White out

/ J. F. Riordan

There’s a thing called hubris, and even before the Sin of Pride it was punished by the gods. Remember my blithe dismissal of problems with the power grid? Well, it is healthy and well-maintained, but when your neighbor’s pine tree falls on it, there’s not much you can do.

We were out for our evening stroll with the dogs last night, and as we were brushing snow off lilac branches by the road, we heard a crack, and one of the 40 foot pine trees across the road just snapped off at the top and crashed to the ground.

We gathered the dogs and went inside.

I texted her to let her know, and while she and our other neighbor were outside to check it out, they found that the second neighbor had also lost a big pine and a Crabtree. And what was that bright light overhead?

Arcing power lines are no joke. So the fire department came, and after dealing with the emergency got stuck in first neighbor’s driveway.

We knew it would be moments before our power went out. I had time to fill a bathtub for flushing, plug in phones, gather flashlights, and turn on the gas fireplaces. About five minutes.

This morning it’s still dark. But we are warm, and the trusty vintage stove will make coffee for us and our neighbors as soon as there’s a bit more light to rummage in the cupboard for the French press coffee pot. Maybe those frozen croissants will be nice, too.

Meanwhile, we have an individual line that goes from the main source to our house, and although it’s dead now, it has many branches hanging on it. So even when the power comes on, the power will go right back out. I’m on hold with the power company as I write.

Meanwhile, we have lots and lots of beautiful snow, and warm, happy dogs. But the power company people are working outside in the dark to get us up and running again. Feeling lucky.

Happy weekend!

25 thoughts on “White out”

  2. I always feel compelled to bake something, or at least hand out chocolate, to those intrepid power company people who work so hard in outages! I also feel compelled to keep lots of camping gear handy to fill in during an outage. Luckily I have a gas stove and fireplace. And outages seem to bring people together.
    Stay warm and safe. Wind chill here this weekend forecast -30.

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  3. Winter sure brings its set of excitements … hope all will be back to normal soon. 

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  4. When I moved into my house there was a generator and I didn’t realize how much I would come to love the sound of a truck coming through the house every Wed when it tests itself. Last year we had 26 hours of no power and my house was the only one with light and flushing toilets and a working well in the neighborhood. would I have bought it, probabaly not but boy I love it!!!

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  8. What a story! You are fortunate to have alternate sources of heat. I remember in the ice storm of 2008 in Mass., the sounds of trees cracking and crashing through the night, one of them them right onto our car. Power was out for a week so we had to get a rental to leave our home, and we could not even do THAT right away because of fallen trees and ice. Tree crews, some from southern states, were all over the place helping, as it was too much for the locals to handle alone. Best of luck to you with your storm!

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  10. Oh, my goodness! Major storms can bring major problems. The cool thing is you have your family and dogs and warm fires to keep you warm. Adventures are more fun, if you can call them that, with family! Stay warm!

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  11. You live a very exciting life and your reflections on said life are always wonderful to read. I hope your power returns soon and you remain cozy and warm. Bourbon helps, or so I’m told. And, I’m sure Auggie and Eli would be glad to cuddle close, should the need arise. Please stay safe and enjoy your winter wonderland.

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  13. We’re having 40-50mph winds right now so that’s a concern here in Ohio too. Live in town so no worry about water or flushing. Gas fireplace so I have heat. Fully charged phone. Batteries in a radio. Gallon jugs of water in freezer and fridge to help keep it cold if power goes out. We had the derecho in 2012 and I prepared to live “primitive” for a bit. Hope you return to civilization soon.

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  14. Sounds like life during and after a hurricane. Since these occur as I live in Florida, it is hot, instead of cold. Not sure what’s worse the heat or cold at that time.

    I am replying to you as an e-mail. I have tried the other way by clicking on comments which takes me to Word Press where I need to set up all the things necessary to blog, yet I just want to be able to reply to you for right now.

    Thanks for your e-mails, I read every one. Marilyn Dye

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  16. Where I live the power goes out if G-d sneezes, which he does with alarming regularity. Early this year I purchased and had installed a Briggs and Stratton whole-house generator. Was it a splurge? Yes, it was. Peace of mind comes with a price, and evidently it costs $18,000. Tomorrow and Monday when the temperature dips and the power almost certainly goes out in our grid, I will be immensely thankful to my uncle, who left me enough money that I could pay for this.

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  17. such a familiar story. ahhh rural life……………..it was happening so often here i finally broke down and got a generator. was afraid on one of the outages i might lose all the food in my freezer and decided it was cheaper to get a generator. since i got it life has been less eventful but easier. at my age easier won out. right now, here, we have a round robin of snow and rain…………..the worst winter combo as you know.

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  18. “Oh my! The electricity is out? That means.. We are going to have to snuggle even more than usual to keep warm! We’ll keep our strength up by eating lots of treats! Oh well, we must do what we must do to survive.” – Grinning Eli. 😁😊🐾🥩

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