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It's cloudy and 16° this morning, the high is forecast to be around 28°. Looks like the storm is over.

We have about an inch of ice here. My yard looks like a war zone, tree limbs down everywhere. Power went out around 11 yesterday morning. I got on the phone and started trying to locate a generator (yes, I know I should have bought one earlier). All of the Lowe's stores in the area were sold out. I called Home Depot. They were unloading a truck that was supposed to have some but they didn't know how many or what size they would be...call back in an hour. When I called back the guy said they had two 5500's left. I gave him my credit card numbers over the phone and we headed to town to pick it up. Roads were still clear when we left here around 1 p.m., the sanding trucks had been out all day. By the time we got to Fayeville, the roads were getting slushy and the temp was dropping. Picked up the generator, stopped by WalMart for some comfort food, and back home. Got to Lincoln and stopped to get gas...power was out in town now, too. Shoot, should have filled the cans for the generator in town. Decided to try Westville, OK...about 5 miles west of the house before we attempted another 30 mile drive to Fayetteville. Thank goodness they had power there still and we were able to fill the cans. Got home, set the generator up on the patio and got partial power set up. We have extension cords running all over the place, but I have lights, my fridges and freezers are running, and a working computer...what else do I need? This generator gets good mileage, too...it's been running since about 6 last night on the first 5 gallons of gas. Talked to BJ a couple of times yesterday, he lost power before I did and is in as bad or worse shape than me. He's got fence down from the ice and cows to tend, he had dragged limbs off his drive 3 times yesterday and more were down plus a power line sagging so low that he could hardly get his tractor under it. At least he already had a generator and didn't have to go buy one.

My son has once again won the Son of the Year Award as far as I'm concerned. When we got back limbs were down all over the yard and we couldn't get to my usual parking place but we were close...under a big oak tree. We unloaded the generator and he was working with it while I unloaded the rest of the stuff in the car when we heard a loud crack...he looked up and saw a large limb...about 12 inches in diameter...beginning to fall right above the car. It was still partially attached, but tearing loose. He ran to the car, jumped in and got it started and moved just in time for the limb to miss it. I

I'm going to take pictures after I've had my coffee and I'll post them for you all to see.