Monday, February 17, 2014

Electricity is back!!!

Electricity is a wonderful thing...I just went through 80 hours without it.

Funny, it doesn't bother me to go camping and not have electricity for days...but somehow in my own house it is different.
My favorite Pepper Myrtle tree came up by the roots...
I am from Boston so I know Northerners laugh a bit at Southerners and storms but this area looks more like a tornado hit than a snowstorm.  We had ice falling from the sky for about 20 hours...then it got even colder and the trees began to fall...all night long we heard the snap and crash of the trees out in back of our house.  Tough to sleep that way...even if you are covered with 6-8 quilts and 3 cats!
This tree just brushed our house...the other side of that brick wall is my sewing room!
We are lucky that our hot water is gas and we have a gas fireplace.  The temp in the house never went below 50 degrees.  After day two the ice on the roof melted to we got all the way up to 55...liveable, but just!

 I did get a bit of exercise using my hand crank Singer...need to get an iron that isn't electric before the next black-out.

In the middle of all of this we had an earthquake...I was almost asleep when the room shook and there was a loud bang.  I was sure a tree had come down on the house!  (we just hand another smaller quake...who know they had them in South Carolina!)

Brownie spent a good bit of time hiding in any pile or bag of quilts she could find...

My front room gets lots of light during the day so I cut scraps and future projects...

Still trying to get organized after it all...just finished cleaning the refrigerator for the second time...

12 comments:

Frog Quilter said...

We were without power for 12 hours. Had the generator going but I was frozen. And then the earth quake a few nights ago. So strange.

Sherrill said...

It's been weird I think everywhere. For here in N TX, they said we've had the 9th coldest winter ever..UGH! But today was in the 70's--LOVE! We haven't had anything as bad as you guys. But we do have an areas all around here that have been experiencing lots of earthquakes. WEIRD!

Leah said...

Whew 80 hours is a long time. We lost power here for little over 30 hours. Some of our neighbors were a little longer. I sure do like the look of everything encased in ice, just wish it didn't cause so much damage to the trees. It's cool that you could use your hand cranked sewing machine while your power was out. I resorted to hand binding a few quilts. :)

Candace said...

I have been thinking about you. I had heard that Augusta got the worst of it. I live in Porterdale GA-(between Athens and Atlanta)I was lucky and never lost power. 80 hours is a long time to go without. That earthquake was freaky! We felt it where we are-though I am sure, not nearly as much. They are predicting 70 degrees for mid next week. What a bizarre winter! Take care.

Janet O. said...

Wow--80 hours and an earthquake in the bargain!!! Glad to know you are okay. Sounds like you are better off than some, with your gas water heater and fireplace, but that is still a pretty cold house for such a long time!
A hand crank Singer sounds like a nice thing to have--takes up less room than a treadle. Have you seen the butane irons from Lehman's?

Sue said...

That's a long time without electricity and can imagine it was very hard to sleep with trees crashing around you.
Well we seem to have got off light in the cotswolds this year with no snow to date. But the rain has been something else.

Chantal said...

So sorry to hear you've had a very rough patch to deal with. Your description of the event and the pictures remind me of the ice storm we had in 1998, here in Canada. No electricity for 2 weeks. The sounds the trees make when they break is so ... eery! It's been 15 years and some trees still carry the scars; they are still arching with their heads down. But at least, we didn't have an earthquake afterwards. Wow! Talk about cherry on top of the cake! Happy to hear it is (mostly) over and every one (cats included) is okay.
Now comes the de-icing :)
Chantal

Debbie said...

Glad you got thru ok. We had the snow and sleet but never lost power. Love your hand crank machine.

Tonya Ricucci said...

love those crumb blocks! I was just thinking about a self-taught quilter who doesn't do any ironing until the top is complete. Works for her, might work for you, especially on things like crumbs. So glad you all are doing better now. no more ice or storms or earthquakes!!!

AnnieO said...

That is a lot going on for one storm! Hope that's the last of Old Man Winter's rage for you folks. Love all your scrappy fun.

cityquilter grace said...

funny thing is, here we are in south portland, the site of never-ending snow and cold...and haven't lost power once this winter...no doubt because of our city locale and the fact that the huge mall is just down the street....

Sew Create It - Jane said...

I'm late to the party...but just read your post. Having lived through the ice storm in Montreal awhile back I can appreciate your experience. Hope things have thawed out by now and that things are returning to normal :o)