Our Journey through the Ice Storm of '09
Some artistic pictures Seth took of our ice this past week.
Tuesday late afternoon when our power went out, Oliver and Seth went outside to play for a bit. Oliver was dying to get outside to play golf on the ice :) What a goofy kid.
The icicles got pretty huge.
It was cool because all day I had been planning on making some homemade mini-pizzas for us for dinner, and right before I was about to do it, the power went out. 30 minutes later, the power came back on, so I raced in the kitchen to get them ready to cook in case the power was going to go out again. Right when I got the pizzas assembled, power out again. A few minutes later, it came back on, so I shoved them in the oven for 8 minutes. Not 5 minutes after they came out of the oven, the power went out again! I'd like to think God was being sweet to me to let me cook my pizzas that I had been looking forward to :) So, we ate our dinner by candlelight, which was fun.
In the morning when we woke up, there was still no power, and it had snowed some on top of the ice. More pictures...
We ended up talking to some friends of ours, the Greenhaws, and they still had power! They graciously invited us come stay at their nice warm house, and we ended up having lots of fun. Some other friends came over that night for dinner, and as soon as they got there, Miss Brooke took off her boots, and Oliver immediately put them on. He's such a shoe guy :)
Oliver chattin' Sullivan up - cracks me right up. I think they're gonna be buds when Sullivan gets older.
Friday warmed up to the 50's, so much of the ice melted, and then Saturday was in the low 60's, so whatever hadn't melted pretty much did on Saturday. Except for those spots that were in the shade most of the day. Some friends with a chainsaw came up to help Seth cut up some of our branches to get ready to be hauled away.
...it's so absolutely crazy what BOTH of her big trees did...
And as we ate, Sullivan took a little nap by the fire. This picture was taken with the flash on, but it was actually pitch black in that room, except for the fire.
This is what it really looked like in there. I just wanted you to see what Sullivan looked like napping, so I did one with the flash.
We had an adventurous night with no power! Our gas fireplace sure puts out a lot of heat, so we all bundled in the living room for the night. Seth slept on the couch, Oliver and I slept on a bed-of-blankets on the floor, and Sullivan slept in his pack 'n' play, and we stayed nice and toasty. The boys slept just fine, and Oliver was diggin' this whole no-power adventure.
This is what it really looked like in there. I just wanted you to see what Sullivan looked like napping, so I did one with the flash.
We had an adventurous night with no power! Our gas fireplace sure puts out a lot of heat, so we all bundled in the living room for the night. Seth slept on the couch, Oliver and I slept on a bed-of-blankets on the floor, and Sullivan slept in his pack 'n' play, and we stayed nice and toasty. The boys slept just fine, and Oliver was diggin' this whole no-power adventure. In the morning when we woke up, there was still no power, and it had snowed some on top of the ice. More pictures...
I called the electric company later that morning, and the automated message said "we are aware of your outage...we estimate that your power will be restored by 11:59pm on January 31st..." January 31st....that was Saturday........this was WEDNESDAY...
We ended up talking to some friends of ours, the Greenhaws, and they still had power! They graciously invited us come stay at their nice warm house, and we ended up having lots of fun. Some other friends came over that night for dinner, and as soon as they got there, Miss Brooke took off her boots, and Oliver immediately put them on. He's such a shoe guy :)
After a great night's sleep, everyone else went to work on Thursday morning. So the boys and I had a warm and comfy place to play that morning, and lots of fun was to be had. The Greenhaws have a shih-tzu too, so Bella and Keeley had fun playing together as well and kept us entertained.
Oliver chattin' Sullivan up - cracks me right up. I think they're gonna be buds when Sullivan gets older.
Oliver had a yummy lunch, with a cookie for dessert, and then it was naptime. 
Then an exciting thing happened... our neighbor called to let us know that our power was back on!!! This was Thursday afternoon, so it happened much earlier than we feared might be the case. Needless to say, we were very excited and happy to go back to our warm little house.
Then an exciting thing happened... our neighbor called to let us know that our power was back on!!! This was Thursday afternoon, so it happened much earlier than we feared might be the case. Needless to say, we were very excited and happy to go back to our warm little house.
Friday warmed up to the 50's, so much of the ice melted, and then Saturday was in the low 60's, so whatever hadn't melted pretty much did on Saturday. Except for those spots that were in the shade most of the day. Some friends with a chainsaw came up to help Seth cut up some of our branches to get ready to be hauled away.
This is a picture of our neighbor's trees...
...it's so absolutely crazy what BOTH of her big trees did...
The boys playing outside a little bit while Seth worked on some branches...
Oliver loves mowing... even in the winter on ice/snow :) And he got to wear his awesome snow boots from M'laine! They were perfect for this kind of day.
Seth was climbing trees, with saw in hand, (yeah, I had to be inside and stay busy and not think much about the "what ifs" on that one...it was making my mind go crazy) and here he and Lendell are being a bit goofy and hauling a big branch up the ditch. That ice was definitely still slippery. 
Lendell and Karen and Seth working hard in the yard - great job!!!
Well, we survived the Ice Storm of 2009. Lots of people here are still without power, and it could be awhile. Neither Seth nor I have ever experienced anything like this, so it was definitely an adventure for us. I think once in a lifetime's good on that one :) I think we're back to mostly normal at our house. Much of our fridge/freezer stuff was lost, so we are stocked up again and back into the swing of life. We're so thankful to be safe and warm, as we are very aware that many people on this earth do not have that luxury. I think we've come through this experience a little more aware and grateful.
Lendell and Karen and Seth working hard in the yard - great job!!!
And here is our tree with lots of the limbs taken away. Looks so much better already! Still lots to do, but they got a great start. 
A HUGE thanks to Lauren for letting us invade her house for a night - what an incredible blessing to us!!
A HUGE thanks to Lauren for letting us invade her house for a night - what an incredible blessing to us!! Well, we survived the Ice Storm of 2009. Lots of people here are still without power, and it could be awhile. Neither Seth nor I have ever experienced anything like this, so it was definitely an adventure for us. I think once in a lifetime's good on that one :) I think we're back to mostly normal at our house. Much of our fridge/freezer stuff was lost, so we are stocked up again and back into the swing of life. We're so thankful to be safe and warm, as we are very aware that many people on this earth do not have that luxury. I think we've come through this experience a little more aware and grateful.
Wow - that's amazing. I have never seen anything like that in my life. How did you drive around? Chains? So glad you're ok and not much loss. Poor trees :-( You are a very good chronicler!
Glad you are all safe and warm! Tell Oliver Aunt Stacey has a pair of polka-dotted boots she might share. Hope your Bradford pear can be saved..
That is so awesome. The trees... I have never seen trees do that before! So sad too.
Glad most everything is ok though. Ice storms can be very bad. They are highly underestimated.