How about my first post coming from ground zero? We lost power about 10:00PM Thursday evening. During the night and into Friday morning I could hear branches and whole trees giving way to the weight of the ice accumulation. It mades me a bit sad to see the destruction. I'm fairly isolated in the midst of 48 mostly wooded acres via 1/2 mile drive. When I built I clear-cut 3 acres around the house. A few people had asked me why I did that. At least one of those has a tree through his roof and vehicle windshied as I write. I had to hack my way out Friday with my trusty 1977 vintage Stihl saw. Left a couple on the wires that I'm still able to drive under - most notably a 40' section of 6-7" diameter pine that is balanced perfectly horizonal on the wire. The broken butt end is rubbing on another tree providing just enough friction to keep it balanced 20' off the ground. A bit spooky to drive under but it seems stable enough.
Out on the road the utility lines are lying on the ground in places (amazing my DSL is still working/TelCo runs on battery). I traveled to Home Depot yesterday for a couple of items. I mention it because while in electrical a bunch of long-faced guys staring at empty shelves offered me $100 for a 30-amp plug if I had one. Clerk said they sold out of all gensets within a few minutes of opening on Friday. Roadside gypsy genset sellers from out of the area have come in to peddle the Chinese copy B&S-style aircooled gensets for $2-3K.
With temporary power (a cup of hot coffee, computer to play with), a wood stove and enough wood to last to spring I'm in good shape. This is the third day with no power, temp is barely above zero and the utility is making no promises with respect to restoration date. As of this morning our utility still reports 194,000 households without power. I enjoyed writing this first post but I'll sign off for now as I travel out to help a few I know who have not planned so well.
Ed
Changfa 1115/ST12
Update 12-16-08: Will be entering our 5th day without power. Getting along just fine. Adding a few pictures I snapped yesterday.
Driveway
Within 1 mile of home
Within 1 mile of home