Storm and Chaos

If you think that it's been forever since I have posted, it has. The (stupidly named) October Surprise Storm 2006 really gave WNY a beating. So many people went without power for days - some are still without it and it has been over two weeks now. I was lucky enough not to lose my electric or heat, so we ran a sort of mini-shelter and on the first weekend had 18 people in our small house. But, there was a lot of drinking and game playing and only moderate stress between me an my mother-in-law.


This is a picture taken early the next morning - can you see the line down behind the van? So many lines were knocked down from the heavy limbs that fell off of our trees.


This is my neighbor's house right afterward.

I could really go on and on about all of the damage this storm caused. Interestingly, the snow melted within two days, leaving trees and limbs everywhere. We were told that the weight of the snow on the still leaved-trees is what caused the problem; the trees were just not strong enough to hold all of that weight. There are still areas that look like a war zone. Clean up may take up to two months. The kids had nine days off of school. The whole thing has been incredible, really.

Okay, I will stop...for now! I am just glad to be back online! (I just got internet service about an hour ago. Woohoo!)