Second week of February was an experience! 

Tuesday’s class was cancelled due to the Ice Storm making its way down southeast! I honestly thought it was just going to be a simple snow storm but weather in Georgia is weird! And trust me, Georgians go nuts when they hear of a “Snow Storm” coming. People were running to the stores to store up on Milk and Bread. I mean c’mon milk and bread?? What are they going to make? A Milk Sandwich? Don’t they know that those are the main two things that can go bad in a power out?

While me on the other hand wasn’t gathering any supplies. I figured it’s just last one day and that would be it. Which I should slap my hand for not doing what my father has taught me. Which is to ALWAYS be prepared no matter how small you think a situation will be. Sorry Daddy.

So Tuesday night came and I did not see one single flurry on the ground. I thought to myself “hmm.. This is nothing”. Then next morning came and WHOA!

There was snow everywhere!! And it wasn’t just snow it was like ice water! Drops of rain were falling and since the temperature was under 34 degrees it just froze where it landed. So roads got icy and parking lots had bunch of snow that just froze. At this time there was just snow on the trees.

Wednesday evening came and our power went out. I’m use to the power going back on like within an hour when it goes off so I was sitting on my chair waiting… and waiting… and waiting for the lights people to do their thing. But then night time fell and since we have a electric stove in our apartment we couldn’t cook anything so we decided to go to the local gas station that was a block away. Even that place was super crowded! So we grabbed some junk food and head back home.

As we were charging our phones in the car late at night we heard tree branches cracking because of the ice that accumulated on them. It was honestly a scary noise because we had one big tree next to our car which could come down any minute. Thankfully that did not happen.

Thursday Morning we woke up and we are still without power. It is freezing in our apartment. We have a fire place but we didn’t have no wood at the time to build a fire to keep it warm. We took the dog out and we couldn’t believe what we saw outside. There were tree branches scattered all over the yard and on the road. It looked like the ice did some damage to some trees. It was a mess!

We headed back inside and my husband and I were bundled up on the couch with our dog. We were sitting on the couch just taking it all in when suddenly, I said “Let’s go get some breakfast!”. We headed out and the streets were super packed! There was traffic and other people were out looking for food. By this time, most of city and surrounding areas were out of power so people were out. The breakfast restaurants were all closed so we decided to go to a Chinese restaurant since they are always open.

Later that day, we headed to a friend’s house to help him clear his yard because there was branches that fell from the trees. We ended up gathering firewood for that night because the Power wasn’t coming on anytime soon. We tried making the best out of the situation so we made our fireplace in to an indoor grill and cooked us some sausages for dinner!

Friday Morning! It is Valentine’s day! Definitely one I won’t forget. My husband had built a fire that morning and I cooked some eggs for breakfast! We decided to relax and enjoy each other’s company for the morning. Since our dog was cooped up for a few days because of the ice storm, we decided to take him to his play area which is inside a baseball field at a park. As we headed there we passed a residential area and couldn’t believe what we saw! Roads were still blocked and trees were still all over the road!

It was quite a mess! We arrived at the park and let the dog run around, which he loved. He went crazy in the field and we played a little fetch with him too.

We headed back home and we decided that we’ll have our Valentine’s dinner with some burgers and hotdogs. It turned out to be the most awesome night ever! We had a few s’mores too! My husband later surprised me with a balloon teddy bear and some chocolate! It was turning out to be one of the best Valentine’s Day, despite the weather and situation of no power.

Then at about 10:30 pm on Valentine’s night, we had experience and Earthquake!! That’s right an earthquake! It was a 4.4 magnitude which was later dropped down to a 4.1 magnitude. It happened in an area that was about 20 miles away but it could still be felt as far as 40 miles away. During the time it happened I was cleaning up the kitchen and my husband was in the shower. I heard a big rumble like noise. Almost sounded like a helicopter was right over our roof! Then there was a shaking. The table I was cleaning shook and I heard the glass clatter and shake. That was the first I had ever felt and experienced an earthquake! My husband had gotten out of the shower and asked if I felt that and I said “yes of course”! We laughed at ourselves because of how we looked and I joked about him being in the shower during an earthquake.

Since we already had our dinner for Valentine’s Day, we decided to watch a movie on our phone with Netflix! And that was the end of Valentine’s Day.

The lights went on the next day around noon and things were starting to get back to normal. There are still a lot more cleaning to be done on the roads and yards but glad everyone was safe and warm. This is one experience I’ll never forget!

Ice Storm 2014

M.L.S