Live Freeze and Die

I wish that quote was an original, but I stole it from a sign in front of someone's house. After 164 hours without power that's pretty much how I felt last week. We managed better than many as we have 2 wood stoves. Our neighbor has a generator so we were able to plug in one line and at least have lights and TV, just no cable, so DVDs only. Too bad I only own about 3.

No water because the pump to our well is hard wired. We wouldn't have had any hot water anyway. We used buckets from the pond to flush and went to my brother in laws for showers. We've camped longer and colder, but I'll tell you, it's no fun when it's in your own living room.

There are still some in the area without power. It must be very tough mentally. I know I was at the end of my rope after a week without it. They need our thoughts and prayers. Our power went out again tonight, but thank God it was only for about an hour. I'll tell you, my spirits really sank.

I awoke to Jude shaking me about 2am on Friday the 12th. 65' white pines next to our house were shedding limbs under the weight of the ice. KRACK/BOOM!!!! I was hoping they didn't hit our little pop-up camper parked near them. Luckily they didn't. The power was already out and stayed that way until about 9:15pm the following Thursday, the 18th.

We got up and tried to go to work. Couldn't get to the highway in one direction because of downed trees, so turned around and tried to go the other way. We got about 3 miles, winding back and forth across the road to avoid downed limbs and wires. Stuff was still coming down, some of it hitting our truck. Snowplows were out just to push fallen limbs off the road. We turned around and went home. First time in 26 years either one of us didn't make it to work because of a storm.

Friday's storm brought about 8" of fine powder. It was supposed to just flurry on Saturday, but snowed all day. We had about a foot when the next storm kicked in today. It's been blowing and snowing hard all day. Well over a foot of fine powder on the ground right now, drifting and blowing and hasn't stopped yet.

I took some pictures of the ice storm. The stark beauty belies the devastation.



Neighbor's Mailbox



View Across the Pond



In the Marsh



Neighbor's Cherry Tree

Two or Three days later the ice was gone, just like it never came, but the devastation gave away it's visit in southeast NH. Now we're buried in snow.

There are some places I'd like to visit before the end, but there is no place I'd rather live than right here in New England.

KDT

The picture of the cherries is wonderful.

Those are some keeper photos. Thanks for sharing them!

I'm sorry you went so long without power!! It's great you folks now have juice, I hope it stays that way throughout the rest of this winter.

I agree with the above -- the cherry tree picture is gorgeous (as are the others, but that one in particular is just beautiful).

One of our scouts described last week as "Camping that you couldn't go home from!" Well all this snow calls for a quinzy in the back woods!
Bob

I can relate 100%. We lost our power for 5 days in the '98 ice storm under very similar conditions. It was almost like living in a war zone. I never want to hear the sound of cracking/breaking trees and branches again.
Losing power for a day or two is an inconvenience... Losing it for 4 days or more is an unbelievable hardship. My heart goes out to everyone who who has had to endure.

When it all thaws out be really selective on cutting down damaged trees. I was quite surprised at how many of my trees recovered from the 98 event. The white birches took it hard but the maples, althouhg disfigured put on a lot of growth. I bought a pole trimmer and just trimmed off the partially broken branches where I could.

Kevin said:

There are some places I'd like to visit . . . but there is no place I'd rather live than right here in New England.

KDT

Click to expand...

Agree 100% with your statement above!!

Thanks for the TR, and for sharing the photos!!

Well, we got a lot of rain with the ice storm and, since the water table rises above my cellar floor ,when the electricity goes out we get flooding. We had the keosene lamps, and the wood stove, but I would have to wade in 6-8 inches of water to feed it. At 2:00 A.M. it was a spooky feeling in the cellar watching uknown objects float by as I fed the stove.
We could easily scoop up enough water down there to keep the toilet working, but it was a trip out to the abandoned colonial well out back for drinking/cooking water.
This kind of event sure makes you appreciate the little things electricity brings you

Incredible. My parents were doing similar things...they live in Chester. There is a ditch that goes thru the backyard, and they were using the water in it to keep some of their groceries cold. For showers, they went to the gym in Derry and showered.

Great pics, and lets hope that we can keep power thru the Xmas holiday, and for that matter, never lose it again!

grouseking

Very nice photos. There's a woman I work with who still doesn't have power back yet either, so I have been getting to hear about her trials. Pretty similar to yours.

On the up side at least you can snuggle with Emma to keep warm

Very cool pix. Agree the one with the cherries is excellent.

Power came back last night after 10 days. Lets not discuss the flooding and the heating system distruction- still can't live at home.

Anyway, some pix of my neighborhood and around my house. Note that this was a day or so after the storm so lots of cleanup had been done.

http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/6838752_eLNj5#P-1-15

I thought I had escaped the drama of struggling through the latest storms, and felt a little guilty. Here I am, prepared with all kinds of camping gear, and never a flicker...

Then Brian called and reported disaster at his home in Kennebunk. Water from heat in an attic room had leaked after frozen pipes had thawed, sending hot water raining throughout the house. Today, a week later, the inside trappings of his cape have been removed to storage pods or the demo trailer. Even though nothing is where it is supposed to be, it's an unexpected opportunity for a fresh start.

First things first, all the winter hiking gear was packed up and moved into my Froester so that they'll be handy for some of the great, stress-reducing hikes we're looking forward to in the months to come. We'll be looking dazed, but still laughing, we hope.

Thanks!

I appreciate all the well wishes. There are many who didn't fair as well as we did and I hope they get through all right. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Tuco, I used to live in East Hampstead for 4 years before moving to Kingston. I'm sure we had a very similar situation during the storm. It sounds as though you made out worse. I am sincerely sorry for you and the few others, The Hikers and ERuggles, who had flooding issues as well as no power, etc. A real kick in the a__. Great pictures, by the way!

Jen, Emma makes a great comforter in more ways than one!

I wish everyone good luck on the way to recovery!

KDT