Xiaoniu 小妞

Picture this in your mind. You’re sleeping soundly in bed with the wife and kid (we’ll get to that later) and you suddenly are awoken at 2:20am by the phone beeping off and on. You take the phone off the charger base thinking that another phone has gone batty (my phones beep without reason) and head back to dream land. You are a little more alert and realize that the stereo on the dresser keeps flashing off and on. Suddenly, you realize that the power is coming and going randomly. The phone isn’t batty and the stereo is not possessed; your electric is about to go out. You ask yourself why and recall that when you went to bed it was 29°F and raining when you went to bed. Yes, we have freezing rain folks.

This is exactly what happened to me Thursday night. We were already well into a winter storm watch when we tried our best to break the ice shell on our cars (my damn ice scraper broke in 2 seconds flat) and trekked home from work through sleet and rain. Emelia was oblivious to what was going on as I did my best not to get into an accident on the way home. Safe in our humbly abode I cleared room in the garage and brought the truck in for the night. By the time we hit the sheets precipitation had totally converted to rain and it seemed that all we would have to deal with in the morning was slushy roads. I was wrong about that.

The electricity was going out and coming back on too quickly to be safe for any electronic items so I ran around the house with my new flashlight unplugging anything that sucks on a/c.  After everything was safely unplugged I made my way to bed figuring that the house is warm and the bed was even warmer and that we’ll deal with the lack of electricity in the morning.

On the way back to bed I took the time to peer out the second floor windows only to be amused by the site of my neighbors. I glance at each house around me and can see the light from a flashlight bouncing around the house and even some piercing the night as they scan their yards. Amused and smiling I head back to bed.

No sooner did I hit the sheets again that I heard a loud cracking and thudding noise. Figuring that a tree fell I jumped up and again looked out the bedroom window scanning the area for signs of tree damage. By now it was clear that things were going to get a bit worse before they got better. I ran to each bedroom and looked at the trees around our home. There were a number of pine trees with branches bent much farther than usual and a few unlucky, broken limbs already on the ground. I kept running from room to room each time I heard that sickly and unnerving cracking and thudding noise.

A bit after three I headed for bed only to be aroused by the very loud and very close sound of a large tree limb coming down. It was loud enough to sound like an entire tree coming down. Sure enough my immediate neighbor was hit. A branch about 9 inches in diameter snapped and landed on his roof. I quickly informed Sue and we both thought it was a good idea to help him out. He’s been retired for a while now and has helped us out a number of times (our first winter at out house he cleared our driveway a number of times). I bundled up and made my way out.

He was already back inside by the time I reached his house. I knocked a few times, but couldn’t get a response. With all the noise I’m not surprised that he didn’t hear me knocking. It was pouring rain all night. With that on top of the breaking branches and anxiety from the lack of electricity I would not have heard if somebody was knocking on our door.

I was able to take a look and the roof was fortunately undamaged. I took a trip around the yard to see the damage up close and personal. The pine in the back yard took several hits. The neighbors pines took a few small hits. The maples were sagging very low, but only one broken branch among them. The oak look completely unscathed. Yet again I made my way back to bed. By now it was well passed 3:30am. Sue and I laid in bed listening for the sounds of falling limbs while trying to get back to sleep. I know more trees close to us lost more limbs, but I did not get up to see which until this morning. I believe I feel back to sleep around 4:00am.

I woke up to the phone ringing. Amy called to tell me that daycare was closed for the day and I filled her in on the night’s activities. Sue and I both ended up staying home for the day. She wasn’t driving on the bad roads and was not staying home alone with Emelia. I wasn’t leaving her home alone and without electricity and heat. So, we made the best of it.

Around 9am (6.5 hours without electricity) I took a drive to the find a store that sells firewood. We have a fireplace and I wasn’t going to have a cold house. I figured a nice fire was in order. The neighboring areas all had power and the stores were packed. I filled up the truck, got a back of wood and a real coffee. I toured our neighborhood and found a few lines down on the road and very many broken trees. Some roads were closed and others had only one lane open.

The fire helped to warm the living room and our spirits. Emelia by now was having a grand time torturing mommy and daddy all the while the lights were off. We were able to cook on our stove (if you light it with a match) and we have hot water (thanks to a pilot light) and mechanical switches.

Just before noon I brought Emelia and the entire contents of our freezer to Amy’s house. I picked up two more bags of wood and headed home. Amy and Mike’s neighborhood seemed to fair much better than ours; there were fewer broken trees and they all had heat and electricity. In fact just about everybody in our area has had electricity since the morning, except for us. I got excited on the way home when I saw neighbors within walking distance having their lights on. I was disappointed to find out that we still didn’t have lights at home.

Sue left to get Emelia and Amy to bring to her parents’ house and I stayed home to tend the fire and read the Times. I made it almost through the whole first section of the paper before the sunlight was too dim to read by. Then I switched to the laptop and decided to write a few posts with whatever battery life I had left (hence this post and at least one more). The wood went quickly and Mike was nice enough to pick up two more bags for me. Ramen noodles for dinner.

And here we are at the present. I figured that the lights were be on before dark. The power company made their way through the neighborhood and I was excited at the prospect of having lights again only to be disappointed a second time. As of 6:45 pm we still do not have any electricity. The fireplace has helped maintain a comfortable 57°F in the house, but I’m bored out of my mind. No radio. No TV. No internet. No books (no light!). The outside temp is supposed to drop to about 12°F so I’m stuck feeding the fire place wood until I try to get some sleep.

It has been a peaceful evening. I feel bad for Sue since she is stuck with Emelia and Sue is getting very sore and tired just being pregnant, but I was planning on staying home even before this happened. I was able to read the paper for once and write a few posts without being too tired or interrupted by little toddler fingers pushing buttons and keys on my laptop.

The fire has been a pleasure, but requires constant tending. I leave the screen open to maximize the heat output (figured that one out after the first bag of wood), which is dangerous if the wood pops. So, I try to stick within eye sight of the flames and close the screen whenever I temporarily need to leave the room. It almost feels like camping only there is always a threat of burning a house down which adds a little anxiety to the whole experience. All I can say is that I’m thankful for the fireplace.

My neighbors are all in the same positions as I. The neighbor that has a house kitty-corner to us unfortunately has an electric stove. She’s stuck without warm food. I offered up our stove or hot water, but she didn’t take me up on my offer. She must be eating all of her food cold and uncooked.

Somebody in the neighborhood has a generator. I think that’s great for them, but I don’t have one myself. They are incredibly handy in these situations, but these situations don’t arise, but once a decade. It’s tough to justify the expense for something that you won’t use often. I’m still tempted by the idea of getting one myself, but I think I can make it without one (at least for now). If the temp really does drop dramatically I may be force to take drastic measures.

Back to tending the fire and listening to podcasts for me. I hope that we get power soon. This really does suck.

(This post was written while sitting in our cool (not yet cold), dark house after having no electricity for over 12 hours.)