We did not have school today, due to a pretty bad ice storm. We lost power last night about 9. My littlest one and I were at church, rehearsing for our Revels play. After that was over, I went to catch the last act of “Christmas Carol.” I came home to the rest of my family, reading by candlelight and HOPING for a snow day.
I never knew how much I needed a break! I feel guilty, because MANY folks (us included) lost power and had damage to their homes from falling tree limbs (thankfully, NOT us). Even though that is all bad, today’s “snow day” (really an ICE day) was a gift in disguise. I am so grateful for this day, to hang out with my family and to catch up on my work.
For the first part of the day, we all hung out in the kitchen, playing games and talking. I don’t want to lose electricity (I LOVE electricity), but once in a while, like this, it’s interesting and sort of fun. We had nothing else to do but hang out. We talked about lots of things, including what we are grateful for and how we take things for granted.
During the morning, at my husband’s suggestion, we decided to take a walk, to see if we’d lost any trees and to see what the neighborhood looked like. We have, indeed, lost some tree limbs, but no big deal. However, we were shocked to see some of our other neighbors were not so lucky. Two houses down, two trees had fallen on our neighbors’ home.
Our neighbors' house hit by a tree.
People were driving by, stunned, stopping to take pictures. The news even came. But the bigger deal lay ahead…
Other neighbors' home, tree goes through roof, one.
You can see what is left of the pine tree jutting “out” from the gray house, pointing toward the yellow house. Our oldest daughter has a friend who lives there. When we walked up, her dad was standing in the driveway, talking to other neighbors. We were shocked by the damage. When we saw this next picture, and heard what he had to say, we were horrified.
Our neighbors' house, two.
What you are looking at is a branch of a tree that went straight THROUGH the roof. You can see the chimney is destroyed. The dad said the branch spiked through and came within three INCHES of his daughter’s head, that the branch is still impaled in her headboard. Gulp. Thankfully, she is ok, as is everyone else in the house.
As we were standing there, hearing this, trees were cracking, breaking and falling all around us. He said, “If you all really have to be walking out in this, you’d best keep your wits about you.” I said, “I think it’s time to be going home!” And we did.
In the midst of this, one of my Girl Scout co-leaders called to tell me that one of our girl’s dad died yesterday. He had a heart attack on the highway while driving home and hit a snow plow. I can’t believe it. Such a weird world. This is the second girl to lose her father in our troop in the last year. My heart goes out to this child and her family.
I am thankful right now for our health and safety. Oh, and the power came back on too. Be safe out there, everyone!
Another tree down.
Trees down over power lines.
Too many downed trees to count.
