Ice Storm Aftermath -

I don’t care about the snow.

But the ice is a different story.

As I write this we are currently on generator power – the electric for the whole area, and much of SW Virginia and into West Virginia lost power on Wednesday.

At one point yesterday morning there were more than 122,000 out of power.

And while I am so grateful to have our generac to the cabin, there are so many others that do not have an alternate source of power.

It’s one thing to be out of power in September due to hurricanes when the weather is still nice enough, but in this kind of weather? It’s brutal.

We knew these trees would be a problem!

Sitting by USB powered (can also be solar charged) lantern in the middle of the night.

It was a very sleepless night – we were up until something like 3 am just listening to trees crash and fall all around us in the complete darkness.

The dogs were even upset. Every time they heard a tree crash they’d whine and get up and pace the floor.

We did the same.

It was the longest night ever not knowing if a tree would come down on the house, or on the car, or on Dave’s shed – and we didn’t know what we would wake up to. What would be across the drive?

We’d already had to battle our way up the drive the day before after returning from checking on things at the inn to find that ice had taken some small trees down across the drive that had to be cleared away before we could get the RZT to the top.

Some young guys in a pickup truck stopped by to ask if we needed help and help was greatly received. They helped clear our drive so we could get up to the house.

But what fell through the night was so scary. This is what we woke up to – both on our drive and on the main road.

Click to Play:

Hubster Dave did a great job of clearing things yesterday – we are now able to get out and about, but power isn’t likely to be restored until tonight by 11pm, or so the text messages say.

This makes me saddest of all.
I loved this bush. So did the butterflies. It had light and airy leafy fronds. I’m afraid its a goner. I’ll have to find something else to plant there.
Needless to say, this was pretty much my mood yesterday.
It warmed up – ice began to crack and fall off of trees, and that was a whole other surreal sound keeping me in the house.
This happened yesterday afternoon – Electric company folks looking for downed lines – the helicopter went up and down our road, hovering here and there will sussing out the situation:
Click to PLay:

Help is on its way!