Friday Night's For Fighting

By the second night, life without power was beginning to get old, mostly because I was so freaking cold! It was then that we realized we had a gas fireplace in our bedroom that probably would work with a match. I can't remember the last time we used it. It's very close to the bed so I'm always afraid we'll catch fire. Besides, I usually sleep with a fan blowing on me even in the dead of winter.

We opened up the glass doors that we had wedged shut with a piece of wood to stop the rattling on windy nights, and got rid of the ancient spider webs. We tried using a match but it wouldn't light. We could hear the sound of gas coming out, but I guess we couldn't find the right point to ignite it. My husband said he would work on it some more once he got the generator up and running again. I asked him to run an extension into our bedroom so I could watch tv from bed. I had faith in him that he would get the fireplace working and planned to have the kids sleep on an air mattress on the floor in our room. Their rooms are always cold to begin with, and after stepping into them that night I realized I probably could have kept my milk colder in there instead of having it buried outside in the snow.

My husband started the generator up and then had the bright idea of running an extension cord to the refrigerator in the sun room. What would be the worst that could happen? It wasn't like we would blow a fuse or anything. We hadn't seen any action outside all day; the tree, the pole and the wires were still there and I was starting to think this power outage might go on for days. Once again, the only things that moved were the orange cones.

You can't believe how stupid some people can be when they see orange cones. Rather than think, "Hmmm, there must be a reason they're here blocking the road" they prefer to either a) get out of their car and move them, b) go around them, or c) go through them.

While my husband set out to perform the task of trying to make things cold in the refrigerator and hot in the bedroom, I threw on my mega bathrobe and slippers and snuck outside to grab a smoke. I watched one pick-up truck come all the way up to one set of the cones and just sit there pondering what to do. He decided to go around them and went right up to the tree and then just sat there. What did he think, if he put it in four wheel drive he might make it over??? I just laughed to myself as he finally backed up down the block.

Then I heard something even more absurd, the whirring of wheels coming up the hill. I saw the lights first and called to my husband, "You're not going to believe this, but some moron is trying to make it past the cones and up the hill!" He replied, "This is how we weed out the herd." After the wheels stopped spinning, I assumed they had gotten free and went back down the hill. As I was about to go inside I saw an elderly woman just standing in the middle of the chaos of wires, and then get down on her hands and knees. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I ran to the street anyway.

I noticed it was an elderly neighbor of mine who lived a couple of houses away. We had spoken about 15 years ago when we were adversaries. I stopped a cell phone tower from being put up on her church's property which was next to the elementary school. After that we nodded to each other in the past, and she always compliments my husband on his Christmas lights, but that's been about it. When I reached her she seemed disoriented, and was carrying a bag from Food Lion and her pocketbook. I told her to stop what she was doing and to give me her hand. I pointed to the wires which she was about to get entangled in. She hadn't seen them. I asked her what she was doing out there and she told me she went to the store. I asked her didn't she know that a tree has been down two days here? She said she forgot. It was then I saw a car sideways in the road lodged up against the root ball of the tree.

"Is that your car?" I asked. She replied yes. "Didn't you see the cones and tape blocking the road?" She said there weren't any. There were. She just had plowed through them. I took her bags from her and told her to hold my hand while we navigated through the wires and tree limbs and up the icy road. Slippers do not do well on ice. When we got to her house she couldn't find her keys in the darkened driveway. I had my mini flashlight with me and held it for her while he searched her pocketbook until she found them. We went inside and I told her to put the lights on. She then told me she had no power. I was surprised because I had heard that side of the street was fine.

She thanked me and said she could find her way inside as she knew every inch of her house even in the dark. I wouldn't let her go in by herself and asked her where her flashlights were. She said they were in the bag I was carrying. When I looked in the bag the only thing there was a gallon of ice cream. I showed her and she asked me, "Where is my flashlight?" I suggested it might still be in the car. That's when she remembered about the car. "What am I going to do about my car? I have to call the police." I used my mini flashlight to help her find candles. She found one and we lit it with my lighter. Her house was very cold too.

