Winter Wonderland.... NOT

We got an ice storm Thursday into Friday a.m. that left 1" of ice on our trees and lines and now our house looks like a disaster zone. We heard trees snapping and saw transformers blow during the night, but we didn't realize just how much damage there was. We lost many trees in our yard including the one that came down on Tim's box truck. (no damage) The worst was not being able to get anywhere, and not knowing how our community-at-large fared. The Batchelder's came over but had to use a chain saw to get down the road. Our neighbor from down the street came to get some wood but needed to go into Windham and come back because there were 2 roads closed due to trees being across them.

Very few people in Derry have power at all. The restuarants are full of people trying to get warm and something to eat. There is a high of 30 degrees here today with a gusty wind. We have a generator and a very good friend who is an electrician who came and put in a plug to be able to connect our generator to the house. We also have a wood stove. We cannot run the oven on the generator so I made dinner on the hot wood stove. It took me about 4 hours but I was able to make a chicken noodle soup and an apple crisp. We also pulled out the sterno and fondue pot and had a little mid afternoon snack. They say it will be Monday or Tuesday before we have power and the biggest problem is getting to everyone. The house has really not gotten below 63 degrees so we are fortunate. The wood stove works wonderfully and the dogs see the benefit in its heat.

We've been playing alot of games. Today, we went to Panera bread in Manchester to eat and use the computer. My parents called on Skype and everyone around us was interested to talk. :) Most of the people in there were also without power. As of this morning, 300,000 people in NH, 150,000 in MA, and 200,000 people in ME have no power. Its amazing how dependent all of your activities are on having power. I suspect there will be no school on Monday and Tuesday.

When something unexpected like this happens, you realize what you are thankful for... a warm stove, good neighbors & friends, a generator that we just bought several months ago, food in the house, and gas in the car.