An Icy Week in Burlington

All Christmas plans were canceled this year due to severe weather. We’ll have to make up for it next year.

 

Ice Storm Damage

This is just one of six beautiful birch trees and many, many other trees that were damaged or destroyed in the ice storm. This tree shaded our front porch for 25 years.

We had the landscapers position all of the trees to show to best advantage from inside the house, so now there is damage everywhere I look. It is sad, but we are luckier than some of our neighbours.

 

Damage to maple

We lost power on Saturday night. The house got so cold that we moved to a hotel, but we were lucky there was a hotel and that we could get there despite fallen trees and ice. There are still 150 families in our area without any electricity—five days later! We are in the country, so no power also means no water.

For us, 40 hours seemed like an eternity. It was the longest power outage we have ever experienced. We have a generator but it won’t last for 40 hours and it doesn’t help much when it is so bitterly cold.

 

Ice on trees

The ice is too thick to break off. The first chance of temperatures over freezing is Saturday but then it is expected to plunge again. This is not normal weather for this time of year.

Unfortunately, it will take several days of warm temps for this much ice to melt. If there is any wind in the meantime, more trees will fall and we may lose power again.

It is snowing now. Wish us luck, okay?

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Happy New Year!

Linda & Monkey

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18 thoughts on “An Icy Week in Burlington”

  1. Here is a trick to know how much thawing has taken place in your freezer.
    Use a small container with a lid, fill with water and freeze solid. Once frozen, lay a penny ontop of the ice and put the lid on. Place back in the freezer.
    If you lose power and your freezer starts to defrost, look at your penny. If it melted enough to move the penny and it is no longer ontop the ice, you know that everything else defrosted this much also.
    Some power outages are quick, some are too long.
    Good way to know if thawing has occurred.
    Sorry for the loss of your trees. In 2008 a major ice storm hit Tulsa and all the trees still show the scars of that damage.
    Good luck.

    Reply
  2. Wishing you and your neighbors only the best. We’ve experienced life without power 3 times for 4 days stretches and understand how disruptive it can be. Hang in there (((hugs))). Will pray for better weather!

    Reply
  3. Linda…hope u r getting warmer… We’ve also lost power from storms for LONG periods ..both in Maine and then again last year from Sandy here on Long Island,Ny. Not much fun, yay for quilts! Hope life returns to normal soon…we all missed you! Sorry Christmas was messed up but glad u and your family are ok. But even with these huge “inconveniences ” I’d still rather live in the Northeast, hope u feel the same. Hope you’re back in your home and returning to normal and have a Happy New Year.

    Reply
  4. Sending warm thoughts your way in hopes that it will help you thaw quicker. We know you have a warm quilt or two or three to snuggle under! Glad you were able to make it to a hotel until your power was back on.

    Reply
  5. bonjour;j’habite en région parisienne,je n’avais pas entendu parler de cette tempête, c’est vraiment terrible! espérons que le temps redevienne plus doux et que les dégats ne soient pas plus nombreux! chez nous,il pleut beaucoup,il y a des ennuis aussi,je crois que c’est dans beaucoup d’endroits cette année, merci pour tous vos modèles,je pense à vous,amitiés,Anne

    Reply
  6. So sorry to hear of the loss of your beautiful trees and the power outage! Ice storms are no picnic, that’s for sure! I live in the country, too, but I don’t lose my water when the power goes out. I have spring water for a source, and no well. I also have wood heat for a backup source of heat. Thank goodness you found a hotel that you could stay in!

    May you be wonderfully blessed in the New Year!

    Reply
  7. dear linda,
    just thinking hard to you, and cross finger that it would be better soon, we had storm but only rain et wind, no dammage here (but in other part of france yes).
    keep ans stay positive!
    friendly!
    Marie from south of france

    Reply
  8. Linda, we had an ice storm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area a couple of weeks ago and it was awful. We were lucky and didn’t lose power, but
    were stuck in our home. You are correct, you can’t break the ice!
    It took several days of over freezing to melt.

    Wish you good luck with this!
    I am still on the fence on which pattern to get next. I wish I could see a block done in both sizes in POTC. I look and look.
    Jill
    PS we bought the printer today!

    Reply
  9. glad you were able to get to a hotel – hope you won’t have a lot more damage. Too bad you didn’t have a warning and could have gotten more fuel for the generator or do you not have anything to heat the house enough even with it? We are lucky and have a fireplace insert in our fireplace – without it the fireplace is pretty much just for decoration – with it and with the fan on it, the heat is pushed into the house and we just plug the fan into an extension cord. but then no water –

    Reply
  10. Oh how awful for you – I too live in the country so I can feel your pain !!
    I’m all for investing in a whole house generator !!
    We have a generator that will hear & let us do everything we need to do but you have to keep putting fuel into it so not as convenient as whole house !! Good luck !!

    Reply
  11. Hi Linda,
    Sorry to hear about the power outage. We got part of that storm in central NY, but we didn’t loose our power. We have a natural gas generator that cuts on 45 seconds after the power goes out. We’ve had that for 4 yrs. The whole house is on except the 220 lines – my electric wall oven and my electric dryer. I can wait to dry the clothes or if I need them that bad, I can put them on the old fashion clothes rack. Those beautiful trees — they have a hard time standing up to so much ice. I hop that not too many of them were lost. I hope that everything is back to normal again. We don’t realize what we take for granted until we loose it. I hope you a had a wonderful Christmas and may God bless you with a supper New Year.

    Reply
  12. Linda, I have been praying for you all experiencing the ice and power outages. We have been through that here in times past. Hoping all survive without too much loss.
    Hugs, Diane

    Reply
  13. Oh, Linda – I am so, so sorry that you’ve lost those beautiful trees and had such a mixed-up Christmas. The timing of the storm couldn’t have been worse.
    I hope there are no windy days that can bring down more tree limbs and that you can stay home with hydro and lovely warm heat.

    Reply

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