I would just about die in the cold. Literally. We have frequent power outages from wind and thunderstorms, but they're usually repaired in short order and we have back-up heat for winter that doesn't require an electric thermostat.

Was it Gilda Radner who said, "It's always something."? You in the north get blizzards -- we get tornadoes when it's unseasonably warm.

The next to last long power outage here was 2 days in August in a tropical storm. DH had just had surgery and was crazy without the added aggravation, but we survived. The last one was last Friday in a thunderstorm (tornado warning nearby), and we had no power for two hours because a transformer was hit by lightning somewhere, then the power went off again the next morning and was off for several hours because of a tree on the line. Contractors are cutting limbs along the power lines this week.

I hope Nancy gets electricity restored soon, and your temperatures return to normal and that your animals are safe.

Nell

The pictures are just stunning - nature in all her beautiful fury, literally frozen in time for a bit.

I'm from coastal New England so had never seen an icestorm - ran into my first while I was traveling South researching my impending move. While a baby storm in comparison, it was very clear that two feet of snow pales in comparison to a half inch of ice. We've had a few icestorms since I've lived here and I have great respect for the weather variations.

Thanks to Memo and Midnightsmum for posting such memorable links. Now, everybody stay warm and safe!

Well we are getting a winter this year, some roads are closed anybody familiar with the island, the Malahat is closed as is the airport up here. People are being asked to stay off the roads if possible. I'm not venturing out as it was about the same time of the month in 96, same kind of conditions I slipped on ice fell and broke my ankle so I'm staying put.
The temp is in the low teens F. and it looks like the cold weather is going to stay around for awhile, more snow forecast for tomorrow, right now looking out the window jt looks like we've got about a foot of the white stuff. Most of the time we have a green Christmas with very mild temps, not this year.

Ice storms like the one Nancy referred to are absolutely horrendous, you wouldn't wish them on your worst enemy.

Annette

Hi All - my power has been on since late January 1998.

I was without power at my home for 2 weeks in early 1998. It started on the 5th or so of January. I did not have an alternate source of heat, other that electric. I pulled my gas bbq close to my back door, and every morning boiled two pots of water - one to make coffee, and one to do my bird bath. lol. What surprised me, was that as I got colder, I was also more reluctant to leave my home. My friend Sarah invited both me and my puss to come to their home, but at that time they had a kerosene heater in their kitchen and were about to illegally install an 'airtight' unit in their basement fireplace. Since my ex was helping them do this, I would have been said to be in a negative place, to object, or nay-say. I had to call a mutually dear friend to do the nay-saying. btw, the above two things are the biggest cause of deaths in ice/extreme snow storms. People try to heat with heaters that need to operate outdoors, ie: kerosene heaters, gas bbqs - they asphyxiate. Or they illegally install wood boxes in regular fireplaces. This, 1st of all, negates any fire insurance you might have. Also, it increases your risk of chimney fires, as the fire from these are much hotter, causing flue fires. I was at home, reading books by candle light, with my gloves on, and and my lovely Midnight in my crotch - sorry, that's the way it was....anyway, Sarah kicked her DH, and he got timeshare on a generator. He put in onto their High Efficiency gas furnace early every am, and then went around all day, house to house, to put heat into other homes. Because they were on city water and gas hot water heater, Sarah filled every thermos we all owned every am with coffee, cause she could put power from the generator to that plug. OK, Murray could do that. So, Sarah and I could go to work, as our offices, 15 or so minutes from home, had power. Murray spent his touring the generator around. One day, I realized that the grocery store in my mall - which still had power, mind you, had bread ovens. Now the trick here is that they had the heat anyway, they could cook my dinner - so I bought a 5 lb. lasagne, and asked them to put it into the bread oven, in time that I could take it home at 5 pm. You have to remember, that this area had almost never lost power, so had trouble relating. It was the best meal ever. sarah pulled some garlic bread out of the now freezer - the cooler on the back deck- and toasted it to go with the lasagne. We then retired, the 3 of us, to their bed upstairs(OK, minds out of the gutter), where we watched 'The Fugitive' on the TV from their cabin cruiser, with opera glasses, as it was attached to a 12V battery.

And that is how I survived that Ice Storm of '98.

Nancy.
Oh yeah, by the by - a good way to know if your freezer has been compromised: put 6 ice cubes into a small baggie. If they lose their shape, you've lost your food.

Again, btw, Nell - this is winter as we know it here. If we are not prepared, shame on us!!!

And then there are those of us who live in the lower Midwest and we get tornadoes and ice storms! Our power was out for 11 days a couple of years ago. The Ozarks was hurt so badly that we still look like a war zone when all the leaves are off the trees and the broken limbs show up against the skyline. That kind of storm will separate the men from the boys! Bless those Mississippi boys that showed up to help our power companies. How I loved to hear that accent.

Thanks, MeMo. I looked at all of the pictures, which was very good for me to do, since I had been feeling crabby about our early cold and snowy winter. As I looked at all the ice and destruction, I started feeling a whole lot better about our weather. I'll take snow and cold over that kind of ice any day!

I sure hope your house is warmer by now. For a period when I was a kid, our old farmhouse had only an oil stove in the living room for heat. When we kids woke up in the morning, we would grab our clothes and just fly downstairs to get dressed by the stove. Brrrrrr.

ThinMan

I'm sssshivering looking at the pictures. My goodness, too cold for these bones. I'll not cry anymore when we get a little frost (which just killed my brugmansia ... eeerrr!!!)

Stay warm and drink lots of Irish coffee.

Edna