why not?: The Ice Storm 2008 - Yeah, we lost our power too...

Monday, December 29, 2008

The Ice Storm 2008 - Yeah, we lost our power too...

So there we were, eating our fluffy banana pancakes smothered with huckleberries and fake maple syrup (Aunt Jemima...), drinking our coffee, when all of a sudden the lights flickered, the kids got an odd look on their faces, and then bam! the lights went out.

We weren't too fazed at first. We were busy eating breakfast, we still had plenty of daylight in the house, and we had plenty of toys for the kids to play with. But as the day moved along, we began to wonder if the power would return anytime soon. We called the power company to report our outtage. And we had found out that Tara's mom Karen was without power (she's less than a mile away) and Tara's sister Amy was without power (she's on the other side of town). The church neighborhood, though, still had their power. As the day entered early afternoon, it dawned on us that if the power didn't come on soon, it was going to be dark outside and and also inside...which means we'd have a houseful of bored little kids with hours to kill before bedtime. Scary!

After some phone calls, we decided to pack up and head to the church for the evening, and possibly the night. We packed the pjs, lots of blankets and sleeping bags, food, drinks, cards, movies, and popcorn! Amy and Jamil and the girls joined us for a fun sleepover! And so we spent the night there...with Tara calling the home answering machine every fifteen minutes to check if our power came on...which it didn't.

Saturday was Lydia's birthday party in Avilla, so we headed out of Anchor and up to Jerm's house. It was nice to have a house to lounge around in, though we were ready to head home - sleeping on the cement floor at the church wasn't very comfy. Tara and I ended up conking out before the party was over....sorry Lydia! But we were also planning on spending the night there too! As it would happen, the power came back on at our house in the early evening. Emma was sad she didn't get to spent the night with Eva, but Tara and I were looking forward to sleeping in our soft, comfy bed!

Unfortunately for Amy and Jamil, they didn't get their power on until Sunday afternoon. We had friends who didn't get their power on till Tuesday and Wednesday. Ugh.

Here's some fun pics of our iced-home and the sleep-over at the church:

This was the extent of our tree damage. Compared to all the other devastated trees in the area, we were lucky.

This is a willow tree in the backyard that is bent over the fence because of the ice.

Our firebush on ice. Cool, huh!

In the foreground is ornamental grass with the top tufts frozen like crystal shards; in the background is a willow tree bent over to the ground.

The ice on the front and back windows was thick, at least half an inch; the side windows almost as thick. Luckily the ice on car panels banged off rather easily, but I ended up breaking my ice scraper on the side windows.

Ahhh... this is the life! Kids happily watching a movie! Much better than sitting at home in the dark.

Dinner time! The kids are all lined up so they can watch their movie while they are eating. Jamil is checking the answering machine at home. No luck yet.