I love snow
I live near Dallas Texas and snow is something we do not get very often. We always wish for at least an inch each year. It is not enough to make a snow man but we do enjoy looking at it. We are not equipped to handle snow, so when the first snow flake falls, the town just about shuts down.
Thursday morning, mother nature decided to give us snow. I was so excited to peek out the window at 6am to see snow on the ground. It was still snowing too! So pretty! Well, it kept snowing and snowing and snowing. By Thursday night, 9 inches of snow had fallen in the town I live in.
Our trees can not handle so much snow. limbs started to break off. My poor cherry laurel in back, where I hang all my bird feeders, has lost many limbs. They snapped right off from all the weight of the snow on them. All over the city trees were loosing limbs and bringing down power lines with them.
By midnight, over 200,000 homes and businesses had lost power. We lost ours at 10 pm. We waited and waited for the power to come back on, but it did not. The longest we have ever been without power was three hours and we figured this was going to be bit longer.
My sister-in-law was over for a few days to visit. With all the snow, she was stranded at our house without electricity. We got out lots of blankets and snuggled up in bed for the night, hoping it would come back on in the middle of the night.
We woke up the next morning with a chill in the air. The electricity was still off. We have an all electric house. Therefore there is no way to cook and there was no hot water.
All day long sister-in-law and I tried to entertain ourselves. We spent time playing cards and putting puzzles together. During the day was not so bad. There are many windows in the main living area so we had sun light to brighten the room. But as night started to come, the house got really dark. I pulled out a hurricane lamp and many candles. They provided enough light to get around without stumping our toes.
I started to worry about the food in the ice box, so we boxed it all up and placed the boxes in the garage. I checked the freezer food in the garage and it was still frozen. So that was OK.
“Papa Johns”, our local pizza place, had power. The roads were pretty clear, so we decided to order pizza. Something warm would be nice after a day of cold food. We sat in the living room eating pizza in candle light.
It was only 8pm, but with it being so dark, we decided to grab more blankets and head to bed.
The next morning was even colder than the previous as the house lost its residual heat. We listened to the news (battery radio) and they said that 50,000 of the 200,000 had electricity now. There were volunteers coming from all around to work on the power lines. They were going to work all weekend to get the power back for the rest of us.
Buy the time my hubby needed to go to work, the roads were clear again. He headed off to work, but with out a shower since we had no hot water. The sister-in-law packed up her things and headed off for home as well.
I was in the cold house huddling will my kitties to stay warm. We spent much of the afternoon sleeping under lots of blankets. It is funny how cuddly our cats get when it is cold…hehe. They were huddled under the covers with me.
I was so hoping the electricity would come on before night. Hubby would not be home till 9:30pm and I would have to sit there in the dark waiting for him. I sat and watched the clock…tick…tick…tick…tick. It was battery powered of course…hehe.
It started to get dark so I pulled out the hurricane lamp and candles again. Around 8:30pm I stepped outside to look around. Other neighbors were outside too. All of a sudden our porch lights came on. We all started jumping up and down and yelled “power!”. “We got power!”. I ran back in the house to see all the lights were on. Just then the phone rang. It was hubby checking to see if the power had come on or not. I told him it had just come on. He was so excited! He was checking to see if we had power before he headed home. If we did not, he was going to pick up hamburgers since I could not cook. But we were so excited; we decided to have him pick up hamburgers anyway.
It was about 45 mins till the hubby would get home, so I decided to put the food back in the fridge. Most of the food I was sure was ok, but I did discard some of it just in case. I also cleaned the kitchen that had been collecting dishes for two days.
We had a wonderful warm supper and watched TV. We headed to bed around 11pm and the house was all warm.
It is now Sunday morning. Our power was out for just under 48 hours. The house is so warm and the kitties are so happy. I downloaded over a 100 emails and all my workshops are a day past due. I will spend the day making up for the last two days.
oh … I still love snow. 8o)
cindy aka MsDesigns
February 14, 2010 10:19 am 
By Cat Lady, February 14, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
Cindy, we were without any power for almost a week during an ice storm a couple of years back. At the time even the local grocery stores and many of the restaurants and fast food places were also closed because of no power. I know what you mean about cat warmth. Although I think they were cuddling with us to get warm! Glad to hear you are getting back to electronically normal.
