Rude Awakening

For those that don't know, Billings got several inches of wet wet snow yesterday and last night. I hate these early snows. They are always so much more damaging. I was laying in bed last night at about 10:30 in between awake and asleep, when all of a sudden, my bedroom window lit up with this red glow and I could hear a loud snap, crackle and pop from my backyard. I jumped out of bed and ran to my window to look out and there was a fireworks display going on in my backyard. My electricity kept flickering on and off with every pop. I pulled on some shoes and grabbed a coat and my dog and ran out back. My favorite tree in my backyard was so weighed down by snow that one large branch was starting to crack and pull down one of the weighed down power lines in my backyard. All I could picture was my house and all my belongings going up in smoke. It's funny what follows your thoughts of your house burning up. The first thing I thought of was all my grandpa's homemade wood working projects, which accounts for 75% of all my furniture. Then, I thought of all the plastic ducks in my bathroom and how they would just be melted yellow mounds. Weird, I know. My pictures and scrapbooks and keepsakes didn't even enter my mind. I ran back into the house to grab my car keys and cell phone, when I remembered that I left my cell phone at work and that my car keys wouldn't do much good because I have an ELECTRIC garage door opener. Great. So, now my house AND my car are going to go to get burned up. And I can't even call 911. The snapping and sparking in my backyard had quit and now the electricity was totally out. I grabbed a flashlight and tried to tromp through the snow to see the damage. One line was totally down, but the others were fine, just hanging low from the snow on top of them. I figured the fire danger was pretty much over and since I couldn't drive anywhere or call anyone, and it was too late to go to the neighbors, I just hung out in my house. So, I layed in bed, fully clothed, with a flashlight next to me and listened to all the other neighbor's trees cracking and falling down. I did eventually fall asleep and my electricity was on this morning when I woke up (I assume the downed line is a phone line), so it all turned out fairly ok. One huge branch is broken on my favorite tree in my backyard and this may be the end of the whole tree. And I have to find someway to fix the downed line in my backyard, but my house is still standing. My electricity is on. My car and my dog are safe. So, it's all good.

Ugh. I really wish I could enjoy this first snow better. It's just not as pretty as it should be...