Ice Storm - one more time!

I'm sure I've bored my blog readers plenty with ice storm pictures and stories, but I just had to post one more day....day #3.
Thursday.

Yes, Thursday.
Not that I could tell you what day it was at the time.
By then, every day was the same.
We spent the first part of the day on a cat & mouse trying to get Alex with her boyfriend.
Unfortunately it was a lost cause.
We were sitting at his house while he was sitting at our house!
No cell phone service at all.
It was like a bad movie.

We checked on the the Ash Flat campus of the college where I work.
There was electricity and phone. It was quite odd.
We went for a Wal-Mart run and purchased a bunch of junk food, while hubs was getting gas.
By the time we got home the sun was out and the skies were clear and blue.

I snapped a bunch of photos of the frozen splendor/ugliness (whichever was you choose to view it):

Next thing I knew, there were bucket trucks pulling in the driveway.
YAY! We might have power.
Don't worry, we didnt get it until the following day because we had some limbs on our line to the meter loop.
These guys were a contract crew, hired by our local electric cooperative: NAEC, to do some repairs.
I love my local co-op for all their hard work during this ordeal.
Those guys are real troopers.

See this guy in the bucket truck?

Alex's friend and our neighbor, Seth.

Seth horseshowed with us for several years and he and Alex have been like brother & sister growing up together.
Graduated from high school last year and went to lineman school in the fall.
He was hired by a local crew.
I am very proud of him for working so hard.
His dad works for NAEC too.
I love my small town!
I love the fact that Seth helped get us on our way to electricity!

After those guys pulled out, we went out to Mom's.

It had been two days since I had talked with them.
I had finally gotten a text to go through and got one back from Robert that they were okay, but I still wanted to see them and make sure!
We made it past the line hanging down across their driveway just in time to see the most gorgeous sunset and sky I believe I've ever seen! (new blog banner)

Here is what boredom will do when you are a kid:

Goofy Jake was wearing (or attempting to wear) someone else's jeans, along with someone else's socks on his hands, and his sweatpants on his head. All along playing with this huge limb.
What a guy!

Let's fast forward to today.
It's been over a week that this ordeal began.
Many people still don't have power, but many more have it than was expected at this point.
We've got National Guard here, FEMA, and Red Cross.
There are still shelters set up for those needing a warm place to sleep & shower along with a hot meal.
Schools are back in session and people are finally getting back to semi-normal lives.

I'm personally ready for some springtime and little flowerbuds and green pops of color.
For short sleeves and flip-flops.
For now, I'll continue wearing my sweats and socks and attempt to find the beauty in the gray of winter.