My Very Own Ice Storm Story

Joanna here.  What I’m doing . . .

(I bet you think this post is going to be about writing.)

(It’s not.)

Here in my mountain house we're under an inch of solid, glistening ice for four days.

Quite pretty in its way. 

But it leaves me with no power, no water, no heat, no light, no wifi, and my winding sheer-drop roads are slick as glass. I spent yesterday and the day before fussing with oil lamps and hauling firewood about and not washing.

Meanwhile. Crack! . . . another tree crashes to the foliage.  Bang! . . . a fist-sized chunk of ice hits the roof.

My dog cowers.

The cat does not deign to comer, but then, she doesn’t have to go outside.

The trees (Did I mention the trees?) are everywhere lying across the road, pulled down by the weight of the ice.

I spent a nonnegligible part of yesterday sawing trees apart with a handsaw (which I know from a hawk, which
we also have, hovering on a wimpling wing,) to drag them out of the roadway into the woods.

Today, Day Four, I still have no water, lights, heat, wifi, etc. but in exchange I have sore muscles all over. Ouch, ouch. The Electric Company has stopped promising me they will fix my little problem ‘between eight o’clock and midnight.”

Now they just say, ”everybody has problems. You have more ice than anybody else. (Which I figgered.) We’ll get to you.‘‘

The road is now passable, the trees cleared (by moi.)  I drove fearfully down mountain and into town to take a shower at the YMCA, (ahhhh,) buy a hot lunch, and find a place with a working wifi.

(The library wifi was out, but I may have found my WWR so it was not a total loss.)

What the woodstove looks like in the darkness

So now I can write this post and put it on the internet. YEAH!

Did you know I need FOUR oil lamps to read?

When there are no electric lights, the night is very dark. All the corners are filled with blackness and the candle you carry about with you is a small point of light in an overwhelming night. Who knows what’s outside that three-foot circle you can see? Vampires and ghosts and your evil Cousin Theodore who wants to kill you for your inheritance.

Also, the stalwart hero might be there. You never know.

This is the world of our historical people. Not the sparkling ballroom with three hundred beeswax candles

What four oil lamps look like in the dark which is why they call them "dim and flaring"

a la Barry Lyndon. That was a rare, special extravagance of the very rich.

Four oil lamps, just lit

What did your Middling Regency person get?
A warm kitchen with everyone around the table or the little front room and four or seven candles grouped close next to the dramatic reader who’s keeping you on the edge of your seat with Oliver Twist or Tom Jones. You, over to one side, get enough light for knitting. Only just. Or light to see what cards you're holding as you take down Aunt Edith at whist.

It is better to light just one little candle than to curse the darkness, of course, but it is even better to light LOTS of little candles and you can curse the darkness all you want once you see where you’re going.

 

So. What’s your best “roughing it with no electricity” story?

Comments

[Mary T]

Oh you poor thing. I have nothing that compares. I've never been without electricity for more than 24 hours. I do have a sister who once had to do without electricity for two weeks in the middle of summer because of a storm that took down a ton of trees in her area. It was pretty rough.

While I was still working, an ice storm knocked out the power at my house. Went to work rather than sit around a cold house all day. Picked up a friend who lived close by and drove to work. As we were going through the line in the cafeteria at work, I had to laugh because she had dressed in the dark and had her sweater on inside out. More funny than tragic (smile).

[Joanne Bourne]

I, having been without power any number of times, have the trick of it. Before I go to bed -- when I still have candles lit or even maybe daylight -- I lay out the clothes for the next day.

I do remember I was camping once and had to go the next morning to talk to prisoners in a high security prison. I'd done my blouse buttons up crooked. (You know how it goes: the sides don't match up.

A nice guard took me aside and told me about it before I started interviews. I wsa so embarrassed. *g*)

[Shannon Arthur]

The power wasn't out long, but it was a night before we had to get up for my husband's court date for a traffic ticket. We got up to an old alarm, and lit the candles for light. We had lots of candles because they were romantic and we were madly in love. For some reason, I spilled burning wax on my hand. I set down the candle on the bedstead, and whoosh, the lampshade went up in flames. My ex-husband pulled off my favourite comforter and smothered the flames. We got the fire extinguisher and made sure everything was out, for the curtains were smouldering. My hand was throbbing and blistering. I wrapped it up as best as I could with a dish towel, not having bandages.

Off to court we went on snowy, dark roads. Five hours later, the judge dismissed the ticket (the cop couldn't get in because of the snowy roads) and I was in the walk-in clinic / doc in a box where it was cleaned and bandaged.

