they called it winter storm '09.
it affected alot of us.
i have to say that we have been very blessed in the past 10 days
this thing wasn't exactly a picnic but it could have been SO MUCH worse.
there are still thousands of families out there without power, suffering the loss of a loved one, fighting with their insurance to have a roof put on their home, and/or very cold tonight as it is only 14 degrees out there.
last monday morning (the 26th) jeff suggested i go ahead and fill up my car with gas (just in case) monday afternoon while jeff was picking up some extra groceries (just in case) i ask him to buy some batteries and candles (just in case)....
monday night the ice started coming down (or maybe it was freezing rain? not sure what the difference is) and it didn't stop
tuesday morning, work was cancelled. and we had plans for a big breakfast. while i was scrambling the eggs and browning the bacon we lost power. it was then that i realized that even though i could continue to cook on our gas burners we had no way to operate our gas oven because it is controlled electronically.
so i cooked toast in a skillet instead of biscuits in the oven.
and we spent the next 6 nights and days in the dark and cold.
but it wasn't that bad.
we still had heat from the gas stovetop during the day and the coldest it got at night was 56 (it was 16-ish outside). we had home cooked food for every single meal, as there was no restaraunts open and no microwave running.
we sat at the dining table every day after dark and played cards by candlelight, worked crossword puzzles, listened to the radio and made up our own version of partini until late in the night.
we talked.
alot.
i read 5 solid books. i took naps in the afternoon. i had insomnia all night b/c it was entirely TO quiet.
we boiled water to do the dishes and take whore baths.
i took pictures that i look at now and still can't believe came from my back yard.
i was lucky that i could get sporatic text messages out to and from my mom so i knew she was ok, and vice versa.
we kept the feeder full of seeds and spent nameless hours watching the birds play.
i did nothing creative whatsoever b/c i felt not one spark of mojo the entire time the power was out.
.....in the rest of the area there was a gasoline shortage panic, lines formed at every single gas station in the area, even if they weren't open. wal-mart was actually closed and it wasn't christmas. sadly people died b/c of carbon monoxide and car wrecks and the cold. warming centers and shelters were opened in multiples all over the tri-state area. entire cities were blacked out, for more than a day. the mail didn't even run for 2 days.
our poor willow tree looks mangled. and that says nothing for the rest of the area. every tree i have seen looks like a toothpick. i've never personally seen a war zone but i've heard this described as looking like one more than once this week. we drove over power lines repeatedly and i'm still seeing pieces of them in the streets.
from tuesday night on you could stand on our front porch and hear what sounded just like fireworks going off and it was actually trees, limbs, and branches snapping all around us. it was amazing and very eerie.
and here we are 10 days later.
very grateful for electricity.
