Ice Storm December 2008

I"m sure you've heard the news about the ice storm to hit New England last Friday night. Actually, our town was spared the worst. We lost power around 3 in the morning Friday night . Our outside generator clicked on and we were happy, momentarily. Then I realized that though the generator was running, I still didn't see my clock, night nights, etc. I nudged Tom and said, we aren't getting any power.

He dutifully got up, found a flashlight (which should have been by our bed, but wasn't) and made his way to the basement to look at the breaker box. Everything looked okay at that end. He knew there was also a breaker on the generator, but in order to get to it, he had to go outside in the freezing rain and that meant getting dressed.

I watched him from the front until he was around the corner, then went to the guest bedroom where I could look out the window. He was still standing. He clicked the switch and didn't think anything happened. I'm relaying info through the winter sealed window, but he doesn't have on his ears. Finally I got the message through that we had power.

He climbed back in bed and we slept snugly knowing the house would stay warm. (That is if you consider my 60 degree setting warm.) We got power around 9 the next morning. We were the lucky ones.

South of Portland had the worst storm they could remember. Over 200,000 people were without power. Tom was called on Saturday to go and relieve Emergency workers who had been working shelters and phones since Friday night. He was picked up at 4 pm by two other emergency workers and they drove to York County. They worked all night answering emergency calls and he got home around 9 Sunday morning. This gave him just enough time to get a nap before our two Cantata performances Sunday afternoon and evening.

Here is a photo of our birch tree by the driveway. He had to cut one tree out of the driveway, but all of these limbs straightened right up the next day.