The prediction said "4-6" on snow for Saturday. Given the warm fall weather, it was hard to imagine that snow was on its way, especially since the trees still had most of their leaves. However, when we woke up and the world was white, we knew that it was really coming.
Pretty quickly, I canceled my plans to race Beacon, as the plows had gone by several times, and the snow was still accumulating on the roads quickly. Shortly after, around noon, there was a loud boom, the lights flickered, and the power went out.
We went for a walk, and soon saw the reason. A tree was down on top of one of the power lines. We got to the corner market just in time to grab a gallon of milk before they closed, because they were without electricity as well.
The snow showed no signs of letting up, and it was really accumulating quickly. The trees started to droop way over, and we constantly heard the CRACK and BOOM of branches and entire trees coming down. I shoveled the driveway three times. Each time, by the time I finished one side, the other already had a good thick layer on it. By dark, there was easily a full 12" on everything.
And the trees were really sagging.
So we worked on letters by candle light,
played Settles of Cattan,
made tea on the wood stove,
and cooked dinner on it.
Plus, many trips to the wood pile, and siphoning out the water from the basement because our sump pump was no longer running without electricity.
The wood stove put out good warmth, and we were very comfortable that night. We could still hear the sounds of tree branches coming down, and even some nice firework show. Apparently, when transformers blow, they light up the sky with an eerie green light.
The next morning was crystal clear with blue skies, but the trees were obviously over stressed.
More trees had come down during the night, including this one on our driveway.
Notice the car in the ditch:
Seidersville Rd was basically a single lane.
The warm sun was melting things quickly. As the snow came off, the extent of the damage became more apparent. The willow tree was just plain gone, and the other trees around were much shorter after losing their tops.
Overnight, the basement had accumulated quite a bit more water, so we had to siphon it again. This time, it involved me climbing out on the second floor balcony with a bucket water, pouring water into the open end while Becca held the other end open just long enough to get all the bubbles down. Then we lowered the hose end with a rope, carefully keeping it vertical. When Becca got it down in the basement, we were both glad when the water continued to drain out, another successful siphon.
After the HPCX race, I was anxious to get a hot shower, so we drove down to her parent's house. However, the next day (Monday) we needed to return in order to drain the basement again, among other things. All the usual roads around our house were impassable, but we managed to get through and back home. After cleaning out the fridge and packing some more things, we turned around to pull out of the drive way when two big trimming crews came down our road. I was glad to see them arrive, however, we were now completely blocked in.
We talked to some of the crew for a while, they told us how they were working long shifts, and the many other crews come from as far as Kentucky and Michigan to help out. They were kind enough to let us escape and we quickly slipped out.
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