Ice Ice Baby... sorry couldn't resist

When the weatherman said we were bracing for a really horrific storm, I underestimated him. In my defense, the guy screams blizzard over every little flake of snow. I mean, this is Ohio. It snows here. That's not freak out worthy. But this....
this was absolutely freak out worthy! We had a pretty good freezing rain-ice mixture dump on us Monday night. But I had salted my sidewalks and driveway so it wasn't too bad. I got to work without any issues on Tuesday. It just took me awhile to chip the ice off the car.
It started again right as I was leaving work at 4pm. And it didn't stop. Ice freezing on top of ice.. is bad. Just really bad. I lost power about 8pm. No electricity, no heat, no phone. And about 5 minutes later my cell phone crashed. (Stupid Blackberry... but that's another story.) I gingerly made my way across the ice skating rink that used to be my street to borrow the neighbor's cell and call off work. I figured things were about to go from bad to worse. And boy did they.
I can honestly say I was pretty damn terrified the rest of the night. The giant tree that hovers over my house had branches breaking off all night long. I felt them bouncing off the house and would just hold my breath praying no windows would be taken out and the roof would hold up. The whole neighborhood was stressed out. We didn't really know what to do. So 4 different neighbors and I just stood out on our front porches for an hour or so watching each others trees fall. Which worked out well since we were on opposite sides of the street. That way when a tree crashed whoever was across the street could yell out whether it hit the house or not. We didn't plan it but it turned out to be a good system. LOL!
And let me just tell you... a heavy tree limb covered in ice is LOUD when it hits the ground. It shatters just like glass. The transformers were blowing up all over the place, too. I bet I saw 10 of those suckers explode. It was the strangest thing. The whole sky would light up purple and green like a nuclear bomb was going off. Then the loud buzz as it fizzled out. It was absolutely insane. And scary.

In the light of day it appears there's no major damage. My garage gutter was ripped off. I think one of my chairs may be demolished under that big branch. Hoping the retaining wall is okay. I won't know until this weekend when a co-worker is coming over with his chain saw. But I'm so grateful the house and deck seem to have held.

The power is still out now 24 hours later. I packed Griffey and I up about noon, dug the car out and headed to my sister's. Cuz baby it's cold outside...and now INSIDE my house, too. Just praying my pipes don't burst and the power is restored soon. For now I'm hanging out with the T's. But I really want to go home. :(