Ice Storm !!

sorry this is late at being posted but for some reason, I just never got around to it with the holidays and such.
Anyway..... On December 11th there was a call for rain and a freeze afterwords which messed up our plans to go see my older son on his birthday. We really didn't watch the weather much that night but went to bed thinking it would be a bit icy in the morning. That was a understatement to be sure ! We heard things popping with loud bangs in the morning and no electric so came downstairs to check things out and saw quite a sight. Everything had a half inch to a inch of ice on it, even all the branches of the trees. The trees were breaking all around us and it sounded like gun shots all around us. Our 4 huge pine trees had branches all around them on the ground in a pile. Kevin decided to go check things out in the truck and then came back and asked if we wanted to go see. I made it about two miles before I made him take me back ( I have a fear of driving in the ice and snow with someone else driving) This is what we saw...( the date on the photos should say 12/12/08)


as you can see by the last photo, it looked like we lived in a crystal palace. everything was shimmering and it was beautiful ! But, it only lasted a day or two that way and then it all melted. My sisters basement flooded with out her sump pump working because of the lack of electric. She had a foot of water in her basement so someone let them barrow a gas pump to get it out. what a mess. We went and drove around after the roads dried and it look like a tornado hit everywhere we went. Tree tops snapped of like twigs, telephone poles snapped with lines down every where you looked. We were one of the lucky few with a wood stove that has a cook top so we gathered up all our hurricane lanterns for the night and flashlights and made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in foil on the stove with soup. we ate good and kept warm. Our only problem was a lack of wood and since Kevin is a bus driver, his checks stopped since there was now no school. The banks were all close and it took forever to find a working ATM to get what little we had, out of the bank. The stores couldn't accept debit cards since the banks were down and so were their machines. We went and picked up some trees that had been cut by someone clearing a road and dug some wood out of the snow that Kevin had cut in the spring. we did ok till the next Thursday when we heard a report of a foot of snow coming and then I lost it. The only wood we had left was in the back yard and would be buried. My parents had no way to heat their house so they ended up in a shelter by the next Thursday when they had enough of the cold. My sister was down with the stress of frustrated kids. We were lucky Joey was with his father so we spent the time catching up on our reading and I read 16 books. lol Kevin was wonderful as usual, he cut down trees at my parents house that had fallen on their wires so my father wouldn't have to do it or pay someone else to do it. He truly is a wonder to me with his upbeat attitude about everything and always had a smile even when everything was looking grim. the lights came back on Friday December 19 after 8 days of no power. The furnace didn't work right after that and Kevin had to fix that the next day after things started getting cold again. It was a adventure that's for sure. I have to say that it wasn't too bad cooking on the wood stove and read lots of books. Next time I will be more prepared with wood in the barn and my box of supplies in the pantry. I know better because it happens alot around here - just not usually that long. anyway, that's the joy of living in New Hampshire !! Lisa ( Kevin said I should say how I took those photos since the green leaves do look odd. It was taken through the window and the green is a plant in the house. lol )