Flashbacks...

 

The power came back on at 2:00am... I was grateful for that because I was having flashbacks to my childhood and being nearly crushed by blankets because there was no heat in the upstairs of our house.  And I am a side-sleeper, so the weight of those blankets is hard on the joints.

We had the living room warmed up nicely before shutting down the generator at 11:00 last night (that's when "quiet time" starts).  Joan knew she'd be awake all night, so she took to the couch when I went to bed.  Yes, she tucked me in.  ;-)

When the power came back on, I peeled off the heavy bedspread and turned on the electric blanket and was soon joined by Joan... and Rufus, who never left the bed.

The washing machine was in the middle of a rinse cycle yesterday when the power went out.  Joan started that again at 2:10am... it was a comforting sound: that hum of an electric-operated device doing its job.

The house was in disarray this morning, but Joan went about restoring order while I did my morning routine.  Blankets around the living room, the fridge pulled out (so we could get to the plug) and flashlights distributed all around.

It isn't "life as usual" with the power restored this morning: there is no cable TV or internet.  We are listening to the Today Show via Sirius Radio on Joan's phone.  My phone is providing internet, so we can see/hear what is going on in the world.

We are boat and RV people: we know how to conserve and use our resources.  I think we are faring better than many here.  North of us in Texas, it is more ice and snow, so those folks have it bad.  This morning, Joan had me turn on the dryer when I got up, so that load is done.  Joan has the house back to normal.  The electric fireplace is helping the house heat keep things comfortable, and most importantly: Rufus's meal routine has maintained its regular schedule.  If you can believe the weather weasels (they have under-guessed most of this), one more cold day and night and then a gradual warming trend.

Any internet-based devices (security cameras, Alexa) are just flashing, with power on, just waiting to get an internet signal.  The tea kettle is starting to whistle as it comes to a boil; no, we don't drink tea.

As Joni Mitchell told us in 1970:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

I'm very appreciative to have power and water this morning. 

Take care and be safe out there.

Joan's guys after a restless night.

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We'll probably all need a nap this afternoon.  Well, Rufus may need an additional nap this afternoon.  He has seemed a bit food insecure, even though his meals and treats have all been on schedule through this last week.

Joan and I were talking about this last power outage this afternoon: 12 hours off, then back on.  That doesn't seem random.  Last night at 2:00am, we weren't thinking about "what if," just glad to be able to run some heat without using the generator.  Now, with a bit of sleep, some breakfast, and showers, we're planning ahead.  More water boiled.  All our devices charging up.  Another load of laundry.  It's just after noon, so if the power goes off around 2ish, we'll have our answer about more rolling blackouts.

Two days ago, over 3 million Texans were without power.  That is now down to less than a million.  That's still a LOT of people, most of that number having been without power for days.  We found out that our water issues are related to the cold and the power outages, causing surges on water filtration/pumping equipment.  They're pushing water, but we still have to boil it before consuming.

Mother Nature is giving us another cold, windy day; the overnight rains have passed.  41º right now, with a wind chill factor of "OMG, are you shitting me?"  The forecast for tonight is a low of 37º and windy.  Sunny tomorrow, with a high of 48º by late afternoon.  I don't trust them.  Not any more than I trust the power company and the water district.  This past week has my faith more along the lines of: I'll believe it when I see it.

The internet is still out, along with our cable TV.  There are several different owners groups on Facebook for our village, and it seems a bit paradoxical that people are getting on the internet to complain that they have no internet.  ;-)

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8:12pm - the internet and cable TV are back.  We have made due with my phone as a hotspot; even managed to stream some news this evening on Joan's iPad.  We listened to the Today Show on Serious Radio this morning.  We sure as heck weren't going to do anything unnecessary outside... I looked out there, with the idea of bundling up and taking a walk... the wind was out of the north at 28 gusting higher and it was 37º... that's a big ol' nope.  I exercised inside instead.  When I went outside to do a walk around the house to see how everthing was faring, Rufus looked out the door and said, "You're on your own, Pops."

The weasels have moved the "weather will get better" to Saturday... not a surprise.  AEP says that there should be no more rolling blackouts in our area, and any outages are "equipment related."  Apparently, there are spotty outages still on our island, including one block over from us.  Fingers crossed.