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When I woke up in the morning of Thursday, December 11, I had no idea how much the next 11 1/2 days were going to suck. The day was mild and overcast, with rain for most of the afternoon. Thursday evening brought colder temperatures and more rain...now freezing rain and sleet. I knew we would probably lose power as the bad weather had truly progressed into an ice storm but I had no idea of the severity.

Transformers began blowing across the street on the lines and I could hear fire trucks coming out. I finally decided just to go to bed. I awoke Friday morning to a cold house, but the day itself was sunny and bright. Looking out the window was like looking at an alien landscape, one where trees and shrubs were made of white glass and crystal. It really was pretty spectacular and the beauty was the sole bright spot (like, really bright :)) of the storm. We went out for a drive and our jaws dropped. New England does have some chilly weather and of course this wasn't the first ice storm I had ever seen...but I had *never* seen damage like this. Streetlights and telephone poles snapped in half and trees laying across yards. We had to make several detours as streets were blocked off due to trees laying in the road.

We decided it would be safer to just be home and assumed the city and power company would be around at some point to clean up...because that's what they are supposed to do, right? Right? Wrong! Crews didn't come out until several days later and one road was blocked off until the following Tuesday when National Guard crews began cleaning up some of the trees. It was difficult to get news as no stores were open to buy newspapers or even batteries for my radio, but we just kept hoping the power would be back soon. By the time a week had passed I was pretty fed up. The weather had warmed up for a bit, but gotten colder again and the nights were just horrible. Sitting in a dark room with just a few candles and wrapped in sweaters and blankets because the indoor temperature was just about 38 degrees. I was terrified the pipes would freeze and left a trickle of water running in both the bathroom and the kitchen. Luckily, we have a gas stove, so even though the pilot light was out, we could light the stove top burners with matches and were able to heat up water to wash our hands and stuff, make tea and coffee and heat up soup.

With the temperature fluctuations, of course everything in the refrigerator and freezer spoiled, including the food I had planned to cook on Christmas. The funny part is that I am kind of a Scrooge regarding holidays, bu this year I was looking forward to having a tree and a nice holiday dinner, but after this crap I just didn't have the heart to get a tree. While I could decorate it, a big part of the appeal of a Christmas tree (for me) is all the festive lights.

Mark insisted that I stay in a motel for a few days because even with Motrin, the pain in my joints was getting really bad. Plus, I was crabby because there wasn't any hot water to bathe with. My hair was looking pretty funknasty.

The motel was ok, but I felt really bad about leaving Mark at the house. He stayed because we have 3 cats and a dog and someone needed to be there to take care of them. My cat Murray is diabetic now and needs insulin shots twice a day, plus poor old Dillon just can't be left alone.

After a few days at the motel (I brought my laptop and made a bunch of armor and a few spells for DS1) I just couldn't stay any longer. It was just too expensive and I simply needed to be home. This was on Monday, December 22...ELEVEN days after this storm hit. That evening they finally got our power turned on. The governor called for an investigation into the utility company and everyone from the customers to state and city representatives was bitching at them. Ironically enough, the company that got my town up and running again wasn't even our own utility company but one called National Grid. They service people in the neighboring town and *they* had power back after two or three days ... some never even lost it at all. There aren't a lot of choices in utility companies around here, but I am looking into changing over to them. *shrug*

Well, that's my tale of woe. While the company didn't really steal my Christmas, events really put a damper on things. I sat around in my pajamas most of the day on Christmas and drank tons of coffee. Bah Humbug.

Happy jittery New Year!