Two lane roads reduced to one slick side with trees down on each side.
The two lane road in back of my house.....same thing...down to one lane...with numerous trees down.
Well....what a couple of weeks....I was diligently working on all my parents stuff in that PODS unit on the driveway....and gettin' a little crazy with dealing day in and day out with stuff....WHEN....we had rain that turned to ice which turned to snow.
That's a big no no in the South....we aren't equipped....most folks don't know how to drive on it....and our trees and vegetation aren't suited to this type of abuse...and they get their revenge on us by falling over and talking out the power.
Which is exactly what happened. Xmas day....we were lucky....we ate a nice warm breakfast....but the snow piling up outside and the weatherman shouting about "historic" snowfall gave everyone a bad feeling. ( We actually thought of starting a drinking game based on the idea that every time the weatherman said it was a "historic" snowfall we had to chug a lug.)
Little by little....the TV was filled with local broadcasts of trees falling down and transformers blowing up. Since we live in a relatively new development in our city down South our utilities are underground. This has saved us during many a weather crisis. But by evening of Xmas day.....our lights started blinking. We ate dinner early....to make sure we could have a warm dinner.....and watched a DVD....but each time the power blinked....our first thought was "Oh No....are we next?"
Shortly after midnight...with the power and heat still on....we saw a bluish flash outside.....There's a huge transformer station about a mile away....and pooof! there went the power. Geez...it gets cold quickly....outside temps were about 25 degrees and the heat didn't stay around too long.
But hub and I didn't get to freeze in the house too long...because by morning I got sick....very sick.....and said to my hub....."I think I need to go to the ER".....which was, of course, not an easy task....since there was about 8 inches of snow/ice on very iffy roads....plus we live on top of a small hill in a hilly area of town.
But....we bravely hopped into the Subaru....and made it to the ER....where after an 9 hour wait...I was given three shots plus antibiotics to go home on. By now it was dark.....everything had frozen over again....so we had a rather slow and wild ride home. But we were able to get up our hill....and I immediately crashed into bed. Fortunately our power came back on...I think if I had to stay in a frozen house....we would have had to pack up and head a couple hours out of town to find a hotel (they were all packed in the city) so I could keep warm.
As the ice somewhat melted over the next few days....we could see the damage to our own leafy environment.....one massive pine tree down which fortunately fell onto the street versus the house....two beautiful evergreens split in half...and several other trees in need of help. Sad....I love the greenness of our landscape and the abundance of plants but they really took a hit.
So New Years Eve...found me with a toe mending from a break....a serious infection finally waning....a broken landscape....boxes that I couldn't attend to sitting in my kitchen.....and a prohibition against alcohol... till I'm off my antibiotics .....that's a lot of Snickety events in a few short weeks.
But it could have been worse...I have friends that have gone with power for 6 days....(and almost lost their minds).....I see other homes where tree damage is worse.....I wasn't hospitalized....the kids are okay......the dogs settled down (they went berserk during the ice and snow storm for some reason)...and in the next day or two...we will send out our holiday cards....I'll start my resolutions a little later.....and I'll make myself a BIG drink to toast the December of Unfortunate Events....now all ...thankfully.....gone.
