Our 9 Day Weekend

This picture was taken before the biggest snow storm blanketed
our backyard even more.  (Can you spy the dead snowman?)

Snow storm.  Snow storm.  Snow storm!

Ice storm! (What?!)

Power outage!

Wind advisory.  Rain storm.  Flood watch. Rain storm.  Wind advisory.

This picture was also taken before Wednesday’s snow storm.

I am hoping our more normal mild and temperate Groundhog Day-ish winter weather returns soon – lows in the upper 30′s, highs in the upper 40′s with rain and gray skies heavily dotted throughout the forecast … and some sun breaks sprinkled in for variety.

On Thursday January 19th our city and region declared a state of emergency.  All the wet and heavy snow when followed by an ice storm (I don’t think I had ever experienced prolonged freezing rain and ice pellets before) means lots of downed trees and power lines.

The ice storm completely blindsided Randy and I. All the focus had been on the big snow storm that hit us Wednesday.  We went to bed that night thinking the worst of the storm was over –  typically we are quite proactive about watching weather reports – but the warning must have come out late at night and by the time we were up and about the next morning we had no power.  There was also no power at Randy’s work, which is probably a good thing because the roads were treacherous.

We lost power for 17 hours and the Internet for 25 hours.  The kids had 4 snow days last week.  Add that to last week’s three day weekend and add in this weekend and there you have our 9 day weekend.

I am grateful that regular school hours are set to resume tomorrow … and hopefully no more winter weather will thwart that plan. I am ready to get back to the gym and normal every day life.   I am ready to be able to go to the store and find milk and meat products back on the shelf.  (I must admit I was a bit surprised when by Saturday afternoon many stores still had few dairy and meat items in stock.)

Things to add to my wish list:

• A pair of boots for me

• A pair of boots for Randy

• A pair of boots for Keri (at least Eli and Cory had rain boots)

• A generator

• A 4 wheel drive vehicle, or at least an all wheel drive one

• A camping stove so we can heat up food when the power is out

Things I am grateful for:

• Home teachers and friends who check in on you.

• Friends who pick up items from the store for you (we were prepared, but when you have snow storm after snow storm and 6 mouths to feed, it is nice to have extra milk on hand when someone offers to get it for you).

• Friends who lend you their generator because miraculously their power is still one.

• Our natural gas fireplace that kept us relatively warm, sane and hopeful until the generator came to our rescue.

• A natural gas water heater that wasn’t affected by the power outage.  It was so nice to take a hot shower even before the power kicked back in.  And the kids loved having hot chocolate!

• The fluke of internet power we got when the generator kicked in.

• The fact that the furnace and the internet were on the same power circuit … though it would have been nice if the fridge was on that one, too.  At least the ice and snow on our deck served as a great back up fridge.

• Our flashlights.

• Our camping lantern.  (We got it as a wedding present, I can’t even remember who gave it to us, but we have used it way more for power outages than we ever have for camping.)

• The cookies we had on hand which we had baked the day before.

• Our food storage.  Even if the power had remained off for a few more days, I am grateful we had food to eat … though there is nothing quite like a hot meal after a prolonged power outage.

• Cell phones that were mostly fully charged.

• Family members in distant states who kept us informed on weather and things (even though their home city dissed our region – this is truly a great and fun article to read).

I loved these slush filled footprints that then refroze.  However, this freeze-thaw-refreeze cycle is vicious on the roads!

Now we need to invest in a ladder and a power saw so we can trim the low lying branches which are dangling over our driveway.

Even though last week was not the most comfortable thing to live through (talk about going stir crazy and having cabin fever with the kids out of school and the weather so cold outside … that easily creates cranky parents!), I am grateful for the lessons we learned.  It taught us what we can live without and what we need to do in order to be better prepared for future emergencies.

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