After that we bought a bunch of torches.

[SuzanneB]

We frequently lose power here in the NW. One of the best tricks I learned, besides having battery operated lanterns, put your light source in front of a mirror. One candle in front of a good sized mirror can generate enough light to light a 10x10 room.

[Vicki L.]

Putting foil on the backside of a battery operated lantern means the light is forced more in the direction you want it to. But that only works if you have something to put the foil through. My current lantern that trick won't work.

Me..the light from candles is too wavery as is the light from oil lanterns. So I'm all over battery operated lanterns. They come out with better ones all the time (which I buy to have on hand). I also have a number of solar lanterns like the Lucy Lantern.

A 300 lumen battery lantern on the mantel would shed a ton of light in your room.

That beautiful sparkling ice trapping you while you look down on the totally ice free green valley. The irony is funny in a way.

Hope you get electricity soon...

[Pamela DG]

A few years ago we had a major power outage during the hottest days of summer. I can't take the heat so I moved into the basement with the cats so I could sleep better. The cats had other ideas. My husband and I are re-enactors, so we dug a fire pit and started cooking the thawed meat. My Mom was still with us and enjoyed the campfire cooking. She and I used some bottled water to wash ourselves and we took turns washing our hair. Our neighbors smelled the food and brought more to cook, soon more neighbors showed up as word spread that we had dutch ovens full of stew. It turned out to be a good experience. Finally on the third day, the power came back on and the firepit was covered over. We know the neighbors better than we would have otherwise.

[LindaB]

We don't realize how much we depend of electricity for everything until we no longer have it. Last March we had an ice storm here that took our power for 2 1/2 days. And then another 4 hours while they replaced a transformer a large tree fell on.

It was cold. And it got colder. The only warm place was in bed, with my socks and hat on, and under the down quilt. I woke up in the middle of the night and was actually hot, though. We went to the library during the day because it was warm there. On my hill, we were the last ones, as usual, to get our power back. And then we had to wait another week until we got our internet back--another downed tree took that.

Poor trees. They're so pretty, but they're also so big, and I don't want them falling on my house. We finally bit the bullet and are having our big trees removed today. They're too big, too close to the house, and at least one of them had started to rot.

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

In the ice storm of ‘98 we were out of power, light, running water, heat and cable here in Maine for a week, but the phone (landline) stayed on. Fortunately, we have a wood stove, camping gear and candles and a well we can stick a bucket down if we have to. We also melted snow for washing and flushing. The thing I wanted most when we got power back was definitely a shower!

[Kareni]

I remember frequent power outages in Guam during the early seventies due to typhoons, but I don't think we were without power for days on end. (I guess those typhoons were the warm weather equivalent of ice storms.) We've had a few ice storms in my current area over the last couple of years; others were without power for close to a week but we were lucky. I will say though that ice storms can make for beautiful, albeit treacherous, scenery.

[Robyn A]

I remember a poem which went like this:-

No sun
No moon
No stars
No sky
November!

Of course it must've been written in the Northern Hemisphere.

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

My story doesn't take place in an ice storm. It was August in Baltimore. We had a hurricane. Then we didn't have lights, electricity, etc. So the pump in the cellar didn't work. So the cellar filled up with water, not for the first time. I could hear noise outside - one of my neighbors had a generator. Several days later, he pumped out my cellar. But I was still in the dark. Of course, all the food in the kitchen refrigerator spoiled. Eventually, the electricity was on again (after 8 days). I went downstairs, and realized the pilot would have to be re-lit, etc. Don't look at me! So I called the electrician. While he was working, I went downstairs - and saw what had happened to the downstairs full-size freezer: Orange goo was dripping out of it (melted frozen Minute Maid OJ I'd bought on sale - what a savings!) and the nauseating smell of defrosted and totally spoiled chicken. I cleaned it all up. The next day was jury duty. So in spite of everything, I prepared to do the civic thing. When I opened the front door to get the newspaper, a chipmunk ran inside. Of course, I couldn't catch it, and it made itself right at home. Don't ask what a chipmunk does as it runs all over the house. And that's my no lights/hurricane tale of woe. Glad you're so intrepid with your saw, Joanna. Hope all is light and warmth where you are now.

[Teresa Broderick]

My story goes back a long way to when I was a child. The electricity was frequently off back then. We all huddled around the open fire,(we never had central heating), and my Dad would scare the crap out of us with ghost stories. We lived in a small cottage but it's amazing how big it seemed when we were heading for bed with a candle. Ghosts in every corners and the Banshee under the bed!!!
Happy days when I look back as both my parents are gone now.

