It was 1996, I think. It could have been 1995 or 1997.... I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure it was 1996...
My sister Lisa was at East Central but she lived in the dorms.... it was her first year there so it was probably 1996.
Anyway, I was 13 or 14 and I vividly remember my mama filling up all the bathtubs with water before we went to bed. She also diligently filled up all the empty milk jugs that she always saved a few of, and the two liter coke bottles that were laying around the trash pile.I don't know if my mama was ever a girl scout, doubtful in rural Beulah Hubbard, but she should have been because she was and is always ready for severe weather...... especially WINTER weather.
So, I went to bed that night thinking my mother was crazy and that we would never have winter weather because it was Mississippi. We had just had a blizzard in March of 1993, there's no way we were gonna have more winter weather in 1996 ( or 1997 whichever it was...)...
I snuggled in my bed under my great grandmother's quilts and dreamed sweet dreams.....
I woke up around 5 am because someone was shooting fireworks outside my window.
I tip-toed into the living room and my daddy was nursing a fire in the wood burning electric insert fireplace. It was dark, but I chalked that up to it being 5am. Daddy explained to me that the fireworks I was hearing was the tops breaking out of the pines that surrounded our house. He was sitting in the dark nursing the insert because the power was out thanks to the ice accumulation on the power lines. I must have dozed back off after that because the next thing i remember is my excited mother waking us up to see the winter wonderland that very rarely came to Mississippi.
My brother and I snuggled ourselves up in hoodies and coats and socks on our hands (because no one in MS has winter gloves or mittens) and boots and trudged out side in the icy weather. We slipped and we jumped and we licked icicles off the bushes.We talked Daddy in to knocking one of the especially long icicles off the eve of the house. He did it with a groan and a grin and we got Mama to put it in the freezer.
That night was interesting. We had gone without power all day. We'd been fine because we had been outside and around the fireplace and etc. That night we realized our beds were cold. The water was out because the generator at the water pump was out (mama had planned ahead for that because she had filled the tubs, and milk jugs and coke bottles with water). We all brought blankets and mattresses into the living room and my little brother, my older sisters, my grandmother (did i mention she lived with us too?) my mother, and my father all slept in the living room together. I thought it was awesome... this was the end of Day 1.
Day 2 we woke up to the smell of bacon. Daddy was cooking on the old coleman propane camp stove. The only problem was that Mama wouldn't let him use the stove in the house because of carbon monoxide or whatever. So by the time that glorious bacon got to the kitchen it was cold as ice. It was about 8 degrees outside. So we ate cold bacon and eggs for breakfast on day 2.
We spent Day 2 in and out of the house. The fire was always burning in the insert, even without electricity. We occupied ourselves with games like "I Spy" or "My Ship Goes Sailing". We were warm enough and our bellies were full and there was lots of ice out side/ We were happy regardless.
But...... then there was a WHOOSH. and the WHOOSH was followed by a ROOOOOAAAARRRSSSSHHH/....
my mother says, "Allen, I think the chimney might be on fire."
my daddy says, "Nah, the chimney's not on fire"
we hear another "whoosh"
daddy goes out side.
daddy yells, "the chimney's on fire!"
The phone is out because we have telephone lines in the air at this time.
The water is out because the power shut down the generator.
The power is out because,,, well it's always been out
There are no cell phones in 1996.
Daddy locates a ladder really fast..... he yells for mama to bring water.
MAMA CAUGHT UP GALLONS OF WATER BEFORE THE STORM!!!!
So the Harrison Children bucket brigade the coke bottles of water up the ladder to Daddy who pours them down the chimney to put out the chimney fire.
Daddy calls Papaw and Uncle Barry to help him remove the electric fireplace insert from the fireplace.
Thus ends day 2.
DAY 3:
It's cold despite the newly liberated fireplace.
The shampoo is frozen and we are all very tired of each other in the living room.
My room was like an ice box but still it was better than being with all of my family 24 hours a day.
But out of the blue my other sister and her boyfriend came to the rescue. He came with a gas heater and she came with the promise that her dorm room had hot water and power.
I rode with my sisters to Decatur with more anticipation than I've ever felt since. My hair was greasy and the cold sponge baths only did so much. The shower that I took that day in the EC dorms was the greatest shower of my life. I had to shampoo twice because my hair was just that gross. It was heavenly.
We all loaded back up and spent one more night in our living room commune. It wasn't so bad that night because we were clean and had extra heat.
Day 4 the power came back. We all retreated back to our rooms and were happy to be back to normal.
I dare say we were a little sad to be back to normal....
*this is my best recollection of these events.... i'm sure my mom, dad and sisters have a more accurate description of the ice storm of 96.... this is my best recollection, take it as you will.
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