Friday morning started with a roaring rainstorm, and when that left, it was replaced with insane wind. It blew the lid off my recycle can, it blew the other trashcan flat over on its side. It picked up my birdbath and flung it into the neighbor’s yard like a Frisbee. It blew the door on the cabinet on the back patio open and then it banged it over and over until I went out and wedged the snow shovel against the door to keep it shut. It tumbled two heavy planters down my neighbor’s porch. It tore flashing off a roof by my son’s school. When Maureen and I walked down the street, it blew so hard at our backs that I stumbled and Maureen was literally lifted off her feet. It took her hat off her head and flung it 20 feet in the air and ripped the mittens off her hands. And then somewhere it blew hard enough that our power went out.
We ran errands to kill time, but when we got home, the power wasn’t restored. We opened all the blinds and stayed by the front windows to make the most of the waning light. I called BGE to report the outage. I never realized how many times an afternoon my kids open the fridge or freezer until we had to worry about keeping the cold in so the food wouldn’t spoil.
The kids decided it was an adventure and ran around looking for toys with lights to use as flashlights; I fretted over the lack of bars on my cell phone’s battery. I discovered the one flashlight we own had dead batteries and the only candles we had were tea lights. The toy-as-flashlight thing worked pretty well. So did my laptop, which was mercifully charged.
While the wind continued to howl outside, I called BGE again, just in case they didn’t register my first call. Then I turned the phone off.
Luckily, we have a gas stove. The oven has an electric ignitor, so that was useless, but I lit the burners with matches and made dinner without using the microwave. I felt sort of like Ma Ingalls, cooking and doing the dishes by candlelight, although I’m positive Ma Ingalls wouldn’t have made chicken nuggets and edamame.
The brown and black cat lurked in the shadows, invisible, until I found him by tripping over him and nearly breaking my ankle. The kids ran around in the dark, somehow not falling down, while I peered out the window and wondered why the streetlights were on while all the houses were dark. We all put on extra sweaters.
The wind blew. It blew the sale sign off a house until it crashed down on someone’s car. I debated calling BGE again and decided they probably knew. I debated the chances of them sending a guy up a pole while insane wind whipped around him and decided it was going to be a dark, cold night. I thought about Ma Ingalls again and thought that while she didn’t rely on Tyson for dinner, she probably had to help a screaming preschooler put her underwear on in the pitch black. The kids jumped on their beds while I went through Facebook withdrawal. I finally figured out why people on the prairie went to bed as soon as the sun went down. With no DVR and no Internet and no heat, what else was there to do except get a headache trying to read by candlelight and worry about nodding off and burning down the cabin?
The hubby came home with batteries and better candles, so we had more light. The kids went to bed as usual and I finally gave up reading and went to bed too. The power came back on at 5AM, when the heat kicked on and the hubby had to get up and turn all the lights off. Other than the cold, I decided it wasn't too awful. After all, it did get me in bed at a reasonable hour and I feel more rested than I have in ages.
This morning I went out and picked up all the crap that blew around in the yard and did all the chores from yesterday that didn't get done because they require power. We're all pretty much sick of winter around here, but at least the storm and insane wind was rain and not snow, because then I'd really be crazy.
We ran errands to kill time, but when we got home, the power wasn’t restored. We opened all the blinds and stayed by the front windows to make the most of the waning light. I called BGE to report the outage. I never realized how many times an afternoon my kids open the fridge or freezer until we had to worry about keeping the cold in so the food wouldn’t spoil.
The kids decided it was an adventure and ran around looking for toys with lights to use as flashlights; I fretted over the lack of bars on my cell phone’s battery. I discovered the one flashlight we own had dead batteries and the only candles we had were tea lights. The toy-as-flashlight thing worked pretty well. So did my laptop, which was mercifully charged.
While the wind continued to howl outside, I called BGE again, just in case they didn’t register my first call. Then I turned the phone off.
Luckily, we have a gas stove. The oven has an electric ignitor, so that was useless, but I lit the burners with matches and made dinner without using the microwave. I felt sort of like Ma Ingalls, cooking and doing the dishes by candlelight, although I’m positive Ma Ingalls wouldn’t have made chicken nuggets and edamame.
The brown and black cat lurked in the shadows, invisible, until I found him by tripping over him and nearly breaking my ankle. The kids ran around in the dark, somehow not falling down, while I peered out the window and wondered why the streetlights were on while all the houses were dark. We all put on extra sweaters.
The wind blew. It blew the sale sign off a house until it crashed down on someone’s car. I debated calling BGE again and decided they probably knew. I debated the chances of them sending a guy up a pole while insane wind whipped around him and decided it was going to be a dark, cold night. I thought about Ma Ingalls again and thought that while she didn’t rely on Tyson for dinner, she probably had to help a screaming preschooler put her underwear on in the pitch black. The kids jumped on their beds while I went through Facebook withdrawal. I finally figured out why people on the prairie went to bed as soon as the sun went down. With no DVR and no Internet and no heat, what else was there to do except get a headache trying to read by candlelight and worry about nodding off and burning down the cabin?
The hubby came home with batteries and better candles, so we had more light. The kids went to bed as usual and I finally gave up reading and went to bed too. The power came back on at 5AM, when the heat kicked on and the hubby had to get up and turn all the lights off. Other than the cold, I decided it wasn't too awful. After all, it did get me in bed at a reasonable hour and I feel more rested than I have in ages.
This morning I went out and picked up all the crap that blew around in the yard and did all the chores from yesterday that didn't get done because they require power. We're all pretty much sick of winter around here, but at least the storm and insane wind was rain and not snow, because then I'd really be crazy.
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