27 Hours Without Power

Tuesday began at 2:30. Her Highness woke me after peeing on the bathroom rug. I took her out anyway then fed her and the cats and built up the fire nice and hot and did some cleaning up before going back to bed for a nap around 5:00 am.

I woke up at 6:30 and dressed to take Sheba out again and whoa…. Serious snow was falling and the ground was covered.

The next hour or so involved little more than me stoking my sense of wonder; it was like living inside a snow globe thanks to my many windows and the density of the snowfall. It was really beautiful but I could tell the snow was wet. Early in the morning I heard a tree crash down and then, whilst fetching wood, I heard branches falling off a tree not far away. And my poor Rhodo needed rescuing from the weight of the snow.

Then wham. At 9:30 my power went out.

I passed the day gently, taking Sheba out often and playing the “should I or shouldn’t I” game in my head about using my generator. Instead I decided to hope it would end. I read my New Yorkers and ate things that didn’t require me to go outside in the blizzard to cook on my barbeque.

I was ready for bed at 6:00. It was weird in the night because huge chunks of snow and ice would fall out of the trees and land on my tin roof. Some were a bit scary. And I find I cannot read by candlelight; it’s too hard on my eyes. Not even the kerosene lantern is good enough.

I’ve made a lot of notes for the future:

• Read the generator manual, get gasoline and keep it full and learn how to use it.
• Keep my iPad and Macbook fully changed all the time.
• Get some skookum extension cords.
• Get more kerosene lanterns and always have lots of kerosene on hand.
• Keep the generator on the deck in winter.
• Get lots of candles.
• Buy some books on Kindle.

Wednesday morning was a little depressing waking at 3:30 to find the power was still out. It didn’t come on until noon Wednesday — about 27 hours of no power.

The experience has reinforced my all my thoughts about the sunroom because it will enable me to comfortably barbeque no matter what the weather. It will make a huge and beneficial difference to living here without power.

When I went for a walk Wednesday morning, I could hear people’s generators going and I got over my shyness about creating noise.

I am so happy to have the power back. I’m going to make myself a nice cheese sandwich and then I’m going to go into town and get the gasoline I need to fuel my generator — and some pie.