This is an Emergency!

This is our neighbor's house

In the pictures you can see the tube that holds the power lines to our house is snapped in two. Our dogwood is hanging in there, canopying the front door. There is a picture of Savannah under the dogwood. One of the branches will have to come down so that it does not snap. The trees were covered in ice on Wednesday morning and after hearing limb after limb crash to the ground, we were very cautious outside.

If you have been watching the news, or if you live here, you will know that we are living in a state of emergency. However, being stuck in a house without power (for 36 hours) with a child and no way out is not an emergency for our local government. How did we get there? This is the story of our latest saga.

Thurs. Jan. 22, 2009 - a routine stop at Walmart after work (to get supplies to make cupcakes for Savannah's school talent show) did not end well. Upon my return to the van, it would not start. Two hours later I was seated in a tow truck on my way to the dealership with the knowledge that my starter was "shot."

Fri. Jan. 23, 2009 - no part - expecting to fix the van on Monday or Tuesday

Mon. Jan. 26, 2009 - still no part (This is very bad news as you will see.) --Andy gets called into the hub where he works through the night arriving at home around 3:15 a.m.

Tues. Jan. 27, 2009 The part arrives, and the van is fixed, but school is closed (see our previous post), more bad weather heads our way. The roads are a mess, and there is no way to get to the van.

Andy once again goes to the hub - catching a ride with a co-worker because he cannot get our car out of our neighborhood (it doesn't sit far enough off the ground to manuver through the mess on our roads).

I catch a little of the news before going to bed. A nearby town is without power because of ice, and it is headed our way. NICE -- We are warned to turn up our heat and go to bed. Now, controlling our electric bill is just about impossible, so we have kept our heat at 65 degrees or lower for the entire winter. I take the advice of our local anchor and crank our heat up to 75 degrees and go to bed. At some point Savannah comes to my room and informs me that our power is out. Julia soon joins her, and at about 3:15 Andy arrives at home. We spend the rest of the night listening to the booming sound of limbs crashing all around us. We have no idea what we will awake to on Wednesday.

Wed. Jan. 28, 2009 no power and we are trapped. Andy spends the day chopping wood and trying to get our cars out in hopes that we can get to the van. We try to leave but cannot get down our street. We are thinking that the worst case scenario is that we will get power back at around midnight. WRONG - My mom calls late in the afternoon to say that the news is reporting that power to our city will not be restored for 7-10 days. YIKES! It is getting cold. We try to plan an escape, but it is approaching dark, and we do not have any way to get out without walking to a main road. sooo, along comes a hero, but there is some confusion in the plan ---He thought he was coming to get our car out, but we can't all leave. We have two terrariums that have to be kept warm and a dog. He came with buddies and only had room to take three people with him to deliver them to the warmth of Grandpa's and Grandma's house. We chose Zachary, Savannah, and Wyatt. We kept Julia with us because the whole emergency thing was really scaring her, and she wanted to be with me. Zachary is not so chivalrous. He was anxious to get out and took the "every man for himself" attitude. Wyatt was simply driving us crazy as he was bouncing off the walls and whining about not having power. So, the choice was made. Andy, Julia, and I set ourselves on the couch and loveseat in front of the fire with numerous blankets. We made it through the night and awoke to the hopeful sound of someone banging on something metal. No, our power was not restored.

Thurs. Jan. 29, 2009 We called our local government to see if our street would be cleared since we were without power and could not get out. That is not an emergency we were told. Okay.

Andy found a friend who could get him to the dealership where he retrieved the van and returned to rescue the rest of us (including the dog and two terrariums - we left the cat in our basement). We are all at my parents' house in the heat and are anxious to clean up and get a good night's rest.