December Ice Storm, Day 3

We had a breakfast of bacon and eggs. We were still able to cook on our gas stove top. I found it easy to find things to give thanks for during this deal. Praise God for a gas stove.

Oh -- but it was a sad day. My sister Becky and her daughters Julia (4) and Sophia (9m) are leaving. Of course I act like my dad and pull out the tripod! °Ü° I tell ya -- it's genetic.

Before they left, I braided sweet Julia's hair. Too bad I didn't do anything to my hair before this photo. YUCK. Oh well. Angela -- ya like Wayne's shirt? Funny... we aren't really Iowa Fans... but we have these shirts. So -- we wear them. Especially on Day 3. The boys were digging shirts out of their dirty clothes basket. I think Day 2 was their laundry day... so -- dirty clothes it was. Actually... they could have started wearing church clothes. But they preferred dirty clothes over church clothes. LOL



Julia has on "tie dyed" socks. (Mis matched socks). Her parents are so creative. She has inherited some of their creative genes, I think. That girl is so cute. She plays and plays and plays. I'm so proud of her for never complaining about not having anything to do -- with no TV or computer. She was a blessing to have around. We can't wait until she comes again for another visit!

We still did not have any power on this day. But Becky had to get home... she was going to pick up her dear husband at the airport the next day. He had left home for a 2 week class. That's why she came a visiting. We were her distraction. Hooray!! I love being a distraction. My dear husband said she was free to come and stay every time he had a 2 week class. YEAH!! I love my dear husband. Ü



After they left the kiddos and I piled into the 4-wheel drive truck and went to town. The generator need 5 gallons of gas every 8 hours. So -- I needed to refill our containers. We took back our library books and picked out some more. Got some pizza hut personal pans that they earned through the "book-it" program, and picked up some $1 double cheese burgers from McDonald's to finish off the meal. Funny - McDonald's has power.

As we drove around we were in awe of the beauty of the ice. Some damage was done. This is the fence that goes around the graveyard by the little church down the road from us. I think that was the only damage we saw. Well -- besides the power lines.

This is our neighbors wire fence.

The offending power line that was down to our house.

After our trip to town -- which probably took longer than it should have, because I was taking pictures like crazy -- we came home. I refueled the generator and then -- I took a nap. Ü

That evening we had grilled chicken. Just about the only thing we couldn't have had was a casserole -- because we didn't use the oven. Becky and I kept marveling over the fact that it almost seemed normal. That was due to the fact that my dear husband wanted to make us so comfortable. He really did a great job with that. We had hot water to shower with, a stove to use, a warm house, lamps to clean by.

I didn't really clean my house this whole time -- no vacuuming... but we did straighten every once in a while.

This night I made a trip to my brother-in-law's shop to pick up a plug. My husband was going to fix the generator so that it would go directly into the "box". Don't ask me the official name. But he could flip those switches and turn stuff OFF that we didn't want on, and then we wouldn't have extension cords running all over the house. You could plug the appliances into the wall. So then his sleep apnea machine could plug into the wall in the bedroom. He also turned on the bathroom lights, but not the wall outlets. He was could be selective on what he would turn on.

As I was driving home, I saw the knights in shining armor out and about. In the dark cold nights the Mid American Energy and all their men who traveled from other cities and states were out fixing the down power lines. As I pulled into our country road from the highway, there was a truck working on the power line closest to our house. I told Dan, "Perhaps we'll have power in the morning."

I was right. When Dan got up to go to work, he said our pole light was on outside. It's over -- all but the story telling. 3 days with no power. Thanks to an Almighty God, and a dear husband that is a great provider and protector, we endured it with relative ease.
That's the end of day 3. All we have left are the memories... well and a generator.

Tomorrow -- some random photos. (remember, if you click on the photo it will enlarge)