Karin Wells Studio: Ice Storm of '08

January 12, 2009

To our family, friends & clients...In case you tried to call…

This morning I was shocked (an understatement) to find out that at least 50 people have called me over these past few weeks/months and left messages I never got.

Remember Lilly Tomlin's gig as "Ernestine the Telephone Operator?" I think she may be back.

It seems we have "a voice mail program" somewhere in cyberspace via Fairpoint. This squirrelly feature appears to work only if and/or when it wants to.

Here's my Fairpoint Fantasy explanation for this embarrassing mess.

Other than cry a lot, here is what we have done to correct this:

We called Fairpoint Customer Service and have forever cancelled their Voice-Mail-From-Hell feature.

We have turned our home answering machine off in case it contributed in some way to this problem.

So, if you have called me anytime prior to 1/12/09, left and message and assumed that I’m ignoring you - I assure you that I’m not.

On the evening of December 23rd, our power was restored.

The following video clip gives a feeling of what it looked like driving down a road that had just been "cleared:"

This Peterborough NH's Storm Headquarters:

And this is what it looked like outdoors after the initial ice storm:

We cannot wait until this truck is in the street in front of our home.

Our current status is that an essential pole that snapped off near us has been replaced but PSNH (Public Service of New Hampshire) is waiting for more transformers, switches and power lines.

During the day, my studio window is a good place to read - but there isn't enough steady light to paint.

Just to complicate things we got hammered with a Nor'easter yesterday which dumped another 2 feet of snow. Another storm is due tonight (through tomorrow).

Meanwhile, we remain camped out in front of the fireplace - the only warm spot in the house.

Someone, I know not who, sent me a pkg of 8 D Cell Batteries from Sam's Club via UPS.

Thanks!

The shortest days of the year are upon us and they have powered a much needed lantern so we aren't stumbling around in the dark.

Batteries and generators are in verrrrrry short supply around here as you can imagine.

We've been without power since December 10th. This means no heat, light or running water. It also means no painting.

Yesterday, before the latest snowstorm, the road outside still looked like this, i.e., the remaining power lines are holding up the trees.

We have crews in the region from as far away as Texas and Canada working 18 hour days to clear the roads and eventually restore power.

But now we may be looking at mid-January.

Generators and batteries are in short supply. Last night (Saturday) mother nature decided to dump an extra foot of snow on us. There is a rumor that more is coming on Sunday. The temperature is about 9 degrees F.

We lost power after New England's most punishing ice storm in memory. Hundreds of thousands of homes remain without power...including mine.

It's a mess. Pretty, but still a mess. If I tried to paint what I am seeing it wouldn't be "believeable."

The above close - up pictures show how much ice was built up. If you can imagine the volume of ice that froze in the treetops, you will understand why many branches and even whole trees and telephone poles snapped with the weight and volume of that ice.

Firefighters, police, utility crews and what remains of our National Guard still wade through a vast path of destruction of downed utility poles, snapped power lines and tree limbs.

This was my driveway after the freezing rain stopped. It was dangerous to walk under these trees as the limbs were still breaking from the weight of the ice.

After a week, many roads are still shut down in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.

After the ice melted, the trees that did not break began to straighten upward again.

For most of us there is no electricity, no heat, no water. We live and sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace to keep warm.

It's a lot like camping - but not as much fun.

This tree limb landed just in front of me with a huge shower of ice. I thought I was standing far enough away from the tree line. I was lucky.

I can get out now and am in the Peterborough Town Library with my laptop. The downtown areas and the hospital were at the top of the priority list for help.

Being rural, I might be at the bottom of that list. The power company can't even give us an estimate as to when our power will be restored.

We sleep on the floor in front of the fireplace to keep warm and get water and shower at the local Red Cross shelter (South Meadow Elementary School) .