Storm and It's Aftermath - No Power

I was quilting merrily along out in the studio when it started getting dang dark outside.  Knowing how sensitive my vintage machines are to power surges, I shut down and decided to go inside, shower, and start dinner.  I'm in the shower, covered in soap when I am plunged into complete darkness.  Wonderful!  I rinse off quick, call Mister for directions on the computer back-up equipment and hunt down flashlights.  I cannot believe how dark it is out and it is only around 4:30 in the afternoon.  I look out the front door and the water is streaming down the street and my trees are literally sideways due to the wind.  Tree limbs and leaves are flying everywhere.  And just as quick as it arrived --- it is gone --- with a mess left behind and 300k without power -- including us.

Mister is on his way home and while I wait I pick up the branches from our yard.

It takes him 2 hours to get home and when he arrives, the neighborhood has started an impromptu block party.  It's amazing how people come outside to visit when technology is removed from the picture.

As we are all out talking, we spot our neighbors house.  Oh my.  When the party breaks up, we go inside to make a quick pasta dinner by candlelight aided with flashlights.  I have a flashlight in the corner pointing straight up and Mister has attached one to a baseball cap for me.  Soon we have a yummy dinner and I feel for the people who do not have gas stoves.  (I gotta say -- this picture makes me cringe and not because of how crappy I look, but because the cabinet door is open.  I almost didn't use it simply for that reason.  OCD, yep)

After a peaceful and oh so quiet powerless night of sleep --- today is beautiful outside.  I might as well go for a walk and see what the rest of the neighbors are dealing with since I am limited in what I can do without power.  Even though it is day -- it is still too dark in the house to do hand quilting.  Outside I go.  There are branches down in every direction I look.

This poor guy -- he had two trees totally uprooted and they both took off a corner of the house --- not the same corner of course.  What a mess.

After 20 hours, we are lucky to get power once again.  The stats on the storm are that the winds were around 80 mph and that it is one of the worst storms in Dallas history.  There are still 175k people without power and many will be for days.  Wow.