[Vicki L.]

I forgot about this adventure when the electricity was out. The first 8 years of my life I lived in Miami (Hurricanes). I remember after one when we had no power my dad pulled out the old style grill and fixed scrambled eggs on it.

At the time we didn't have AC so we didn't miss it. And because I was little, early to bed was the rule so I guess I didn't miss the electricity too much! My parents...probably another story.

[Maggie Robinson]

Like Kathy, I was in the Maine ice storm in 1998, living on an island only accessible by a ferry (and a lobster boat, if one had one, which one didn't). I had just bought a new coat from LL Bean (on sale) and slept in in for five days. Never took it off except to put deodorant on in the vain hope to refresh. Brushed my teeth with melted snow. My teen daughter and I played cards and Scrabble in front of the fireplace all day while my husband was down-island keeping the warm, generator-equipped school open to the community (he was the superintendent/principal).We ate a lot of PB&J and grilled what had defrosted. We live in a house on a lake now. With a generator, LOL.

[Faith Freewoman]

My goodness! I'm going to have to get over being in awe of your roughing it prowess before I could begin to share a story!

But wanted to share that I decided about a week ago to re-read all your spy stories, and once again I am in awe of your writing, especially the strong, vivid presences evoked by your use of voice. I also love the heroes, heroines, and amazing plots...a gripping, inspiring journey through well-told tales and learn-by-reading writing craft lessons.

Thanks for writing all those fabulous books, and when you can use your arms for something besides chopping, hauling and so on, give yourself several pats on the back. The world's a better place with your stories in it.

Cheers, Faith

[Martha]

Mirrors do work well, and so polished metal in the candle holder or sconce, although not as well as a mirror. I once had a pair of sconces that were essentially shallow bowls about 12-14 » across with a candle cup in front. The insides of the bowls were fitted with a mosaic of mirror pieces, which scattered the light really well. People were pretty ingenious back then, as now.

[Joanne Bourne]

What a comedy of errors.

>>> I set down the candle on the bedstead, and whoosh, the lampshade went up in flames.<<<

Now you know why so many folks died in burning building. Best authorial way to dispose of that Mad Wife.

What's amazing is that any Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century cottages survive.

[Joanne Bourne]

I don't see any reason why a nice shiny shield wouldn't work in a Medieval Historical. Maybe a Paranormal with some sort of mystic optical effect ...?

Lots of stuff to do with this.

[Joanne Bourne]

Every time folks look up at the snow capped mountains ... it's worth remembering the folks up there slogging through the snow.

The main reason we have any old homes up here so high is that it's lovely and cool in the Southern summer. Ten to fifteen degrees cooler.

[Joanne Bourne]

How clever of you. I am filled with admiration.

That is making the best of hard times. And the whole re-enactment thing stretches the mind and opens us to new possibilities.

[Joanne Bourne]

There was some sort of fiend beetle that wrought havoc on the big oaks all around the cabin.
Dead trees standing.

Then we had a bad wind last winter that took a couple of them down and it was a crisp little lesson in possibilities. So last summer about a dozen of the old fellows were cut down and hauled away.

I miss them.

[Barbara Monajem (@BarbaraMonajem)]

I have fond memories of both power failures and ice storms. The power went off when we were out of town one summer, and we lost everything in the fridge and freezer...which was actually a bonus, since the insurance company reimbursed us for quite a bit of old stuff from the back of fridge and freezer that I probably would have thrown out in the end anyway. It was a bit gross going through it all, but interesting too.

As for ice storms, we lit a fire in the fireplace (we never lack for wood on our property) and all slept in one room, listening to the branches outside crack and fall -- a stark sound against the stillness of a chilly night.

I never had to work as hard as you to get through the storm. ;)

[Karin]

I am commiserating with you. Those big trees are scary when they come down! The last time we were out of power for a few days was Hurricane Sandy. Luckily I have a gas stove so I still could cook. I discovered how to make a homemade bed warmer, by heating a cast iron griddle in the oven, and then wrapping it in a towel and putting it in my bed. Worked great! I was able to do quite a bit of reading, using my iPad and my little LED clip-on light which I also use on plane flights.

[Joanne Bourne]

For me, it's a tub bath. All my muscles ache from clearing the road and carrying wood.

But I missed the internet too.

Maine is not a place to mess around with. I'm glad you had a woodstove.

I was watching a documentary on Denali Park in Alaska. A couple who lived there,far away from everybody, had a nice snug cabin.

