Wind Advisory...Hmmm what could that mean?
How about a long Monday night of up to 85mph winds and wind-driven rain whipping around the house, and lightning so close there was no counting before the thunder? How about all the power poles within sight of our front door snapped like toothpicks, and debris strewn all over the highway?
It was pretty obvious that we wouldn't have power for awhile, so we got hot showers in - figuring the water wouldn't stay warm in the tank for long anyway, and took stock of our survival gear. Luckily, we had just replenished flashlight batteries, so were sitting fine with plenty of light source, we have camping gear, and propane grills, and lots of firewood for the stove in the shop, a pantry full of non-perishables, tap water and soda to last forever, and...leftover birthday cake!
For some reason, we were kinda stuck in powered-life mode for the first day. We were obviously prepared to survive a few days without it, but the first evening after work (the offices had power) was spent trying our darnedest to get a power inverter to power the fridge, the Foreman grill, a space heater, or the hot pot. Finally, we found the fine print that said "the car must be running in order to pull the maximum wattage for the inverter." Well, the battery wasn't in a car, and we were not about to run a car all night to cool our food, grill our tuna sandwiches, or boil water! Frustrated, we escaped to a friend's house with power to be warm and entertained until bedtime.
Boy, was the house chilly when we returned! The thermostat doesn't go lower than 50, and that's what it was reading. We threw extra blankets on the bed, and gave the pup an extra layer too.
The power crews worked all through the night, and were still at it when we left for work the next morning. We counted at least a dozen trucks, and new power poles were going up!
Their estimation for power restoration was 4pm Wednesday, but at 4:30, they changed it to 7:30pm Thursday. All the poles and wires were up, but they ran into some kind of trouble sending the power through them. We were determined to remember how to be resourceful and adventurous and enjoy the rest of our powerless hours! We plugged the refrigerator into a borrowed generator, knowing it wouldn't stay cool enough 'til the next night, and Andy grilled up some burgers and got a fire roaring in the shop.
We were happily lounging by the fire in our camping chairs, eating burgers and reassuring the Jersey pup that the crackling sounds from the stove were really ok, when the overhead door light clicked on! It took a moment to realize that meant the power was back on!
Call us crazy, but we were a little bummed. We'd just discovered the fun in powerless living! :)
On the other hand, check out all our new and improved power poles! I wish I could bake a pie for every one of those hard-working power people. They had the weight of thousands of cold, powerless homes on their shoulders, and they worked nonstop to get us back up and running...
...just in time for our first snow of the season!
It sure was nice to be in a warm house when we looked out to see Jersey tearing around the yard in circles, taking in mouthfuls of snow without skipping a beat. I think it's safe to say we were all excited for this kind of winter storm!
