10:47am
We’ve been without power now for a whopping hour and a half. We’d always heard of the power going out during an ice storm, due to the trees falling on power lines, transformers exploding, etc. But this is the first time our power’s been out for more than an hour. Ever.

So far the clock/temperature gauge on the wall has dropped from 65 degrees to 63. I can only surmise it’s gonna keep dropping.

Kyler and I went outside for a bit in the backyard. There’s a good half inch of ice over everything. He fell on his butt, but he’s a kid, so it didn’t hurt. (If I fell on MY butt, you’d hear about it for a week.)

Across the street a neighbor’s tree split down the middle. It looks like his other one will be going soon, too. This gave me the idea to look at a few of our own trees in the front yard. Sure enough, we have a massive tree with a massive amount of ice on it. And it’s leaning… Slowly… Getting lower with every passing minute.

I have an APC power supply that’s fully charged, so in theory I can use my MacBook for another hour or so, if necessary. But currently I’m typing this on my Clie, which once more makes me thrilled to have this thing. I need to replace the internal battery sometime soon, though. It won’t hold a charge much longer than 5-10 minutes of heavy use. I have an external power supply that I can plug into which runs on 4 AA batteries, but it’s kind cumbersome. (That, and I can’t very well charge it while I’m typing at the same time… Not that it would matter… Because… You know… It’d only last another 10 minutes after that…)

Thankful. What am I thankful for? Thankful for the Clie. Thankful for the keyboard. Thankful that Kaleb’s sleeping (for now). Thankful that I just loaded my MP3 player with the new music I downloaded from eMusic.com. Thankful that Kaleb slept through the night. Thankful that Kim didn’t have to go into work, so she’s able to stay home and help me wrangle the kids. Thankful that we have a 4Runner with 4-wheel drive, so if we HAVE to go out, we can. (If we can get the garage door to open…)

And now Kaleb’s crying… Gotta go…

Kevin

8:55pm.

Well, after experiencing almost a full day without power, it JUST NOW came back on! Just as we were putting Kyler to bed (in our bed, no less, so we could siphon off his body heat to stay alive) – DING! – up come the lights (and the heat, and the refrigerator, etc.).

In retrospect, I think I wanna get another small, handheld TV someday. The one I have it Black and White and from the late 80′s, and it takes a whopping 4 AAs to run. If there’s an current, color model that runs on only 2 AAs, I’m there. (Last I checked, they were only $50-75 a few years ago. Cheaper on eBay.)

So now we’re back in business. The status quo has been restored, and we’ll be feeling our toes soon enough.

That tree I mentioned? Sure enough, the weight and the pressure were too much, and one of the major limbs went down. It was a bradford pear, and apparently those suckers just can’t handle ice storms very well, because there were trees split everywhere around town. Purty things, but oh-so-fragile…

And now I think I’ll get ready for bed. Now that Kyler’s warmed it up for me sufficiently. Maybe I’ll even let him stay in it tonight… unless he kicks me… then he’s outta there! (Still loved, but outta my bed.)

Some Photos for You:

(Whoops… someone forgot to cover the grill…)

Neighbor’s tree, not mine… (Not that there’s much difference….)