The 'Vortex'

Todd and I have affectionately renamed our home 'the Vortex'.

We seem to experience irresistibly engulfing weather situations in our neighborhood. WE STILL have knee deep snow!

For all you snowbirds and warmer climate 'fans' here is a recap of our storm experience.

THURSDAY:

We saw the weather before we went to bed around 11:00pm. While most of the state experienced epic winds last week, we slept peacefully and were not disturbed by gusting winds.
We woke when the hum of power went out around 2:30am. We stirred ourselves into sleepy action. We stoked the fires, they were both still hot and lasted until the morning with no restarting. We found some flashlights and strategically placed them within reach of sleeping children.

FRIDAY:

In the morning we woke. The grill cover stayed on and NO trees fell in our yard, so it could not of been that bad..right? We lose power all the time, rain, snow, wind, and especially this time of year. It shouldn't take long for us to be back up and running....right?

I was wrong. We listen to WZID,95.7 and we were amazed while listening that they were going 'off air'. They were being evacuated from their building, and were going to relocate in the conference room at the WMUR office. We channel surfed and heard all kinds of horrible news. We were lucky in 'the vortex'.

We hooked up the generator in the morning, and plugged in the coffee pot, fridge, and the under the counter radio. We continued to listen to local power outage reports. Sometimes hearing of the destruction by means of the radio (when you have an over active imagination) is more terrifying than seeing the reality of it on TV.

We hopped into action, texting and calling loved ones on our cell phones. We set our selves up for the long haul. I schlepped in wood for the wood boxes made sure they were filled to the brim. Totes of snow were dumped into the tub to melt for toilet flushing. My biggest stock pots were on the stove melting snow.

See, we were smart and got a gas stove after discovering the electric stove, (the one that came with house did not work.... since day one).

With our smart purchase we can light the burners with a match so we cook, heat water for cleaning, and taking pot showers during times of power outages...which tend to happen a lot around here. Not that we are experts, just well prepared and experienced.

But by day two, Todd fixed the water pump problem so we had running water. Everything seemed exceptionally melty, and drippy and the sump pump hole began to have water. We hooked the sump pump up and chipped away at the perpetual winter ice dam around the bulk head.

SATURDAY:

We ventured out since we were in need of batteries and a few non perishables. I was amazed at the damage I saw. I am thankful my friends and family were OK, (without power), but OK.

At night we would unplug the unnecessary things and plug in a different set of unnecessary things like: the TV and DVD player. Movie Gallery is closing so we took advantage of the 3 for $15 deal and stocked up on some kid friendly movies. At least a few new movies we have not seen a hundred times....yet. The girls liked watching something new too. Everyone went to bed with their flashlights and a few books. Pretty smooth night, night-times around here are pretty easy to begin with, once they are out...they are out.

SUNDAY:

I'd like to thank my in laws for allowing us to bathe at their house, and my sister for the best Sunday breakfast, and hot shower I think I've ever had!

Our power came back on Sunday night around 8:30pm. The girls came running down stairs. In the course of three days they turned on every light, and radio on the second floor. When it surged back on, the house lit up and blared music. I think they were more scared than excited about the power being back on.
I was reading my book by the generator powered lamp, Todd was playing a few games on his lap top. I looked at him, he at me, with a sigh of relief, we again hopped into action and began to wind up cords, and listen to the sounds of the neighborhood shutting down the sea of generators. Sometimes I still hear the droning of them echoing in my head.

I know there will be a next time, we are never ready for it, but at least we'll be even more prepared...