Storms need GPS....

We had heard of the coming Frankenstorm all weekend.  We were visiting my sister and brother-in-law and knew sometime later on Monday all hell would break loose.

Rick and I went home and kept an eye on the forecast.  A lot of West Virginia was on blizzard watch and the epicenter of the snow event was on our heads.  As the afternoon wore on, Rick decided we weren't going to get any snow. The snow was predicted for the county next to ours.....and our house is 2 miles from the county line.  I wasn't as secure as Rick that the storm knew to stop at the county line...but he seemed sure.  Sometime after dark, I noticed that there was an occasional flake in the rain. Five minutes later Rick checked and the deck was covered. Hmmmmm.  I went to bed.

At 3:00 a.m. Tuesday morning the electric went off.  When we got up the next morning, we found we had gotten a foot of snow through the night. So much for the storm knowing about county lines!

We were really quite comfortable without power.  We had heat (gas fireplace in the living room and another gas heater in the basement to keep the pipes from freezing.  We just made the center of our operations in the living room except for sleeping, and we have a comforter that keeps us toasty.

Rick went out to survey the damage and try to move the snow.  The snow was heavy and wet and was frozen onto the trees.  It took 2 different rounds with the snowblower to get the driveway cleared.  It also required chain saw work.....the trees were breaking in half and mature shrubs were splitting down the middle.  First survey showed one 20 year old rhododendron split to the ground, one tree bent in half with the top blocking the driveway.

As the day progressed and more snow fell, we kept hearing "pistol shots", which were actually limbs cracking and popping.  I hate that sound and always wonder if whatever is breaking is coming through the roof! 

Rhododendron split and blocking the driveway.....

Broken tree bent and blocking the driveway....

We have a gas water heater so we were squeaky clean. We also used our Hillbilly Freezer so we were barely inconvenienced there!

We also had beauty in the midst of it all.

If I hadn't already bought my Christmas cards I would have gotten these made up.  Maybe next year!
It has mostly rained overnight and the snow has come off of the trees.  Our yard now looks like a war zone.  It will take forever to get stuff sawed up and dragged off.  We have numerous "widow makers"
hanging down that we will deal with as we can and is necessary.  We sure don't have the $$$ to make them all go away at once! 

But all in all, we are fine, and our thoughts and prayers are with all those who are dealing with so much more devastation.

Blessings,
Becky