When Hell Freezes Over

Wednesday morning, according to The American Electric Power Company, there were 8,235 customers without power in Stark County, Ohio due to an ice storm.

We were one of the customers left without power. We didn't have electricity, except for 1/2 hour, from just before 9 o'clock Tuesday night until it was finally restored after 4 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon.


I'd never seen a winter weather event quite like this. The temperature was in the low 30's, as I recall, Monday night and it rained. Tuesday morning the trees were coated in ice, but the roads were clear.

Not much changed during the day Tuesday. As night began to fall, if I recall correctly, it got a bit windy and started to rain.

I opened a window to take a picture of the tree in our neighbor's yard; the first one in this post and pictured below in a closeup view. The wind blowing through the tree caused a sound like pieces of glass tapping against each other.

There was also the distinct sound of wood cracking. Happily there were only two small branches that had fallen from the tree by the time all was said and done.


My mate had to attend a business dinner that evening. I was supposed to do something for work, but was concerned about leaving the house with the weather as it was and her away.

Two or three times during the night our power went off for a second or three then came back on. After noticing there were houses on the other side of the street that were dark I lit a candle.

She made it home OK, through what by that time had become a driving rain, but it took her about an hour for what normally less than a half hour drive.


I was sitting at the computer working when the power went out, not long after she'd blown out the candle, which left the house pitch black. Fortunately, I'd also pulled out a flashlight that I had sitting next to the desk.

We found a second flashlight for her and, luckily, one of the two boom boxes we have had good batteries so we were able to listen to the radio. Before she went to bed we heard that Senator Clinton had knocked off Senator Obama here in Ohio.


I didn't sleep well Tuesday night. During the night when I'd wake up I'm sure there was always a glance to see if the digital clock was lit up.

I must have gotten up awfully early Wednesday morning, which I say because it felt like I was up a long time when I checked the clock on my cellphone to find it was only 8 o'clock.

Around 9 I went for a walk; telling my mate I was cold, tired and in a bad humor. It might have been about an hour I was out walking around the neighborhood.

I've started carrying a disposal digital camera in my pocket; when I get it processed I hope the shots I got of downed tree limbs - I mean BIG tree limps - come out reasonably well. There were about a half dozen trees that had major damage and a ton of small limbs laying in yards, on the sidewalk and in the street.


Wednesday was a long day. The temperature in the house was below 60 degrees. The warmest place, of course, was in bed under the covers, but I could only stay there so long. I'd lie on the couch under a blanket, listening to the radio, as well.

On top of having no electricity, we weren't able to make any outgoing calls from our home phone or our cell phones. You would dial the number and then hear a notification saying the call had not gone through, followed by a message saying all lines were busy and to try the call later.



The power came on at 1:30, then off again at 2. In between, right after turning up the furnace, I checked email; there were some things I needed to take care of since I hadn't been able to get online or use the phone.

There were a few things we needed from the store; I said I'd go get them and while I was out stop for a bite to eat and work through some notes for work. (It's much easier at times working through the notes when I've gotten out of the house)

I couldn't believe it when the electricity shut off again. My mate didn't want to go anywhere, but did want the few things from the store. I was gone for about two hours, just before leaving the store for home I phoned to see if she wanted soup. It turned out the power had just come back on! She was still pleased to have some nice hot vegetable soup.


Needless to say, with a few inches of fresh snow on the ground right now and the potential of 8 inches coming, winter '07-'08 will be a memorable one.