the .: fyr :. light

I seriously don’t know where to begin to tell you all about this past week. To say it has been interesting is FAR too understated. To say it’s been hectic is understating it a little too. Exciting? Ya.

Alright, I shall take away the suspense and say that this past week we have spent most of it under cover of an ice storm the likes of which this state (Kentucky) has never seen. Kentuckians tell me that the state has never had to deal with this kind of ice storm ever. And I was here for the record breaking event. Lucky me.

It started with the icing over on Monday evening. By nightfall all the snow out there had turned to ice and more ice (or freezing rain) was falling by the minute. I spent ALL of Monday night listening to the tree outside our bedroom crack and break apart piece by piece and quell the worry that it might fall on the house. It was far enough away from it to not cause any damage, but still …. it is unnerving to hear “craaaaaack” and then “rustle, rustle, boom” as the branches fell to the ground.

We had heard some of the trees in the little forest behind our neighbourhood doing the same thing the night before, and hubby had told me not to worry because it was just the ice causing the trees to bend and break. Of course, it took me a minute to realize that indeed, ice can be that dangerous. But seriously, it wasn’t until Tuesday morning that I realized JUST how serious it could be.

I don’t even remember what woke us at 5am, but we decided to move the car and the truck down the driveway so that the car was out from under the tree I usually park under. If the trees are breaking apart, then we probably need to ensure the car is safe from falling branches and ice.

Ah yes, I remember what woke us now – phone call from hubby’s work colleague saying that “all hell has broken loose on Fort Knox” … apparently, so much damage had been done that one housing area was completely cut off from the rest of the post due to trees fallen across the road and power/cable lines.  Soon after we had got the car and the truck to safety, hubby got another call that ALL of his section were to report in to work because indeed all hell had broken loose.

Just then, our power went out in a blaze of blue, exploding tranformer glory. Just before he left, hubby reminded me to start bulking up from now since the house would start to get cold before long. So I donned 3 layers of clothes and brought out all my blankets and piled them on the couch in the living room. I closed ALL the doors except the kittehs’ room door, plugged out all the computer equipment, and settled down to chill in front of the living room window all day with my kindle, magazines, camera and Nala.

Well, it got bad pretty fast. Trees falling all around. Laden with the frozen remnants of the icy rain from all through the night, added to that from the day before had the branches bowing under the weight. At a little after lunchtime, hubby came home with a couple of his work colleagues and they were telling me all about what it was like out there. I SO wanted to go out and see, so they had me go along … I got some picts of the damage, and it reminded so much of post-hurricane vistas that I kinda smiled to myself. I mean, setting aside the cold factor, I was aptly prep’d for this sort of thing.

Anyway, turns out power was not to be had that day and so we took the offer extended by hubby’s supervisor to stay with them in their still-powered home until our power was restored. That turned out to be the next day, luckily. Because when we came home to check on the kittehs, the house was getting pretty cold and I was worried we would need to find some way of heating the house for them by nightfall.

Anyway, poor old Radcliff was out for the rest of the week tho. Each time I’d drive into town, there would still be large pockets of darkness – including the offices where I was to be working all last week. So I stayed in yesterday and today.

Frankly, I am amazed. This is like THE worst storm of the century for Kentucky. And what’s worse is that it showed so clearly. People had NO idea what to do, what to expect, how to act, where to go …. sad.

Anyway, it seems life has returned to normal – the crews were out with their electric saws today, sawing the larger branches down to a manageable size. And I am scheduled to work again this week. Well, should have been today, but I kind of found out a bit late. So tomorrow it is.

/sigh

Never a dull moment for me, eh?

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