Testing The 1994 Measuring Stick
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
DAVE’S WORLD
By David Howell
Well, we finally got to use something we haven’t touched in a long time, 32 years to be exact, the measuring stick from the 1994 ice storm. We’ve talked about it for years, and I’m sure the younger folks probably just rolled their eyes whenever the topic came up.
I hate to say it, but Fern measured up. In some ways, it may have surpassed 1994. The damage was more widespread, reaching counties farther south and east than that storm ever did.
What has changed most in those 32 years is perspective. I’m not even sure winter storms were named back then. Cell phones sure make things nicer now, too.
In 1994, I was just happy classes were canceled at Northwest Mississippi Community College for nearly a month. A buddy and I went to work cleaning up yards, putting in long hours and making a little money along the way. Back then, an ice storm felt like an adventure.
Fast forward 32 years, and the concern wasn’t canceled classes. It was checking on my wife’s mother and stepfather. She is dealing with dementia, and the storm made everything worse. By the time we got to their house a little after lunch Sunday, she was in full panic mode.
I don’t imagine many people slept much Sunday morning. As daylight slowly broke, the sound of cracking limbs and trees cut through the steady rain, interrupted now and then by thunder. That part didn’t seem right, a thunderstorm when the thermometer was well below freezing.
I woke up around 4:30 that morning, and it had been going a while before then. Sunday started in disbelief, listening as the wind picked up during the day and trees kept coming down. By Monday, attention shifted to keeping refrigerators and freezers running. There’s a downside to living out in the country, and long power outages are near the top of that list.
Fern also came with a few lessons.
No matter how many times you flip the light switch, it is NOT GOING TO WORK.
A generator is one of the greatest inventions ever created and, at the same time, a royal pain in the butt. We took the carburetor apart three times before ours finally churned to life. The lesson there is simple: crank those things every few months and let them run.
Another lesson is that I should have had an electrician wire a plug-in to the fuse box so we could power most of the house. That would beat running extension cords to lamps, freezers and refrigerators.
One more thing I was reminded of is that old DirecTV or Dish satellite receivers will still work if you can power the TV and receiver with a generator. Streaming doesn’t do so well when all the fiber lines are lying on the ground. It may not sound like much, but I suspect a lot of folks will be without power for weeks, and the night stillness will get old.
And, of course, you can never have enough gas.
And now for my top-ranked survival tool for the Ice Storm of 2026, please don’t laugh. My DeWalt battery-operated fan will run all night. I cannot sleep without a fan, and keeping the batteries charged became part of the daily routine.
I will say this: the view Monday afternoon was something else. Ice still clung to everything, glistening in the sunshine against a blue sky. It was beautiful, in the way only something destructive can be once it’s over.
Did I mention I hate ice?
