Quote of the Day:
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. —Chinese Folk Saying
I really haven't had the time to get into my experiences during our ice storm last weekend. The ice storm itself, took away part of my free time, and it has been a very busy week! I posted a teaser entry last week, and now we go back in time, to Friday, April 4th, for the rest of the story:
On Friday, April 4th, the Rochester area woke to the beginnings of ice storm 2003. Some in the area had already lost power. We live well south of Rochester, and we only had concerns with getting into our frozen-over car, and "ice skating" the car down the driveway. The trees were already showing signs of the weight of the ice.
This storm was no where near the magnitude of the ice storm 12 years ago, and most businesses were still open, although some schools closed.
Everything was coated in ice. The car, the fields, the trees, the power lines....
On the way to work, we observed geese flying south, probably a little preterbed that winter was still here in April!
The further north we drove, the more ice-covered trees we saw.
The power was already out in Bushnell's Basin, and the traffic lights were not working.
The heat and the overhead lights were not working at work, but the wall outlets were working. Someone was extremely nice, and had a desklamp and portable heater already lighting and warming my little space.
Several people had taken the day off because they were already without power or their kids didn't have school. Nick was one of us brave ones that survived the freezing temperatures. (Atually, it was about 58 degrees in the building, not quite freezing, but cold enough.) I don't think the toaster on his desk was for a heat source.
Terry was there, too.
..and Dave...
...and Stefani...
and me, of course. I didn't take a picture of myself, just my view from where I sit. You'll notice that I had candles burning, and one is in the picture. I found out later that was a big no-no.
There were others there, too, but for the most part, the parking lot was empty.
I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this is a robin. Probably, a very cold robin.
Everything was coated in ice outside of work.
Most of the businesses around us closed early.
These parking lots are generally overflowing with vehicles.
Eventually, people started leaving early where we work too.
A few of us stayed around until 5:30 p.m.
By the time I left, the coating of ice was much thicker.
Some bushes even began to look a little scary.
Where my son is living, the branches were so heavy, they wouldn't let us in the driveway.
We eventually squeezed in, and it was sort of like going through an automatic frozen car wash.
We came home and stood out on the porch, listening to tree limbs crash repeatedly. The winds had picked up and the noises were eerie.
We could tell by the bushes near the porch that the ice had gotten significantly heavier.
I'm sure if had been daytime and sunny, the trees would have glistened like diamonds.
One limb snapped after another, but fortunately, none hit the house or the cars. (Fortunately, my car was in for repairs, so it wasn't even at the house.)
We watched as all the power went out at the house across the street. We went in and a few minutes later we were in the darkness too.
So we lit candles, found the sleeping bags, the battery operated radio, and eventually went to bed listening to the sounds of ice coated tree branches falling.
For more stories and pictures of the Rochester ice storm , visist Stefani's journal. (Best viewed in Internet Explorer)
Thanks for reading!
Ann Marie
Graphics by Doris Ann