Darkest before the dawn...

So, when's the damn dawn coming? Power was out all night last night; it's 54º in the house right now. Everything outside is covered with ice and the wind is still howling. My laptop and the Mifi have some juice left... maybe I should use my old laptop - the battery on that generates heat! ;-) Nothing on our island is moving. I brought in our generator to warm it up; if we don't have power by 8:00, we'll start generating our own... Joan is concerned about the fridge, I think we need some heat. We can always put groceries outside.

Little Izzy is sore from her shots at the vet yesterday, and is very confused about all this... especially the sound of ice pellets and ice chunks (blowing off the neighbor's palm trees) hitting the side of the house.

In 15 years of winters here, I've not seen it get below freezing and stay there for more than a couple hours, and that is rare. We're going on 48 hours with below freezing temps at this point. Some neighbors have covered plants, flowers, and bushes... I don't think that's gonna be enough.

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On Edit: I got out to get fuel for the generator. We're doing OK... the rest of town is a mess. There is going to be a lot of "collateral damage" from this storm: power company trucks were out in force to repair downed lines and blown transformers. All kinds of tropical plantlife has been creamed. There is a barge run aground near our swingbridge - probably intentionally, because with no power, the bridge can't open. And one of the saddest things: there were people on the north side of our island pulling sea turtles out of the water... because they are cold-blooded creatures, a 10º shift in their body temp puts them into a coma. The sea turtles are endangered, and there was an entire pickup truck full of turtles. The causeway is closed, most businesses are closed. Fortunately, I was able to get fuel; I topped off the truck at the same time. The first pump I pulled up to was on, but you couldn't read the screen on the pump because the ice on it was so thick. I had a package to pick up at the Post Office; they were sorta open - it was dark in there, and they were sorting mail with "head lights" on. No functioning registers, so no way to buy anything or pay for any postage. One cafe I went by was dark, but open... I assume they have the grill going, so you can still get a breakfast tortilla or huevos rancheros... and maybe grilled toast. They can't afford to lose an entire day's worth of business, and without power, there are a lot of people looking for a hot meal - the place was packed.

When I got back to the house, Joan had a space heater, the fridge, and my computer plugged in, alternating. The cable is out, we can't pull anything in on the antenna, but the generator is taking care of the satellite receiver, so we have TV (just no local info). It's still chilly in the house, but not bad with a couple layers on.