Ice Storm!

[Biciclista]

Glad to see you're back, Lisa!

[Tuckervill]

Glad you are okay, Lisa!

My house doesn't have a fireplace anymore, but I have a kerosene heater, and our workshop has a big wood stove in it, and we could move out there if necessary. So far it hasn't been necessary in past ice storms.

But, my ex-husband and I lived with a wood stove as our only form of heat, and on a well, which needs electricity. The power went off frequently for random reasons, not the least of which was cold weather. We were warm and we could cook with propane, but had no water. I'd rather go without food, because I can always build a fire or eat cold food. Having water makes black-outs tolerable, even adventurous!

Karen

[sundial]

Lisa, bless your heart. I'm thankful your house was not damaged and that you, with your pioneering spirit, prevailed. Ice storms are not fun! Our area was hit with one in '94 and people were without electricity for up to a month!

Our region is going to be hit with rain/ice come Monday night through Tuesday. Looks like I'll be heading to the store to get stocked up on goods today.

[Jolt]

I might postpone that trail run. It might be covered with ice. We wanted to do a local hike today, but I am not sure what the conditions will be, even right by my house. Maybe I'll end up going to Lincoln Woods, just a bit further east.

I attempted it but didn't get very far because there were trees and branches down everywhere! It was more climbing over stuff than running and it was hard to even see the next trail marker at times because things were piled so high. The ice on the trail was the least of the problems (there were chunks of ice from the trees, but not solid sheets of ice).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We thought of going into the woods to take some pictures of the beautiful ice formations....but it's way too dangerous to go in the woods! Big tree limbs are still occasionally falling. you can hear them fall every time the wind kicks up.

The night of the storm, thursday night, we lay in bed with no power and no light. It was pitch black outside and ice and frozen rain was coming down heavily. This was so scary- you could hear big trees cracking and falling literally every 60 seconds or so, from various directions and at varying distances. Big trees crashing down....crack crack crack....all night sounding like rifles and guns being shot, echoing through the night. Every once in a while our giant pine near the house would drop another limb and we lay there afraid the whole 60 ft tree would crash down onto the house while we lay there. What seemed like flashes of lightning every 10 minutes were actually electric lines being torn down by the trees and flashing as they hit the ground, lighting up the sky. It was a very scary and surreal night.
The next morning when we went outside you could still hear trees coming down every 5 minutes or so from somewhere- all day long on Friday. Poor trees!

[Tuckervill]

That is quite frightening. Sounds like a war zone! And then when the transformers on the power poles blow up, yikes!

I try not to stay in my house when there is heavy ice. We have a huge oak tree about 20 yards from the house, and the neighbor had 2 on her lot between our houses.

Stay safe, ya'll!

Karen

[redrhodie]

Wow, I'm glad you're okay.

Note to self..you are completely unprepaired. Who gets the single serving of oatmeal which is about the only thing in the cupboard? Good thing there's cat food.

Off to the store.

[Iris616]

Many people are still with out power here in the Albany area. My SIL and her family are staying with us (still). My daycare provider has been told not to expect power before Weds., and both of those houses are in the city of Albany. I drove through eastern Rensselaer County yesterday, and it was a mess with trees and lines down.

[PamNY]

Lisa, I'm glad you are okay (and had running water). Ice storms are beautiful but scary IMO. Hope life gets back to normal in a timely fashion.

Pam

[Tuckervill]

We had a beautiful day yesterday. Seventy degrees, warm gusts from the south. Then about 4:30 I looked out and saw the line of dark gray clouds to the north. I walked out across the yard, thinking about how nice and warm it was, going to the workshop where my husband was so I could show him the sky. Suddenly, a COLD strong wind hit me from the north. It was liking opening a refrigerator door!

In one hour it had begun to rain and thunder. In two hours the temperature had dropped 30 degrees. Sometime in the night the rain turned over to sleet, the temperature dropped to 17, and now every surface is covered in ice pellets. The trees escaped much of a coating, I guess because the rain had time to drop off and dry in the wind before the sleet and ice pellets started up. But all the roads are slick and all the schools are closed. And we're stuck here with no milk in the fridge!

Karen

[SheFly]

It's still bad in areas of MA as well. I just heard from a friend who lives in Bolton - still no power, and not expected to be back on until the END OF THE WEEK! Thankfully, she got a generator, and it is 52 here today.

Bad one for sure. I think I would take snow over this anytime, and I didn't even lose power...

SheFly

[kfergos]

Crankin - thanks for the concern. I actually did ride on Friday, and boy howdy did I get wet! For the first time ever I rode through a real stream, one that had overflowed its banks and had taken over the road. Water over my axles!

However, the road was fine, wet but not icy, and traffic was delightfully light. If only I hadn't gotten soaked to the bone it would've been an OK ride. No icy branches fell on my head, which was my coworkers' concern The trees in Shrewsbury were all covered in ice and bowed down to the ground or with branches snapped off. My company worked off of generator power all day. By afternoon when I left, it was sunny and 38 and the ice had mostly melted. I even saw a guy out on a recumbent on my way home!

North of us, however, is still a disaster zone. We went up to Holden yesterday and trees were encased in ice, limbs and branches still hung from wires, wires were down across roads, nobody had power, National Guard convoys drove around among all the tree-removal trucks and electrical trucks. I hope they're OK up there.

[Crankin]

Yup, I just got more info on my old neighborhood in Boxborough. Still no power and the elementary school is closed. My neighbor's daughter and grandchildren are still here, staying with them. When I talked to the daughter's husband yesterday, after he had just come back from their house in North Hampton, NH, he said he doesn't know when they will be able to return.
Yes, I would take snow any day over this.
Kfergos, glad you made it Friday. I wasn't sure how far north you had to travel to work. Saturday was the first day since last winter that I didn't see any cyclists on the road in Concord, although the streets were mostly clear.

[sundial]

Tuckerville, we're in the line of the ice and sleet today and tomorrow. Our area is predicted to get 1-2 inches of sleet on top of ice. I noticed the ice storm is moving across OK this morning so you'll be getting it pretty soon. I'm washing up everything I can in case we lose power. Stocked up on soups and Spam so we'll have a hot meal.

[mudmucker]

Day 5 and still no power. House is about 42 F but I'm still in it. It's cold. Trees were still encased in ice last night but fortunately temps raised a little and melted things this morning.

Saturday night when I got home the house was at 39 F. Friend with generator showed up at 9 pm. I had the generator for 3 hours before he had to take it back. Everything was stone cold and it took 3 hours to get temps up to 52. I'll take it. That and it might have kept the pipes from freezing as it was about 15 F and temps in the house were sinking.

When I woke up the next morning it was back to 41. Man with generator came back again for a few hours in the afternoon and we were able to bring house temps up to 58 which quickly shot down to 52 but man, compared to 41 it was comfortable. We also bypassed the switch to the well pump and I was able to recharge the well and collect more water. The generator was a good one and we were able to run the well and the furnace at the same time for about 2 hours so I had hot water for a spell. I washed dishes and bathed. It was a bit sad to see the generator go and know it wouldn't be coming back. Temps today are better.

On my way out of my road I saw 2 electric utility trucks turn on my road and stop. I wanted to run out and hug them and tell them to keep going straight. So seeing that, was heartening and it looks promising but I'm not sure where they were going. And, on the major highway to work I saw a convoy of about 10 National Grid trucks heading west out to my area so that lifted my spirits. If I don't have power yet tonight I will be staying with friends nearby who do have their power back.

I learned two of the most important and useful tricks that I have learned in a long time and I will throw in with my other bag of tricks in being a resourceful, self-reliant, solo homeowner:

1. I learned how to bypass the main feed to the house and rewire the furnace so that it gets current directly from a generator. And I learned how to troubleshoot when things don't quite behave the way they should.
2. I learned how to rewire and bypass the main feed to the 220-volt switch to the well pump. None of it is difficult.

other things:
-I know what kind of generator I want
-The key to staying warm when your house is 40 F is to eat frequently, like every 2 hours.