Ice Storm

Last week a storm came through North Carolina and dropped a giant sheet of ice onto the state. by the time it stopped raining there was 1/2 inch thick ice covering everything. So, naturally, all the trees everywhere fell and knocked out the power. Friday morning at 7am I woke up and Mike informed me that the power had gone out. I didn’t panic that day. I figured it was temporary and if I didn’t open the fridge or freezer too much we’d be alright for a few hours until it came back on (ha!).

It did not come back that day, or the day after, or the day after.

Friday: Mike went to work even though I objected loudly. The thought of him driving to work 30 minutes away with ice on the ground was not something that I was very happy about. But the ice turned to snow in Greensboro so he made it there okay (I know this because I made him text me the minute he got to work). Adam and I hung out all day inside listening to tree branches snap (I’m thinking maybe an Ent war broke out that day, but I could be mistaken) (Look it up). I’d look outside and see the ice flying as another branch succumbed to the heavy ice and broke off. We were a lot luckier than some people in our neighborhood. Only one huge limb fell off in our backyard, and the woods are far enough away from the house that we didn’t have to worry about anything falling on our house.

Later that night when Mike got home I was suffering from a severe case of cabin fever and the storm had passed, so we all got in the car and drove to a Mexican restaurant about 10 miles away. Driving through the neighborhood was like touring a disaster zone. More than one street was blocked by trees that had come out by the roots. One house had a tree fall right on the roof. As we went on we saw a huge section of power lines that were taken down by a tree. Looking at that it was clear that our power was not going to come on anytime soon.

So we enjoyed the electricity and the amazing tacos, Adam checked out Dory and Nemo, and we came home.

Saturday: When we realized the power lines were down for the count, we decided to take up Mike’s dad on his offer to let us borrow his generator. It was a beautiful day, so we met him halfway at a pizza place to pick it up. After lunch (where Adam decided pizza crust is amazing and he ate two of them) we went to get frozen yogurt and hang out in the sun. Adam saw a fountain nearby and took off to see what it was all about.

Don’t worry, Mike was right behind him.

That pink spoon, by the way, is Adam’s new big boy spoon. He was refusing to eat off of the soft baby spoons, so I offered him some yogurt from that spoon and he ate a whole cup.

Sunday: Power was still down and it was another beautiful day, so we sprinted out of the house again. Mike got a new hiking carrier that he wanted to try out so we packed up and headed to Greensboro. We figured with all the rain that any dirt trails would be a mess, but we weren’t expecting to see the paved trails looking like this:

Mike hiked with Adam on his back and I ran. Or, tried to run anyway. It felt more like an audition for American Gladiators than a run. There were down trees everywhere. Some were easy enough to get around, but some I had to jump over, then under, then go off road just to get around them. It was a great time though. Adam seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Okay he looks a bit skeptical there but I swear he had a good time!

Kronk I’m getting tired! Pull over! (Look it up)

Monday: Our fourth day without power. We were still using the generator to power our fridge, but kept lights off and used the TV sparingly. We could not use our washer and dryer at all, however, and Adam’s cloth diapers were getting pretty scary. Friday had been laundry day, which was cancelled because Mother Nature is mean like that, so were were on day six of dirty diapers being in the pail. Bring on friends with power!! My friends Shelly and Dale let me come over with a load of clothes and diapers to wash at their house. It was pretty awesome actually. I got some clean clothes and we all hung out and had a play date. Their son, Joel, is eight weeks older than Adam and he is the sweetest little thing.

The boys played, the grownups talked and hung out, and we all had a really good afternoon. Especially Adam, who brought out this little trick:

Oh yeah, the lid was ON when I put that container on the ground. He crawled over, ripped it off with his teeth and went to town. Later that day he did the same thing, except he wasn’t interested in eating. Instead he suddenly had the urge to chew on the BOTTOM of the container and dumped puffs in a giant heap on the floor. Love this kid.

Finally that night, as we were putting Adam to bed, Mike looked out the window and saw the street lights had come on! We kept our lights off though, and watched TV by candlelight one more time.

So thanks to Grandpa Rick’s generator, the whole ordeal wasn’t that bad. Our meat didn’t spoil and we got out of the house and had some family time. That doesn’t mean I want to go all Pioneer Woman or anything. Oh no, this whole thing proved to me that I am and always will be a city mouse.