Saturday: Snow started to fall! Playing in the snow was fun for a while.
We lost power at about 5pm, but no big deal. We played with glow bracelets, flashlights, etc. We even did a glowing pumpkin hunt. :) We watched Back to the Future on the portable DVD player and went to bed hoping that power would come on soon. Saturday morning we woke up (at 6am) to continued power loss. It was getting pretty chilly in the house. The thermostat said 65 degrees. We added a layer of clothing. Church was cancelled, though we were barely able to get the message. Phone lines were out, power lines were down everywhere...kind of crazy. By 9am, we were ready to feel some heat so we decided to take a drive and see if power was out everywhere. We checked Alan's work and they had power so we entered the lonely building and enjoyed the heat, the power (we brought everything to charge), and the change of scenery. Alan's co-worker had just cleaned out their playroom and brought toys to donate so the office even had toys! Ethan has now decided that Alan plays with toys all day when he goes to work. :) We stayed there for quite a while. I was even able to get Jared to take a short nap in my arms which is extremely unusual for him. Somehow we survived the rest of the day. There was lots of cuddling. 
It kept getting colder. We bunked in the basement since it was staying warmer down there. It wasn't the best night. We woke up to find that the main level of the house had chilled down to 54. We added another layer of clothing. Again, we sought refuge. This time, Wal-Mart provided the heat and diversion. We came home to let Jared get a nap (luckily the basement stayed above 60 the whole time). After lunch we decided to head to the mall. Again, we relished the time in the warmth. When we drove into the parking lot, we noticed a group of men in fluorescent yellow vests standing inside a ring of at least 20 electric trucks. We were so excited and thank all the neighboring states for sending help! We saw trucks from many states there. We played and ate as much as we could and decided to head home. The trucks were all gone, and we hoped that they'd visited our neighborhood! As we drove home, we saw porch lights on. We kept seeing lights and as we got closer to home, our hopes were high! Sure enough, our power was on! It is hard to describe the joy, the giddiness, the total delight at walking in to a house with that smell of a heater that hasn't run in a while. :) We peeled off our extra layers and enjoyed our comfortable, warm house. After making sure all our friends had power as well, we went to bed with gratitude for electricity. It's hard to say what my favorite part of having electricity is. For survival's sake, it's probably the heat (since we're not equipt to heat our home with fire). Coming in shortly behind is being able to know what time it is when you wake up in the middle of the night, having contact with the outside world, having the convenience of the microwave (we have a gas stove, so we were always able to have warm food), being able to keep food in the fridge, and so many more, but I've got to end this!
Happy Halloween! Our night was postponed, so we get to celebrate this coming Friday! :)
3 comments:
This sounds like when the ice storm hit and Hurricane Rita in the same yet opposite way. I have much sympathy and yet am glad you weathered it so well.
So crazy! I never thought about how cold it would get if you didn't have power in the winter! Glad it's all over. :)
Sharon, I'm going through your blog, which I always love, and I'm wrapped up in my red blanket. The exact same red blanket your boys are reading in!!! I forgot they gave this to us at school one year for Christmas! How funny. I suddenly don't feel that far from you!
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