Uphill both ways, barefoot, in the snow.
I used to dream of being Laura Ingalls.
Remember that one book where the Ingalls family has to twist up bundles of straw to burn in the woodstove? I kind of envied them this week. I'm sort of kidding, I may have been without power and heat for three days but at least it didn't get quite below freezing here.
Early Monday morning, I'm frantically trying to finish writing a program that was due that afternoon. It's raining out and kind of windy, but the Noreaster that was supposed to dump huge amounts of snow on us didn't seem to be showing up and I might have prayed just a tiny bit for something to happen to cancel classes. About five minutes later my power went out. That'll teach me to try to get religious, it's back to snarling and clawing people in the face when they try to get me into churches from now on.
Several hours later, when I realize that all I have in the house that doesn't require cooking is wheat bread, peanut butter and canned peas, I head out into the tempest to forage for junk food sustenance. That's when I realize that in addition to living amongst lots of pretty but very breakable trees there are some drawbacks to living near a pretty but very floodable river, as all the streets surrounding me are closed. I head back home to my delicious lunch and dinner of peanut butter.
For the next couple of nights I slept wearing pyjamas under jeans and a sweater, a hoodie, my bathrobe, my winter coat, gloves and hat, two pairs of socks and sneakers, under two afgans, a comforter, four blankets and two slightly chubby cats. I discovered that water will remain slightly warm for a couple of days in a hot-water tank and a lukewarm shower actually feels pretty luxurious when you're naked in a 30something degree house, possibly because the hypothermia's started to set in just a bit.
They started letting us out yesterday, although having a barricade of camoflaged National Guard guys and their camoflaged Hummers seemed a tad excessive. I suppose if they hadn't been willing to let me out I could have pretended the camoflage actually worked. When I came home tonight and a light was on, I spontaneously composed a song consisting mainly of the lyrics "I has a heat" and there may have also been undignified dancing. It scared the cats.
Remember that one book where the Ingalls family has to twist up bundles of straw to burn in the woodstove? I kind of envied them this week. I'm sort of kidding, I may have been without power and heat for three days but at least it didn't get quite below freezing here.
Early Monday morning, I'm frantically trying to finish writing a program that was due that afternoon. It's raining out and kind of windy, but the Noreaster that was supposed to dump huge amounts of snow on us didn't seem to be showing up and I might have prayed just a tiny bit for something to happen to cancel classes. About five minutes later my power went out. That'll teach me to try to get religious, it's back to snarling and clawing people in the face when they try to get me into churches from now on.
Several hours later, when I realize that all I have in the house that doesn't require cooking is wheat bread, peanut butter and canned peas, I head out into the tempest to forage for junk food sustenance. That's when I realize that in addition to living amongst lots of pretty but very breakable trees there are some drawbacks to living near a pretty but very floodable river, as all the streets surrounding me are closed. I head back home to my delicious lunch and dinner of peanut butter.
For the next couple of nights I slept wearing pyjamas under jeans and a sweater, a hoodie, my bathrobe, my winter coat, gloves and hat, two pairs of socks and sneakers, under two afgans, a comforter, four blankets and two slightly chubby cats. I discovered that water will remain slightly warm for a couple of days in a hot-water tank and a lukewarm shower actually feels pretty luxurious when you're naked in a 30something degree house, possibly because the hypothermia's started to set in just a bit.
They started letting us out yesterday, although having a barricade of camoflaged National Guard guys and their camoflaged Hummers seemed a tad excessive. I suppose if they hadn't been willing to let me out I could have pretended the camoflage actually worked. When I came home tonight and a light was on, I spontaneously composed a song consisting mainly of the lyrics "I has a heat" and there may have also been undignified dancing. It scared the cats.