Thoughts for the Day, April 7, 2025: An ice storm cannot keep me down forever.

I am tired of making memories

After being hit with a 100-year snowstorm while in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I didn’t need to be hit by a 100-year ice storm in northern Michigan during this past week. But it happened.

The ice storm hit with a vengeance on Saturday March 29. It covered the entire upper portion of the lower peninsula from Gaylord north to the Mackinaw Bridge. By late Saturday, the thickness of the ice on the branches was ¾ inches. The branches couldn’t hold the weight of the ice. When the wind picked up, tree branches started falling and did not stop for over 24 hours. As the branches started cracking it sounded like gunshots. Eventually the branches fell and brought down other branches. If a utility line was in the way, it went down with the branch. It was beautiful to watch from my living room, but it was scary to be outside.

Ice also formed on the utility lines. The weight of the ice on the lines caused them to sink significantly and eventually the lines broke and the telephone poles succumbed to the pressure. Great Lakes energy, (our provider) estimated that over 1,200 poles were knocked to the ground.

By Saturday night at 11:00 we lost power, but we were fine, because our gas fireplace was operating. We had running water and a gas stove. By Monday we lost water, as the backup generator at our pump station gave out. Although we had plenty of bottled water, losing water to handle the other necessities such as washing ourselves, flushing toilets and washing dishes changed everything for us.

By Wednesday, power was restored to some of the downtown Petoskey businesses, including Center City Gym, where we are a member. The gym had power and hot water, so we absorbed their heat and used their shower facilities. Leah and I decided to spend Wednesday in a local motel that had power, hoping that power would be restored to our home by Thursday. When it wasn’t restored by dinner time, we decided to go to our daughter Katy’s house in Brighton.

On Friday we were informed that the water was restored at our home. On Saturday Leah and I decided to drive back to Petoskey knowing that we could tough it out for a few days until the power was restored. We arrived home around 7:30 PM. At 9 PM I heard Leah scream as the power came back on.

All told, we were 2 hours short of a week without power. As I write this on Monday morning, there are still over 30,000 Great Lakes Energy residents without power. An email this morning from GLE indicates they are hoping to have most of their customers’ power restored by the end of the day on Wednesday. However, there will be some that will not be restored until the weekend at best.

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The magnitude of the storm

We are fortunate that there has been very little property damage from the storm. The primary damage has been to trees and the infrastructure of the electrical grid.

GLE has lost over 1,200 utility poles. I cannot imagine how many Consumers Power has lost. To put the 1,200 utility poles into perspective, GLE on average replaces 800 poles annually. Numerous power stations were damaged, and miles of lines were damaged. I struggle to comprehend having the capacity to clear the trees to allow access to the lines and poles and then having the people and the inventory to replace and reinstall the poles and wire over such a large geographic area.

As the chairman of GLE said, “This is not a repair of our infrastructure, this is a replacement.”

There has been very little property damage, but the damage to trees has been incomprehensible. Perfectly healthy trees with over foot thick trunks were breaking off at the base of the tree. Branches were falling and penetrating 10-12 inches into the frozen ground. It will take a year to clean up the fallen branches and trees from the ground. It will take another year to clear the branches that have broken off but are still in the trees. Walking in the woods will be very dangerous over the next year or two because of the broken tree limbs still up in the tree.

At Crooked Tree the number of trees that are damaged is too many to count. Decisions will need to be made on whether to try to salvage a tree or replace it. Finding contractors to do it will be next to impossible. I don’t want to think of the cost.

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It takes a village

When you are stuck in the middle of a natural disaster such as this ice storm, it is easy to hunker down and think only of oneself, however, there are always other people whose needs are greater and need your help, especially in winter conditions.

Communication is challenging, staying warm is challenging, functioning in your home without heat, water, and electricity is challenging. Opening garage doors is challenging. Clearing driveways is challenging. Cooking is challenging. Flushing toilets is challenging. Charging your phone is challenging. Hot coffee is a luxury.