She asked what the number for 911 was and after I told her she dialed it on her yellow rotary phone. Haven't seen one of those in years! As she was explaining to the dispatcher the situation, she kept saying she didn't know about the tree, and the dispatcher is trying to tell her that they can't personally inform every person. They were going back and forth until I finally asked her to hand me the phone so I could explain the situation better. As I suspected, the police couldn't do anything about her car. If they sent a wrecker it would cost her a couple of hundred dollars, and until it was moved no restoration work could begin. I told the dispatcher that I would handle this.

The neighbor was quite distraught at this point. She didn't know what to do. I told her to sit down and let me call my husband. As soon as he picked up the phone he started yelling at me, "Where the hell are you? I've been calling your name up and down the streets! I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere. You're in your robe and slippers." I told him to calm down and briefly filled him in. I then asked if he could please try to get her car out of the ditch and off the road. We went back to my house.

I handed my husband the keys and he told me he got the fireplace working. Thank God! My feet were wet and freezing. I couldn't wait to get into my pajamas and go to bed. We stood there and watched as my husband expertly rocked the car out of danger and onto the road. He slid down the hill and drove the car around the corner and into her driveway. As he was getting out of the car, I see another car pull up behind him and yell to him, "Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing with that car?" Oh shit, here we go. My husband gets out and says, "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Oh shit, here we go. I turn to the neighbor and ask her, "Do you know that guy?" "That's my son," she says. I scream, "It's her son, it's her son!" before anything could happen. Mr. Pleasant turns and sees me hobbling in a bathrobe down the road with his mother on my arm.

"Your mom got stuck and my husband helped her get unstuck," I say. He looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of his mom. "Mom, what are you doing out driving?" "I didn't know the road was blocked." "Yes, you did! You told me this morning!!!" I didn't want to get in the middle of this so I start to make my exit, telling him, "everything is fine, she's okay, there's no damage to the car, take it easy," and head back to my house.

Ah yes, the fireplace is blazing! I took off my wet slippers and placed them near the flames. Before I could even change into warm dry clothes my husband comes in and says, "She's spending the night with us." "What?" "I told her she could sleep here tonight." "I thought her son was here to take her to his house." "No, she asked him if she could sleep at his house and he said, and I quote, "No Mom, I'm not prepared for that. I don't have an extra bed." "Are you fucking kidding me?" "No, I'm not. We can't let her stay in that house tonight. We got the fireplace going. She could stay in here."

For a brief second I was pissed at my husband, not because he did the right thing by inviting her over, but because he didn't turn to her son and say something like, "How can you not let your mother stay in your home where you have power, heat, and food? If you don't want her sleeping on your couch, how dare you not at least offer a hotel room for her instead of handing her off to total strangers?" Did he not get a look at the psycho wearing slippers and a bathrobe traipsing down the icy, slushy road?

The whole situation had me stressed out, and when the pain started heading up from my jaw to the top of my head I realized I was probably clenching my teeth too hard. Serenity now...serenity now! Mr. Pleasant walked his mom almost to our door then bee-lined out of there. She thanked us for letting her stay, and I told her it was no problem. I asked if she was hungry and she said she was. I hadn't planned on cooking, but things change and I couldn't very well serve her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so I took out a package of shrimps that were almost defrosted anyway, along with some hash browns and whipped up something quickly. It was horrible but she said she liked it and even asked for seconds. I gave her cold apple pie and offered her a glass of wine, which she really seemed to be most thankful for. "My friends don't drink, but I like to have wine." When she asked for a second one, my husband was quick to pour, but I was worried if maybe she was on some sort of medicine or something that would interact with the wine. She said she wasn't. She asked for the name of the wine and when I offered to write it down she said she would remember it. She couldn't remember a tree had fallen across the road but the name of the wine she would remember?

