The Ice Storm of February 2022

It was an ice storm I’ve never seen or heard the likes of before. It came and dumped two to three inches of ice in certain areas of the Ohio Valley and in some places even more. What a shame that so many people were left without power for so many days.

Some people got hotel rooms where they could. Most of us didn’t make it into our offices the next day. However, I had to stay home on Monday for two reasons you’ll figure out on your own in this blog.  (Fire and water.)

I’m extremely grateful for all the power line and tree cutting workers who worked out in bitter cold temperatures to get our electricity back on. They also cut the trees away from the power lines.  

I’ve learned I could never live off the grid and I don’t know how people can go without showering for days. I didn’t have Wi-Fi or the use of a phone. Also, the hot water tank only stayed hot to warm for so long before the water went ice cold.

Our family was very blessed to have a generator that could be hooked up and run our refrigerator, freezer, a light and TV (we have a dish) during the power outage. We also have a woodburning fireplace and several ventless propane fireplaces throughout the house that kept us warm. Still, I spent four days in my winter coat with a blanket over me to keep warm -- and at my age I’m hardly ever cold.

If you didn’t live in the areas where the ice formed a thick layer on the trees and power and phone lines, you really can’t understand lying in bed and hearing trees snapping and feel them when they fell -- not knowing where they landed because you can’t see them with no power.

We lost a total of six big trees that night. One just missed our tractor and one fell into our pond. The other downed trees are up above our home, in our wooded area on our property. So, this is going to be a spring and summer clean-up like no other. It’s going to take us a long time to get these trees cut up for firewood.

Yet we did spend quality family time together with our three four-legged boys, who would not let us out of sight. I’m not sure how I made it four days without falling because the boys were under foot. And let’s just say they were scared to death the first night the ice was taking down trees in our yard.

We fared well, though, having food, water, milk and bread to get us through the “Ice Storm of February 2022.”

For those of you who have said, well, if you didn’t live out in the country you would have had power and hot water, I’ve said it before: I love living out where we do because it’s like living in a beautiful park all four seasons. I’m totally blessed to see God’s magic happen -- even if means a power outage. The ice looked like diamonds on all the trees. It was absolutely gorgeous. God gives us beauty sometimes in the strangest way -- ice.