By Arlene from Sarasota, February 14, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
Hi Cindy, Glad to hear that you survived the snow. According to the weather channel every state in the United States has had some snow except Hawaii. Here in Sarasota we didn’t have snow, but up in the Panhandle they did The only thing we are having is a very long, long cold spell – months long. The average tenperture has been about 35 to 40 degrees cold than it usually is. Cold enough to have the heat on and to wear heavy sweaters in an arear of the country that people usually walk around in short and tee shirts (BRRRRR) How’s about we all take out EPP and and other quitlting projects and go to Hawaii
By Linda from Louisiana, February 14, 2010 @ 2:01 pm
Cindi, glad to hear your power is back on and that all is well. I knew when I couldn’t get the next step on Baskets and More Baskets that you were in the middle of a storm. It has been bad in places that are not used to snow or cold temps. We got a little snow Friday morning but didn’t stay long. My old kittie Girl hates the cold too. Whenever it gets a little cold, she crawls under the covers…she keeps my feet warm. I am total electric too and when Gustoff game through we lost power for 4 days. That was a mess but I would rather loose power in the summer than the winter. Hey Arlene, I am with you on the Hawaii trip…sounds good and WARM. Linda
By Moira McSpadden, February 14, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
Hi Cindy!
I too live near Dallas Tx on the east side. We got 10-11 inches of snow in the storm. Thankfully we didn’t lose power (lines are underground). Am glad you have your power back on – enjoy the heat!
By alcangal, February 14, 2010 @ 3:26 pm
I worried about peopel in the states with that terrible weather. I live in Northern Canada and have a kerosene heater on standby. I can put the food outside in a Rubbermaid container if I have to, but I know many at the coast don’t have any way of getting around let alone stay warm and it’s so damp there. Glad you are O.K.
By Carol Morgan, February 14, 2010 @ 8:59 pm
Hi Cindy,
Glad you got youe electric back on. We have been hammered here in Delaware by two storms in a row and another one comming tomorrow. No fun being house bound we were lucky only lost power for an hour,this last time pluss I have a wood stove to keep us warm if power goes out.
We finally got plowed out yesterday right in time for the next storm just like last time.
Stay warm and safe,
Carol in Delaware
By Linda Richards, February 14, 2010 @ 10:44 pm
Cindy, I can feel for you. Two winters ago that ice storm hit the east coast and my sister was without power for 6 days. It was not funny as like you she is electric heat and they had the generator running, to run a little electric heater to keep warm. She had to go to work at the hospital and have a shower there as she had no hot water either. I was glad Mom was here with us as she would have frozen there all day by herself. Glad your power is back and you are back up and running. Take care.
By Barbi Brunson, February 15, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
I am so glad to hear you are okay. Sorry that you lost power though. We have been through similar experiences and it never surprises me how quickly we forget our previous experience without power when it happens to us again. Our biggest problem without power is where we live we have our own well. So when the power is out we literally have to live on what we have in storage. Consequently I have two weeks worth of water bottles in case of emergency along with food that requires no cooking. But I’m glad you are okay!!
By Diane Gunter, February 16, 2010 @ 10:46 pm
Cindy I am so sorry to hear you were without power so long. Ours was out 3 weeks ago from 3-6p.m. and I was nuts as it started to get dark. We called the power company and because we have 2 special need boys they put our area as a priority and will work on it sooner. I was actually ready to pack the boys up and go into the town 30 min. away and stay at a Hotel. You were a really good camper and made the best of it. I’m impressed.
By Katie Schnur, February 26, 2010 @ 12:48 am
It was unbelievable to me to hear just one week ago that there was snow on the ground in all of the states execpt Hawaii.
We got about six inches in Coastal Carolina. It was a sight to see!