Update, written on the 12th

We got socked pretty hard with this ice storm. Once I have internet back at home, I'll show you some pictures. Wow.

We had power through Monday night, although we lost cable (and thus internet) around midnight, I was up working on a project. My friend Sam and her family weren't as fortunate. They lost power around 9:30 pm.

By the next morning, there were branches down all over our neighborhood. Sam's house was about 50 degrees or so, so I went over to pick them up. They had branches covering their driveway, while ours was still clear.

Both the kids' school AND the university were closed. We're in finals week right now, so they rescheduled my final (and all the others scheduled for Tuesday, of course, not just MINE *grin*) for Saturday. (??!!??) Luckily, my instructor has set an alternate time for Thursday at noon or Friday at noon for those who don't want to take it Saturday.

I made some hot breakfast (waffles and french toast) and cranked the heater, knowing that we'd probably be next. Sure enough, about 30 minutes after breakfast, our power went out as well.

It was still 70 degrees in the house by dinnertime Tuesday and still no power. We decided to do some searching for a hotel room and managed to find probably two of the very last rooms in the area. Nothing was available in town, so we had to go to the next town over. The rooms weren't pretty, but they were warm.

About 15 minutes after we left, Darrell called to say that the power was back on at our house (he'd been in and out, depending on what he had to do at work). We didn't want to chance it going out again, so we stuck with the plan.

Sam and her family left early to take her mom to the airport (she was here for Sam's graduation) and the boys and I headed home. Our power had been on all night. Oh well, I still think it was better to stick to the plan.

The boys' school was still closed, but the university was open. I called my babysitter's house to see if she could watch the boys while I proctored an exam to find out that they'd lost power at 5am Tuesday morning and their house was only about 45 degrees! Of course I told them to come on over! She's with them all right now as I check my email (we're still without cable) to see what's going on with the final I missed yesterday.

I've heard from someone who spoke directly with one of the electric crews that some parts of town might not get power back until after Christmas! I certainly hope that's not true. (ETA: the paper says it might take until the 22nd in some of the harder hit areas - where are those, I wonder? Are my two affected friend's families in them???)

Anyway, we're fine. We're warm. We're probably going to sleep Sam's crew at our house, plus the babysitter's family if they choose. It'll be crowded, but we're all friends. We're not supposed to get any more precipitation, so as long as the ice continues to melt, we shouldn't lose power again. Large parts of town are still out, but there are crews all over the place fixing stuff and chopping up trees.

OH! Speaking of chopping up trees, the worst problems happened at our next-door neighbors. They had a tree split - one half landed on (but not through) their roof. The other just barely missed their cars parked on either side of their driveway! The one that fell on the ground completely covered the road. Again, I have pictures I'll show you in a day or two.