City workers George Kirk, right, and Joe Lane give away free bags of ice to residents at the Northwood Plaza shopping center in Baltimore on Monday July 2, 2012. Around 2 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and as far west as Illinois were without power Monday morning after a round of summer storms. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
City workers George Kirk, right, and Joe Lane give away free bags of ice to residents at the Northwood Plaza shopping center in Baltimore on Monday July 2, 2012. Around 2 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and as far west as Illinois were without power Monday morning after a round of summer storms. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
City workers George Kirk, right, and Joe Lane give away free bags of ice to residents at the Northwood Plaza shopping center in Baltimore on Monday July 2, 2012. Around 2 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and as far west as Illinois were without power Monday morning after a round of summer storms. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Baltimore city worker Joe Lane give away free bags of ice to residents at the Northwood Plaza shopping center, in Baltimore on Monday, July 2, 2012. Around 2 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and as far west as Illinois were without power Monday morning after a round of summer storms. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Baltimore city worker Bobby Carter gives away free bags of ice to residents at the Northwood Plaza shopping center in Baltimore on Monday, July 2, 2012. Around 2 million customers from North Carolina to New Jersey and as far west as Illinois were without power Monday morning after a round of summer storms. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Trees lie in the middle of Lake Ave. in Baltimore on Monday July 2, 2012, after a severe storm swept through the region late Friday. Power outages left many to contend with stifling homes and spoiled food over the weekend as temperatures approached or exceeded 100 degrees.(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
TOWSON, Md. (AP) ? At Ayd Hardware in Towson, a chalk sidewalk sign said in big letters "YES/DRY ICE." That was enough to draw in Sheila Williams of the Lockhearn area of Baltimore County, who happened to be driving by.
"I hate throwing all my food out. I'm trying to see if I can save some," Williams said Tuesday, adding she could use the ice to chill frozen meats that had begun to defrost at her house that still lacks power. "I don't care about the ice cream and the other stuff, but the meat is the most expensive."
Williams lives with six relatives that include her husband, her adult daughter, two teenagers and two younger boys.
"They're sleeping on the floor, sleeping everywhere trying to get some air," Williams said. "We stay outside until it's dark and the mosquitoes eat us up."
Vincent Ayd, who owns the hardware store, said 1,600 pounds of dry ice finally arrived Tuesday. Before, the sign said "Sorry, no dry ice."
Ayd said he had pre-sold 10 of the 15 generators expected to arrive Tuesday, along with most of his batteries, power cords and flash lights.
Ayd also said he received a call this weekend that he had never received before in his 40 years in the business.
"Do I sell hand-held fans? No. Then, the next question was battery-operated fans," Ayd said. "Then I said 'You can make your own fan' and I offered her a fly swatter."
BACK AT WORK
Miranda Mines said she had just returned Tuesday morning to her job as a cashier at a Petco in Towson after spending all weekend without power in the Columbia home she shares with her roommate and her roommate's four children.
Power lines across the driveway of her gated community ? along with an inoperable gate ? kept the 34-year-old from leaving.
When asked how she spent the time, Mines laughed and said: "Slept."
"And we played board games, that's about it," Mines said.
"The worst part was the first night, kids all screaming and crying," she said. "After, you know, you're used to it, it was like camping."
The home also didn't have water because it is served by a well that lacked power for its pump. Fortunately, Mines said they had plenty of bottled water.
"So, we got lucky there, at least we thought that far ahead," Mines said.
Power was finally restored Monday night, she said.
FELLING A CEMETERY'S TREES
Friday's storm took down some of the oldest trees in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
The cemetery said Tuesday that the damage suffered during Friday's storm was comparable to that inflicted by Hurricane Irene last year. Three of the oldest trees in the cemetery ? two white oaks and a red oak estimated to be at least 225 years old ? were lost in the storm, along with five other large trees. Another 17 were damaged to the point that they will have to removed.
A small number of headstones were damaged by the falling trees. The headstones will be replaced.
Arlington Cemetery is home to a significant number, of large, old trees, including three trees classified as state champions. The champion trees remain standing.
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Associated Press writer writer Matthew Barakat in McLean, Va. contributed to this report.
Associated Press
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