apocalypse

my goodness! Time has certainly gotten away from me the past couple of weeks. Well, that’s not entirely true, i’ve been extremely busy in a house painting frenzy, so it’s not like i’ve been sitting around the house eating bonbons (inside joke between Maximus and me). my initial plan was to merely paint the guest rooms, but i ended up painting the guest bathroom, Master’s bedroom and bathroom (the bathroom is soooo spa-like now, i can hardly contain my squeee every time i’m in there), powder room, kitchen, family room, and downstairs hallway. i’d hoped to paint Maximus’ office, but i ran out of time (and needed a couple days rest) before prepping for a Super Bowl party at our house…and then we had a winter storm.

i’m actually writing this post in Word on my laptop and will be transferring it into my blog because we don’t have power! It started snowing during the Super Bowl and just dumped! After our guests left and we cleaned up, Maximus and i went for a lovely walk in the snow and noticed that this snow was really wet and heavy, coming down hard, and was causing tree limbs to droop down onto power lines. By the time we got back home, we’d accumulated another inch. We got our emergency supplies ready as we live out in the boonies and supposedly often lose power for extended periods of time during storms (we’ve only lived out here since October, so we’ve not experienced what our neighbors report).

Our power flipped off and back on about 1 AM, but the neighbors across the street were on generators when we woke up. We had 7 inches of snow and wouldn’t you know it, three more cypress trees fell over (i just finished cutting up the last one that fell two months ago and putting it into the yard debris container) and one of our maple trees split (it appears it had some concealed crotch rot at a branch and it broke under the weight of the snow). We went out midmorning to shovel off the driveway and clear some of the road so drivers could see where the road was rather than driving into the drainage ditch in front of our house and when it was time to go back inside, we’d lost power.

We got the generator going and it started snowing again. Since Maximus had work to do and the cable was out along with the power, He decided He needed to head out to somewhere with internet access. He also has a flight at o’dark-thirty in the morning, so we agreed that He should just go get a hotel room near the airport now, taking my SUV, so that we didn’t have to worry about Him trying to drive in the dark, possible ice and snow, fallen trees, with time constraints in the morning. i know He didn’t really like that idea, but after venturing out, dealing with the snowy streets, abandoned vehicles stuck in ditches, and fallen trees, He was glad He left this afternoon.

i assured Him that He didn’t need to worry about me, that i’d be just fine, and He replied, “gabriella, i never need to worry about you,” as i am very self-sufficient and prepared. i am very pleased with our emergency preparedness, and so is Maximus. As we were getting the generator set up, He complimented me that all my hard work was paying off, which made me smile. i’ve set up a whole shelving system in our garage to store our generator and supplies, including nitrile gloves and fuel funnel Maximus requested the last time we lost power and He spilled gasoline onto His bare hands while fueling the generator, and a headlamp i hang off the unit so we have access to it immediately when getting it set up in the dark. There are bins with flashlights, batteries, an emergency radio with a crank charger and USB ports for charging cell phones, a solar charger, fuel siphon, etc. Bins with food that i go through on our birthdays in order to swap out things with upcoming expiration dates. Gallons and gallons of water in special carboys, in addition to all the water in our hot water tank, and a water filtration system. There is first aid equipment and we also have all of our camping supplies in another shelf nearby with fuel pods and cooking equipment, more flashlights, etc. Everything’s organized, labeled, easy to access. The generator powers six circuits in our home: the septic system, furnace, Maximus’ office outlets, family room outlets, refrigerators and freezer, and garage doors. We have two gas fireplaces for heat, so i generally turn the furnace thermostat down to the 60s to avoid having to run that power hog, and we have a gas stove that we can light with a stick lighter or matches for cooking. So we’re pretty set.

i’d started working on this project while we were in the condo, but moving out to the lake necessitated completing our emergency preparedness. While i worked in public safety all of my adult life, i never had emergency supplies at home. Why? Because i was never home during emergencies—i was always working and had supplies provided at work. That all changed when i retired! And boy am i glad i got it all done this fall and early winter! So i guess you could say i’ve pretty much geeked out on emergency preparedness!

Woo Hoo! Power came back at 8 PM…but still no cable, so no internet…boo!

And finally! Internet at 10 AM!! Back in service!