Snow Storm 2012

It's a beautiful Saturday today but several weeks ago we got record amounts of snow - schools, offices, churches and even the post office were closed down!!  We were without power from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon - we suppose that's a long time but not as long as some of our friends.  We felt quite fortunate that we had a gas hot water heater so we could wash and shower with hot water anytime, a woodstove that kept us quite warm downstairs, and plenty of food!  The day we got our power back we had gone to church and I ran home between Sacrament meeting and Sunday school to throw another log in the woodstove - the power crew was just finishing up restoring our power.  What a blessing - we took inventory and thought we did quite well but still made a list of things we need to improve for next time!  Here are some of the photos we took during those few days.

We took a walk Wednesday night (Jan. 18) after it snowed all day - we were surprised to find a snowman taller than Scott!

We woke up Thursday morning to freezing rain and a sheet of ice covering just about everything - the trees were very weighed down - and by mid-morning our power went out.  A tree had fallen through someone's power line down the road from us. 

The woodstove worked great - we warmed up soup and made oatmeal - it was amazing how quick things cooked once we got it going well.

We took this picture at night without the flash.....and then

with the flash

Scott's work opened back up on Friday - this tree had fallen across Maple Lane downtown and created a bit of distraction.  Downtown Olympia lost all power at noon so we were sent home.  Since we didn't have power we took our time getting home, stopping to eat and enjoyed the establishments who had power!

We had plenty of branches fall down but not like in years past.  Getting our two big trees down in the front really helped and we got our side trees wind-sailed at the same time.  So we got branches but not as many as our neighbor across the street.

With the snow nearly gone and the power back, we were grateful not to have to travel this path to the shed to bring in more fire wood:)  Actually, in spite of the hassel we were very blessed and grateful to deal with what we did - and will be even better prepared next time.