It was a dark and stormy night

It was ducking fark, last night. But that was only because I had no electricity, dammit. My next-door neighbors to the west went to stay with her mother, and my neighbors to the east... had power, damn them! I was ready to slip out and run an extension cord from his outside plugs to my heater and tv... But being the ethical creature I'm forced to be, I missed Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis in the wee hours. I hate when that happens.

So, as you can guess, the ice storm had very little real impact on me. The temp outside wasn't so bad that my house became dangerously cold, or I'd have come over to my parents' house -- even if they'd lost their power, they still have a wood-burning back-up furnace and a lovely fireplace, so nobody would freeze in their house.

The power was out at my house from 8:12 p.m. last night to 3:00(ish) p.m. today (I say "ish" because I wasn't home to confirm the exact time the light came on in the bathroom and the furnace kicked in to warm the kitties back up again. I was at an auction, as usual). My house went from 72º F to 55ºF in the course of 16 hours. I got dirty looks from TiGrr and Peanut as I left the place... I think they wanted me to stay under the covers with them all day. Believe me, I was sorely tempted.


But before the storm downed power lines and blew up transformers and stuff, I was outside for a little while, foolishly risking my neck walking under ice-laden trees to take pix. While I was out there, I could hear the firecracker pop! of branches snapping all around the neighborhood, and a couple of times later in the evening, as the ice thickened and the winds rose again, I heard the distant bang of a blown transformer or collapsing tree.

Yes, the tree is frozen in this position by ice and wind.

I wasn't the only reckless soul out there, either.

So far, they're estimating that the outlying towns, like Little York, Stronghurst, and such, should be getting their electricity again by Tuesday afternoon or evening. Monmouth College is on the same grid as my house, so they were dark through the night and into the afternoon, today. No injuries, that we have heard, so far.

The roads are no longer glare ice, around here, since the temp this morning rose above freezing for a few hours -- before it started snowing. We have an interesting, slushy mess, and the sewers are blocked by chunks of ice, so the streets in town are seeing moderate flooding.


They're still advising that people avoid travel if at all possible.

So much for an early spring.