Ice is NOT nice...

This was the message posted on a day-care center's sign board, and oh how true it is. Last Thursday night our power went out due to the ice raining down on us,and we went to bed thinking it would all be melted in the morning... wrong. We woke up to what looked and sounded like a bombing; ice an inch thick, power lines snapped in two, trees and branches down across all roads making most impassable, huge old trees uprooted, and what sounded like gun fire going off every 15 seconds was actually the sound of huge trees breaking from the weight of the ice. After five very long days (and who knows how many more- the newspaper has said some people could be without power for the next 2-6 WEEKS...) of NO electricity, NO running water and two nights of nine degrees with NO heat, we were finally able to procure an hotel room last night. Ahh, heat and hot running water and light bulbs!

The moment we woke up and realized the total devastation we HAD to get to our house immediately. The five mile drive from the rent house there took years off my life- swerving around fallen limbs and trees, the car being pummeled from above from falling ice and limbs falling from tall trees, driving over downed power lines and under perilously low-hanging lines, only to find a huge old tree blocking the road making it impassible and then turning around to find another tree had fallen behind us blocking our exit... about this time an 'angel' in a pickup truck hopped out with a chain saw and cut a path allowing us to continue and then he disappeared into the day. The following pictures are what we found... As horrible as they look we were so blessed the damage wasn't worse. My biggest fear was losing one of our huge maples. We lost some rather large limbs, but the maples are still standing. A pine tree fell across our driveway and took out the electrical lines to the house, which explains the gaping hole in the upstairs corner. Ironically we were in the middle of burying our electrical lines to the house at the time of the storm. We spent the day in shock and sadness for the loss of so many beautiful trees, and all the damage done (being without news we had no idea at the time as to the impact the storm had on our whole state, not just our region.) We resigned ourselves that the house project would be put on hold for weeks, but late in the afternoon our contractor (who himself had extensive damage at his home) called and said he had cleared the driveway and they had been busy working to bury the electrical conduits they had laid the day before. The fact that work progress had been made on the house the day of such devastation was a very bright light on such a dark day. Our move-in date is four months from today! OH MY!!! Now to the photos...

first sighting

driveway from the road to the house




electrical lines ripped from house




our driveway from the house looking back towards the road