So, I think we could do without any more winter. Sure, the pumpkin pie was nice. The hot chocolate was warm and good. The reality of it is, winter is simply a visitor who has overstayed it's welcome.
Last week we had three days of 40 degree weather. The snow melted off the front lawn, the sun shone down on our small patch of earth, and I could feel Spring. My restlessness lifted and I could not get enough of the outdoors. I know what most of your are thinking- 40 degrees and you are outside? Well, compared to three weeks of teens and single digits. 40 degrees is Summer, comparatively speaking. I thought, surely this signifies the end of bitter cold, the end of sloppy driving conditions, the end of being cooped up indoors.
But our pal weather had another plan. The newscasters (who never blow anything out of proportion) called it "the biggest Winter event of the past five years". I don't know about that, but what happened last Saturday has certainly changed our lifestyle this week, along with many other Iowans.
It started with some freezing rain. I have never seen such stuff, but it falls, and immediately turns to ice, adhering to whatever it happens to touch (trees, road, power lines, vehicles). This lasted a few hours, and then turned into snow, which plopped on top of this already heavy ice. The other factor involved in this was how widespread this storm was, covering nearly all of Iowa.
The result of downed tree limbs and snapped power lines inhibited travel, of course, but also put nearly 200,000 Iowans out of power. At 3:00pm Saturday, we became one of the many. Unfortunately, our power company was the hardest hit, at 150,000 customers out of commission. Today, six days post-"winter event", there are still entire towns without power. We live on a dead-end road, two miles away from our nearest neighbor. Phil walked our line to see if he could tell where the power was out, and found that our lines travel down an unmaintained road, with snow drifts 4 and 5 feet high blocking passage. The line to our house is down in at least four spots on this road.
So many people were affected that we were unable to even get through to tell the company we were out of power for a day and a half. Needless to say, I think that the entire towns will get attention before we will.
We are on a well, which means our pump uses electricity to give us water. We have a fireplace, which is more than I can say for many others affected out here, but even so our house was at 55 degrees during the warm afternoons using the fireplace, two lanterns, and all of our candles (you can imagine the nights were a bit colder).
H
owever, we were doing alright. We could cook on our wood stove insert, and we just slept in the living room. Other people around us have heat and we were able to stop in and visit. But the biggest blessing was when our friends Chuck and Amanda called, and invited/insisted we were to stay with them until our house had power again. WHAT a BLESSING! They have heat, running water, and hot showers. They have two boys around Ryan's age, which means there are playmates. I don't know what to do with myself waking up in the morning to a 70 degree house!
Last week we had three days of 40 degree weather. The snow melted off the front lawn, the sun shone down on our small patch of earth, and I could feel Spring. My restlessness lifted and I could not get enough of the outdoors. I know what most of your are thinking- 40 degrees and you are outside? Well, compared to three weeks of teens and single digits. 40 degrees is Summer, comparatively speaking. I thought, surely this signifies the end of bitter cold, the end of sloppy driving conditions, the end of being cooped up indoors.
But our pal weather had another plan. The newscasters (who never blow anything out of proportion) called it "the biggest Winter event of the past five years". I don't know about that, but what happened last Saturday has certainly changed our lifestyle this week, along with many other Iowans.
It started with some freezing rain. I have never seen such stuff, but it falls, and immediately turns to ice, adhering to whatever it happens to touch (trees, road, power lines, vehicles). This lasted a few hours, and then turned into snow, which plopped on top of this already heavy ice. The other factor involved in this was how widespread this storm was, covering nearly all of Iowa.The result of downed tree limbs and snapped power lines inhibited travel, of course, but also put nearly 200,000 Iowans out of power. At 3:00pm Saturday, we became one of the many. Unfortunately, our power company was the hardest hit, at 150,000 customers out of commission. Today, six days post-"winter event", there are still entire towns without power. We live on a dead-end road, two miles away from our nearest neighbor. Phil walked our line to see if he could tell where the power was out, and found that our lines travel down an unmaintained road, with snow drifts 4 and 5 feet high blocking passage. The line to our house is down in at least four spots on this road.
So many people were affected that we were unable to even get through to tell the company we were out of power for a day and a half. Needless to say, I think that the entire towns will get attention before we will.
We are on a well, which means our pump uses electricity to give us water. We have a fireplace, which is more than I can say for many others affected out here, but even so our house was at 55 degrees during the warm afternoons using the fireplace, two lanterns, and all of our candles (you can imagine the nights were a bit colder).
H
owever, we were doing alright. We could cook on our wood stove insert, and we just slept in the living room. Other people around us have heat and we were able to stop in and visit. But the biggest blessing was when our friends Chuck and Amanda called, and invited/insisted we were to stay with them until our house had power again. WHAT a BLESSING! They have heat, running water, and hot showers. They have two boys around Ryan's age, which means there are playmates. I don't know what to do with myself waking up in the morning to a 70 degree house!Last night we went under another blizzard watch, and today we are under a blizzard warning until 6pm. More snow has dumped on top of all the previous snow, leaving us with the main interstates closed throughout the region.
Yes, this will be a "winter event" to remember.
Sonja, you can have the snow now, but you need to send me some sun in trade...
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