I hope she's okay, but wouldn't be surprised if she still doesn't have power. The freak snow storm we got hit some areas really hard, including mine. I didn't lose power only because our town has been very pro-active about maintaining the trees. Almost all the surrounding towns have had days of power outages, and some cancelled school for 2-4 days of this past week, and also they had either cancelled or rescheduled Halloween!!

This storm seemed to have hit the zone 5b/6a area hard, as a little colder and more leaves were off the trees, a little warmer and there was much less snowfall. A couple of my trees got clobbered, and I spent several hours cleaning up branches today. Several branches came within 2-3 feet of the power/cable wires but fortunately there was no damage, except for a few squashed shrubs. :)

Here's a pic of an Elm in the backyard that suffered significant damage -
{{gwi:448368}}

I would say she is still without power. I had emailed here last week, and she never emailed me back. She has a wood stove and said she had plenty of wood, so hope she can at least stay warm and can heat/cook meals. I know we all miss her posts.
Tom

I hope she comes back soon. Looking forward for her posts.

I'm not sure exactly where in Connecticut Gardenweed is, but I know she is on the Mass border. From this outage map - which is updated every 15 minutes - I'm guessing she still doesn't have power. There are border towns where 80+% of people don't have power back.

Here is a link that might be useful: Conecticut outage map

I was wondering about her as well. She'll be pleased to see we're all looking out for her :)

I know she lives in the town of Somers ct., And I bet it was hard hit as was lots of places up that way. I know she will be glad to have her power back.

Thanks to pixie lou's link & tomerrol's info, I found a webpage that lists 56% of customers in Somers, CT as being without power as of this writing (webpage updated frequently). Just what Terrene thought. We miss you, gardenweed, hang in there!

Here is a link that might be useful: CT Light & Power List of Outages

I hope this freak storm is not a harbinger of things to come. You poor folks out East really got hit this past year. What with tornadoes, hurricanes, snow storms, drought, heat and fires, all over the country, I feel guilty that we have escaped all of it here in Indiana. Here' my wishes for a milder, kinder winter for everyone!

Gardenweed, we are all thinking about you!

And Bev don't forget we had an earthquake too! That was just about the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. I was sitting at the kitchen table tending to the butterfly caterpillars, and the door nearby started banging. Ever so slightly at first, but then louder and more insistent. I didn't have a CLUE what was moving the door, until the house and earth started to jiggle beneath me! Felt like jello. And quickly figured it was an earthquake.

Experiencing an earthquake is probably something rather common for the West coasters, but very unusual here.

I sent her an email after the Nor'easter and she hasn't responded. May not have power or cable may be out. I feel certain that She'll respond when she can.

I hope she's all right and that she'll be back before too long if her power's still out. I always enjoy her posts too!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I heard on the news this morning that 90,000 customers in Ct are still in the dark.

I received a letter from gardenweed today. she has not had electric since 10/29, damage is epic trees and branches continue to fall. roads are blocked no crews will come up to help because power company will not pay them. she says more then 2 dozen trees are down in her garden. tree branch went thru her garage roof, dogwood tree trunks snapped in half, apple trees are destroyed. Electric power lines snapped off her house and laying on the ground she says they hoping to have power back up by thanksgiving week. She has had an awful time I know! I dont know when this letter was mailed, she didnt date it and I couldn't read when it was mailed on the enveloupe. I assume it was the last few days. at least she has wood and a stove
Our prayers are with her
Tom

I am so, so sorry to hear that, her inconvenience must be beyond description. We were without 3 1/2 days during our worst storm and I was about at my limit for hot water, lights, heat then. Being on the same power grid as our hospital, our service was returned first in this community - but there were not only our local PUD crews going round the clock, there were others brought here from different areas and out of state as well as emergency contractors....so I'm not sure I understand the delay but I'm sure she'll explain when she can.

Gardenweed - be strong, we'll hope for an end to this soon!
I wish I could take you in, make you comfortable...

I am SO GLAD that you have heard from her Tom. She's worked very hard on that property and must be so upset by the distruction. But at least we know she is safe and keeping warm by the stove. Losing her mind I bet...but safe. That's the important thing.

Thanks for letting us know,
Nancy

Wow, that is just awful. That is by far the worst story I've heard so far. Her poor trees, gardens, and garage, and what a horrible situation with the electricity. I hope things work out for you more quickly than Thanksgiving Gardenweed!!

That is just so nuts. We had F4 tornadoes through here in April, power lines crumpled in half, etc. - still, we were without power only nine days (and we were some of the last in the area to get it back). Four weeks is just wrong.