Not too far away they had a bittier cabin with a woodstove and wood and food, in case the home cabin burned down.
Because they were on their own.

[Joanne Bourne]

I've lost power during hurricanes.

When I was a kid, Hurricane Hazel came through and took out power for what
seemed like forever.

My mother had us cook dinner at the fireplace and we all gathered round to listen to the wind blowing trees down and the house shaking.

My older sisters may have had enough sense to be scared, but I thought it great fun.

[Joanne Bourne]

Anne always reminds us there are Other Seasons in the world and some folks go out for day at the beach on Christmas.

[Joanne Bourne]

Ok. Ok. I'm going to admit I find chipmunks cute.

OTOH, I've never had one move into the house and I hate it when squirrels do that.

I have power, light, wifi, and water as of about two hours ago. I am in hog heaven.

I have -- thank goodness -- always pitched out refrigerator and freezer food in a timely manner. (Day Three, in case anyone wonders.) So many places I've lived have unreliable electricity.

If the electric goes out and the outside is subzero, one can set tupperwares of water out to freeze and swap them out to turn the refrige into an old fashioned icebox.

That sorta works.

I'm glad the icestorm hit well before Thanksgiving.

[Joanne Bourne]

What a beautiful story. Sounds like a great little cottage, too.

In traditional Japanese houses folks used to gather round the table with warm blankets around their backs and their feet on a charcoal brazer down below the table.

I have a feeling folks saw more of each other when the heated part the home was the size of a Volkswagon van.

[Joanne Bourne]

Different story:

Mom -- washes four-year-olds PJs in the sink and hangs them to dry in the kitchen.

Dad -- Considers shaving without his electric razor. Considers growing a beard.

[Joanne Bourne]

Ah. Generators. The thinking person's answer to power outages.

I would have been tempted to pack up my sleeping bag and secretly move into my husband's office at the nicely warm school ...
Or maybe the school library.

[Joanne Bourne]

Thank you so very much for the kind words ...*g*

One thing that makes it possible to philosophically haul wood and -- at least temporarily --not wash
is that the ice is just absolutely beautiful. The pictures I took can't begin to convey it.

We had several clear nights with a half moon, Orion high in the sky, and the ice trees ghostly in silver and black. Makes it all worth it.

The daily promise of the local electric company to "definitely have the problem fixed by midnight" lent a certain piquant humor to the proceedings.

And the battered tree-strewn landscape is kinda interesting. Add a few medium craters and it would look like the aftermath of war between conifers and deciduous.

[Joanne Bourne]

In a properly managed world, insurance companies would arrive at your door while the storm raged and deliver delicious warm food.

In the absence of electricity they would perform clever one-act plays and extemporaneous psychodrama till bedtime.

Then they would walk the dog before disappearing into the storm until tomorrow.

[Joanne Bourne]

That is cleverly managed. The iron griddle sounds like the bricks one would heat in the oven in 1806 to keep folks warm in bed.

I'm a fan of hot water bottles. They warm the bed up before you get in. They are soft and squishy. You can pass them down to heat your toes which do not get nearly the loving care such an important part of the anatomy deserves.

And they do not yowl and scratch you when you accidentally roll over on them in the middle of the night, making them superior to cats in that way.

[Kareni]

Glad to hear that you're now living the high life with power, water, and wifi! Enjoy and happy Thanksgiving, Joanna.

[Trisha]

I don't think I'll ever get the chance to experience ice all over everything. Ive never been skiing and only visited the snow once when I was a child. I liked snow so much that mum had to pack some into the eski to take home back to Mildura. It never snows in Mildura it's too hot and situated close to the desert in Australia. I have not been back to find snow because when it's snows in the mountains in the state of Victoria, you have to pay a fee to go up the hill to see the snow, even if you are not skiing. I have never understood that. You are lucky you can see the snow and ice for free. :-) I stopped overnight in a remote caravan park instead of driving at night. I took a tent with me and put the tent up in the caravan park. No one was around to say I couldn't. In the tent I only had a flash light and the light that comes off the mobile phone. When the wind howled through the trees, it felt scary on my own. You never know what beast is out there! I fell asleep and in the morning I met the Holiday park owner and paid for the night. I hope the sun shines from Australia to you can warm up! Have a good day!

[Joanne Bourne]

I know my father never saw snow till he was in his late teens. He lived in Mississippi and then worked on boats up and down South America. I think it impressed him.

Am I right that the closest Big Snow to you would be New Zealand? If so, I hope you get to travel there someday