USVI-On-Line

we will be wheels up in 22 days. after this last week, hubby and i need this vacation more than ever.

we live in southern nh and have been without power... today being day 6.

this ice storm was one of the scariest storms ever. listening to the trees snap in half (sound like a gunshot) and fall (sound like breaking glass) all night thursday night was absolutely surreal. we were suddenly very happy that we dumped $5k into have menacing trees taken down just a few months ago. there still was the chance that a healthy tree could fall on the house (there was a lot of freakin' ice) but we were lucky that night. the neighborhood looked and still looks like a war zone. trees down, power lines down- we have one hanging over our driveway.

because of the ice, we lost power thurs pm/fri in the wee hours thus causing our basement to flood (no power for sump pump). we were then without power all day friday but were lucky enough to get a generator friday evening and hooked up the basics- furnace, sump pump, a few outlets. fridge was not one of the outlets so food went onto the porch.

our families in the area either never lost power or got it back over the weekend so we've been doing laundry and showering at their houses.

then last night, generator crapped out and we were left in the dark and cold and having to drain the sump pump well with buckets every 4 hours to avoid another flood.

new generator this am (cross our fingers this one keeps working) but we may still be without power until the weekend.

hubby has a dog business and has had to cancel 3 days of work due to no heat, flooded basement etc. we also rented a generator fri-mon so we are out $330 (the larger, free, generator is the one that crapped out last night- another learned lesson about being greedy). i have no idea how much has been spent of gas for the generators but at least those prices are pretty low lately. and, of course, we bought a lot of water at the outset of this.

lessons learned?

1. purchase and hardwire generator to house!

2. never throw away empty jugs of water thinnking that you'll only be without power for a few days at most.

3. fill bath tub with water the night before a predicted ice storm.

4. move to a warmer climate if possible.

5. rememeber to not forget that the sump pump doesn't work without electricity and the well needs to be emptied while power is out.

6. use your fireplace regulary and have the chimney checked every fall. we haven't used our in 2 years and couldn't risk a freakin chimney fire on top of everyhting else.

7. bucket flushing is not fun. i hope you don't have to do this.

aaahhh, st john soon come!!!!

Sorry to hear you guys didn't fare so well thru this last storm. I live in Pepperell, and own a business in Nashua. I never lost power at either place (very lucky). All my employees lost power, half of the street where my business is (Broad St) was out, but we stayed on. And the roads from home to work were like a war zone. I have seen some bad ice storms, but the tree damage was unbelievable.

Of course all in time for the snow we just got today!! Just think in 3 weeks you will forget all about the cold & snow here locally. I have to wait 185 more days!!

Stay warm neighbor!! You'll be there soon........

That is awful. I hope you get your power back soon! In some towns, school is already cancelled through January. My inlaws got their power back yesterday. Still no cable or phone, but at least they have heat.

Have a wonderful, WARM trip!

thanks guys. we are hoping for power tonight but we are not counting on it. they are making repairs right now that help the most amount of people in the shortst amount of time... weather permitting.

there are only 50 houses still out in our town, only 1% of the population served, and other towns have much higher need. i hope they don't forget about us.

this has never happened to us in our house. and, now that we plan to invest in our own generator, it probably never will again! so we are actually jinxing ourselves for good!

Lysa, That sounds horrible! I feel so badly for you guys. They are predicting an ice storm here Thursday night. Hopefully, it won't be as bad as yours but I think I'll started prayin' just in case.

I hope you get your power on soon and I'm sure you're looking forward to your trip to St John more than ever now.

We were fortunate to only lose our power for 24 hours (during the ice storm of '98 it was 4 days). My brother who lives just outside Concord got his power on late yesterday afternoon and he commented in an email this morning that the area of the job site he's working at in Southeastern NH looks like a war zone, same words you used.

We invested in a generator last year and it's one of the best investments we've made even though it only gets used a few times a year and we have a gas woodstove (with the fake logs) so we always have backup heat...we had a real woodstove during the '98 ice storm so we had backup heat back then also but I'll never forget the importance of having it after that storm which is why we got the gas stove after getting rid of our woodstove.

Lysa....

#8 Thank god that you are alright.

I saw this on the news and it was unbelievable.

I'm glad you're ok and that you will be in STJ soon.

Take care!

posted my new england without power before reading your post

LysaC hope your power is back soon--that was one hell of a storm--my dad was on the border of it so only had rain, but just a few miles away all was chaos!

hope things improve rapidly--and that you can star looking forward to your trip!!!

I knew we had some folks in that area but I couldn't think of who it might be. Lysa I hope things get back on track for you soon.
Good thing you made those vacation plans

I see the power outage numbers decrease daily, but it is unbelievable how many are still in the dark after almost a week. I don't ever remember anything like this - even the blizzard of '78 power was restored to most places very quickly.

I hope you get it back on before the storms hit this weekend. Lucky for you to have St. John on the near horizon.

Power - soon come!

No power yet .

But, we were lucky to have our generator replaced yesterday with one that works so we were warm last night and hubby can take day care dogs today. Yay!

There are so many other people with needs greater than ours. I don't know how they are holding up. Many schools are now closed until after New Years so people are having to stay home from work with kids who are usually in school. Generators being stolen from yards over night while people sleep. Empty houses are being broken into while homeowners stay with relatives who have power. Ugh.

And on top of it, we are getting 6-12 inches of snow tomorrow then another storm on Sunday.

Hubby and I are exhausted.

I think you have earned some time in St. John. That is horrible!!

It is really sad that people are stealing generators. I bet if they would have knocked on the door the people inside would have given them all the help they could. It is times like this that you get to know your neighbor.

I am glad it is a little better for you. It is very scary! We have been in ice storms in the midwest but I never heard a tree snap!!

Gina

As bad as we all need a vacation after these storms I bet those linemen who work around the clock for days on end to get the power back on for all of us could use a little time off with their families as well. We should all give them a big thank you for their efforts.

Fun you say that, The linemen are like heros around here, crew for Canada and Maryland in my town ,everyone waits at lights so whole crew can stay together.

NH still has 46k without power and 8-12" snow due Friday afternoon