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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

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














8 comments:

  1. WOW! Snow in Baton Rouge and Ice in New Hampshire! Sorry for the trees but the ice on the trees are just beautiful, so white! Our snow melted in less than a day and all of our plants survived! Baton Rouge sure didn't know what to do with the snow, the whole city shut down! Nice treat though. Your contractor sounds great! Ya'll are very lucky! I love you, Jenny

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  2. Thanks for your comment Jenny! You are so right, if you looked past all the destruction the ice casued, it truly was an absolutely beautiful sight.

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  3. J-

    I can't believe those images, amazing, they don't even look real.
    I hope this snow doesn't add to your troubles....Thanks for your comments!! I love checking in on your blog!

    Best,
    Julie - SHELTER

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  4. Oh no Joan, how heartbreaking and frightening at the same time.

    Your descriptions are so vivid and the photos tell the rest of the story. I'm so sorry you all have been hit so hard with these storms.

    I'm happy your beloved maple trees were spared, and the damage to your home wasn't severe. Yes! Your contractor sounds like a one-of-a-kind gem!

    Only four months to go? That's just amazing!

    Stay safe my friend. ~m.

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  5. Thank you for your comments and concern Julie & Mari! Sans the 6-inches (or more)of snow we had last night(!) we are pretty much back to normal at the house project. We had a huge bon fire yesterday to burn the broken limbs/trees.
    Hope you are both safe and warm, and that your electricity stays ON!

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  6. Thanks for your lovely comment! Wishing you a wonderful Holiday!
    xxx-Gina :)

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  7. i have never seen anythingn like this - i know it was awful, but it is beautiful!!! very scary story!!!

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  8. It is now 12:23AM and I think this is the last post I will read for the night. What a sad thing to happen...all those beautiful tree limbs down. I know exactly how you feel as we had that happen to us here in south Central Kansas Jan 2006. Our huge old elm tree's had limbs nearly as large as the trunk broken off. My hubby worked afternoons at the time and the ice started around 4 in the afternoon just after he had left for work. By 8pm it sounded like a war zone with banging and crashing going on all throughout our neighborhood. We had two holes in the roof from limbs poking through. Thank goodness that's all the damage the house received. The yard was a mess and it took weeks for us to clean it all up. This post was a tough one to see but looking at more recent posts earlier show that your trees recovered nicely. Tomorrow I start again!
    Maura :)

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Welcome! Thank you for leaving a comment; you have no idea how much your comments inspire me to keep writing- I appreciate each and every one. Comments are moderated by me prior to publishing on the blog, so if you don't see your comment post immediately it will be posted as soon as I receive and read it. joan