More Than You Need To Know

Monday it rained. It wasn't raining hard, just a sprinkle, really. They predicted ice on the roads, so when I drove Nick to and from school I was careful. But there was no ice on the roads. The TREES, however, were coated with it. And when I say coated with it, I don't mean that a clump of ice sat on each branch like a clump of snow. I mean that each branch, each pine needle, no matter how small, got wet from the rain and then that moisture froze to ice. Then it got coated with rain again, which froze, and it kept happeneing until each little protruding part of each branch was coated in a quarter inch of ice cocoon. And this made each branch much heavier than normal.

Driving along, the first thing I noticed was that the branches of the trees seemed much lower than usual. Some of them were actually so low that they hit my car. Not the usual soft brush of pine needles brushing your car, but instead the hard clump of ice cubes being flung at your car at twenty five miles an hour.

The next thing I noticed was that many branches happened to be IN THE ROAD. They were just too heavy, and broke off. Not a huge deal with the little branches. But the bigger branches spanned the road. They blocked people out of their driveways and drivers had to get out and drag them off. Even then you could see where the branch had fallen because the ice broke into a billion shards on the road, and what was left looked like pine needles in broken glass.



Nature is beautiful in small doses, and deadly in large ones. Our power went out about 6pm Monday, and it began as an adventure. I knew exactly where flashlights were, batteries, and candles. But in al honesty, I expected the power to come back on at some point during the night. I kept waking up and glancing in the direction of the cable box, but it's usual green glow announcing the time was missing. I left a flashlight on in the boys' room so I could find it in the dark, and each trip to check on them became colder and colder.

With no power we have no heat. And we also have no water, as we rely on electricity to work our pump (we have no town water, we have a well.) The brilliant previous owners of this house installed a wood burning pellet stove where the fireplace used to be. They told us it was more efficient, produced more heat while burning less wood, etc. But there is one huge flaw. IT IS ELECTRIC. Morons. What good is it, then? When we have heat we don't NEED a fire!

Tuesday morning was cold. We put on sweaters. I explained to Nick for the billionth time that we could NOT turn on the lights, or watch TV, or listen to music. Of course, while we were freezing, the stuff in our freezer was melting and going bad. I put frozen meat outside, but everything else in the fridge - butter, milk, salsa - I all threw out this morning after a stupid slice of toast and my absent minded smear of sour butter. Blech!

Anyway, at about noon we could take it anymore. We went to the mall for lunch and to get warm. We did a little shopping. We swung by the house again, just in case, but it was still cold and dark. Steve let the dog out to pee, and then we all headed down to Lillian's house in Mass. Where we eneded up spending the night.

I was nervous because we had left the pets here with no food and in the dark and the cold. I was uncomfortable because the TV was on the ENTIRE TIME WE WERE IN THE HOUSE. I watched my first ever episode of American Idol. Ditto Dr. Phill. The boys shared a bed, which was SO CUTE, but I was nervous they would fall out.

The next morning Steve went up and got Gunther. Still nothing. In fact, we were without power until 3pm Wednesday. Lillian and I had taken the kids to a giant indoor playground. If we had stayed at her place waiting for a call the power would still be out. I have never been so happy to be warm and in my own house.

I've learned two things: 1 - I know there are colder places in this world (Canada? Alaska? Minnesota?) And I feel really bad for anyone without heat in those climates. 2 - we are getting a generator. Yes, we were lucky enough to have Lillian, who was so, so helpful and I can not thank her enough. But it's still not worth it. Besdies, the people across the street have one. While the rest of the night was pitch black and dark, that think could be heard from miles away. And the only lights we could see were their outdoor holiday lights.