This was to be another "Winter Weather Advisory" that some of us just brushed off. Of course having no idea what was in store for us. Brint and I was at work at the hospital. In my department we have wall to wall windows, so we were able to see it coming. When it started we thought "Oh it's really snowing, but it will die down soon", but it just kept coming down. Here are some pics from one of many windows at work.
As the day wound on, the snow just kept at it. The snow flakes were more like snow clumps. The EMS (ambulance) workers that were bringing some of our patients in were saying they were slipping all over the roads, even in their big rigs. Well there goes my stomach, nervous as can be. I knew we would get home ok, seeing how we JUST bought a 4x4 car three days earlier. I was more worried that I would be stuck at work and have to stay there. They can call a "Code Disaster" and you are required to stay there. In the blizzard of '93, employees were there for three days. Sleeping, and working ...ugh.
With time, the storm only got worse. My fantastic co-workers told me to go home at 5pm, because Brint was off and he was my ride. BLESS THEM. So me, my nervous stomach, and Brint went home. We hopped into our new (to us) Land Rover, and proceeded slowly. It was just chaos on the roads. Mostly people who were not being smart about driving. What normally took us 15 minutes to get home, took us an hour. Brint said our neighbor called him, and they wanted us to meet them at Applebee's for dinner. Uh, hello people ...we are in a middle of a blizzard here!! I was in no condition to eat anything, we barely got into the parking lot since there was so much snow already, but there was a ton of people there. I just thought "this is crazy!". We just sat down, my nerves were settling when I looked out the window when all of a sudden an electrical transformer, the size of a semi-truck, across the street blew up not once, but five times. Out goes the power to Applebee's.
The next thing I know Brint and our neighbors are talking about what other restaurant they can go to. What ...are you kidding me. Take me home! So we are on the way home, can I just say that was the most dangerous car ride I have ever been in. By the time we got to our street, the road was SO covered with snow, Brint couldn't make it into our driveway, and was stuck in a ditch. I got out of the car, and the snow was just below my knees. Before I got out of the car, the most frightening thing happened. The transformer on the pole by the driveway blew. Blue green flashes, and sparks everywhere. We sat in the car and watched the power flicker off in our house. It was like watching the Titanic movie, when the boat is about to go down and the survivors are watching the power flicker out on the boat.
Anyway, Brint and our neighbor Mark were able to get our car out of the ditch, but had to park it a couple of driveways down. I went inside, lit candles, checked on my cat (she was upstairs asleep), and brought in our dog. Again, the crazy people (aka: Brint, Mark, and Amy) still wanted to go out and eat. I pated them on the head, told them they were crazy, and off to Waffle House they went. I laid on the couch, threw on a blanket, timber laid beside me on the floor. And I curled up with my Mission windup flashlight, and my Twilight book. While i was reading by candle/flashlight there were blue green explosions of the transformers all over Candler. I just thought "this will take weeks for the power to come back on".
By the time Brint and our neighbors got home, it was two and a half hours later. They waited for an hour for a table, and then when they got a table there was only one waitress, and two cooks. No one was getting any service, so Mark got behind the counter, in his snow bib-overalls. We have video of it, it's priceless!! Maybe that will be another blog post.
When we went to bed it was 60 degrees in the house, not bad considering it was WAY colder outside, and threw on three extra blankets. Misty, our cat, slept under them all night. When we woke up in the morning we woke up to the most amazing winter wonderland we had ever seen. My butterfly bush, which is normally 6-7 feet tall, was squashed down to just two feet tall. But sprung back to life a week later. We finally got our power back on. It was only out for a day and a half, which compared to others, not bad at all. BIG thanks to Progress Energy, they came out in full force like an army. In our area of Candler we got 18 inches. Now it was time to just enjoy the snow.
Introducing ...our Land Rover!!
Our chicken coop. We had JUST put on a clear roof, so their "yard" was free of snow. Brilliant!
Love these pics of the car, especially the one with Brint and Timber in the car thawing out.
The bird feeder was empty, and there was a ton of birds on the railing as if to say "We are hungry". So I put on my snow boots and filled their feeder. The next thing I knew there were even more birds, some we had never seen before. What a treat!
Here is a pic of my cactus poking out of the snow. This is the little cactus that could!
Troy and Robyn had to spend the night at our house, since they still didn't have power or heat. The next morning Troy helped Brint get the Land Rover out of the snow and off our neighbors driveway. Leave it to a Marine to save the day!!
Brint and I became the master shovelers after this storm. We helped Brint's Aunt and Uncle down the road shovel,sand and de-ice their mountain drive. With some great help from his cousin who flew in from Canada, which she thought she left the snow behind. We used our whirly-bird from our driving lawn mower, attached it to the tow hitch of our Land Rover and covered their drive. If we ever need a back up job, I think Brint and I found one!
Well that's our story. The good, the bad, the scary, and the beautiful.
