The electric company originally gave us an estimate of Wednesday at 4:30 pm for power restoration, but our second Nor'easter in five days made that impossible. We won the dubious honor of getting the most snow in the county - 17.5" inches. That's a lot of snow to shovel, but not being able to come in to a warm house, make tea, and enjoy a hot meal made it worse.
Without heat, the temperature inside the house got down 48 degrees. We had fires in the fireplace during the evening and that felt pretty toasty, but I started spending my days at the county library to warm up, charge devices, and work as much as I was able. I tried to get on line through the library's wifi, but so were the other 350 people sitting on the floor charging their devices, and the library's network was just overwhelmed.
Our power was restored on Saturday, and I hope it stays that way for a good long time. Six days is too long for me; it's like camping without fun campfire sing-alongs and s'mores. We were somewhat successful at making grilled cheese sandwiches in the fireplace and they were much better than peanut butter and jelly.
I often consider cooking, laundry, vacuuming, and other housework as tedious and unenjoyable tasks, but for now I'm reveling in the sheer joy of being able to do these things (and being delightfully warm while I do them). Electricity is a fine and miraculous thing!
That's a LONG time to go without power in the cold! I admire your ability to stay home and get through it, I think I may have fled to a hotel!
ReplyDeleteOh, Bonny. "Camping" in the winter is never fun. We had to go through an extended power outage once (8 days) -- but it was late May, so while inconvenient, it was never cold. I am hoping you are spared any more outages, no matter what the weather brings. XOXO
ReplyDelete(PS - Did you wear all of your hand knits????)
Only when you lose it do you realize how much you count on the assurance of being warm!
ReplyDeleteWOW! That's a ton of snow. So sorry you lost power. Winter camping...hmmm...Fletch used to be really into that (in his younger days) - even took a winter Outward Bound course...now - not so much! Glad you had the fireplace and glad you are back on line.
ReplyDeleteHow awful to be that long without power, I probably would have left for a hotel! I hope the power is on for good and that you've seen that last of the snow for the year!
ReplyDeleteBecause you had seemingly disappeared, I had the feeling you were without power. You are a trooper to figure out how to survive, cook, and stay warm without electricity. That's a lot of snow and all the beautiful trees make it doubly hard to find and repair damage. I'm glad to hear you have been safe, albeit inconvenienced in a major way.
ReplyDeleteThere you are! I have been wondering about you every day, Bonny. I figured you were without power, and I was hoping you were piled up in a hotel bed drinking hot tea. Not so, huh? It is a brilliant reminder of our reliance on the grid to lose power, isn't it? I'm so glad you are back up and hopefully it is over for a few years. So glad to see you back!
ReplyDeleteWe tried to find a hotel bed where we could drink hot tea, but there were so many people in the area without power that all of our local hotels and B&Bs were full. We are nice and warm now, appreciating all our delicious warmth, and sharing it with some cold "powerless" neighbors. Thank you for the lovely welcome back!
DeleteOh, that’s why! (Water pipes ok? Hubby worries about them, I worry about food.) Been-there too, bad freezing storm without electricity happened to us once in MI over New Years 25 yrs. ago so I empathize.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, you are flexible and good-to-go now.
What a bummer though.
John was beginning to get concerned about frozen pipes and spent quite some time trying to wire our generator to the furnace, but no luck. We did run the water at a trickle in the kitchen (where the pipes are closest to an outside wall) overnight when it got really cold, but we were lucky enough not to have any frozen or burst pipes. I'm appreciating every moment of our lovely warmth!
DeleteI had a feeling you were out of power! I'm not sure I would have made it at home either! Here's hoping tomorrow's whopper is skipping your neighborhood!
ReplyDeleteWELCOME BACK! gah! that'll teach me to give you space when I should've been making sure you were alive and warm!! (sorry!)
ReplyDeleteHope you're not going to be affected by tomorrows Nor'easter. They've already closed all the school here in anticipation. Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteIt's snowing here now and we've got 6-8" predicted, but not nearly as much as in New England. Here's hoping you stay warm and safe!
DeleteOh man, I hope this next storm doesn't cause any more problems!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine being without power that long. We were only out for about 9 hours. You have a hearty constitution for sure. Glad you have your power back.
ReplyDelete