Down and Out

Ike is a big ol' bully.

He pushed his way through Ohio, leaving damage in his wake. I couldn't believe how powerful the winds were. Amazing. One second I was working on some LTCs (Letterboxer Trading Cards,) the next I was sitting there in the dark. (I have a small space in the basement set up for me to do my art work, and there is only one small half window, so even though it was the middle of the day when this happened, it became dark downstairs, though thankfully still light enough to see to get out.)

So there we were Sunday afternoon, the power was out. In fact, I learned later that over 70% of my county was without power, and over 50% of a couple neighboring counties were without as well.

Not only that, but a big blue spruce in the front yard had been blown over, falling down towards the house (luckily, it did not hit the house.) It was reported that winds had reached over 70 MPH.


We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the wind from the porch...and watching the nosey people drive up and then back down the road checking to see what damage everyone was having. We live out in the country...there's not much more to do.

We are fortunate enough to have a generator, and a gas tank on property (for farm equipment.) So, we would not be sitting in the dark when the sun set. We would however not be using too much electricity as to not put a strain on the generator. We kept on a light in the living room, and the television. Yes, that's it. We kept our refrigerator running and were able to flush toilets, and now and then we would turn on the water heater so that a couple of us could take showers (though I did go shower at my grandparents as well.) At night the generator was turned off, and would be re-started again in the morning.

This went on for five days. That's right, five days. From Sunday afternoon to Friday late afternoon, we had lived off the generator...and restaurants. Did I mention we did no cooking in this time as well. And I did not use the computer...I think I went through AQ withdraw. ;)

So, the electricity is back on (after having to change the breaker box...seems all the switching things off and on put a little strain on the old, rusted box...it broke when the electric came on---so we were without water at that point too...but not for too long, good old Dad was able to go buy a new one and fix it before the sun went down.) However, the tree still lays in the yard. We picked up the large branches and sticks that were thrown from the other trees, but the blue spruce still lays were it fell.


The funny thing is, the LTC that I was working on when the electric went out was seasonally themed...and titled "Autumn Wind"...and boy did we have some wind!