I wanted to find our more why her son wouldn't let her stay in his warm house so I asked her a couple of questions. I thought maybe he was married and the wife didn't like her. No, he was divorced and lived by himself in a large condo that wasn't affected by the storm. I didn't want her to feel bad so didn't ask anything else about him. She said she was tired and just wanted to lay down. I couldn't imagine her lying on the floor of a blow up mattress so instead we moved a chaise lounge from the sun room into our bedroom. It was a little larger than the doorway so we ripped off a chunk of wood as we tried to make it fit. I positioned it far enough from the flames so she wouldn't fall off of it and into the fire. I gave her a couple of pillows and blankets and off to the land of nod she went.

So much for watching tv from bed that night. I called my son and suggested he stay at a friend's house after work. His room was an icicle. When my daughter got home I told her she was sleeping with us in our room. It took a lot of convincing, but after she got a Charley horse in her frost-filled room she agreed. The look on her face as she passed a sleeping stranger on a chaise in my bedroom was priceless.

My bones have never ached more than that night. I always thought the cold didn't affect RA but after the pain I felt, I think it does. The fireplace was great and it wasn't long before I was able to move my legs and hands again. Bella jumped into bed with the three of us and it was quite cozy and warm. In fact, at one point I had kicked the covers off because I was too warm, and if we hadn't had a house guest, I would have probably shut the fireplace off. I hoped my snoring wouldn't scare our guest!

Friday Morn

On Friday morning I could feel the drop of temperature as soon as I shed my Mets blanket and warm puppy. The icy tiles on my bedroom floor commanded I reach for a pair of thick woolen socks. The plush bathrobe I've never used before that morning, became a fleecy toy for Bella to try to grab off of me.

The college classes were cancelled and both kids didn't have to be at work until late afternoon. My husband would go back to the shop when he was satisfied we were all settled. As he went outdoors to see what progress had been made I got to making us breakfast. I found my old perculator coffee pot and blazed up the stove top. The warmth of the flames, the smell of the coffee, and the perking of the pot was comforting.

When we first decided to buy a house in Virginia there were four things that were deal-breakers for me -- No well water, no septic tank, garbage pick-up, and a gas stove top. All I needed was a wooden match to light the gas. It reminded me of my childhood. For a brief second I felt like I was in my grandmother's apartment on Story Street in Brooklyn. I could hear her strike the match, the flame catching, and the exhale of her breath to extinguish it. I could smell the sulfur and see the black vapor trail ascend. And in what seemed like forever, the small cold kitchen became warm with the smell of fresh coffee.

I took out a frying pan and brushed it with olive oil. One one side was two pieces of bread and on the other a fried egg. When my husband came in, I proudly served it to him. See, I am a pioneer woman. He then reminded me the generator was on and I could have plugged in the griddle and coffee pot. Never mind that...I didn't need no stinking generator.

He then reported that other than the cones being knocked over, everything looked the same outside. Even the mystery jug was still there. After breakfast he went outside to shovel the driveway. He had parked in front of the house but we still had three other vehicles stuck in the driveway. I was worried about him driving over the cables but he said the rubber tires would insulate him if there was a problem. He drove both kids' cars out and parked them behind his. I wasn't going anywhere so mine remained. My husband would report on the condition of the roads to see if they were clear enough for the kids to drive.

Before he left, he showed my son how to use the generator. It would run until the boy went to work, then he would he shut it off. Even though I was assured "nothing will happen, it will just run out of gas" I still didn't feel comfortable with it running while I was by myself. Even the three fire extinguishers I had in arm's reach didn't alleviate my concerns. So, until that time of plunging back into the dark ages, I would make use of the luxury by watching some DVD's I had taken out of the library.

