Alfred Day 1

I took these pictures about 1:30 on Saturday the  29th about 1:30 pm. I was on-line posting some pictures to Facebook that I had taken at a BEHS reunion the night before. (Those pics will come in later posts)

Lisa had already posted a picture that showed quite a covering of snow by the time it started here.

At 4:10pm our power went out and we didn't get it back until Thursday November 3rd at 8:20pm.

It was still light out when the power went out so Bob was able to climb through a garage window to manually release the door so we could start moving some  firewood into the living room. He had been cutting logs to precise length and splitting and stacking a supply in the garage for just such an occasion. Thanks heavens for that ! As we were bringing the wood in, we could hear branches and trees splitting so loud and so frequently that it sounded like gunfire...lots of gunfire.

We had removed the last of the potentially hazardous trees from our property last winter and the state has had crews trimming branches along the avenue on a regular basis. Still we lost much of what remained of the the lilacs along the driveway and some branches from the honeysuckle. Our neighbor's front lawn, however, was covered with branches.  Before the storm started we had had some discussion about where to park the car. (WIth the mower, snow blower, wood, garden tools and cart there is no room in the garage) and we tried to guess where the dead tree would fall ....in the end I moved it nearer the street but not under the wires.

While Bob started the fire in the fireplace, I dug out the crank flashlights and radio and the "uncandles" that have served us well in so many other power outages.  I also dug out quits and afghans., (.something we have plenty of. ).  The uncandles are glass vase-like containers of various heights, you fill them mostly with water and then add a layer of whatever vegetable oil you have around the house. Then there is a plastic float into which you insert a wick. THey are convenient and safe to use. If they should get knocked over, you just have to clean up some oil and water. No danger of a fire spreading. 

We listened to Prairie Home Companion on the crank radio and with the fire in the fireplace, the temperature in the house only dropped to 66.