It Got Cold!

It's pretty, but it got cold! I took this from the back door Monday morning - too cold to go outside! We hit zero one night. Today is the first day it has been above freezing since Sunday, I think. We broke the record for the longest streak of temps below freezing. (201 hours) I hope I don't live long enough to see that record broken again!

We were part of that rolling blackout thing that didn't work.

The first few times the power went out (Sunday night) it stayed off a few hours then came back on for a bit but by Monday it was off for 5+ hours at a time and would only come back on for a short period of time. Never got the temp in the living room out of the 50s - and that was with the fireplace going full force.

So grateful for friends that refused to let me stay at home alone with no power. They picked me up Tuesday and I stayed with them until yesterday afternoon. (they never lost power) We were doing pretty good until we lost water on Wednesday. (most of town lost water) I was not meant to be a pioneer woman. That collecting and melting snow just to flush toilets is not for me. The water did come back on Wednesday night but the pressure was really low and we were told to boil any water we were going to consume.

Hubby has been parking in the street the little time he as been home. He has been working really long hours. He even spent the night there one night. Found an empty spot on a floor and slept for a few hours. When I got home yesterday I shoveled the front sidewalk so it would be clear when he got home after dark. (it looks like snow but there was ice under there!)

This is why he has been parking in the street. You really can't tell how steep that driveway is from a photo. When the power was out we had to open and close the garage door manually - well it doesn't  matter if you are coming up or going down, you don't stop and get out on that driveway if there is ice. Though I doubt he could have made it back up by Tuesday anyway.

I don't think I will see any more iris blooms this year.

Apparently someone used our driveway for a slide!

I scrapped off  what I thought might be enough for hubby to get the left side tires on pavement this afternoon but when I took the picture it looks like there is still enough there to refreeze tonight so he will probably park out front again tonight. (that ice was several inches thick and I only had a small shovel) The driveways across the street had enough sun today to melt but ours doesn't get full sun at any time during the day during the winter. It will some when the time changes but that doesn't help today.

Our power seems to be stable and our water pressure is almost back to normal but we are still having to boil it before using for cooking or drinking.

We haven't had mail or trash service all week. I know those of you who live in the north think 7.5 inches of snow is nothing and just the snow wouldn't have been such a problem but the ice and bitter temps were just too much. We just aren't prepared for this kind of weather. We have had a few hours of sunshine and above freezing temps today so that helps. It will refreeze tonight but then I think we have a couple of days of more sunshine and above freezing temps so it should all melt away soon. So far we haven't had issues with the inside pipes but we will have to wait a little longer to assess the sprinkler situation.

I'll need to save these photos to look at in July, August and September when the temps are over 100!

 I'll try to post some kind of crafty pictures next time!