strange noises in the night

Last night we went to bed thinking it would rain a little. Around 2 am we heard a bang, and the power went out. We knew it was the whole neighborhood because we've heard that noise before. Strange thing though, it wasn't windy. Later in the night we kept hearing cracking and breaking noises from falling branches. Again strange, no wind. We all slept in later than usual. Around 7am we heard a very large crash, and all of us congregated. It turned out a good sized branch at the side of the house had fallen in the lawn.

So what caused all of this crackling and breaking? An unexpected freezing and icing rain. It took everyone by surprise. We woke up to an eerie frozen world in which trees were creaking and groaning. Our tall pine trees were bent, trying there hardest to stand up against all of that weight.

Jeff went to work, and gave us the scoop as he drove. He reported almost entire power outages and many fallen trees until he got within 10 minutes from his building. At that point he stopped seeing ice on the trees. Closer down to Boston, they just got rain.

Emily, Eric, and I bundled up and went out in search of warm tea, hot cocoa, and donuts. Only one place in town was up and running. Half of Chelmsford showed up. We decided to stay in line and enjoy the adventure. It was fun hearing everyone's tales of the crackly night, and their ventures out in the morning. When the Chelmsford Highway Dept. workers came in for some coffee, everyone parted for them to go ahead. They even got a little applause. I hope it helped them feel better for all of the yucky hard jobs they had to attend to today. On our way home we witnessed one of them harnessing himself up to tackle a tree that had landed on some power lines. I was really thankful for them ( the workers, not the power lines and fallen trees).

We went home warmed up a bit, and built a nice cozy fire. Most of the day was spent in front of said fire, talking, playing games, roasting marshmellows. It was nice to have a day without distractions. When the sun came out after lunch, it was glorious to watch the ice fall like rain out of the trees. We even cooked our dinner in the fireplace (well, only baked potatoes. But I think that counts for cooking). Now the power is back on. I'm relieved and grateful because it is going to be very cold tonight, and there are many people still in the dark for what might turn out to be days.

It was fun to live without amenities while it lasted though!