jessi76
January 22nd, 2009, 02:03 PM
About 2wks before Christmas, on a Thursday night, we got an ice storm. We really didn't think too much of it, other than the commute to work in the morning would be a nightmare. Just before we went to bed we lost power, which isn't all that unusual. We set our cell phones for alarm clocks, stoked the wood stove, and went to bed.
What we woke up to was total destruction. We had heard tree limbs breaking during the night, but we live in the woods, so it's not uncommon. However, this was BAD. Trees had snapped and taken out the entire power grid, for the whole town, and all surrounding towns. We couldn't even drive up the road, trees and telephone poles were down every 10 ft. My fiance tried to go up the street to see how bad it was, and had to cut his way through w/ a chain saw.
We were fortunate that no trees hit our house, although Tucker's pen wasn't so lucky. a section of fence was smashed, but it was repairable. We assumed we'd be without power for a few days.... a FEW days turned into 9 DAYS.
Thank goodness we have a wood stove which kept our house warm enough. but we had no water since we're on a well. So for 6 days we hauled water from other sources, hauled wood in and stoked the fire, and I had to cook everything on the gas-range top. (thank goodness for gas stoves too!) it was exhausting living like this w/ a toddler. changing diapers by candlelight.... not fun. heating water on the stove to bath him in the sink. and keeping all candles out of baby reach.
on day 7 my generous parents bought us a generator. My fiance tried to wire the house to it.... sending a power surge that fried a 27" TV, 2 alarm clocks, 2 cordless phones, an Xbox, and 2 parts to our furnace. lovely.
he rewired it, got it right the 2nd time. phew. at least we had running water back.
day 9 we finally got back up, thanks to power companies that came from far and wide to assist w/ the restoration.
I wish I had better pics, but I was too busy keeping a toddler warm & happy, and hauling wood. lol.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1145.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1143.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1142.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1141.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1140.jpg
I realize this may be "old hat" to those of you in the north, but ice storms of this magnitude don't happen too often here.
What we woke up to was total destruction. We had heard tree limbs breaking during the night, but we live in the woods, so it's not uncommon. However, this was BAD. Trees had snapped and taken out the entire power grid, for the whole town, and all surrounding towns. We couldn't even drive up the road, trees and telephone poles were down every 10 ft. My fiance tried to go up the street to see how bad it was, and had to cut his way through w/ a chain saw.
We were fortunate that no trees hit our house, although Tucker's pen wasn't so lucky. a section of fence was smashed, but it was repairable. We assumed we'd be without power for a few days.... a FEW days turned into 9 DAYS.
Thank goodness we have a wood stove which kept our house warm enough. but we had no water since we're on a well. So for 6 days we hauled water from other sources, hauled wood in and stoked the fire, and I had to cook everything on the gas-range top. (thank goodness for gas stoves too!) it was exhausting living like this w/ a toddler. changing diapers by candlelight.... not fun. heating water on the stove to bath him in the sink. and keeping all candles out of baby reach.
on day 7 my generous parents bought us a generator. My fiance tried to wire the house to it.... sending a power surge that fried a 27" TV, 2 alarm clocks, 2 cordless phones, an Xbox, and 2 parts to our furnace. lovely.
he rewired it, got it right the 2nd time. phew. at least we had running water back.
day 9 we finally got back up, thanks to power companies that came from far and wide to assist w/ the restoration.
I wish I had better pics, but I was too busy keeping a toddler warm & happy, and hauling wood. lol.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1145.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1143.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1142.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1141.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jesss456/DSCN1140.jpg
I realize this may be "old hat" to those of you in the north, but ice storms of this magnitude don't happen too often here.