The ice storm starting last Friday evening in Springfield. By 10:30 our lights were out for the first time and then when they came back on 45 minutes later we thought we had dodged the big bullet. NOT! We sailed through Saturday and into Sunday when BAM – Sunday morning around 11:00 we lost power again – in the middle of drying a load of clothes in the dryer and getting ready to join neighbors for brunch at their home since our church had been cancelled due to a power outage.
It was easy to ignore the inconveniences initially – we went out for a late brunch, ran some errands and then came home to a cold home. Got out the Coleman stove and heated up some chili from the night before, ate a romantic dinner by candlelight and then trekked over to where Tammy and Steve are staying to get in a hot shower. With a fire roaring in the fireplace we managed to stay comfortable Sunday night – Burl in a sleeping bag on the floor and me wrapped in a comforter on the sofa. Awoke to temp of 67 in the house on Monday and headed into the office early to do hair and makeup, get dressed and eat breakfast.
As Monday wore on it became obvious the power wasn’t coming back too soon – bought a new blowup bed, showered at Tammy and Steve’s new digs again, feasted on some of Tammy’s soup, watched “Oceans 11″ with them and finally went home to crawl into bed in a much chillier room. Not only did the temp dip into single digits by Tuesday morning but the temp in our living room (sleeping room too!) was in the low 50′s. I was NOT looking forward to coming home Tuesday evening (forecast for Wednesday morning near zero) so immediately starting thinking of all kinds of things we could do to avoid going home until the very last minute when we could crawl into bed in our sweats and cuddle up for as much warmth as possible. The plan was dinner, movie and shower at the fitness center!
Fortunately Burl purchased a generator yesterday – he was a bit leery of the deal since they were being sold out of the back of an 18-wheeler parked in a shopping center but 2 people at my office had purchased them there and their units worked so we took a chance. He didn’t have a lot of daylight in which to connect so only hooked up a heavy-duty extension cord to get enough power for a lamp or 2, a couple of space heaters and the blower to the fireplace but it was sufficient to significantly raise the temp in our living quarters – plus we could sacrifice a lamp and watch the news last night and have fresh coffee this morning! Ah – the small conveniences are so meaningful at this time.
I have mastered traveling around with extra clothes, makeup, shower supplies and gym clothes and am affectionately known as “The Bag Lady” at the office when I arrive early in my “natural” state and proceed to transform into something less scary after I do my hair and makeup. And knowing I already have my next hot shower arranged helps me get through the day.
The good news is that after 72+ hours our electricity is back on – hopefully to stay this time. It will be a pleasure tonight to go home and clean our the refrigerator, do laundry, put stuff back where it belongs and get back to normal. I’m pondering the “lessons learned” from this experience and will share them soon – I do know I have counted my blessings this week knowing that our situation was temporary, that it wasn’t arms and legs, that we could afford to go to a hotel if necessary, could eat out when we wanted to and that we didn’t have to deal with infants (although Burl’s daughter Cindy sailed through her outage with toddler Isabella quite nicely – good going, Cindy). I certainly appreciate my wonderful husband who has kept the home fires burning (literally), gotten up in the middle of the night to add wood to the fire or gas to the generator, cleared limbs from our driveway and warmed my car each morning before I left for work. He’s better than I deserve but please don’t tell him.
