Ice Ice Baby

Well I always think of Mom when some natural disaster hits, so here's to you, Mom.
This was one crazy storm. Last Tuesday had it all- 20 degree temps, freezing rain, snow, lightning (yes, lightning), and trees and limbs falling...nonstop...all night long and all at the same time. The sound of trees cracking, crashing, ice falling, hitting the house and roof was a bit unsettling. It was one of those "not much we can do about it" things except say our prayers, sit, and wait. The power was off too. We waited until morning to fire up the generator with the futile hope that for some reason the power outage was only temporary. When we finally got some daylight we saw that the outage was indeed NOT temporary, and we settled in for several days without power. It was beautiful and awesome and treacherous all at the same time.
Now, I live with MacGuyver. If you know Jeff you know he's pretty resourceful and hates being unprepared for stuff. Like back in September after hurricane Ike blew through, when the gas prices were sky high, and we went to get gas for our generator and found most gas stations either closed (no power) or out of gas, and the ones that did have gas were disturbingly creepy- full of mad, short-tempered people tired of paying 3.85 for gas and then waiting in line for it. So he happened to have a day or two's worth of gas ready for the generator, and we had just stocked up at the store. Also, he had bought a bunch of candles and wind-up flashlights. We had plenty of light. We also had developed a system using the generator back in September. We knew how many things we could plug in at once and rotated the garage freezer with the fridge. We put our beer out on the patio. (Yummmmmm) We also have natural gas at the house, so we can cook on it or on the wood stove, and we have hot water in the upstairs bathroom. Phone service was out, so no internet. All in all, a crazy week but we are only minimally out of whack. I have been on the phone nonstop for two days, folks wanting to "get on the list" so Jeff can come rescue them from their tree disasters. Too icy right now, but he'll be full force by the end of the week. This town looks like a tornado came through, and I'm not kidding. Enjoy the photos...God bless us all.