BLACK OUT CONTINUES FOR 130,000 CINCINNATIANS

Ok, this is Day 6 of the after-effects of Hurricane Ike and as of this morning there were still 100,000+ area residents without power. People's nerves are no longer even hanging on by a thread- they are purely non-existent. Good Samaritans have popped up everywhere though: cooking meals, providing bags of ice and bottled water- even lending their available washers and dryers. Yesterday, I passed a large piece of wood painted white with big red letters reading: “Without power? Come on in for free hot dogs, chips and drinks." Someone had fired up a couple of grills and was making some very frazzled families very happy.

Everyone is thankful that Cincinnati was spared the devastation that Galveston and the Gulf area experienced, but the seemingly cavalier return of power in a very disparate way (blame those nasty grids) and Duke's Tuesday night PR snafu in which they claimed power would be restored to 85% of the city by the end of Wednesday (which, oh by the way obviously didn't happen) certainly didn't help those poor souls who are staring the beginnings of the weekend right in the face.

I have been trying to mail a package all week at my local govt. post office. The employees are inside the building working in dim light with all the windows and doors open because the electric is still out there. I can make any transaction that involves cash or weighs less than one pound, which doesn't help the baby gift that they are unable to service that is now very, very late. The kid will be walking by the time it arrives!!!!

On a slightly humorous, "what were they thinking??!!" note, one of the local stations sent out an email alert today (to those of us who could actually receive it) entitled: Blackout 2008: A Survival Guide on how to manage through this time of crisis. Why it came on Day 6 and not Day 1 or 2 is anybody's guess. Here is the blitz: MORE DETAILS:

SO THAT'S WHAT'S GOING ON IN MY CORNER OF THE WORLD.  THANK GOD FOR SUNSHINE!!!!!

Hurricane Ike Sweeps Through Cincinnati

Last Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike combined with a cold front in the Ohio valley to result in hurricane force winds that caused a city-wide black out of historic proportions. It has been three days since the winds hit at such a speed, that our entire house shook and over 300,000 Cincinnati area residents are still without power. School was cancelled for most today, making it three days in a row. We only lost some large branches from one of our many trees, about seven shingles from the roof and we were also fortunate in that our power was restored after one day. Many of our neighbors are still without power today.

Sunday evening was surreal as kids played board games by lantern and flashlight. Adults gathered in back- yards with remnants of their tailgate treats from the Bengals football game. We returned to the past when electronic devices didnt separate and control us. Kids were actually playing outside. No Wie, no X-box 360, no television, no internet. At first, I felt a little lost without my connection to the world. In this life of 24/7 news updates, I felt a little vulnerable. We were able to power our weather radio and found an old battery powered black and white tv that tuned into a local television statio. A lot of the tv news was being phoned in by residents. We spent that night by candle-light and flashlight dining on a meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and chips & salsa.

Here are some storm pictures sent in by local residents and some news headlines:

9/17/08- Cincinnati Enquirer: "The number of Duke Energy customers without power dropped to 327,092 this morning, three days after hurricane-force winds created the biggest power outage ever in the region."

"The disaster relief organization, in conjunction with fellow contributors WLW radio and Congresswoman Jean Schmidt, gave away 28,000 pounds of ice and 3,200 half-liters of bottled water to people still without power following Sunday's deadly high winds."