Winter Storm #1

Here are a couple pictures from this past Friday's storm. We got a lot of ice! The coolest thing was that there was thunder and lightening. Jesse was ALMOST disappointed there was no school because they were having their class party of course. (Okay, he was a little disappointed.)

I put down Winter Storm #1 because we are supposed to get some more ice tomorrow. But with this one, everything was fine at our homestead until yesterday morning. Around 7am our power went out. Not a big deal except it was extremely cold! I couldn't get Derek up but that gave him a boost out of bed. He was up in a flash straight to the garage to hook up the generator!

We purchased this generator, oh, quite a few years ago. That last big ice storm to hit Nappanee. We were out of town when it had hit and when we got back about 3 days later, our house was still w/out power. The thermostat said57 degree's. I think we actually called Denny Martin at home to see if he would open up and let us buy a generator. He did and 3 hours later we had some heat and lights. Derek headed to get gas or food and saw some Nipsco trucks in Martin's parking lot. He tracked the men down at Pizza Hut and asked where we were at on the list. We weren't on their list but they came to the house and fixed it in 10 minutes!

So, we've have had this generator for years. We have lugged this thing with each move. We even tried to sell it a few times - no luck. As I write this, I think the generator was in the shed when the tornado hit. I'll have to add a picture. This thing is indestructible! I think we'll have it forever. So, after this last move, we decided to keep it. And, as a permanent member of "Derek's Collection of Guy Things" he'll now jump at the chance to use it!

And he did on Sunday. Our church was without power as well but still stayed open to have service in a smaller, warmer area than the sanctuary. We went. Shortly after worship started, the power came back on. We had left our generator running. So afterwards, we headed home, unplugged it and were just about ready to leave to head to Great Grandpa's when the power went on and off a couple times. Well, it was on when we left. Upon returning, we were on CR 52 and saw every house go dark! So, we got home, lit candles, powered up the generator and about 20 minutes later the power came back on and has been on since.

We are still leaving things in place until this ice melts and especially since we're supposed to get more tomorrow! Winter is here!!

Here's our shed before our tornado.


Here's our shed after the tornado.

Here is our trusty generator (midde of picture). It landed behind where the shed was, along with some of our neighbors furniture and other items.