We survived the Ice Storm of 2008

We survived! Friday morning 1:17 am a flash of light and then the power is off. All night I was up, I could hear trees cracking, breaking and falling to the ground. The emergency sirens were going off all night, and I was fearful the big oak that leans over our house would fall through and land in the boys room. Finally I wake them up and move them all to one room, and I go down stairs so that I don't hear everything that hits the roof. No suprise - "Snow Day!" When Geoff gets to work he tells me our town is under a state of emergency. It looks beautiful outside, but it was a mess.

Thanks to our wonderful neighbors the Hopeck, they hooked us a line to their generator and we were able to plug in our fridge, keep our cell phones charged, and Geoff's laptop provided our movie screen! That was day one. Our thermostat read 59'. This wasn't so bad yet. Could be kind of fun. We put up a barrier between our kitchen and family room to keep the heat in. The power company said we should get power by 4:00 am Saturday. Unfortunately we had called before the snow hit the frozen trees.

We wake up Saturday morning, no power. I decide to cook eggs on the pancake griddle, but shorted out our power when I went to make toast! We go for a drive, but this time we could really see all the devastation. The roads were a mess. The houses behind us had a tree that fell on a power line and it was all laying on the ground. Broken trees and limbs everywhere. Power still out to most of the area. We find a McDonalds open-we have to drive thru because we haven't showered in 3 days. All hope fails that night when Geoff talks to the men working on the transformer and they can't locate our neighborhood on the grid. Reality sets in, we are hooked to the neighborhood with the tree and power lines still on the ground. Our thermostat now reads 47'.

I can't sleep so at 4:00 am on Sunday I take a cold bath, and wash my hair. I feel much better. When the kids wake-up I torcher them by washing their hair in the cold water of the kitchen sink and then warming up baby wipes for a quick clean off thier bodies. I am able to blow their hair dry. We sit down to watch spongebob. The neighbors call to offer us showers, I tell her my torture story and then hang-up. Boom, the power is back on, nearly 60 hours later. I was so excited, then I cried. Oh how thankful I am for electricity!