Since this storm didn't hit the East coast, most of your are probably unaware that there were up to 265,000 Iowans without power this weekend with temperatures hovering around freezing. The storm was no surprise to the region since forecasters had been warning of it's potential impact since the beginning of the week. But, even with the foreshadowing provided by forecasters, nobody knew how devastating this storm would become.

The weather started to change on Friday. With my wrist hurting in the morning, I decided to make preparations. I stocked up on groceries and battoned down the hatches by filling the stock tank and making sure all of the buildings were shut up tight. When we awoke Saturday morning, a slow and steady rain had started to fall outside. With the outdoor temperatures in the upper 30's the rain was well from freezing. So, Tyler and I decided to go into town for breakfast and a quick run to the home improvement store. Within an hour of getting into town, the weather had changed and the rain was beginning to freeze. We decided to cut our trip short and return home. By the time we made the 15 minute trip home, the roads were already starting to get slick.

The rest of Saturday morning and early afternoon was spent working on the DWV for the house. We'd take occasional breaks to watch the rain outside. Everytime we looked out the window the weather was doing something different. A driving East wind was either throwing rain, sleet or snow at us. By noon most of the East facing windows were covered in a sheet of ice. So, I headed upstairs to take some photos out of the second floor windows that were offered a little more protection by the porch.

An East facing window in the kitchen was covered in ice by noon on Saturday.	A thin layer of ice was starting to form on the trees by noon on Saturday.

Shortly after Tyler and I finished a late lunch, the power went out at our house around 3:00 pm. With the expectation that power would be shortly restored, Tyler and I decided to settle down into bed and wait for the lights to come back on.

After the power went out, Tyler and I tried to stay warm by climbing under the covers. I had about 60 yards of wool fabric that I had been planning on using for horse blankets that we piled on top of the bed.	Once under, the pets started piling on top. Here you can see Washu, Shiro, Mer and Kain snuggling up close.

Around 4:30 pm, I went outside to feed the horses. Since I was tired of laying around, I decided to hike around the house taking photos of the ice. On my way back into the house, I grabbed my gym bag from the car so Tyler and I could listen to my radio. When we tuned in to an AM channel we heard that our energy company was saying that customers without power would most likely be out till the next morning.

This is a shot of the tree tops around the machine shed that will eventually become my stable.	This is a shot of the woven wire fence near the horse barn.	I'm not sure why, but most of the ice on the trees was cracked by the time I got outside. I'm not sure if it was the weight of the ice or the trees bending in the wind that caused it to crack.	This is a view of the ice that built up on the power lines outside of our house.
This is a view of the ice that built up on the tall grass in the ditch alongside Stone Road.	The wind was throwing the ice around so hard outside that it was stinging. So, I opted to take photos thru the windows on the second floor. Here, I\'m trying to take a photo of the trees along the side of the house. It was difficult since most of the windows were covered in ice. The specs of ice on the window make it look as if it is snowing in this picture.	Here, I'm trying to take a photo of the tree in front of the house. The weight of the ice had bent the branches down to the ground, but they didn't snap. So, Tyler and I are hoping the branches can be saved.	Here, you can see the strength of the wind as it bends the trees in the woods. While I was watching, the wind almost bent the majority of the smaller trees to almost a 45 degree angle. I was amazed that I didn't see any of the trees snap while I was watching.

With the wind becoming increasingly strong outside and creating blizzard conditions, Tyler and I decided to hunker down in the house and wait till the morning. Our neighbors called to let us know they had their wood fireplace going. But, the weather was so bad outside that we didn't even want to venture that far out into the cold. And, with temperatures forecasted to rise overnight, we thanked them and said we'd stay under our many wool blankets.

The rest of the night was spent with Tyler and I buried under layers of blankets and pets while listening to our tiny radio by candlelight. Most of the FM stations seemed to be off the air. And the few that were on the air, were reporting nothing of the storm outside. We ended up listening to WMT radio for the rest of the night before falling asleep around 8:00pm.

When Tyler and I awoke the next morning, we had found that most of the ice and snow had already begun to melt. Most of the ice on the windows was gone and water was dripping from the trees. I checked the conditions of the gravel road in front of our house by going out and doing a little jig. Since I didn't fall flat on my keyster, I figured the roads were good enough to drive on. So, Tyler and I headed into down for breakfast, heat and an internet connection - since the power was still out at our place.

Having been cut off from most news sources (TV and internet), Tyler and I were fairly unaware of how much damage the storm had caused. The local newspaper said that 2,500 poles had been downed by the storm and that restoring the power to everyone could take upwards of a week or more! With four cold pups and three shivering kittens at home, Tyler and I decided we needed to find some way of staying warm.

After breakfast, we headed out to all of the home improvement and farm stores to find either a generator or portable gas powered heater - everyone was out. Apparently, the crazy people we had seen driving around in the storm the night before weren't as crazy as we had thought. They were out buying up all of the generators and heaters. By the middle of the afternoon we had given up on our search. We stopped at Tyler's parents house for a shower. Then, we took our neighbors up on an invitation to dinner - grilled brats and beer.

After visiting with our neighbors for several hours, Tyler and I found it to be around 11 o'clock at night. Not wanting to abandon our pets, we decided to continue holding out against the cold under our many layers of wool blankets. After what seemed like hours, I awoke and looked at the time on my cell phone. Thinking it was around 5:00 am, I was contemplating just starting my day early. Then, I saw 2:00 am staring back at me from my cell phone. I couldn't believe it was only 2:00 am. I decided to call the Alliant outage number again to see what the status of repairs were for our line. Unlike the other time I had called, I received an automated message system that was very helpful. It told me that there was an outage in my area - very nice to know that, that the outage was due to a break in the line - I had kind of figured that one out on my own, that no crews were assigned to work on the outage - here is where I started to lose confidence, and that return of service was schedule for March 4th - this is where all hopes came shattering down around me like a thousand shards of glass.

Now, the women who read this post will truly understand my plight when I add this piece of info to the mix... it was also the first day of the month for me. So, there I was sitting in my freezing house, with monstrous tummy cramps with the realization that I was not getting power anytime soon settling into my consciousness. Feeling utterly defeated, I turned to Tyler and told him it was time to call his parents. At 2:15 am we left the yard feeling as if we were abandoning the fort to nature.