the hotel for a week and a half we updated it every day instead of booking it all at once. It was stressful but we’ve already ordered a generator even if we don’t own this house I’m willing to put the money into it. I think it’s about $8000 to pull off the gas we’ve lived here long enough that I’m going to put that investment into this home it was an absolutely awful situation. And I don’t know what would’ve happened if it had been heavy snow on top of the ice and we couldn’t get past the driveway. My birds May have died. We had a gas stove and my husband and I were talking about boiling water and putting it under blankets that covered their cages. It’s so scared when your birds can get cold both of us were really freaking out. My husband works at a hospital and he routine usually takes or Alexandrian in because he’s friendly, We would’ve had options to keep the birds safe but I don’t know if anyone else would. Also I was really scared if we had been iced/snowed into this property and we couldn’t leave what would we have done? We have so many windows does housework gotten really cold really fast.

My babies are in Alexandria and in a major Mitchell. We were honestly just trying so hard to survive I would’ve done anything to keep them warm I was so afraid that we would freeze to death on this raw property. We have to get this generator because I don’t know what we would’ve done if we couldn’t have gotten off. I know it would’ve stuck them down my coat blah blah blah but I don’t know if we could’ve kept them warm for a whole week it would’ve been awful. And I do feel really bad about feeding them the chips and stuff they’re not supposed to have that but that company on was so nice to let us sit there all day for nearly a week And they saw the food. I also went to Whole Foods and got them stuff for the fridge like hot peppers and blueberries and apples, but when they were chips in front of their face all day that’s what they really want I’m trying to make up for it and having them fly labs etc. so they burn it off

Also, just thank God neither of my boys are screamers because that would’ve been awful in a hotel. It to you they make a little laughing noises but neither of them scream that would’ve been so hard in a hotel I’m sure they’re very good birds so loving and so cuddly I’ve gotten really lucky with my two Marriotts are not pet friendly hotels. They don’t even take dogs and cats so if my boys for screamers I’m sure it would’ve been a problem. I’m so thankful they behave well but we definitely need a generator living in a state with ice storms where it can get cold. I can’t sit up all night worrying if my babies are shivering
cstone01
Cockatiel
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 69
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine, Major Mitchell
Flight: Yes

Re: Our ice storm adventure

Postby Pajarita » Sat Mar 05, 2022 10:32 am

WOW! Thank goodness you all did OK!!! That was quite an adventure, wasn't it? I know that it didn't feel like it while it was happening but, to me, difficult situations that end up well are quite useful, don't you think? I mean, now that you went through those terribly hard and worrisome days, you learned that having a generator is truly needed when you live kind of in the middle of nowhere and depend on electricity for the wellbeing of your birds. It's going through hardship that we learn what works best. And kudos to you for your resourcefulness and finding the way to keep them warm! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: And don't worry too much about them eating nachos. One needs to make a bit of an exemption sometimes just to keep them from stressing out too much.

I also live in a rural area now and one of the things that will be done is get a generator precisely because of the birds (we have forced air heat and central A/C but it will not be used in the birdroom because forced air can carry bacteria and fungus spores). We moved to the new house mid-December and, believe it or not, I still don't have a stove because we are in the middle of renovating the kitchen (the cabinets are almost-almost done and they will start on the flooring Monday with the countertops being the last thing). And, to my great disappointment, I can't build the birdroom where I wanted because the house is on a state route and the regulations state that the house needs to be 125 ft from it -which it already is- so we cannot build it to the front of the house as planned... back to square one! :cry: I am thinking of transforming the two-car garage attached to the house into a birdroom with walls extending further so I can put windows and skylights. The silver lining is that this will be cheaper than the original idea, it has a big concrete area in front of the garage doors so, most likely, there will be enough room for a nice size addition AND an outdoor aviary coming out of it. We'll see... I have to talk to the architect and the contractor about it.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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