Day 11-I Think

Whew! What day is this? Where am I? Who am I? It’s been a long eleven days folks. When you work for the power company and the ice storm of the century hits, you don’t get much rest. I’ve been working anywhere from 16-18 hours a day since the storm arrived, and I don’t mind sayin’, I’m ready for spring. Y’all know how I hate winter. Some Beach! I'm ready for a trip to the tropics. I don’t blog about work, but oh, the stories I could tell. I will just say that I am hanging in there and can finally see the pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel.

On the family front, the Hula-gen’s are still without power. We’re on day eleven. The latest update I got today was that we would likely be without for another week. I don’t like it, but I understand why. I have to admit, the news didn’t do much for my spirits. I’m gonna need a nap and a margarita this weekend.

For the first four days of this mess Hubby and I toughed it out without heat. Teen Angel skipped town with a friend and headed to a town where the lights were on. I napped at work the first couple of nights. At our house the living room was the warmest room, so we slept in the recliners under several blankets when I first came home. I was at home only a few hours each night, so Hubby endured more cold and isolation than I did. And cabin fever. By the third day, that man needed some companionship. When the highlight of a man’s day is discovering the practicality of a head lamp, you know he needs to get out more often.

Around the fourth day I got a small generator. It allowed us to warm up the house with an electric heater before we went to bed under a heavy layer of cover, snuggled up against the dog. By Saturday we had settled into a routine of me working, and Hubby spending the day taking care of the house. We swapped the little generator for a big borrowed propane heater. A couple of days ago, a friend of ours loaned us a big generator, and an electrician wired it up to the house properly. We’re now burning up a gazillion gallons of gas every day, but we have heat, and we can run a few lights and keep the food cold. We even turned the TV on last night. It was the first time I had seen television in eleven days. Frankly, it felt weird. After a little McSteamy and a little McDreamy, I drifted off to sleep for SEVEN, count ‘em SEVEN hours. I woke up with a much better outlook on life this morning. I was also glad to here that my buddy Lew and his wife got their power back on last night. I feel as if I should send him a congratulations card.

The Hula-gen’s are doing very well compared to a lot of other folks who don’t have heat or loved ones to lean on. We’ll be fine. I’m just ready for this little adventure to be over and for life to get back to normal. Please don’t invite me to go camping this year, and hey, somebody please tell me what day it is. Seriously, no one at work knows anymore. We’ve all lost track. Here are a few beauty shots I haven’t had a chance to post.

Everything is melted now, and all that’s left is this kind of stuff. Every median in our city looks like this. This is a “tree city”, and we have a beautiful lighted dogwood trail each spring. So many of our trees are just ruined. It makes me sad. There’s certainly no shortage of firewood around here. Hopefully, I’ll be back to visiting your blogs again soon. Until then, someone take a long hot bubble bath for me and tell me how it feels.