Anyone want to go Ice Skating? Winter storm of 09!

[ScottAR]

Well, the backhoe is repaired and cleanup continues... 

Dad and I cleaned up a rent house lot and returned home and
dropped the rest of the trees to come down and got a couple stumps
out before dark.  I was pushing most of a tree to the road when the
neighbor came over to talk with Dad.  He's been using an atv with a
trailer to move limbs to the road.  Told Dad we were cheating.
Somehow I'm ok with that.  Dad offered our services but he declined.
I guess he didn't want ruts in his yard.  I'll just fix ours when it drys up
a bit.  'Twas a good day today.   

Machines are fun. 

[rowerwet]

Glad you all came through ok, makes our ice storm up here in Maine seem not so bad. I was working the night our ice storm happened, the storm took out the power at work and then the generator failed so it was pitch black inside and out. I left work at 2 am and drove home, there was ice on everything causing the trees to fall into the road, I passed one tree blocking the whole road with just enough room for me to squeeze by in my car, but an 18 wheeler going the other way was stuck. due to it being night there were trees on the road that could take out your tires if not careful, I passed one guy with his flashers on standing by his car, right after that I saw a large tree in the road that you couldn't see till the last min. I got out and moved the tree, and then went back to help him change his tire. we were at the end of a driveway and  the home owner came down in the middle of the tire change to help, he went back to get a tire pump and came back saying he couldn't find it and he was going back into his house as a tree had almost killed him when he came back down.
just as we were getting back into our cars a large tree fell across the road just in front of the guys car, I said " boy I bet you're glad you stopped here and not there!" we jumped in our cars and drove away fast to the sound of more cracking trees.
I had bought a generator back in Oct, after five days on it we got power back, our neighbors across the street have all electric so they had no heat, I offered them my kerosene heater but they said no, they spent the two coldest nights in a hotel instead. I thought we might not get power back before Christmas, but we did. the Hospitals and businesses get power first, then neighborhoods, then individual houses. The last house to get power back was on the 17th of January. I think most people up here are prepared as we had a big ice storm up here back in '96 that  knocked out power for weeks.
My other neighbor across the street just got a generac unit installed in the fall, he never noticed the power was out, even had his dusk to dawn lights and everything.