Friday December 12th we woke up to a huge mess in New Hampshire. The biggest ice storm in the state's history. And I flunked Basic Storm Preperation 101. Usually when we have a storm coming I fill the tub up. Forgot to do that. But we learned something valuable: We have town water which means even without electricity we can flush. Sorry, TMI, but gotta tell ya, after the last 5 days, I'm not concerned.
So, anyway, we had no electricity when we woke. Which meant no heat. Being the troopers that we are, though, we spent the first three nights at home, hoping and longing for electricity. My work, which is down the street from me, was also out of power as was pretty much every town in the state. We had a tree outside our house, a very tall pine, leaning dangerously in either our direction or that of our neighbors.
My kids didn't want to be anywhere near the house, so we took a drive to see just what had happened. Wow, branches, trees, wires down everywhere. Such devastation and we weren't the hardest hit in our area.
e took a drive to the closest town that had electricity. I only had my cell phone camera, but I took some pictures along the way.
Of course there was hardly any road crews out at that time so we were weaving in and around trees and branches and wires.
We spent our days in the town with the electricity, spending money on groceries and fast food because we couldn't cook. We ate chips and crackers and drank water at night while huddling under blankets and listening to the scanner to see what was going on out in the world. My mom was in the same boat, but she has a gas stove so she was able to at least cook food. Here's a little of what her place looks like
The backyard looks worse. By Sunday night we couldn't stand any more. We managed, through sheer luck, to get a hotel room half an hour away (after being on a wait list) so we bailed. We only had one night there (which we savored with hot showers and comfortable, warm beds), but we had a guardian angel on our side and she found us three more nights at another hotel. Power came on Tuesday morning. but we're still feeling the effects of this. My mother is still without power, but there's a traveling generator in her neighborhood and it's her turn to have it, so they're thawing her frozen pipes and warming up the house. My sister in law will probably be without power for another 2-3 weeks, my father in law is in the same boat, but both have generators. Unfortunately my FIL had a close call with a chimney fire on Saturday, but there was no damage. I'm back at work, trying to catch up on three missed days of our busiest time of the year. I don't think we'll recover easily but I'm hoping our customers will be understanding. Unfortunately my company won't pay us for the time missed, but if we have vacation time (which I don't) we can use that. With all the food we had to throw away, the food we had to buy to replace it, the meals out, the hotels and now missing three days of work, it's not going to be a very Merry Christmas. I'm trying to be positive and reflect on one of my most favorite Christmas shows.
I must say, it's nice to be back to quasi normal. But the kids are still out of school. The middle school has been used for the town shelter. Some schools are going to stay closed until after Christmas break. And a lot of people are suffering with other losses. Keep them in your thoughts.
Location: Southwestern, New Hampshire, United States
I'm 44 year old mom of 3. I work as a customer service rep for a publishing company, and I write. I have five published novels and working on adding to that.
THAT KIND OF MAGIC--AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 17,2010
What's a witch to do when she refuses to use magic to find love? Beautiful Wiccan Charlotte Noone has a shop for magical supplies and a goddess who's pushing her to find the man of her dreams. When Patrick Riordan, a straight-laced non-believer enters her life, Charlotte falls madly in lust with him. Despite their very different lives, neither can stop the erotic journey they’ve embarked on, but will it be enough to break through their barriers so they can accept that love itself is magical?.
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The flushing thing? Seriously the worst part of no power for me.