Reader Comments on Mary's Farm: The Ice Storm from YankeeMagazine.com http://www.yankeemagazine.com/rss/index.php Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:25:09 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 Such a good story, the reality of the description was wonderful. Here in West Virginia, we have had a a few of these ice/snow storms and I remember so much of this story that happened to us. Thank you. Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:43:30 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 After the storm stopped we drove around to survey the damage. I had never seen anything like it. We we're relieved and grateful when on are way back home we saw utility trucks from Indiana. They must have driven all night to get here and then went right to work. Over the next several days we were invaded by an army of linemen fro all over the eastern half of the country. Many missed Christmas at home to help return us to normal. We will be forever grateful to them. Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:16:58 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 I happened to be visiting at my daughters home in southern MA on the RI border where there was snow but no ice and no power outage. Just like the Blizzard of '78 (the year we moved to Massachusetts) I missed it again! Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:42:27 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 As next week approaches I seek out photo's of our front yard prior to the storm of all ice storms. I remember the large maple that shaded countless day care children who spent their days with us over the years. I remember the piņatas hung from that tree and broken and share on Halloween or it's eve. I remember the pine cones the whole family had to pick up from the two pines the maple rendered unable to be saved when it came crashing down in waves of gigantic limbs upon them. I also remember the sense of true community as we all pitched in to share power leads with neighbors who were taking in alarming amounts of water when their sumps stopped pumping. I now spend my evenings at the kitchen sink gazing back into my neighborhood and not seeing 1/3 of the canopy of treetops that I use to see. Mother nature cleaned house that one day last December. Our community is all cleaned up now and we've become collectively more gratetful for our awesome town provided services , those provided by the numerous power company linemen and women and for the gift of neighbors who really care about each other. Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:28:46 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 Here in southwest Missouri we have our share of ice storms. Some adapt, some don't to the lack of power. Sometimes power is out only a few hours, for others as much as three weeks. Kerocene heaters, oil lamps, candles, barbecue grills (out doors only), fireplaces and wood stoves are used more than generators. We learn how it was for the generations before us how life really was for them. We read, we play card games, board games and how to walk very carefully on the ice. We break ice in the ponds for the livestock and check on neighbors. We eat out of our freezers and share with friends who don't have freezers just to use it up before the food spoils. All the while people are working around the clock to get the power back on. Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:36:39 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 As hard as it is for people to go without power, I actually think it is good for this younger generation to experience life without "all the modern conveniences" they have come to rely upon every day. So many from this younger generation do not even realize how to use a telephone book any more, that is how techno they have become. They rely on all their gadgets to get them through every aspect of their lives, but when an event such as an Ice Storm shuts down the main infrastructure and they find they now have to do for themselves, they are helpless. It's nice to have modern convenience, but we must never loose our perspective and forget how things are truly done the REAL WAY in life. Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:17:36 +0100 http://www.yankeemagazine.com/issues/2009-11/features/ice-storm-2008 I felt almost a kinship with you as I read the story: having had to go "powerless" after Hurricane Ike for 15 days I knew just what you had gone through. I learned a lot about myself, though, in those 15 days, like how innovative I could be with no power and no water (for the first week). I re-discovered my cast iron skillets as I invented new recipes from limited food supplies, and cooked on my (thank God!) propane grill! While other people ran generators, I camped out under the window so that the cool night air would fall on me and I could get a (relatively) long night's sleep (total darkness by 9 PM!). (I'm a Damned Yankee living down here in Texas for almost 21 years.) Yankee Publishing (rss@ypi.com) Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:30:41 +0100