Snow, crises, and haircuts
It was quite a weekend.
We got about 5 inches of wet, clinging snow on Saturday. The trees, still laden with leaves (many still green) weren't ready for the early white. Lots of leaves = lots of surface area for snow to stick to. Many trees couldn't handle the weight, and split apart, looking for all the world like bananas, half-peeled.
We lost power around noon on Saturday, and made the call to postpone the grove's Samhain festivities. It was terribly cold. We have well water at our house; when the power fails, the pump doesn't work. We went to J<3's house, to get water and hug the Tykus. We saw the huge branch that nearly squished J<3, and said "woah" a lot. The truck was pulling to the right a lot, which we took to be a power steering issue.
Slept very cold with no power. (We could see our breath upstairs.)
Woke up , still no power. Resolved to go to Sabrina's house for the hair cutting extravaganza, my participation facilitated by mgg. (Thank you!)
Got in the car, drive less than a mile, and the steering went totally crazy. I couldn't not turn right. Nearly lost control of the vehicle, bur recovered and nursed it into a parking lot and parked. Got out and looked around; a fucking flat tire. (Dry rot plus inclement weather.) After cursing and tears, I realized I did not actually know how to change the tire on the truck, and sulkily walked home.
I sat in the cold and read, waiting for C and J to get home. Before long, the power came back on. Yay! That us, until the smoke alarms went off, and there was a funny smell. Ran to the kitchen, opened the door to the basement (where the furnace lives), and was greeted by a wall of smoke. Freaked, grabbed phone, grabbed dog, grabbed the outside cat I could actually find, and bolted. Called 911, cried because I couldn't find Freyja and she was somewhere in the house.
Fire trucks came, fire fighters looked around. The power went back off. They found no flames, but detected dangerous levels if carbon monoxide. They shooed me out, opened windows, and ran fans off the fire trick engines to air out the house. They confirmed the animals were all fine. C and J got home, and after all the excitement (and once again no power), we left to eat after confirming the house was safe. By this point, my nerves were pretty much completely shot.
Thought about it, and realized that if I had not had that flat tire, no one would have been home when the power (and the furnace) came back on. The house wouldn't have burned down, but who knows how long the furnace would have backfired carbon monoxide into the house during the hour-plus between when it came on, and C and J would have arrived home? (We since examined the furnace and suspect the exhaust is partially blocked. I suspect the answer is a lot.). Point is, if that tire had not gone flat close enough to home for me to walk back, we probably would have come home to very sick, if not dead, pets. For the seeming inconvenience that worked out for the best for our house and our critters, hail Asphaltia.
We ate some hot food in Flemington, and C and J resolved to drive me to Sabrina's so my damn haircut could happen. I missed mgg and P and T and LG by a mile, but got that cut. My head feels much lighter. Dusty was fantastic and seemed to really have fun.
L picked me up after the haircut and some socialization. We got fast food on the way home, including a Mountain Dew for Asphaltia, which we poured out for Her in a car dealership parking lot, with our thanks.
Got home to a house with power, and a heater already going in my room. Slept warm and snuggly with L.
Today has been a better day.
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