Storm Aftermath

Sights from the days after the devastation! With some snow melt (YAY for warm-ish temperatures) helping us out, we managed to drive along our street in our little compact Honda Fit, but the route was treacherous, sinuous (avoiding trees) and tricky (downed lines), and there was no outlet if oncoming traffic appeared. 

We tried to pick up Internet at the local Dunkin Donuts and then our public library, to no avail (the entire town was down), but we were lucky enough to pick up a cell signal, which we used as a hotspot, at a friend's home situated high on a hill (they had no power or Internet either). We desperately wanted information about the extent and duration of the devastation - and with it, hope for deliverance. We often see warnings and hype about preparing for storms and outages, but they don't always materialize, so this time I hadn't paid much attention to psyching myself up for this eventuality. I was so miserable - there's only so much crocheting and reading one can do before going stir crazy. And going to bed so much earlier than usual because there was nothing to do didn't seem to win me the extra zzzzz's that would have helped my mood - I lay awake for way more hours than I would if I'd stayed up late and then gone to bed at my regular time.

Photo of us enjoying our hotspot (credit: G Carignan)

I didn't weather this outage well at all - I couldn't find my usual resiliency hat, and was bad-tempered through it all. It was awful, and I felt awful for feeling awful about this minor and temporary blip in my otherwise idyllic life (I have all the luxuries and conveniences I need - we have a generator, too). I felt as if I had just grown too old for this kind of camping (no hot water), and I no longer enjoyed it. I was also taken aback by how reliant I am on the Internet - I couldn't even search through my electronic recipe collection and bake lovely things when the generator was running.

These awesome "Power Rangers" came by on the 4th day of our disconnect (the first activity we'd seen with regard to restoring our services - power line crews were initially held at bay in a staging lot until the winds had died down, so that delayed restoration) and began freeing up power lines and snagged boughs. Boy, were we happy to see them! Deliverance from all inconveniences came the following day.

But ... the house is a mess after not really dealing with things properly during those dark days. My blog is a mess, and the outdoor/yard cleanup task is IMMENSE - but at least we have power again, and the Internet, so we can happily use all the power tools and recipes we wish without complaint!