My Longest Stretch of Failed Electricity

Within five minutes of my previous post, we lost power. As it was 10pm, I just went to bed and figured I’d deal with the chill the next day. The forecast predicted that the temperature wouldn’t drop below about 30 degrees, so I knew we’d be okay for the night.

Next morning, it was cold enough to see our breath in our little bedroom. (When I finally got breakfast oatmeal made, I laughed at how much steam was coming off of it—the oatmeal appeared to be really hot. But when we actually got it in our mouth, it was barely warm—just shows how cold our room was.)

I looked at my cell phone—and it wasn’t working. I knew it had a full battery, but the reception was nonexistent. That was a bit disconcerting, but I figured that if we were in true trouble, I could walk to a neighbor’s. (In retrospect, I could have walked up to the top of the driveway and may have had improved reception.)

I got the propane heater that Phil had been using in his office: it’s just a little heater that screws into the top of a 5 gallon propane tank. I was pretty freaked about the unofficial ventilation in that room, as well as the many sleeping bags and inflatable pads—all of which, as petroleum products, are pretty flammable. Open flame heater with sleeping bags makes for one nervous mother. So if I put on the heater, I made the children all sit still, and made sure no animals were in the room, too.

The six of us spent all Saturday in the little bedroom. We were saved by the electronic games that came in our Christmas stockings: we hadn’t let the children play with them since the day they opened them, but I gave them unlimited access on Saturday. We read books and ate fruit snacks and just had a (mostly) happy time.

By 4:30pm, the skies cleared and the sun came out. Beautiful. The drifts weren’t bad, either—we’d gotten a crusty top on the powder, and although a lot of snow may have fallen, it didn’t look too bad.

That night, the temperature dropped to about 6 degrees. I knew it was going to be cold (open sky doesn’t keep the warmth in), so I moved the lemon tree from the unheated room into our (very crowded) bedroom and again went to bed early. I woke every few hours to turn on the propane heater for twenty or thirty minutes. That worked out well. I would see my breath before turning on the heater, and afterwards, it would be warmer.

No one wanted to use the bathroom the next morning. I remembered that, up until about a century ago, most people had outhouses. Surely walking across an unheated room to the bathroom wasn’t that bad in the scheme of things.

Michelle Bessette called around 9am and said that Dennis was going to come and get us. He had driven home the night before through such rough conditions that a tree took out part of his windshield.

It was a wild ride, and we hung on tight, but to be back in a home with warmth, and space, and laundry facilities, and a wider range of food than noodles and oatmeal was a great treat. The three older children spent all afternoon going down the amazing sledding run, while Abraham and Joe watched from the window.

The Bessette’s truck quit working after returning to their home, and their other 4-wheel drive vehicle was snowed in, so we all stayed the night. The Bessette children had made an amazing igloo house and Alex and Dennis spent the night there. (Well, Alex came in at 11pm, and Dennis made it until 4am!) After much shoveling, we made it back home.

Despite a call from the electric company letting us know that we had power, we found that we didn’t actually have any, and our house was colder than the 40 degree weather outside. So we resumed our bedroom life, reading and resting, until 3:33pm. Sixty-five and a half hours without power.

I know we lived without electricity from the end of July until mid-October, but the whole structure of our life supported that. These last days were livable, but not pleasant. They were really long, cold hours, and I’m glad they’re over.

Of course, we’re getting more snow tomorrow....