Back from the Dark Ages

It was a very interesting weekend. It was like stepping back into time...a time with no electricity.

The weekend started out with a boom, literally. Friday morning we woke up to a loud boom, like an explosion. When we looked out side we saw a very bright light and then sparks and flames. We heard about 5 more booms and then the lights went out...and stayed out. Ethan and Elizabeth were both very startled by the loud booms, to be honest I was as well. So I started searching for some flashlights and we started lighting candles and kerosene lamps. When the sun finally came up we looked outside to see an inch of ice on everything. Throughout the morning limbs fell all around the house, one even going through the roof of the barn. Thankfully there was no major damage and no limbs fell on the house.

Around 11am we had a couple of AEP trucks outside the house and then the power came back on and then went off after about 2 minutes. When they turned the power on it heated up the wires, that began to smoke and then spark...they quickly cut the power. Around 2pm they started trimming the branches and then they disappeared down the road around 6pm. We never saw them again and we still didn't have power.

When we woke up on Saturday and realized it might be awhile till we got power, we decided we should take some action. We loaded up the kids, water jugs, and a change of clothes and headed over to mom and dad's. We borrowed their generator (to at least run the freezer full of meat and fridge full of food), took showers, filled up with water, opened a few Christmas presents and then headed home. Andrew spent most of the rest of the night trimming an branches that were close to the house and cutting down the willow tree by the barn (the tree that was responsible for the limb through the roof). The weather called for high wind and we weren't going to chance any more limbs coming through the roof.

Sunday morning we woke up to darkness again and the sound of ice raining on the roof (from the wind blowing it off the trees). We got ready and headed to church. When we got into the car it was 1 and the wind was really blowing. We had a nice communion service which was scheduled for that evening, but moved up till morning because of the weather. It was a wonderful service and Scott helped us focus again on the true meaning for Christmas. We went out to Pizza Hut for lunch and then headed home for the day. We got the fire all stocked up and looked through the paper, while the kids took a nap.

Monday brought us wonderful electricity around 10am. The weekend wasn't as bad as it could have been and there are many things I'm thankful for. We did have warm heat from our wood burner all weekend. We also had light from some candles and kerosene lamps and a camp stove to cook on. The major inconvenience was no water, but we did fill up when we were at mom and dad's. I guess since we didn't get our fall camping trip we got a winter camping trip instead. It didn't seem to bother the kids to much, once we went through the house and talked about all the things that would not work without power. The nights were a little different, since the house was really dark. They were like little ducklings following me were ever I went. It was nice night to have to worry about vacuuming, doing dishes, or laundry for a little bit. But, all those things were waiting for me when the power came back on. We spent alot of time reading books, building block, and coloring with Ethan's new markers. It was a night weekend of playing, without all the distractions of the modern day. I guess I'm a little more "plugged in" then I thought.