Not a lot of snow by the standards of northern states, but note the icicles on the garbage bin
Joan Moody is a leading member of the Harp and Shamrock Society in San Antonio. Her recent weather was a good deal more Irish than Lone Star, but while more northern parts of her state froze, San Antonio's winter blast was relatively benign. That's relatively. The state's electric grid crash was near universal, and Joan is still having to boil her water. She sends this report.
San Antonio --- For most of us we have lost power for the better part of a week and if that wasn't bad enough we lost our drinking water which, while now back on, must be boiled and for how long we have no idea.
It isn't easy to cool boiled water, nor do I really care for the taste, but water is seriously needed.
In my house the temperature hit 52 and felt colder than that but with five woolen blankets it was snug as a bug in a rug. The hot water bottle when I had electricity helped too. There was no wind which made being outside more bearable than inside. The fun part was making a snow angel and then small snow persons on the top of my garbage can and then throwing snowballs.
Today, as I write, the high was 48 and snow had dissipated for all practical purposes. That doesn't mean that snow and ice isn't still there in the form of slush.
I took a retired friend of mine who is 85 out to lunch just to get out of four walls and see what the city looked like. I carry a towel in the trunk in the winter just in case it is needed.
Well, today was one of those days that he was able to step on it and not slide and fall. It has been rough but Texans are a resilient people who help those who need it and that was seen all over the place.
My own situation was to check on the older seniors who might need a little help as well as cheering up; letting them know that they weren't forgotten. We saw people pushing cars to get them moving when they were caught in the icy slush. It really was neat to see people bringing strangers into homes to warm up. Loved it. I wish that power and water had not gone out but am glad to see the end of it while starting to get back to normal.
In the middle of it all I was to hopefully get my second shot of pfizer with the mom of a friend of mine who is a native of Galway. I hope it happens as we have already had two changes in dates since the original was issued.
There were many members of the Harp and Shamrock Society who were in the same boat and after power came back our members laughed about it in their personal Facebook pages. But we din't like the cold in our homes. Texas is not used to this type of weather. And not being able to rely on potable water is something nobody wants to have to deal with. At the time of writing I am still boiling it.
