It rained all evening and all night last Thursday. We could hear the ice pellets bouncing off the skylight all night. I don't think Brett and I slept much that night because both of us knew he had to get up at 4:30 that morning to go to work, and de-icing, let alone getting in to the car, wasn't going to be fun. We both woke up, and I turned on the tea kettle for hot water to melt through the ice on his car door. Luckily, we didn't have to use much of it. Brett drive off to work and said he was dodging fallen tree limbs everywhere. He got to the hangar at the airport, and they had lost power. So, the mechanics couldn't open the hangar doors to get the planes out to fly their day. Thankfully those mechnics are resourceful and rigged something to open the doors, and Brett did his crazy 12-hour day flying to and from Boston.
We pretty much stayed in all weekend. The ice storm was followed by a day of 20-degree temperatures, so that wasn't too fun. I watched the news on Friday night and heard all about the power being out in all the surrounding areas. Luckily, our power was still on. We are one of the few neighborhoods in this area that have their power underground instead of power lines on poles.
Then at about 7:30 that night, CLICK!, the power went off. Brett was home, thankfully, so we hunted down the flashlight and thought about what to do. We decided to bundle up and head out for firewood. If we all slept in the living room that night, we could stay warm enough until the next morning and decide what to do then. So we changed Sophia in to her warmest sleeper and padded it with an extra pair of socks and long-sleeved onesie. Brett and I put on extra pairs of socks and fleeces. Everyone was bundled up in winter coats, and we headed to the car and, CLICK!, the power came back on. Brett and I gave each other that you've-got-to-be-kidding-me looks and decided that we'd still head out for firewood just in case the power went off again.
So out we went, with all the other people in the city, to the nearest Loews and Home Depot in search of something to burn in our fireplace. We ended up at a Loews in Clifton Park (which is about 20 minutes north) only after going to a Home Depot, a Walmart, and driving past a completely black Super Walmart. It was amazing how many stop lights and street lights were off. No one had power to the north of us. The Loews we stopped at was this bright beacon of firewood hope in the midst of blackness!
Thankfully, we never had to use the wood we bought, but I have friends in other parts of town that have been living off of fireplaces and generators since Friday. Can you imagine? I ended up hosting our moms/quilting group meeting because we were the only people with heat in the group. Wild. The ice is all melted now, but there are still people without power. There's just so much to clean up.
Sophia didn't mind staying in too much. After the ice stopped on Friday, the snow started, and she thought it was something else. She stood at the back door for a good 20 minutes watching the snow fall. She just kept turning around to me and saying, "Dah!" Not sure what that means, but I think it might translate to, "Look at that!"
Sophia took the last two pictures herself...meaning, she pushed the button while I held the camera. Nice composition for a 1-year-old.
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