Winter Ice Storms - Oregon Style

I've been kind of anti-blogging lately... probably since my last post. Part of that has to do with the fact that I'm home in Oregon and for nearly 4 days of that we had no electricity. Then with birthday parties and Christmas and everything else on top of that, I haven't been on much. I'll try and catch up over the next few weeks before I'm off to Oregon again for Tom and Maria's wedding.

Oregon has to do everything just a little different than every other state in the Union, and that includes winter storms. Normally it only snows a few times a year and it melts within a day or two. Rarely does it ever get icy or dangerous. Last Saturday night, our power went out but came back on within 5 hours. We got up, slid our way to church on the sheets of ice, and then slid home after Sacrament meeting since they cancelled the rest. When we got home we didn't have any power again.... Monday we didn't have any power.... Tuesday we didn't have any power... until Tuesday night we finally had power. In the mean time, we kept warm with the wood stoves, played games under lantern light, and put together a puzzle by piece shape, not color. If you ever want to simulate the experience some time, just take a puzzle and turn all the pieces over so you can't see the picture then put it all together. 300 pieces took us 3 days. Kind of sad. And, sad to say we were a little crazy being without electricity for so long. Taking bucket baths so you don't freeze is hard! The picture is what our front yard looked like Monday morning after the ice and snow storms. We spent all morning sawing, stacking, and moving wood so we could get out the driveway.