Come to my house if you would like some ice. Still after 48 hrs, power lines down, trees down all over town - line down in my yard, and the ice hasn't melted off the trees yet. It's a veritable skating rink where I am. Phillipston got hit bad and the whole area is without power. I'm at 1200 ft and that elevation doesn't help. I've been without power for 48 hours with no heat so far, and they don't predict the power back on for many more days.

The night of the storm I heard a huge crack, noise, thump in the middle of sleep. After having just been robbed, it sounded like someone trying to break down the cellar door and I bolted upright. But then began the bewitching hours where literally, every 20 minutes the cracking and snapping of trees and branches occurred for the next 8 hours well into morning. The trees were so heavy with ice. It kept me awake all night it was so loud and frequent. The ones further in the woods sounded like a shotgun going off, echo and all. A couple of times branches hit the roof and I heard scraping against the house. I was seriously thinking of moving to the living room couch in the middle of the house away from trees but I didn't.

I planned ahead as I usually do and filled jugs of water for drinking and 5 gallon buckets with water for toilet flushing prior to losing power. The temp in the house held to 58d the first day. Last night it fell to 52 and today it maintained at 42 degrees. Brrr. When I can see my breath then it's time to get out of the house but I couldn't drive the roads until today. The fire department came to my house to tell me there is a state of emergency (I didn't have much contact with the outside world) and they told me they've opened up a shelter for people nearby. I've been using the shelter to refill water. I came to work in Lowell where there is power, I can shower, get gas (can't get gas where I am), stock up on water, check internet, and yes while I'm here actually work. All those years I lived with wood stoves but I don't have one now and I sure miss it. Obviously I can't find a generator east of the Mississippi but you bet I'll get one when they're back in stock. Anyway I won't be back online for a while. I have my laptop here at work where I'm pilfering off of another WiFi, since the firewall off of our server doesn't allow access to forums like this. I have a friend who is bringing his generator to my house tomorrow for a few hours where I'll be able to recharge some well water and bring the house up to temp so pipes don't freeze as it's getting closer to 32. He has no power either so he'll be taking it back. I'll go back to the house tonight to sleep - If I'm lucky temps will hold around 40 in the house. I've done backcountry camping, I'll be fine under the covers. I have a gas stove so I can at least fire up some hot beverages and actually made myself a very hearty meal by candlelight.