I retract my statement about my contempt for meterologists.  Turns out this time they weren't just blowing smoke!  Ice Storm 2006 (or as I heard one local weather man call it - "a disastrous storm of epic proportions") was not so much fun.  We lost our power on Friday night - I woke up at midnight just as the power clicked off - and it was off until Monday afternoon.  We are some of the lucky ones, however.  My husband's family is still without power as we speak and it is mighty cold in a house that hasn't been heated in 5 days when the outside temperature hovers around zero (39 degrees at last report).  The only thing that made this situation more bearable is that there was no ice on the roads, so you could get out of the house and take refuge at one of the few places in town that had power.   Its nice to see how people look out for each other when something like this happens though.  I think such times tend to show the best and worst of human nature - but in this case I think Springfield has mainlly displayed the best.  Here are a few pictures from the storm - some pretty ones that Matt took and some of the "disaster" pictures from the newspaper.