I woke up to no electricity this morning. I did, however, have battery power in two of my laptops and my cell phone. Connectivity is great for letting everyone you love know that you'll freeze to death because you're totally unprepared for natural emergencies. I mean, really. I had no way to make coffee. Any other day, I'd have grabbed my laptop and headed to Panera for a latte and free WiFi. But, the snowplows had blocked my driveway with about two-three feet of snow.
I did have charcoal and might have cranked up the charcoal grill, but to be honest, I have not been successful (or hungry enough) to master lighting charcoal in a way that it keeps a flame and gets hot enough to heat up anything, let alone boil water. Note to self: Buy one of those propane grills. I know how to buy full propane tanks and how to push those little red 'ignite' buttons.
By 11:00 the power was back on. I managed to make a pot of coffee before it went off again and I called my father to let him know that Cricket, Devon and I would not be taking refuge at his house after all. I am sure I imagined this, but he sounded relieved as he said, "Really? Okay, gotta go. I'm going out." Click.
Last snow storm, two nice teenage boys came by and offered to shovel me out for $15.00. I gave them $30.00, some brownies and hot chocolate. I hope I'll see them again soon.
The snow has stopped, but now there's wind. I'll dig out tomorrow. Or not. Depends on what's on pay-per-view and Facebook.
