Story of the Day 1/ 05/ 2014

I should have known better.
I wrote a story and complained about how cold our house was, when our furnace broke.
And then, really tempting fate, I thanked G-d (and also our furnace repair guy), because, on Friday, with the nasty winter storm blowing in, our house was warm just in time for the arctic blast.

Yes, I should never have tempted fate that way.
Because while our furnace had been repaired in time for what has now been called a Polar Vortex and the ensuing Snow-maggedon, our electric company's lines and substations and the like were not at all up to (pardon the pun) weathering the storm.

On Sunday, with our driveway, but not our street, well shoveled, it happened.
The lights went out,and then ...it was quiet.
No hum from the refrigerator, no background noise of the fan forcing the warm air through our home.

The lights had gone off and on a few time since Friday, but this time, they didn't come back on again.

It wasn't fair.
We had paid our taxes and shoveled our walk and driveway.
We were almost the only ones to do it, too.
Many years of living in snowier places than Indiana had taught me to start shoveling when the snow was an inch or two thick, and repeating this exercise at that interval until the snow stopped.
All day long I went out and shovelled.
And, when my son , Aaron was home, he helped me with it.

Sarah didn't join in. She was in bed with a low grade temperature, a headache and a queasy stomach.
We missed the man-power, but understood.
My husband, once he was home, also lent a hand.
As the day got later, and the snow kept falling, it got harder and harder to keep up. And it wasn't because we were fatigued, it was because the snow was falling faster and faster
We didn't give up, though, we kept at it.
We had started shoveling, and had kept our driveway and walkway shoveled, and now, our lights were off.
We shoveled one last time, in the dark- really dark, no street lights, no driveway or walkway light, before going to bed; and , silently ( okay, not that silently) prayed that the wind wouldn't blow it all back onto the cleared driveway while we slept.

I fumbled in the kitchen for the matches, then lit a few candles. I sent my son off with one, and took a couple and set one on a bathroom counter, because bathrooms are important, even in blackouts. I took one to my daughter's room- cautioning her, as she lay in bed, about not letting anything with fabric get close to it.

Then I started searching for the flashlights I had bought- and I doled them, and some extra batteries , out to everyone.

At this point, were all hoping that the power will be out for just a little while, but that little while keeps getting longer and longer.

We open the grate and start a fire in the fireplace.
The fireplace is gas, and pretty, but most of the heat goes straight up the chimney. It is, however, better than nothing.
I fill a pot with water and set it to boil. This requires a bit of caution since the ceramic logs are uneven. That may be aesthetically pleasing, but, I am realizing, it is not practical. Once the water is hot, I take it and put it on the stove top- which is electric and useless, except, now, to hold a pot that can radiate some heat into the room. I put another pot on to boil and I keep doing this.

I get out the radio that my family always teases me about, not the emergency weather radio- I gave that away a couple of months ago to a friend who was worried about her parents, since they didn't have one.
No, I have another one- one that my family has teased me about for years. It sits on a window sill, its battery charging in the sunlight, waiting for when there is no power.
This evening, I take it off the window sill and try to find the weather report.
Station after station tells me about the football game or the upcoming football game, or the most recent football game.
Other stations keep telling me how Jesus did this and that and the other thing, but what I want to hear is what the weather is going to be doing.
The last time I had checked, we were in for a deep freeze, and I want a time frame- an up to date what to expect when.
It is a case of Heaven can wait- just give me the Dad-blasted weather report!

Before the internet, well, not before it, but before everyone used it on a daily basis to check things like the weather report, there used to be a phone number you could call and get the weather report.
In Indianapolis it was 635-5959.
I haven't called it in years, but one of the quaint things about my memory is that the only thing it does well is remember phone numbers.
Forever.

A few of my friends, knowing this, have used me , for years, as their reverse number look up.
" My caller ID says 455-6709, who is that?"
It is not much of a skill, but I suppose it is better than nothing, although, remembering the weather number is not better than nothing, because it was disconnected a few years ago.

In the end, we go to bed in a house that is growing colder, by the hour.
Even though the furnace has been repaired.