In the Icebox
Dec. 6th, 2006 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowWhoo. That is not an experience I want to repeat anytime soon. My house was without power from about 10:30 PM on Thursday the 30th until about 9:20 PM on Tuesday the 5th - just about an hour shy of five full days. However, the world - or my small corner of it - has been returned to what it ought to be, and - under the cut, for whoever's interested - I'm prepared to recount a few aspects of the experience.
Bradford pear trees are a popular ornamental in my neighborhood; I have three of them myself. Perhaps I should say "had"; one of my three was split in two by the ice storm. It was not the only one; Friday morning I saw at least half a dozen others that had been damaged or shattered by the storm. Bradford pears are apparently especially vulnerable to ice storms. (Local nurseries quit selling them a few years ago, for this very reason.) There were plenty of other trees, though, that suffered similar fates, and they were a contributing factor to the long blackout - some fell on power lines the night of the storm, and others, when the thaw came, rebounded and smacked the lines a second time.
That Friday, I went over to Target to get a new mouse. (I was as yet unaware of the extent of the damage.) Only about a third of their overhead lights were lit, and they were only accepting cash until shortly before I arrived, when their computer links came back on line. I picked up some dog food and glucosamine for Murphy as well. Of the other stores along the route, most were closed, though Shop'n'Save had full power. (I stopped there en route; they have a little coffee shop just inside the entrance. The line was rather long, and there was only one harried worker behind the counter.)
Murphy was apparently excited by the weather. He ran outside. I let him back in through the back door; he promptly ran out again. In again; out again; in again. I was worried by the combination of his hip trouble, the cold, and the heavy snow and ice, but he had no great difficulty. (That night, and each night after, I closed the door to the mud room, cutting the dogs off from the doggie doors while I was asleep. Murphy did wake me up around midnight that first night, insisting on going out; there was nothing for it but to put on a coat and shoes and go out with him. I took the flashlight, but didn't need it - the full moon surprised me with its brightness.)
Ben was unfazed by the cold, but several times I found Murphy shivering. (I dealt with that the only way I could think to, which was by feeding him. He wouldn't allow me to wrap him in a blanket.) It surprised me a bit that Ben seemed not to be bothered; admittedly, he has a heavier coat than Murphy, but his surface area to volume ratio is quite a bit higher.
I was able, via the fireplace, to keep the temperature inside the house around 50F most of the time during the day. Of course, I couldn't leave it burning overnight. Saturday/Sunday night was especially brutal; the outside temperature fell to 11F, and the temperature inside dropped to about 43F. (I had brought the thermometer in from the porch, so I could monitor internal conditions.) Most days, I went to bed around 6PM, and got up around 4AM to light the fire.
When Monday rolled around and I still had no power, I was faced with a dilemma, caught between professional and personal responsibilities. To follow my usual schedule for that day - leave home around noon and return around 9PM - would have left the dogs alone in a slowly cooling house for too many hours. Fortunately, I was able to find someone to cover my evening class for me, and got back home around 4:00.
Tuesday was warmer, and I was able to stay home until about 4:00, leaving the house at about 55F for a five-hour absence - I felt more comfortable with that. And, of course, power returned shortly after I got home Tuesday night.
I learned various things during the blackout:
In the aftermath, I see various things I will have to do. First, I need to replenish my badly-depleted stock of firewood. Second, I need to make sure the pantry contains, at all times, a sufficient quantity of food that isn't perishable and doesn't need either refrigeration or cooking. (Bread, crackers, cookies, energy bars, peanut butter...) Third, I should buy a mortar and pestle, and a headlamp, and more self-powered clocks. (I was down to one functioning clock after Friday morning; I kept moving it, into the bedroom at night and into the living room in the morning.) Fourth... I shall have to break down and get a cell phone. I've resisted doing so; nothing in my personal situation has ever seemed to demand it. But I was unable to contact my family and reassure them that I was OK for four days after the storm, and a cell phone would have shortened that interval considerably. I should also think about buying a generator...
Apart from the cold, the worst part of the blackout was boredom - no TV, no VCR or DVD player, no radio (get a battery-powered radio, you nit!), and above all no computer. Having to rely on the Post-Dispatch as my main - in fact, almost my sole - source of news was disconcerting (especially since that paper doesn't pay as much attention to some things - e.g., the Padres - as I would prefer). I did, however, get in a good bit of reading; I finished Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany, and read Caprice and Rondo and most of Mahfouz's Palace Walk.
Man, it's good to be back!
Bradford pear trees are a popular ornamental in my neighborhood; I have three of them myself. Perhaps I should say "had"; one of my three was split in two by the ice storm. It was not the only one; Friday morning I saw at least half a dozen others that had been damaged or shattered by the storm. Bradford pears are apparently especially vulnerable to ice storms. (Local nurseries quit selling them a few years ago, for this very reason.) There were plenty of other trees, though, that suffered similar fates, and they were a contributing factor to the long blackout - some fell on power lines the night of the storm, and others, when the thaw came, rebounded and smacked the lines a second time.
That Friday, I went over to Target to get a new mouse. (I was as yet unaware of the extent of the damage.) Only about a third of their overhead lights were lit, and they were only accepting cash until shortly before I arrived, when their computer links came back on line. I picked up some dog food and glucosamine for Murphy as well. Of the other stores along the route, most were closed, though Shop'n'Save had full power. (I stopped there en route; they have a little coffee shop just inside the entrance. The line was rather long, and there was only one harried worker behind the counter.)
