I can't believe that we still have electricity. I really can't. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I woke up and could see red numbers on my alarm clock and hear the ceiling fan spinning around above me. We're still in the midst of one hell of a storm. There is incredibly thick ice on the power and phone lines, not to mention the trees. Our bird feeder is completely encrusted in ice and yet the birds are poking their way through to the seeds in the middle. My mum called to see if we had power. My folks still do, the west end of the city was spare but the east end is currently without any heat or power. Apparently, Wolfe Island, badly battered by our last big ice storm, is out too. It's pretty scary.

In January 1998 we lost our power for over a week because of an ice storm. I lasted almost 5 days in my place before I took refuge at my parent's house. My dad felt inconvenienced by the fact that he had lost his cable television for a couple of hours during the storm. Some people were without electricity for over a month. When my power was restored I took in some refugee friends who lived in the country and had no water or power at their place. Everyone just pitched in and helped others out. You really find out about the character of your neighbours when something like that happens. Here's hoping that it won't come to that here again. I've heard that they have set up emergency shelters in different parts of town to accommodate folks. It's mighty cold right now and there is a wind storm due tonight after the snow stops. All that weight on the trees and lines, it could be really messy. I'm going to get outside this afternoon and take some photos. It's really calm and eerie outside right now...let's hope for some sunshine this afternoon!