Five Days of Darkness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Hello computer. Hello lights.  Hello flushing toilet and water that runs from a faucet freely.  Oh, how I missed you this week!

A fearsome store blew through on Monday and since then, we have been without power.  When the electricity went out in the house before the storm even came, I just *knew* it was going to be a long time before we got it back again.  It went from quiet and calm to fierce, jetting winds in a matter of moments and the children nearly got caught right in it.  (Children who think blowing winds are fun to run and catch things in may think again in the future now that they know how difficult it can be to get out of them!) Gusty walls of wind blew roofing and siding and insulation waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy down the hill and pushed trees down everywhere.  Lots of trampolines were decimated (not ours, thankfully!) and all the neighboring towns lost power.  Our hill was the last to have it return (five days later) except one town nearby who (poor things!) are still waiting.

Electricity trucks from Michigan have traveled over to help and it is more likely to pass a cherry-picker truck on the roads than it is to pass a tractor (and that says something for around here).

Thankfully we have a gas stove, so eating wasn't particularly hard.  Soups.  Homemade Mac n Cheese.  Pancakes, eggs, sausage.   We raided the grandparents' lighted (!), watered (!) and heated (!) home for a jammy party pizza and movie night (we brought the pizza!) on Friday night and when we came home, the lights had turned on.  The first thing I did was take a very hot shower.   I may or may not have used up every last drop of hot water...

I had to start fixing supper earlier than usual because the house got so dark in the afternoons.  We read by oil lamp or battery operated twinkle lights.  Twinkle Lights are my new best friend.  We hauled water from the lake to flush the toilet (and it still stunk) and gathered rain water to wash dishes.  We plugged our generator in just long enough to keep our freezers of meat from spoiling.

On Thursday there was a frost warning so with flashlight braced firmly in teeth, I went out and tried to cover up a bit of lilac and a bit of peach tree to keep them from death by burning.  Thankfully, they looked beautiful in the morning so my efforts were needless.

Rationing our meager drinking water supply (and finding ways to refill, refill, refill it) was the most difficult part of the whole ordeal.  Although by the end of the week and no heat (thanks to our new electric dependent wood furnace) we were pretty chilly too.  By Friday the house sat at a chilly 52 degrees.  And, wouldn't you know it- I finished packing away the last of the winter things just a week or two ago.  Perfect timing.

 We were so cold, it was hard to concentrate so I made the executive decision to travel for schooling on Friday.  We raided the library to do math, the science center for writing, grammar, science, the car ride to and fro was filled with history (audiobooks!  Love 'em!) and we headed to my sisters' warm house for an art party.  It actually worked out pretty great.

Other than that, life seemed pretty normal and not all that different than what our lives look like on a daily basis.  (Minus laundry)  And I realized that my 'quick hops'  onto the computer take up a lot more cumulative time than I would like to admit.  I'll be remedying that.

 Being without power for a week makes you eternally grateful for things like running water.  HOT water.  A flushing toilet.  Lights.   Abundant, clean water.

It takes losing these things to be reminded just how grateful we ought to be to have them.

And we feel extremely grateful these days.