Murphy was apparently excited by the weather. He ran outside. I let him back in through the back door; he promptly ran out again. In again; out again; in again. I was worried by the combination of his hip trouble, the cold, and the heavy snow and ice, but he had no great difficulty. (That night, and each night after, I closed the door to the mud room, cutting the dogs off from the doggie doors while I was asleep. Murphy did wake me up around midnight that first night, insisting on going out; there was nothing for it but to put on a coat and shoes and go out with him. I took the flashlight, but didn't need it - the full moon surprised me with its brightness.)
Ben was unfazed by the cold, but several times I found Murphy shivering. (I dealt with that the only way I could think to, which was by feeding him. He wouldn't allow me to wrap him in a blanket.) It surprised me a bit that Ben seemed not to be bothered; admittedly, he has a heavier coat than Murphy, but his surface area to volume ratio is quite a bit higher.
I was able, via the fireplace, to keep the temperature inside the house around 50F most of the time during the day. Of course, I couldn't leave it burning overnight. Saturday/Sunday night was especially brutal; the outside temperature fell to 11F, and the temperature inside dropped to about 43F. (I had brought the thermometer in from the porch, so I could monitor internal conditions.) Most days, I went to bed around 6PM, and got up around 4AM to light the fire.
When Monday rolled around and I still had no power, I was faced with a dilemma, caught between professional and personal responsibilities. To follow my usual schedule for that day - leave home around noon and return around 9PM - would have left the dogs alone in a slowly cooling house for too many hours. Fortunately, I was able to find someone to cover my evening class for me, and got back home around 4:00.
Tuesday was warmer, and I was able to stay home until about 4:00, leaving the house at about 55F for a five-hour absence - I felt more comfortable with that. And, of course, power returned shortly after I got home Tuesday night.
I learned various things during the blackout:
- How to manage a fire, when it has to be put out at a specified time and you want there to be as little as possible to actually extinguish.
- How to boil water the old fashioned way, putting the kettle on the fire (and then make instant cocoa, the old-fashioned way!). I couldn't make coffee, having no way to grind the beans, but tea and cocoa proved possible.
- How to read by flashlight while sitting on the hearth, with anywhere from zero to two dogs begging for attention. (It's not possible with two, actually, but adroit balancing of the flashlight on the thigh makes the simultaneous petting of one dog feasible.)
In the aftermath, I see various things I will have to do. First, I need to replenish my badly-depleted stock of firewood. Second, I need to make sure the pantry contains, at all times, a sufficient quantity of food that isn't perishable and doesn't need either refrigeration or cooking. (Bread, crackers, cookies, energy bars, peanut butter...) Third, I should buy a mortar and pestle, and a headlamp, and more self-powered clocks. (I was down to one functioning clock after Friday morning; I kept moving it, into the bedroom at night and into the living room in the morning.) Fourth... I shall have to break down and get a cell phone. I've resisted doing so; nothing in my personal situation has ever seemed to demand it. But I was unable to contact my family and reassure them that I was OK for four days after the storm, and a cell phone would have shortened that interval considerably. I should also think about buying a generator...
Apart from the cold, the worst part of the blackout was boredom - no TV, no VCR or DVD player, no radio (get a battery-powered radio, you nit!), and above all no computer. Having to rely on the Post-Dispatch as my main - in fact, almost my sole - source of news was disconcerting (especially since that paper doesn't pay as much attention to some things - e.g., the Padres - as I would prefer). I did, however, get in a good bit of reading; I finished Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany, and read Caprice and Rondo and most of Mahfouz's Palace Walk.
Man, it's good to be back!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 06:20 pm (UTC)Would it have been dangerous to leave the fire on during the night, if you had moved a mattress and blankets to the hearth, asks the girl who lives in the Land of The Never Snow?
Having a pantry full of good, nonperishable food is always a plus. Because my parents were of the Prepare For The Russian Nuclear Attack syndrome while I was growing up, we had a storeroom that was filled with such and water, etc. I find as an adult that I am most comfortable when I know that I have those things. Just in case.
Sorry about your tree, chum.
P.S. I bought some braeburn apples yesterday. Thanks for the recce: it *was* delicious.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 07:21 pm (UTC)The broken half is blocking the sidewalk, but a) it's frozen to the ground and b) it's very very heavy. There's nothing I can do about it for the time being. (I'm hoping the city will take it away...)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 10:42 pm (UTC)Stay warm!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 11:13 pm (UTC)I can't even picture just how *stuck* that must be! You should get a picture of it before the ice melts.
May you not lose power again this season!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 12:31 am (UTC)(Some phone lines were down, but far from all. For that matter, some of the cell phone towers were knocked out for a day or two.)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 11:18 pm (UTC)I don't know why I had thought you lived in Texas. But you are really in St. Louis, yes? Or am I still wrong?
At least you got through without harm to the pups or yourself!
no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 11:36 pm (UTC):sudden thought: Did Lois mention that book as being part of her research for HH? :/thought:
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 12:04 am (UTC)That was one of the amusing bits of 9/11 - one of the main switches for all NYC phone connectivity was in the basement of the WTC. It lost power when the towers fell, but not connectivity - it sent out to Central Control 'hey, I don't have any external power any more!' and continued to function on its batteries for 18-36 hours - long enough for the local Bell to get all the routings around it in place and functioning before it finally ran out of power.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-08 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-13 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-13 04:31 pm (UTC)Not quite; it's in Collinsville, which is about five miles south of here. (But certainly much closer than anywhere in Colorado or Georgia!)