Ice Storm, 2009 Edition

The kids have been off school all week, won't be gong back until Monday at the earliest. Really, it's been nice to have an 'extra' vacation... but they can seriously go back to school now. Mama would like her sanity break, thanks. :-)
Monday we didn't have a lot of snow or ice, but it was cold enough that school was canceled. We live in the city - not a district that normally cancels school - there are a lot of kids who walk to school since they're close to home. (Our elementary is only 1/2 mile away, we walk whenever we can.) Monday night and Tuesday we had freezing rain and sleet, and some places and homes lost power. Even Poseidon only went into work for a few hours because the word from higher-ups was to close early. Black ice everywhere, media saying to stay inside unless you absolutely had to go out, the city's emergency services were called out 155 times in less than 12 hours - it was just nasty.
Yesterday I finally went and took some pictures. It was looking very much like the ice storm we had here in 2003, when I was pregnant with Miss Hurricane. We lost power that year but have been lucky this time (in a different house). We're both kind of surprised that we haven't lost power though...

here's our backyard. That's a Dogwood branch laying on the electric and phone lines:


Close up, you can see the Boy's swing:


For fun, I took a picture of our garbage can. Should have stuck a ruler in it, but it's almost 2 inches of snow. I found out today that it was on top of almost an inch of ice:


Our neighbour across the street lost a few big branches. We heard the biggest one fall, and were thankful that his car wasn't parked in its usual spot - right where it fell:


So, since we've been inside all week, the kids (mainly Boy) have been playing Rock Band. We have a new little headbanger in our house :D



I am so ready for the thaw. Which isn't expected for at least a few more days. Enough with the snow, bring on the sand . . . .

I took advantage of being stuck inside and cleaned out some of my fabric stash. I'm trying to cut myself back to fabric I'll actually use. I have taken one box and cut it in half so far, and I have about 3 to go. I did find the floor of my closet! That counts as progress you know :-) Once I get through all the fabric, I already see an ugly blanket forming. Okay, not so much "ugly" as "incredibly mismatched". Hey, as long as it's warm, that's all that matters, right? Right.

That's all for now - I hear the dryer beeping at me and have a few more loads to finish (again - is it ever done?). I've already laid out salmon steaks for dinner and will need to start the rice soon. Have a great week :-)

~Amphitrite