Thursday, October 30, 2008

Power to the People

When the power went out on Tuesday evening it was no surprise. Happens fairly often out here in the boonies, and not necessarily when there is bad weather either.

We stumbled around the pitch black house trying to find flashlights and candles, then eventually went to bed, pretty sure that the power would come back soon. It was charming and cozy and we didn't mind. But when I got up at 6am, it was looking pretty bad outside and I figured I better find out about if it would be a snow day. No power though, so I bundled up and went outside to sit in the car to listen to the radio (did I mention the phones were down too?) in the dark. Very surreal. School was cancelled so I went inside and went back to sleep for another hour.

We spent the day at home, eating the perishable food from the fridge before it, well, perished and I felt thankful that we had decided not to buy a quarter of an organic cow. I sat next to the fireplace and read a book for most of the day, which was nice.

However, all of the quaint charm of pioneer living began to wear us down by the end of the day (our water pump and furnace requires electrical power so few toilet flushes were in order, let alone showers, ewww) and Doug drove down the road to find a signal for his cell and make arrangements for a hotel room. He got a great deal at the local Howard Johnson's, which is pretty much empty this time of year so I went with the kids while Doug stayed at the house with our oldest son and the pets.

No one can tell us when our power will be back on, and thousands of homes are affected in the area. I dropped the kids off at school and a bunch of us moms commiserated in the parking lot and discussed where where to get the best hotel rates and how long it took us to cry "uncle" before fleeing our dark and cold homes. We lasted longer than many. I then secretly yearned a bit for a house in town.

Oh and did I mention that we will be shopping for a generator next week?

So this pioneer girl is going to take a break from blogging for a few days, but will be checking emails so sympathy will be much appreciated. heh.

6 comments:

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Sh!t! Let's blame the weather and power outage on W!
Tracy, as you know, we live in the boonies too. However, the utility head office is just around the corner, and would it surprise you to hear our power never goes off?

Angela Wales Rockett said...

Happened to us 2 years ago - and we live in the suburbs! The problem was a rain/windstorm that tore down trees and power lines and even caused a few transformers to blow. Our power came back after a little over 2 days, but parts of Seattle and the surrounding areas were without power for 2 weeks! I hope it comes on much sooner than that for you. Sending warm thoughts, and thoughts of warmth!:)

tlwest said...

Hmmm makes me think twice about moving up north...we have generators down here to keep the air conditioning on LOL!

Melody said...

Oh no, poor, poor you! That is just horrible.......does that sound sympathetic? If not let me know and I'll try again. But seriously.......that does suck in a big way.

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

oh so sorry, how horrible.... hope all will be better soon!

Tracy Helgeson said...

gary, wise choice, buying a house so close to the utility's office:)

Angela, that sounds awful, I kinda remember when that happened and that the power outages lasted for an awfully long time. Ugh!

Terri, we have a new respect for generators now, that's for sure:)

That was pretty good, Melody, i almost believed it:)

Thanks Natalya, it definitely sucked but all is well again.