Snow started falling before dawn. Thick, heavy, wet snow – the kind that ‘prunes’ trees, taking down the weak bits. Just heard a loud crash, looked out the front door and saw this…

A massive limb from a tree right next to the house. We dodged a bullet with that one! OMG – the tree hydrangea – which is normally as tall as the house – is now maybe 6′ tall doubled over onto the path! An apple tree in the secret garden is bent so badly it is stretched 15′ across the garden & is resting on the deer fencing! Trees in the upper orchard are leaning over precariously as well.

Power has been out since 7:30 this morning and we lost internet around 11. Cell phone coverage is really spotty as well. We are fortunate however, because Chris installed a solar powered battery backup system for us the first year we lived here. So we have power for our fridge, freezers, living room and also for our pump (very important since we use well water & septic!). We also are able to heat our home with the tulikivi soapstone & the cast iron woodstove! So we are in good shape.

When I open the door to check out the latest I hear a chorus of chainsaws. Guessing a lot of trees have toppled over, split, or dropped branches today. When we still had internet Chris checked VDOTs website – even the interstate was a snow covered disaster!

We got just shy of a foot of snow total! Just a block up the road from us a massive tree is down, totally blocking Batesville road. Pretty sure we are not a priority for road crews today.

Apparently the temps tonight will be much lower than the weather bunnies were predicting yesterday – just 14 degrees… Happily our woodstoves have warmed the house to ~68 degrees! I have thrown some extra blankets on the bed however, just to be sure.

AND glory hallelujah POWER is restored 12 hours after it went off! Sadly the interwebs are still down, but no complaints here! Life.Is.Good!