More pictures from ice storm 2009

The following were taken when the ice was about 1/2" thick on all tree limbs and branchs. And all of them were taken from my house in Georgetown, Indiana.

Pitifully droopy cedars, so sad hardwoods, icicles measuring 10"-12" long! and in the sun the sparkle is crazy :)

Still have Power and Heat, thank goodness

I can't say enough about the Harrison REMC crews. Last September they busted butts to get the county up and running after Hurricane Ike wiped out power lines and poles, and they're doing the same now. Most of our county now has power, while Louisville, KY still has more than 170,000 households that have no power and no heat. Yes, this county is small - less than 40,000 in the whole county. But it is large in square miles and rural.

Rick worked yesterday and today. He's working inside as a carpenter on a school in Milton, KY. Last night he said it was scary driving through Madison, IN - the main road is a corridor of beautiful trees. Now those trees are heavily laden and encrusted with ice - limbs snapping at any moment, limbs hanging to the ground with the weight of the ice. He made it home safe and called me today to say all is well on the site.

It seems that the Kelly house is still full :) Erin says it'll be another two weeks before she expects her power to be on and Kevin says he thinks it'll be at least a week for his place. Wow. Thank goodness for Mom's place, heh?

I've been busy working. Being self-employed does have its advantages - one of them being portability. I took the laptop and customer files with me to Florida and was able to complete a project while down there. Now I'm almost finished with a project and ready to take on new ones. I have 6 outstanding quotes, 4 of which will come to fruition. It's just a matter of funding - isn't that the lament everywhere?

So, why am I not in Florida you ask? I wish I had a straight answer for you. A part of me says "go, go, go now you fool!" while another says "it's nice to be home, to cook like I want to, to sleep in my own". Hmmm. Honestly, if the weather turns bad again I will probably go down to stay with Mom in the camper. Rick has already said he would stay home and go to work, making sure the pipes don't freeze. I will keep you updated.

Glad to have Power and Heat

Well, we've been home since Monday evening and it certainly has been an adventure.

We left Alabama early Monday morning. After watching the news and weather stations, we knew that an ice storm was headed toward southern Indiana/Louisville and we wanted to get home before the storm hit.

We got home early afternoon. And it was cold! Very cold! We got out of the truck and wondered why we came home!

We had an uneventful Monday night, with temperatures dropping and sleet.

Tuesday was snow and dropping temperatures with occasional icy rain and sleet.

Tuesday night, late, we lost power. I know this because we awoke to a very chilly bedroom.

We bundled ourselves up, lit some candles, found the flashlights and wondered what we were going to do next. Just how bad was this going to get?

At about 5:30 a.m. Rick drove down the road to get some coffee and to get an idea of what were in for. He comes home with a thermas full of coffee and some interesting information. The only store/station open is our little Marathon station that sits in the middle of Georgetown. Everything and everyone was without power. Everywhere. Huge trees were down and blocking the road. Limbs were snapped off and hanging on power lines.

At about noon we started calling friends and found one who had heat and power. They had room for us. So off to the Kelly house we go. Turns out Mary (mom) is in Washington state, so we kids snuggled in for the day. By kids I mean me and Rick, Erin and her son Jack and daughter Maresa, Kevin and Tina. More were expected to arrive by evening. Erin made a pot of potato soup. Rick took Erin's kerosene heater and headed home - our main concern was freezing pipes. We still had water, but the house was getting colder and without some heat source we knew we were in for trouble.

Rick calls at about 4 p.m. - hey, we have power! Yeah! Now, we're in a different county than Erin, Kevin and the rest. It seems that still today Erin and Kevin and all are staying at the Kelly place.

Louisville, KY still has 174,000 households without power.

Ice is caked on electric lines, weighing down trees, coating fences. At least 1/2 inch thick and in some areas a good 3/4 inch thick. We're losing trees left and right - large limbs are snapping with great force and crashing into roofs, onto power lines, onto vehicles.

For those who remember the blizzard of 77-78, this is much worse. Much worse because it is cold and icy and affecting many more people. Today alone 3 people in Louisville died from carbon monoxide poisoning - they didn't have the gas generator vented correctly. The death count is up to 10.

Yes, we're very glad we have power and heat. If it wasn't for the fear of frozen pipes we would head back to Florida and crash at his sister's place, again :)