I learned that doing welfare checks and asking your neighbors if they need anything or if there is anything they are struggling with can go a long way in helping them get through it. I learned that assuming they know how to handle challenges is a bad assumption. I learned assuming other neighbors are checking on them is a bad assumption. Little things can mean so much.

The nice thing about living in a community like Crooked Tree is that we get to know each other, and we look out for each other. We are a village, and we help each other.

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Five years and counting

On April 1, I celebrated the fifth year of writing this blog. It started during Covid out of boredom. Before Covid I would periodically make a Facebook post which I called Thoughts for the Day. The timing of the posts was inconsistent, but I received positive feedback on the posts I made.

Once Covid hit, I had time on my hand. I did some homework and decided that creating a blog was not as difficult as I thought. After a few days of work, my first blog was published April 1, 2020.

Who would have thought that five years later I would still be writing.

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It is all about the economy

Not only did I pay more than $8 for a dozen eggs yesterday, but my retirement fund has also taken a major, major hit. I am not better off than I was on January 19, 2025.

The thing that is upsetting is that the reduction in our retirement funds is a result of a president who seems to have little or no understanding of how tariffs work.

Tariffs have a purpose, but they are not a tool to reduce overall trade deficits. Tariffs, to be effective, must be used selectively with a specific purpose. Here is what Chat GPT had to say about purposes of tariffs, which is consistent with what I learned over fifty years ago in my economic classes at EMU.

· Protecting Infant Industries: allow new or developing domestic industries time to grow and become competitive.

· National Security: protect industries critical to national defense and infrastructure.

· Trade Negotiation Leverage: use as a bargaining chip in trade deals to encourage fairer terms or the removal of barriers.

· Correcting Trade Imbalances: protect specific products to make imports more expensive and domestic products more competitive.

· Retaliation Against Unfair Trade Practices: impose countervailing duties on goods from a country that unfairly subsidizes its exports.

· Environmental or Ethical Standards: encourage higher labor or environmental standards.

Important Caveats: Tariffs can backfire by raising prices for consumers and hurting domestic industries that rely on imported inputs. They may also provoke retaliatory tariffs, sparking trade wars.

Quote of the Day: “I always think that with gambling, at least you have a chance of winning. This is worse than that. This is betting with the mafia. You’re going to lose.” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a conservative economist who worked for former President George W. Bush, said.

Please call your members of Congress today. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. Tell the operator where you’re from and the operator will connect you to your representatives and senators. I tested this out today. It is very simple. They will ask for the congress member you want to contact. They will then switch you to that office.

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Javy Baez

There has never been a professional baseball player better than Javy Baez at tagging runners out on plays at second base. He has made tagging runners out a secret weapon for the Tigers as he makes extraordinary tag plays turning stolen bases into out. Yesterday it was on full display in the Tigers’ game against the White Sox.

Today he turned a double play on a ball that ricocheted off of the pitcher’s glove that had the Tiger announcers screaming his name.

He may not be the greatest hitter in the world, but on the field, he is as good as their ever has been at his position. He does things on a regular basis that most MLB shortstops dream about doing.

See my Video of the Day

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Quote of the Day: See above.

Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Tigers. After starting the season 0-3. The Tigers have won six out of seven games and are now 6-4 after beating the Yankees today 6-2.

Onion of the Day: President Trump for his lack of basic knowledge of tariffs and how they will impact the country’s economy.

Lyrics of the Day: If you start it up Kick on the starter, give it all you got. (You got to, you got to) I can't compete With the riders in the other heats.
If you rough it up. If you like it, I can slide it up, slide it up. Slide it up, slide it up.

If you think you know the answer, send me your answer in the comments section of the blog.

Answer to Lyrics of the Day for March 27, 2025: Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne

Question of the Day: Houston or Florida for the men’s NCAA championship tonight.

Video of the Day: Javy Baez’s tag against the White Sox on Sunday.

https://youtube.com/shorts/uLPbG0qR-Ks?si=l2tBSBosTovfZYQT

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