Why is it that whenever my husband leaves for a conference, I seem to end up soaking wet, cold, and dealing with problems that take a man's strength? Rachel and Philip didn't go to work today because of weather conditions. I was glad that Paul -- the least experienced driver -- made it home from work safely. Andrew and I managed, cautiously and slowly, to get to town for paper routes. But once we got home, it took us 40 minutes to get into the driveway. And that was with three of us shoveling and trying to dig the car out of the drifts. We had the same problem getting into the driveway on the day back in December when Maggie was sprung from the hospital after surgery. As bad as it is out there today, it's nowhere near as bad as the storm the last weekend in February, which was nowhere near as bad as the storm the following week (which was the worst we've seen since we've lived here).
The snow and high winds caused power outages -- something to which we are NOT accustomed here. I think this may have been the longest we've been without electricity since living here. Being without electricity isn't good. But out here, no electricity means no water. That's really really not good. We suspected electrical problems were on the way because the power was flashing off and on for about half an hour before it went down altogether. We were reading schoolwork when I suddenly realized that the bleeping electricity was a sign of things to come. We stopped schoolwork and started gathering buckets and filling them with water: drinking water in the kitchen, buckets of water for washing dishes, buckets of water for flushing, and enough to be able to do a little personal clean-up in the event that showers/baths were unaccessible later. Happily, by mid-afternoon it seemed like the electricity was back on for good. At least until the storm picks up again later today (if the forecast is accurate).
Boy oh boy, I guess this is what winter looks like when the drought ends, huh? It's been dry so long that I can scarcely remember what Real Winter is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Really? Your power never goes out??
ReplyDeleteOurs goes out at least once a year... sometimes for multiple days. We lost it for a week in 2002! I guess that's the thing about an old neighborhood.
I suppose it's good that I couldn't come up tonight....'cause I probably shouldn't have anyways. *le sigh* I miss you guys!!
When your power is out for a week, you have water, though!
ReplyDeleteI've heard that the problem in older neighborhoods is often the nice, big, established trees. They have branches to lose in weather like this. We don't have trees. Just corn and soybeans. Mooooo.
We'll miss you too. But it's good to know that you'll be safe and snug instead of sitting in a ditch somewhere.
heh.. it's true, we do have water... and even hot water! Though, I kid you not, we once went two days showering at other people's houses before we realized that our water heater functions without electricity! :-P
ReplyDeleteSusan - I'm with ya sister. This stuff always happens when the man is out of town.
ReplyDeleteMy last resort is dipping clean water ( good enough for washing) out of the toilet tank and the sump pit.