Last week was busy. I decided to set aside my Christmas journal to complete some Christmas gifts I was making. Thank goodness I did because I was about to spend the weekend without basic necessities -- like lights, heat, computers and television!
The weather folks had been predicting high winds and possible power outages. My concession to their concern was to suggest that DH make sure the gas tank was full in his car. Then Thursday night came. It was raining; the winds were gusting, and the lights were flickering a bit. Around 11pm my computer, or something close by, made a funny noise; I decided it was time to shut everything down and go to bed. We lost power within an hour -- the winds were rattling the windows, and everywhere you looked it was black.
Friday morning came quickly, and we were thankful our family and property was okay. Still, we had no power and had to get ready for work by flashlights. The good news was that our offices had power; over 700,000 homes and many businesses did not.
It's been a very long time since I experienced a power outage like that. Traffic lights were out just about everywhere. Grocery stores had no power, gas stations had no power. Those stores and stations that had power were swamped. One station we visited late Friday night had run out of gasoline. People were standing in lines to buy generators like they were Nintendo Wii systems.
By Friday night, we still had no power and no generator either. We used candles and flashlights to light the inside of the house; the outside was dark and eerie. We shut off the bedrooms and used the gas fireplace for heat. We decided to go get something to eat, and that wasn't easy either because many places were out of power and closed.
We brought bags of ice home with us and packed them around the food in our freezer. Then we moved the contents of our fridge on top the ice. That worked for us, and we lost no food.
The power company said we could be out several days and as much as a couple weeks. Things did not sound good at all. Imagine our pleasure when our power was restored at 2am Saturday morning. We shut off the alarm so we didn't have to get up at o'dark thirty to search out a generator, and we returned to bed and a more peaceful sleep. When we woke up next, it was 7am and we had no power. :( I was kicking myself for going back to bed at 2am. What was I thinking? I should have stayed up, done laundry and various other things that require power. Heck, I should have gotten up and enjoyed the light!
The good news is that the power came back on before noon, and I started scurrying around, doing laundry, showering, etc. We managed to keep our power until after dark on Sunday night. then were were out for less than four hours.
So, for most of us, life has returned to normal this week. We still have friends and coworkers who are without power, but most homes and businesses are back to normal. The experience has given us a new appreciation for those necessities AND for the power company employees who helped restore the power. It was dark out there for them, too, but they worked to provide power for the rest of us while their families struggled without them AND without power.
All week we've been telling power stories -- the struggles and the triumphs -- another tale to append to our life stories.
So here are a few pictures from the weekend, and my three journal entries for the weekend as well.
One of the uprooted trees in our neighborhood:
I suspect this is the downed line that cut our power. The line was the victim of another uprooted tree. Friday morning these lines were on the ground. This picture was taken after the temporary fix on Saturday morning.

This is what my poor frozen car looked like on Saturday morning. You can't really see it in the photo, but there were frozen raindrops on the car.
Then the journal entries: