 |
| MAKING THE BEST OF OUR 42 HOUR POWER OUTAGE |
This is a rather long blog because it covers both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday, Dec. 24th. Awake at 6 a.m. I figured I might as well get up and fire up my snow shovel. It had stopped snowing but the high winds were blowing our pine trees around like a bunch of flapping noodles. Re-lit our lanterns, dressed up good and warm, then headed outside. I first shoveled a path to the motorhome which I then started up and with its running lights lighting up the driveway and front yard I commenced shoveling a path to our birdfeeders and was able to top up the feeders before the feathered gang flew in for breakfast. Shoveled a path to our road and widened the path to the motorhome. Kelly was up about an hour later so I started Scooter's generator while she readied our main coffee percolator. I carried the perk out to the rig and plugged it in. Ten minutes later we had had hot morning coffees.  |
| HEADING OUT TO THE MOTORHOME TO PLUG IN THE COFFEE POT |
 |
| HEADING BACK INTO THE HOUSE |
Finding the house holding steady at 55F we decided to spend our day in the sunroom rather than the motorhome. I felt it priority to conserve the rig's propane in case the power outage was going to be a long one. Besides, our little gas stove in the house was doing a great job. If we needed to cook anything or make coffee etc. we could slip out to the rig and fire up the generator. Sure glad now we didn't sell our little Class C Winnebago Itasca Spirit. |
| HERE'S KELLY IN THE SUNROOM TUNING IN HER EMERGENCY RADIO |
 |
| STAYING WARM CLOSE TO OUR MAIN HEAT SOURCE |
10 a.m. We have a battery-operated/hand crank emergency radio so we can listen to local news station weather reports and conditions. Snowplows had been pulled off the roads Thursday night so all area roads were plugged with snow and nothing was moving. No snowplows, power company trucks, ambulances, or firetrucks moving. Trains were stopped and airplanes grounded. We stuck close to our sunroom's gas stove and watched all the birds in our front yard.  |
| WITH KELLY JUST BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL A FEW DAYS AGO SHE HAD TROUBLE GETTING WARM SO WE FIRED UP OUR 'BUDDY HEATER' FOR HER AS WELL |
 |
| BLOWING SNOW SOMETIMES PLUGS UP THE BIRD FEEDERS SO THIS IS WHERE AND HOW I DRY THEM OUT |
12:15 p.m.Shortly after noon I headed out to the rig with my coffee pot and brewed up a cup of decaf, heated up a small container of soup for Kelly in the microwave, and plugged my Kindle charger in. Because we have a smaller propane tank on this rig I was hesitant to fire up the rig's furnace because we do not know how long this power outage is going to last. It could easily be another day or two because with today's high winds blowing all the loose snow around, Ontario Hydro may still not be able to get their trucks and crews on the road to repair all the damaged power lines. |
| WE SURE ARE GLAD WE DIDN'T SELL OUR MOTORHOME LAST FALL |
 |
| WARM INSIDE AND ICICLES OUTSIDE |
2 p.m. Being curious to know what was happening outside our Park I cranked up the Jeep and headed out the driveway and was pleased to see that Bayfield River Road running past our Park had been plowed. Our Park roads had not been plowed. Decided to head for Bayfield and see how it went. No problems as I found all roads were open. I also noticed the power was on in Bayfield. The Bayfield Garage was open as well as the Foodland Supermarket. Tim Hortons and the gas bar were closed. A few shops in Bayfield were open but most were closed. |
| A LOT OF SMALL BRANCHES AND PINE NEEDLES DOWN ON OUR STREET |
6 p.m. I took a drive around our Park and saw three large pine trees down. One completely blocked one of the Park's roads and another down across a driveway missing a parked car by mere inches. Some places were lit because the owners had generators. Using the rig's generator we charged up Kelly's phone and my Kindle. We spent Christmas Eve in our sunroom. The kitchen and living room temperature was 45F but in the sunroom we had it up to nearly 70F. The last thing I said to Kelly before she headed to bed was, "Merry Christmas Ma'. She answered me with two words, "Ahhhh Humbug':)) |
| MARILYN, KELLY REALLY ENJOYED YOUR BOOK AND SHE EXPLAINED THINGS TO ME AS SHE WENT ALONG |
Sunday, Dec. 25th. 7 a.m. Still dark out but I could see it was brightening in the east. Thankfully we didn't get any more snow during the night and the winds were much diminished from the previous couple of days. I slipped out to the motorhome and fired it up and followed that with topping up the bird feeders. By the looks of it, I am going to have to get a whole dumptruck load of birdseed brought in. Those feathery guys sure have monstrous appetites. My Kindle had been showing 'low battery' so with a 75-watt inverter plugged into the Winnebagos dash I began charging it. Kelly was up an hour later and the rig was all warmed up for her as we settled into our morning coffee routine.  |
| KELLY USES A FLASHLIGHT SUNDAY MORNING TO MEASURE OUT THE COFFEE |
 |
| THE FLASH ON THE CAMERA MAKES IT LOOK BRIGHTER THAN IT WAS |
 |
| CHARGING UP HER PHONE IN THE RIG, CHECKING MESSAGES, AND CALLING ONTARIO HYDRO |
It was bout 9:30 when we decided to fire up the Subaru and take a drive around our Park to see how folks were faring. We noticed at least half a dozen people had their vehicles running and were in the process of probably heading into Bayfield. I took pictures of the trees down in our Park and then we headed into Bayfield ourselves to have a look around.  |
| THE BAYFIELD RIVER HAS FROZEN OVER |
 |
| ICE BUILDING UP ALONG THE SHORELINE AT BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER |
 |
| KELLY POINTS OUT A FEW THINGS ON OUR SUBARU DRIVE THIS MORNING...I THINK SHE SAID 'THERE'S WALDO' |
Being Christmas morning everything was closed except the post office/convenience store and the Foodland Supermarket with a number of cars in the parking lot. At the convenience store, gas pump people were lined up filling gas cans for their at-home generators. Kelly called Ontario Hydro when we got home and their estimated time for repairs to our area was 5 p.m. later today. Where have we heard that before but we know the crews are out there in all this terribly cold and blowing weather doing the absolute best job they can. I figure there must be one whole heck of a lot of damage to power lines somewhere. |
| SUBIE'S ALL- WHEEL DRIVE DID GREAT IN THE SNOW THIS MORNING |
 |
| I THINK THESE FOLKS IN OUR PARK HAD THE CLOSEST CALL FOR HAVING THEIR CAR CRUSHED |
 |
| A NEAR MISS |
 |
| TALK ABOUT LUCK I DON'T THINK IT GETS MUCH LUCKIER THAN THIS |
 |
| GLAD TO SEE A SNOWPLOW DOING THE ROADS THIS MORNING |
 |
| CLOSE CALL FOR THIS HOUSE TOO....MAYBE A FEW DENTS AND SCRATCHES |
 |
| I DON'T THINK THESE PEOPLE WILL BE GOING ANYWHERE TOO SOON |
 |
| WITH THE SIZE OF THAT HOLE THIS PERSON MIGHT BE CONSIDERING A FRONT YARD FISH POND IN THE SPRING |
 |
| ANOTHER NEAR MISS |
 |
| THE HIGH WINDS HAVE MADE SOME OF THE TREES A HAZARD NOW |
 |
| ANOTHER TREE DOWN ON TAMARACK DRIVE |
 |
| ANOTHER CLOSE CALL AND I THINK IT LOOKS WORSE THAT IT IS |
 |
| THIS IS THE WINNER OF OUR PARK'S CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS THIS YEAR |
 |
| HERE i AM IN THE RIG WORKING ON THE BLOG IN WINDOWS NOTEPAD |
 |
| WHEN I CAME IN SHORTLY AFTER NOON FROM THE RIG KELLY SAID THIS WAS HER CHRISTMAS DINNER |
It's 11:50 a.m. as I type this in the warm and toasty motorhome. It's a good thing I topped up the rig's gas tank a few days ago. Kelly chose to stay in the sunroom beside our warm gas stove. Pheebs stayed with mom. We thought we saw police in the Park this morning but we're not sure. They may have been doing door-to-door wellness checks because this is a Senior's Park. From the motorhome I saw them walk past our house so I figure they must have looked in and decided we were well enough:)) I had come back into the house and we were both in the living room reading. Kelly got up to get something in her bedroom when I heard an odd sound beside me. The fan came on in our gas stove. Before I could figure it out I saw our antique lamp flicker and shouted to Kelly, 'The powers on:))))))))))) I immediately checked the clock and it was exactly 1 p.m. Anyone who has ever been without power will well know the feeling of jubilation when power is restored. Kelly said if she was ever reincarnated she would not like to come back before the invention of electricity.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning up and getting ourselves reorganized back to our normally comfortable routines. Music again, the Internet again, TV again, heat again, lights, water, and hot water again, landline phone again etc. and etc. I have more I could say but I'm just too darned tired to even think about saying more. Goodnight........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:))  |
| OUR FRONT YARD CHRISTMAS LIGHTS |
GROANER'S CORNER:(( My friend Jim told me that when he asked his wife where she wanted to go on vacation, she said that being married to him was a vacation. When I commented that was a nice thing to say to him, Jim replied, "Well, actually, what she said was I was the 'last resort."----------------------------------
People who work out too much are like monsters. Aka the Abdominal Show-man.
----------------------------------
