Moving On...

Saturday was day 3 of our power outage. Things started looking up. The ice melted off the trees but the snow on the ground remained.

Saturday  was a nice day, cold but dry and sunny. The roads were clear and everyone took advantage of the improving conditions. Rick and I decided Friday that things had improved enough that we would drag a vehicle out Saturday and hunt down some internet, hopefully at the nearby library. Kevin had made plans to get his chainsaw and go hunt for firewood as any red-blooded Washingtonian should be doing the day after a big storm has passed and there’s windfall laying everywhere. So I suggested to Rick that he help Kevin collect wood and earn some for us. I had to wash dishes and figure out a way to wash my hair (that was supposed to be done on Thursday). So we had our day kind of planned.

Things got changed a bit but Rick and I finally got the kitchen cleaned and we got our showers and headed out. First we hit the library. They had internet and plugs to connect our dead laptops to but no wifi. The information desk said the whole system had no wifi but we went down to the Kent library to be sure. No wifi – system-wide. OK, where now? Starbucks? McDonald’s? Barnes and Nobles? We checked the Starbucks in the Kent Safeway – no seating. McDonald’s is right across the street. One plug, already occupied. But the wifi trak app that Rick has on his ipod showed that the Burger King next door also had wifi. I found a table there right next to the only outlet in the place – unoccupied! I asked the guy at the counter about using the plugs and he gave us his blessing.

So we grabbed that table and some lunch and sat there catching up with the rest of the world for about an hour. I slapped that last storm blog up and we finally felt we had our internet “fix” that we needed. We did a couple more errands and headed home.

The first thing I noticed when we got home was the full-size Bonsai tree was gone! I could see that corner of the house! Whoa! I kept looking around and the whole front yard was cleaned up. The limbs were even gone! We walked into the house, Rach was in one recliner, Shirley and a sleeping Elise were in the other. The there were 3 little boys in underwear jumping out from their hiding places. Kevin, Dane and Keith were hard at work out back, continuing the cleanup. Apparently when Kevin got the tour of the carnage he decided he would round up some helpers and take charge of the cleanup. He did a great job! It’s all still back there but it’s out of sight, my yard almost looks like my yard again. I gotta figure out how to dispose of the limbs, there’s a MOUNTAIN of them!

We've grown accustomed to not having power, having lived in a neighborhood prone to power failures for over 20 years. For about the first 4 days it’s not bad, evening time you barely notice it. I bought a rechargeable thingy that has 2 plugs. I’ve used it in the past for a lamp, once to watch Survivor and most recently discovered the best use for it – we’ve been using it to power a small DVD player to watch movies and recharge our cell phones. We watched 6 movies on a charge, I don’t know how many we could actually get out of a charge but it’s great to have something to occupy us in the dark. Our kerosene lanterns and candles keep the house sufficiently lit, the woodstove keeps us warm, the refrigerated food is in a cooler on the deck. We cook on and in the woodstove. Pots sit on top and Rick cooked a couple baked potatoes inside it. We BBQ meat. What finally gets difficult is when the hot water runs out and laundry needs to be done.

Having finally gotten my hair washed, gotten my internet fix, my yard cleaned up and now full service on my cell phone (I called my mudder to celebrate!) I felt much better than the last time I blogged about current events.

This morning we headed out before noon to find a friend that would allow us to recharge our portable power supply that provides our evening entertainment, since it ran out of juice mid-movie last night.  Then we, again, headed to find wifi.  Life at home was getting boring, we were ready for the power to be back on.

We ended up again at Burger King.  Covington had power on one side of the main drag and not on the other.  So we were again limited on where we could look.  This time we sat for 2 hours, the chairs were much cushier than the hard plastic benches we sat on yesterday, but the building was much colder.

We came home, had a visit from Rach and Tony, then Dane and Chelsea came over, Keith went out, life was trying to get back to normal...  We had to do dinner, Rick was preparing to go to work tomorrow so he got his shaving done while there was sufficient light, blah, blah, blah.

Then, while Rick was cooking the fries on the BBQ for our weekly fries-and-burgers-on-Sunday dinner, Dane, Chelsea and I were eyeballing the piles of broken tree bits - - - the lights came on!  We heard a HOOT! from out in the street somewhere and I noticed the neighbor's back porch light was on!

This was by no means the longest power outage we had, we had at least 2 4-day blackouts and one 5-day one, this was only 3.5 days.  But the emotional strain and work were much bigger this time.  It seems that, according to news I've heard on the radio over the course of the outage, ours was the worst hit area in this, our:

STORMAGGEDON 2012!!

0 cats hacked up hairballs:

About Me

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After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.