Ice Storm!

[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

[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.

[sundial]

Mudmucker, I hope you get your power turned on soon. It's no fun freezing in your own home. Did you have any structural damage?

[Tuckervill]

I think our schools will be back in session tomorrow. I haven't heard any reports of power outages, but there have been lots and lots of wrecks. My husband said the roads were not icy two miles out of town (towards his work). We managed to get out and get to the store, along with thousands of others (seemed like). The parking spaces were all sheets of ice, but the roads were all worn down. Black ice is a problem, especially when walking. All the concrete around my house is a solid sheet. Otherwise we're just fine. Although it hasn't gotten above 20 degrees, yet, and tomorrow we're expecting more precipitation.

I've been in bed almost all day wearing my wool, trying to keep warm, in my heatless upstairs!

Karen