This was on CNN last night, seems there are some issues with that states power recovery that are being looked into. Not that it benefits Gardenweed this week, I just wish we were close enough to help her.

Here is a link that might be useful: Storm restoration

I'm at work and hoping this will "take" so I can let you all know I'm okay. Still no power--latest post on the CL&P website says by midnight tomorrow. Next door neighbors both sides of me have power--I went across the lawn and camped out in Carlo's house last night. Had a hot shower and slept on his couch. He's staying with relatives that have a generator. They called the house last night so I answered and told them I'm sleeping over. They were fine with it of course. I put a note on the door to let folks know I was inside just in case they reported the lights on & called the cops.

Thanks everyone for your good wishes--I sent the note to Tom in with some more seeds and was counting on him putting the info here to let you know my situation. I have no phone & no Internet and no idea when they'll be back.

If all this wasn't more than anyone should have to endure, my truck needed muffler, tailpipe + brake caliper ($700) and now my car needs a front axle. I paid the migrant workers to haul debris from the garden down to the back boundary and dump it--truck made it possible. Helped neighbors haul their brush to the designated town "debris field." The pile looks to be about 100 ft wide so far. Months' worth of work still to clear the massive piles of tree branches that were snapped off. The branches on my 150+ y/o oaks snapped off like toothpicks and there are lots more caught in the upper branches still to fall. It ain't over yet.

I never want to be without power this long again in my lifetime. My woodstove ashes are so deep they're beginning to keep it from burning as hot as it did at first so I'm grateful the weather has been mild.

I went out as soon as the storm ended and took a bajillion pictures then took quite a few more after the snow melted. If I ever get cable Internet back in this lifetime, you're all in for quite a slide show.

Thanks again for all the good wishes. I hope to be back to normal soon.

I was trying to write it fast and give as many details as possible. I've used up nearly 2 dozen AA batteries, flushing with rain water that overflowed my gutters into plastic storage bins and sipping water I filled gallon jugs (!) in before the storm. Washing hands = pouring water from jugs into cupped hand over a washcloth so as not to waste any. This is nucking futz!!!

I'm glad to see you are least hanging in there, hopefully to be over soon...or at least back to normal inside your house. With neighbors having power, you'll take advantage of that, right? I know I had a line of people showering, doing laundry here Dec 2007 I was not on an intimate basis with...in an emergency it doesn't really matter :)

We have water in a power outage, I can't imagine being without even cold water. You must come from good tough stock! How frustrating for power to be restored on both sides of you. From your photos, I'm thinking its more than several steps to the closest house, is their any chance of a heavy duty ext extension cord run from a neighbor for a space heater, even a couple of lamps or your refrigerator?

Oh my - - what an ordeal!!! Be brave and strong Eileen!!! If you want to drive down, get on a ferry and hop over to the Island, your welcome to come camp out here! Just made lentil soup and have two empty bedrooms and a bath upstairs with the kids gone.

Nancy

Great time a day,you have been through a lot.I wish you the best and may your power be restored soon...

Bless your heart! I feel for you!! It's hard to imagine all the people that aren't lucky enough to have a fireplace or a stove... altho up North maybe that's a rarity.. Stay warm and we're all thinking of you! Sending prayers your way!

I am no longer powerless as of 4 p.m. yesterday. Lights came on just as I drove into the driveway from work. Since there's such extensive damage to trees, poles, wires, transformers, etc., I won't be surprised if there are sporadic service interuptions in the coming weeks. I hope to be back online from my home P/C later today.

My closest neighbor ran a heavy-duty power cord from his house to mine but I couldn't really use it without leaving the door part-way open. The refrigerator has been warm for ten full days so there's nothing salvageable in it at this point. We don't have city water--the artesian wells here in CT provide lots of excellent fresh, clean water when there's electricity to run the pumps. No power = no water other than what you run ahead of the outage or what falls from the sky. Thanks to WS, one thing I have lots of are clean gallon milk jugs. A friend who didn't lose power saves them for me and sent me home one day with 4 gallons of water from her house to use for washing.

I went to Outward Bound...twice...in Maine years ago and learned a lot of wilderness tricks that come in handy in these types of situations. First course was wilderness bushwhacking (hiking, climbing, rapelling); second course was sailing. A key lesson is not listening to your Little F*ck-it Voice when your back's against the wall.

