Ice Storm

New Hampshire is known for getting snow, but something else we get is the beautiful but deadly ice-storm. Last night we got a doozy. Around midnight our power went out and for the next couple of hours, Roland and I laid in bed listening to branches cracking and landing. We thought maybe they were landing on our roof, and even at one point hoping the whole tree would fall on our house - because you know, getting this old house rebuilt and all wouldn't actually bother us too much! Especially when we need a new roof put on in the Spring.

But that plan wasn't to be. However, when we woke up in the morning, we did have some new plant life in our backyard...


Our neighbor has 4 huge pine trees next to the fence, and now we have half a pine tree in our backyard. But the neighbors seem to have the other half also, so fair's fair. We needed some firewood anyway. Now we just need a chainsaw!

I took some photos of the ice on the plants. It really is beautiful...




The power finally came back on at 2pm at our house. Luckily we have gas, so we were still able to have hot water and use our gas stove. It got a little chilly without the heat on, but I just pulled out the turkey carcass from the freezer, saved from Thanksgiving, put on a big pot of water to boil, stuck the carcass in it, along with some peas and corn and spices, and it kept us plenty warm. Best thing about it is that now, at 5pm, we have turkey stew/soup ready for dinner!

We are just grateful that we have power. Some parts of the state, and neighboring ones, won't have power until next week. It is apparantly the worst power outage New Hampshire has ever had, affecting over 400,000 homes and businesses. They have called it unprecedented. You can read about it here if you are so inclined:)

Tomorrow the temperature high will be below freezing. This all sure makes you grateful for electricity. Funny, it didn't seem to phase the kids at all. They just got out all our board games, wrapped themselves in blankets, and were all set! We pretended we were camping and even made Jiffy Pop to make the experience more camp-like. Rachel, tell Ann and Mike we thought of them and that Sofia even wanted a Jiffy-Pop competition ;P