Snowed Under

Day 116 (catch-up post): As many of you know already, we got a wee bit of snow during the night of February 5-6. It continued coming down heavily throughout the day, and finally at approximately 3:30 PM, the predictable happened. The power went out. I threw the breakers as insurance against surges, and sat back to wait. I am always reluctant to start the fireplace because our crews usually manage to restore order within an hour or two, but around 7, cold toes convinced me it was time. I had not yet lit it this season, so what ensued was a 20-minute battle. The tank quite a ways away, and the line needed to be charged. At long last, the pilot stayed lit and I set the flame on low, just enough to take the edge off if I sat close by, "aborigine fire" since it appeared I might be in for a long siege. I closed off the rest of the house and curled up on the couch to sleep. About 3 AM, the lights came on, flickered, went off, came on, went off, came on and seemed to be going to stay on. Power lasted only long enough for me to flip the breakers and get back to sleep, and then it went out again.

When there's no juice, I am not only without heat. I am without water because I'm on a well. That adds another level of inconvenience to what should be only a minor aggravation. Recently when we've lost power, phone service has also been disrupted. It wasn't always that way. As recently as two years ago, I could call in on my land line to report a power outage. Not now. A quick check showed that phone service, both land and cell, were also dead.

During the morning of the 6th, there were several more "on/off" incidents. The longest the power remained on was about half an hour, not enough to bring the house up to a comfortable temperature. During those intervals, phone service remained down. I cooked dinner on my camp stove and settled into what I call "Mowich Mode," hearking back to my days of winter duty at 5000' on Mount Rainier's northwest corner. I put on all my climbing woolies and stayed close to my little "aborigine fire." I had put by several gallons of water for tea, and pulled out my backpacker's espresso maker to have handy when my stash of brewed coffee ran dry. Toward evening, I built a nest in front of the fireplace, stacking fleece blankets on the floor to pad my old bones, my expedition sleeping bag on top, promptly claimed by Skunk. I didn't get to use it. About 7:30, the power came on and stayed on, but even as I write this (4 PM on the 7th), there is no phone service. Other than being colder than I like, this has been a rather pleasant escape from the political situation.