A couple of times I had to stop myself from going over to my lap top and check my email. Duh, I had no internet. I realized then that I was a creature of habit. Yet, at the same time, I welcomed the break. The resarch I had begun would continue the old-fashioned way, sans internet, -- with films,  books, and audio tapes. The first film I watched was "The Little Colonel." Don't hate me, but Shirley Temple sorta annoys the crap outta me. After watching it I thought that depiction was probably not the best source to get a "real feel" of the south in the 1800's. I did however, really enjoy the dancing sequences. Luckily I had other dvd's, documentaries, that spoke in the vernacular of the day and provided a more realistic glimpse of that time.

Once I was assured the rest of the roads were fine to travel, I bid a "be careful out there" to the kids. My son killed the generator and I then turned to my books. I nestled into my recliner with a fleece throw tucked under me. Bella perched on the arm rest to my right and the light from the window to my left shone for a good two hours before I had to reach for the oil lamps. Oil lamps, best invention ever. They're better than candles, better than a flashlight. And they look so damn cool too. My biggest worry was that Bella would leap from my chair to the sofa and possibly hit the table or knock down the lamp and bring the house down in flames. I read by lamplight for hours until after seven when my husband got home. I also wrote seven pages of notes, and pray I could understand my handwriting when it comes time to decipher them.

Before I go any further, I forgot to mention two other things that needed to be addressed because of the black-out. I had a full dirty dishwashing load, but no running hot water to clean them. I took my huge macaroni pot and boiled water. Then I filled the sink with the hot water, detergent, and dirty dishes and glasses. The pots that were dirty I added water in them, threw in some detergent and heated it on the stove. I rinsed in cold water and everything worked out well, but it was then decided we would only use disposable dishes and utensils.

I also remembered I had a washing machine full of clean, wet, uniforms from the day before. Nothing worse than the smell of clothes left too long in a washing machine. Luckily I remembered before that happened, so I was able to hang everything up to dry. A full load of towels were in the dryer. I didn't imagine we would get much use of those because nobody wanted to take a cold shower. We all agreed we could get by one day without a shower and would address the issue if it arose.

By far the best part of the day was watching Bella experience her first snow.

She licked it, chewed it, buried her nose in it, sprung like a gazelle through it, rolled in it, but she wouldn't pee on it. At first she wouldn't sit on it, but once she did, I believe the snow felt good on her bottom.

She started to act "better" than she has been. Her tail was no longer a constant threat. Every once in a while it would jolt her, but not every time she moved. She's so cute.

Now that the kids are no longer kids and have responsibilities, they have joined the ranks of my husband with the complaint snow is no longer fun for them. Luckily I have Bella to remind me of the joys of nature.

All in all, a day without power wasn't really that bad. And then came the evening...

First Night Without Power

While the kids were scrambling around the house searching for, then gathering and lighting candles and flashlights, I called Roanoke County police to let them know there was a tree and pole down, blocking the road. I stressed the importance of getting some sort of road block sign up as there were electrical cables in the snow, cars were still trying to get up the hill, and one vehicle had wires draped across it. You can see the abandoned car's lights on the left.

Next I called Appalachian Power to let them know what was going on. My last call was to my husband. The day before he had fired up the generator and discovered it wasn't working. We had never used it, but decided last year to buy one, "just in case." Luckily for us he fixed it that very morning, but it was still at the shop. Everything was fine in Salem, but once I told him what was going on in the County he quickly closed the shop and loaded the generator.

It just so happened that many of my Christmas gifts to the family was based upon dealing with a "disaster." Oh, how they laughed at me when they opened their tarps, oil lanterns, car power chargers, flashlights, batteries, hand warmers, blankets, and gas cans. Who was laughing now???

As I assessed the situation outside, a neighbor told me it was just our side of the street that was left without power. One by one I heard the generators fire up all around me. I also heard the whirring of wheels as cars realized they could not get up the hill and attempted to make a U-turn on the ice. You would think they would have noticed one vehicle already stranded with wires on top of it. But they didn't.

