The storm rolled through the St. Louis area last night and depending on your point of view, left either a winter wonderland or a war zone. Everything is covered with a beatiful layer of ice, but unfortunately that same ice has tree limbs and power lines down throughout the area leaving some 350,000+ people without power.

We lost ours at around 8:45pm last evening. Initially, the power began flickering and was accompanied by what can only be described as an industrial buzzing and banging from somewhere outside. We went to the door and over the trees you could see these blue and orange flashes perfectly synchronized with the power surges until in one final gasp of ozone, the power went out for good. I have no idea what happened, but I am guessing that either one of the high tension lines that runs through our town snapped or something blew up at the local substation simply because I don’t think a scene from a certain Orson Welles radio play was transpiring in front of our eyes.

After driving around this morning in search of a cup of coffee and breakfast, we are convinced that it will take days before our power is restored. The destruction to the wires is quite extensive and a bit disheartening. So much for a pleasant day off in a warm and cozy house grading papers and catching up on work that needs to be done! No chance, it was 52 degrees inside when we woke up and with temperatures peaking at about 25 degrees, there is no way we’re spending another night without heat.

Regardless of our travails, we realize that we are the lucky ones because we have somewhere to go and the means to get there. It’s quite nice to be sitting at SIUE where there is power, internet, and most importantly, heat! In about a half an hour we’ll head back home to pack a bag, turn off the water, tend the plants, check the food sitting in the coolers on the back porch and then we’re off to spend the night at a friend’s home.