No, no, not that kind of lost weekend. It was a weekend lost due to lack ability to blog for this series. Okay, yeah, boring. But, so was my weekend without electricity.
It started Saturday afternoon. As I watched the cold front approach from the west, I knew the weather was going to change abruptly and then be back to normal. Even the National Weather Service only had us in a Severe Thunderstorm Watch area. Nothing too bad to worry about, right?
It was breezy most of the afternoon, but it was still unseasonably warm in the mid-60s and nice. It started to cloud up around 5 and around 6:30, it started to rain. Nothing major, a light rain. Surprisingly light, given the radar views of what was coming.
Within five minutes, the light rain turned into a deluge and was accompanied by winds that likely hit at least 70 miles per hour, if I remember my Beaufort scale indicators correctly. The wind didn't last long, but between it, the rain, and the frequent lightning, the power went out within two minutes of the storm hitting. No electricity between 6:30 PM Saturday and 12:30 this afternoon. Ye-hah.
I was fortunate in that I had a kerosene heater to keep at least one room warm, although the rest of the house went a little ice-boxy as the temperatures dropped off into the 30s outside and low 40s inside (yes, I checked). I was also fortunate in that I had a small generator, something I had bought just before Tropical Storm Irene hit the area a few years ago. As a result of my little power-maker, my fridge stayed cold, although it likely would have anyway given the indoor conditions. I also had a light, radio, cell phone charger and I even made coffee on Sunday morning. The generator wasn't too happy with the coffeemaker's extra load, so on Monday, I made coffee by heating water on the kerosene heater and pouring it through the coffee in the filter – not bad.
I even had use of my laptop. What I didn't have was internet access. Network was down and my cell phone is so old, it can't pass the SSL protocols anymore. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss internet access, but I didn't go into withdrawal like I know some do. I probably would have been in worse shape if I didn't have the laptop available, though. Okay, so it's a lower level of tech addiction – sue me. However, I didn't run the generator 24/7, so even the laptop wasn't available all the time. I didn't feel like reading. I didn't feel like writing, either. I didn't feel doing much of anything beyond staring at the walls and checking with the power company's recorded message of when the power might be coming back on. Self-induced boredom – it ain't pretty.
When the power finally came back on, I wasn't here. The power company, after telling us the power would be restored at noon today, changed their message to inform those in the affected area that power wouldn't be restored until 6 PM. ARGH! While I knew I had enough kerosene to continue heating, I knew I didn't have enough gasoline for the generator, so I headed out to buy more gas. While I was out in the great wide world, I met a fellow resident of the area who said that the power came back on about ten minutes ago, about the time I was pulling out of the driveway. So, I came home, re-plugged in the stuff which had been connected to the generator, turned off the kerosene heater, and then did what I really needed to do – TAKE A SHOWER! After that, I headed for work for the last three hours of the workday and then returned home.
So, that's the story of my lost weekend due to the passage of a cold front through the area. Rather not have a repeat performance of the event anytime soon, thank you. The temperatures are now down in the 30s and 40s again, normal for this time of year. The crocuses and snowdrops managed to survive and were open to the warmth of the sun today like normal, although we've already established that it's not normal for them to be blooming here this time of year. But life in general has returned to late winter normalcy. Mixed feelings about that.
Only 21 days until Spring.
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