Morz8 - didn't need the space heater since the woodstove down cellar is so efficient, my upstairs was 69 degrees the whole time. Being warm was half the battle--it was folks that weren't who suffered a whole lot worse than I did. Somers, CT doesn't allow homes to be built on less than an acre of land and many homes are built on larger properties. Carlo's house next door is 200+ ft. south of mine.

I do come from tough stock--Dad's family arrived in Massachusetts in 1621 aboard the sailing ship 'Fortune.' Mom's family came in 1631 when there weren't even any roads.

Thanks for the generous offer Nancy. I'd be lying if I said the idea would make me wish the power was still off!

tomva - thanks so much for the good wishes--they're much appreciated.

Wendy - your prayers were answered!! Thank you so much! Not too many folks heat with wood around here--they mostly rely on noisy generators to KTLO (keep the lights on) & power the water pump. With extreme weather conditions becoming more frequent, I'm guessing the wood-burning stove business is going to be on the upswing.

Couldn't sleep last night so I got started cleaning & doing laundry around 1 a.m. I'm just one person and I've got six loads of laundry piled up + bedding. Imagine what a family of four is facing! Oh, and Carlo's cousin he's staying with, her washing machine cr@pped out just as the power came back on so they can't even wash their mountains of laundry!

I heated up a can of vegetable soup last night and rolled a biscuit to have with it--first hot meal in almost 2 weeks other than McDonald's & shelter food. I went back & ate a second bowl of soup it tasted so good.

Tomorrow I'll empty the 'fridge & freezer & use Carlo's dumpster to get rid of all the spoiled food. This experience has taught me a lesson about keeping things in the freezer too long & buying multiples just because they're on sale.

I should have Internet access later this afternoon and if there's time, I'll download photos from the camera to share. I'm also staring down the barrel of trying to make up work hours I missed.

I know you've got tons to do with your power restored (congratulations!) - I'd wondered what you might do first - laundry, long soak in a tub, vacuum because I know you've been in and out with no way to clean up :). Will you take the time to grab some photos...for us of course, but also to document, i.e. insurance reimbursement for lost goods and food.

Seeing those lights come on must have felt like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one.

Hot coffee and shower - those were the things I missed the most. So glad you have your power back, Gardenweed, and I am still flabbergasted at how long it took for them to restore it to you, damage or not. Part of what they did in Huntsville to get power up when the tornadoes went through was to install numerous large generators along the roadsides while they fixed power line damage. You're right in that you may have some spotty outages yet - we still do 6 months later (large parts of the TVA took a big hit, and they'll still be working on repairs there for awhile), but they're brief.

Gardenweed! I am soo glad you are back! WOW you ARE a tough cookie...

Glad to hear you have power again. Yay! Hope it stays on.

My heart goes out to you knowing how much clean-up you'll have to do in your yard. We lost several trees in an ice storm a few years ago and in hindsight, we we wondered if we should've turned in our losses to our homeowners insurance. I don't think they give as much value to trees as they should but they do give some. And it would've been nice to pay someone to do all the clean-up for us, haul away limbs etc. and turn that in too. It took much longer than we thought it would. If you do turn it in, you should be able to claim what's in your fridge too.
We were without electricity for eleven days but I remember feeling even more stressed after it came back on because it was time to start getting things back to normal and it was so overwhelming. We have a family of six and there was a mountain of laundry from all the clothes and the extra blankets we had hauled out to keep warm. (It was in January). And of course a mountain of dishes too. Hang in there though. It will get done eventually. (Big Hug)

Glad to hear you have power Gweed! Hope your cleanup goes well.

Christie, I don't think homeowner's insurance normally cover tree damage, unless the tree falls on a structure, or you have something like "landscape restoration" or "debris cleanup" on your policy. Probably something you have to pay extra for.

Eileen, I am so glad to hear that you are ok and that your power is back. What an ordeal with more to come as you work on the devastation to your yard. In our area the problem is flooding from thunderstorms and hurricanes. The TV reporters remind people to check for snakes in their house when they are able to get back in!

Eileen, this has happened to my niece twice regarding a freezer full that spoiled because of loss of power and one time because of something went wrong with her freezer. She had just restocked it with lots of meat, shrimp, etc. Her insurance Co. only gave her $150 because she didn't know what she'd paid for the food and didn't have receipts. She has now learned to make a list of everything that she buys in bulk and keep receipts. The first time she figured she had about $500 worth of food in the freezer when it went up on her. I haven't heard what all she lost this last time because of power outage. I think this last time, when they figured they would be out of power for a few days, her husband used the grill to cook up large volume's of meat and they put stuff in coolers and took it to friends that had power and room in their freezer.