Storm Alfred -- October 2011

Two weeks ago, on Saturday, October 29, 2011, Connecticut was ravaged by a freak snowstorm, Storm Alfred.  Forecasters had warned us that we could have 6-12 inches of wet snow to fall during a short time, and they cautioned us that because most of the leaves were still on the trees, we could expect significant tree damage and downed limbs, and consequently, loss of electricity, telephone, cable, etc.  I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical of this forecast, simply because nothing like this has ever happened before, but I'm here to tell you (and show you) that the weather guys were right, and we got absolutely slammed with the worst October snowstorm in history, and along with that the most widespread and long-lasting power outage in history.

Our town was 100% without power for days; our house lost electricity on Saturday night, and didn't have it completely restored until Sunday, Nov. 6.  Our children were out of school for seven days!  We had six nights in our house which were quite pioneer-like.  We used lanterns and battery-operated candles for light, we used our fireplace for heat, we snuggled in bed under countless layers of blankets and flannel, and for the first time ever, my husband slept in pajamas and kept his slippers bedside to avoid touching the freezing cold floors.  Our house temperature dropped to a brisk 50 degrees by about the second day without heat.  Let me tell you, that is COLD for a house.  The hot water heater didn't work, so the water was practically like ice as it came out of the spigot.  We could *almost* see our breath early in the morning.  The boys cuddled together in bed every night, and lingered under the warm covers in the morning, telling stories and making up games.  I pretty much gave up on cooking after the first couple of days, because even though we have a gas stove that I could use, the house got so dark by about 5:00 pm that I couldn't see what I was doing in the kitchen, I didn't want to have to boil water to wash dishes in darkness, and I didn't have a safe way to store any perishable items.  Thank goodness my hubby was willing to go out to dinner a few nights, as that was a saving grace for all of us.  Just to have a warm meal, in a friendly restaurant with others who were suffering the same plight, was really enjoyable.

I have to say, the power-outage was frustrating, but it gave us lots of opportunities to spend time together as a family.  I've spent a lot of time reflecting, trying to find the "bright side" of the situation, so here's my list of positives:

• we played games, built Legos, told stories, and read books together, for countless hours during that week.
• we relaxed all expectations, and changed our routine to wake and go to bed early, with the sun, essentially, and really caught up on our sleep.
• we didn't worry about being on time or in a hurry -- there were very few places to go, and no digital clocks reminding us of the passing hours, so we just enjoyed the days as much as possible.
• I had the opportunity to teach the boys a lot about how people lived in the "olden days".
• I got to take the kids to the laundromat -- a first for them, and a very lively place to visit during a huge state-wide crisis.  Everyone has dirty laundry, after all.
• we were able to visit daddy at work (because his office had power, along with hot showers in their gym facility, and hot coffee in the break room) and spend some extra time with him.
• I got re-acquainted with traffic laws, namely that a non-functioning stop light = 4 way STOP, not 4 way GO.  I had many opportunities to practice my defensive driving, a skill I hadn't really practiced since my Driving Dynamics training course at J&J when I was a rep so many years ago.  To say that there were a lot of branches on the roads would be a gross understatement, so just trust me when I say that the roads looked like a bomb had been set about every 50 feet.
• I got to clean out the fridge, and really scrub it -- even though it really was horrible to have to throw away so much food :(
• I got a break from cooking, and enjoyed a few yummy meals out with my family.  Thank goodness so many town centers had power so that we could have a hot dinner!
• I got to spend some time with friends, chatting over coffee, while I charged my phone using their generator; then I got to offer friends a hot shower once our power was restored.  
• We live in a new neighborhood, and I got to see the men all work together to cut up trees and clear debris.  The kinship of neighbors and friends was wonderful and heart-warming.  
• I had the opportunity to see how richly blessed we are, and see that much of what we have and enjoy are luxuries, and we survived just fine without them.
• my hubby finally had a reason to buy and use a chainsaw -- a long-time dream realized!!!!
• the kids had a chance to play in the woods and explore a lot, finding salamanders, pill bugs, and all sorts of creepy crawly critters.

Of course, there were some downsides to the storm, namely the inconvenience of losing power for such a long time.  We also had the sad outcome of having our guppies die -- we had a cute tank set up with 2 adults and 3 babies that were part of Peanut's school curriculum last year, so we were sad that they died.  I had a near catastrophe this week, which I'll blame on the power outage, but it could just have been my own fault:  During the storm, we had picked up some pizza, served it, and put the leftovers in the box in the oven (it was only 50 degrees in the house, so the oven was almost like a fridge).  I had cleaned out the fridge and left-over pizza one day during the power-outage, but neglected to see one of the boxes that was on the top shelf, near the heating element.  So, days go by, and I finally need to use the oven to bake cookies.  I turned it on to preheat, and soon noticed a burning smell.  I was using the stovetop at the time, so I thought something had just bubbled over and was burning a bit.  I turned off the stove, but the smell persisted.  Then I saw a light haze of smoke, and finally looked in the oven.  Sure enough, that pizza box was nearly on FIRE as you will see in the photo below.  Dang, that was a near disaster!  I flung the pizza box into the back yard and quickly turned on the vents, opened the windows, and tried to get rid of the smoke.  Remarkably, when I looked at the pizza that was now 12 days old and un-refrigerated, it was only minimally moldy.  I expected it to look much grosser, so I guess that was a relief that it wasn't rotten and on fire.

Overall, this was what I hope will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  The aftermath of a storm like this will have far-reaching effects, but for us, I hope it will serve as a reminder that in the grand scheme of things, the things that matter most aren't run by power cords or cable boxes, but relationships, family, and things of the heart.

This is the winter wonderland that we woke up to see on Sunday morning -- Beautiful, but so devastating!

Here's Peanut with our cute neighbor, enjoying the snow as it fell on Saturday afternoon.  This was about 2 hours after the snow started -- the flakes were huge and very sloppy.

This is the tree that fell across our driveway -- if you look in the upper right corner, you can see how the weight of the snow split the trunk all the way through.

The boys had lots of fun building a snow fort and throwing snowballs.

Here's Bugaboo, on the 2nd day without heat -- it was about 50 degrees in the house -- so he was wearing a little snuggie!

The snow cancelled school, so a perfect time to build lots of Legos!

Here we are at the Great Escape Lodge near Lake George, NY.  The water park was tons of fun and a great diversion from all the mess and mayhem back home.

The boys met Scrappy in the hotel lobby, and we all had fun singing Karaoke before dinner!

This is the fridge, full of food that had to be thrown away.  I know it's a weird thing to photograph, but I was just pained by having to toss so much good food.  Ugh!

This is the pizza box that I nearly caught on fire in the oven -- NOT one of my brightest moments.  Look at the charred area on the lower right side.

This is the pizza that was in the box, which sat in the oven for 12 DAYS!!!!!  Notice that it only has a little bit of mold on it -- makes you wonder about pizza toppings, now, doesn't it!?!?

Here's the clean-up, day one -- Daddy stacking wood, Peanut supervising,
and a Clone Trooper pitching in with a shovel.