It took a couple of hours before the Fire Dept. showed up and placed orange cones at the bottom of the hill, the top of the hill, and at the two streets that fed into the blocked road. I figured we would be a top priority, not only because there were wires everywhere, but the road was blocked and there was the elementary school at the foot of the hill. My daughter then reminded me that Monday was a holiday, and Friday the County schools had been already called closed. I didn't know about Bella, as she was confused by the darkness and scurrying, but I figured we humans would be okay and could handle a couple of days without power.

My husband finally made it home after stopping at the supermarket for survival supplies -- soda, wine and matches. The generator was not an industrial strength one, but would be good enough to supply us with some lights and a television. We couldn't hook it up to the heater as that went through our fuse box. He and my son went to work on getting it running. 75-foot industrial orange-colored extension cords snaked throughout the house. Eureka! It worked!

The next order of business was trying to save what food we could in the freezer and refrigerator. We got a couple of coolers out of the shed and filled it up with all the ice from the freezer. My one command was, "Save the Breakstone Butter!" I still had three tubs that my brother had brought down from Brooklyn and no way was I losing that. We hoped that as long as we didn't open up the freezer or fridge the stuff would last until morning, at which time my husband would pack it up and bring it to the shop's refrigerator.

Meanwhile, the fallen tree was creating a hazard as folks would go up to it to see what a fallen tree looks like. If I happened to be outside grabbing a smoke and I saw someone getting too close I would warn them about the wires. Frankly, I didn't know if they were live or what, but I didn't want to see anyone stepping on one to find out. I noticed someone had even buried a big jug of brown liquid in the snow next to my mailbox. I didn't know what the heck it was -- gas, apple pie, iced tea? I left it there in case they returned to gaze some more at the fallen tree.

I was getting cold and tired of being the sheriff of Oak Grove so I didn't venture outdoors any more. We all settled down to watch the latest Harry Potter DVD, but I fell asleep. When I went into bed I couldn't stand the sound of the generator outside and asked my husband to make sure it was shut off when they finished. There was no reason to keep it on while we slept. The house wasn't that cold as the heat had been running all day so we got extra blankets and everyone slept in their own rooms. Bella warmed my feet. I figured we could handle one night of this.

BOOM! and Then Blackness

On Thursday I had just taken three pans out of the oven when I noticed my cell-phone had one bar. As the kids sat down for dinner I said, "Check your phones. Make sure you have enough bars. I better charge mine because I think we're going to lose power." The moment I finished saying that we heard a large "BOOM!" and then blackness. Another large crackling sound immediately followed causing my son to say, "That's a gunshot." So what does he do? He runs outside to see what's going on. This is what he found...

To give you a better daylight view, this was the scene the following morning:

One of the large pine trees in the park across the street fell down taking the power lines, the electric pole in my yard, which snapped like a toothpick, and dislodged, bent and broke my rooftop pole, along with it.

The wires were hanging on my house and spread across the driveway, and up and down the street. As soon as my son reported the dangling wires, the first thing I did was navigate down the darkened basement stairs with my tiny flashlight and switch off the main electricity from the fuse box. Even though we had no power I just felt like this was something I should do that. I don't know why.

Now, it's dark when this happening, and as you can see from the first shot, there is ice and snow on the road and it's still coming down. Well, at the very moment this snapping of the wires occurs, a car is trying to make it up my hill. If I had a penny for every vehicle who tries to get up that hill in a storm and wipes out, I'd be rich! Not only does this vehicle wipe out, but the wires fall on top of her car.

My son sees the woman come out of her car and goes over to help her, but she totally ignores him. She's crying on her cellphone, as she tries to walk up the hill through the wires, and won't even acknowledge that the boy is standing out there with no coat on offering her his arm to help her navigate the wires that she doesn't see! He makes sure she clears the danger zone before coming back in the house.

She was the first of many who made us realize sometimes the worst comes out in people during a crisis.

To be continued...I've got a lot of laundry to do.