branch on the roof

branch on the roof
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

Tuesday night was terrifying!
Our power line was cut from the grid late Tuesday night as a safety precaution. If power had been restored with the damage we had, there was a chance of sparks or even fire. We thought that would help us sleep better through the night, but it was only one less worry on my mind. We went to bed between 11:30 and midnight. The neighborhood was completely dark by then. I fell asleep and slept until about 3am. After that the sounds outside kept me from sleeping any better than an occasional doze.
We had turned on our gas log fireplace a couple hours after the power went out. We let it run a few hours, then turned it off before going to bed. All of our bedrooms are upstairs and most of the heat from the fireplace goes up stairs. The boys both slept in the front bedroom, since the side bedroom was too close to the trees beside the house, and we just didn't know if a branch would come crashing through his windows during the night
Throughout the night, I could hear branches of trees all over the neighborhood crack and pop, and the sound of ice shattering off as they fell surrounded us. Some I could tell were not close, some sounded close, but it was hard to tell how close. It was a fear gripped night, not knowing if houses were being damaged.
I got up several times during the night to try to see what was happening outside. But without street lights, I couldn't see anything but ice. The night was black and gloomy. Occasionally a car would drive by, but their headlights weren't enough to see very much in the yards. One time during the night, I could barely see this branch on the garage roof. I took a battery powered lantern down to look inside the garage to make sure it didn't go through. It looked like it didn't. That was some relief!
All the cats were sleeping on our bed. At one time during the night there was a cat on either side of my feet and one on my head. I hoped the one (Tarzan) on my head would muffle the sounds outside, but he only partially muffled the sounds.
Not only could I hear tree branches snapping everywhere, but I could hear it raining, and I knew that it was more freezing rain, which would weigh the trees down even more. The night seemed to last forever.
When would this nightmare end!?