"The Ice Storm of 2008"

We had a huge storm go through New England this last Thursday and Meg has very originally dubbed it the "Ice Storm of 2008." I'd heard about ice storms before...but this was my first experience in one and it was crrrazy! I woke up Friday morning to see every blade of grass, leaf, branch, tree, car .... anything standing still was encased in ice. Trees in my backyard turned from straight standing giants to birch rainbows - it was really incredible - beautiful even when the sun started to shine on everything. Although those who went through and some who are still dealing with it's affects might not agree.

Because - shocker of all shockers - when trees are covered in heavy ice large branches brake off and wreak havoc on power lines. When we decided to venture out I realized just how much damage ice can do. I didn't take pictures - but here's one I snagged that gives you the general idea.

It tried to find a good pic of the beautiful side of it - but I gave up... so I guess this will have to do.

Our roads were clearer than this - enough that we could drive down them... but all along the was big chunks of ice were falling off the branches above and hitting our car. Tay (my soon to be 16 year old brother) was driving and I have to give him props on keeping his cool.

We lost power for about 20 hours and were by far the luckiest of the bunch. Some people (poor Shelbo) are still w/o power. You don't really realize how much you rely on electricity until you lose it. Showers can't happen - because even if you can shower afterwards there is no way to do your hair. Everything you eat is cold - which is fine in the beginning but get's old fast. Most of the ways you are used to entertaining yourself when you're ready to relax are out of the question. You are cut off from the outside world b/c Internet and news aren't available. Shoot... and that's just the short list...;) And that was only 20 hours of it. I guess I'm more high maintenance than I thought I was. Maybe I don't want to live back in the 1800's with the Little Women after all... :)