Powerless

We woke up the morning of February 5th to find that the power had been snuffed thanks to an ice storm over night. Rob said we lost power at about 6:40 a.m. Yet somehow, without power, without alarm clocks and with NO SCHOOL that day, Hannah and Lizzie were both up and at 'em by 7.

We've lost power before and it's usually back on in a couple of hours. I think the longest we've been without power in this house is something like six hours. So I told the girls we'd just wear extra sweaters and wait for the power to come back on.

Little did I know that blessed event would not happen until Feb. 9 at about 2:45 p.m.

I learned many things during the power outage.
The first is that I have become completely addicted to my devices. I lost my home phone at about 9 a.m. and my cell phone started to swerve in and out of power by about 3 p.m. The internet and phone went out completely by about 7 p.m.

The second thing I learned is that my daughters are not people who like to cope with ... well ... anything. We played games, we told stories, we did crafts and when all those things were exhausted (by about 10 a.m.) they resorted to their favorite pasttime: fighting with each other and whining to me.

Yet, I was still hopeful that the power would come back. That the house would burst into light when we were hauling blankets into the family room to pile in front of the fire place that threw out zero heat. Or that it would awaken us at midnight by coming on. Or at 3 a.m. Or, you know, SOMETIME.

But the next morning we were all awake by 7 or so in a house that was still dark and 45 degrees. So we did what any family on the brink of burst pipes and frost bite would do: we went to McDonalds for breakfast. It was shortly thereafter that I was able to get us a hotel room: one room, with one king bed, into which we'd fit two adults, two children, a dog and a cat.

We were thrilled to have it. (Okay, I was thrilled with the constant stream of coffee in the lobby) It became our home until Sunday, except for the 14 million times that we went to our actual home to see of the lights were on. And to get the air mattress after I ended up sleeping on the floor the first night...

I am happy to report that we moved home Monday morning (two hour delay after the girls had been out of school since the previous Wednesday - joy!) and the house has been toasty warm since then. THe pipes were fine (I think it got as low as 35 in here, but never below freezing) AND I now know where every blanket and pillow in the house are.

In retrospect, the girls were really good in the hotel (because we had the animals we had to stay in the room or else bring them with us) and I'm sure SOME DAY we'll laugh about this.

Here's a few photos from those 105 hours.

This is the cause of all the trouble -- for much of Wednesday morning all you could hear were snapping twigs. By the time all was said and done something like 715,000 PECO customers were sitting in the dark (and cold):

The thermometer in the family room on Thursday morning:

Cash and Bella getting in a nap at the hotel. As you can see, they weren't giving up any space on the bed:

 

 Lizzie with the napping animals (I have a picture of Hannah with the animals, too, but I can't find it so pretend it's here):

An ice tree a couple of doors down from our house:

 

It's pretty for sure, but from now on, the only place I want ice is in my Dunkin' Iced Decaf!!

We survived with no lasting problems and I am ever grateful to the friends and family who opened their doors (and their showers!) to us while we were battling the elements!