Our latest adventure here in the little house in the little woods we are attributing to Mother Nature. The weather forecast for last night included high winds and snow so when both started shortly after sunset it wasn't a surprise...but the strength of the wind was! Sitting at my computer and later comfortably wrapped up in a blanket with a book in my favorite chair, the wind sounded like it was going to lift this little house and carry it away...or knock over on to our roof those big oak trees next to it that have been getting bigger every year since we moved here in 1962.
Around 10pm the next act of the evening performance began. The lights would flicker a few times and then go out, only to come back on in about 15 minutes. This procedure repeated itself for about an hour and a half until 11:30pm when the lights went out and did not come back on until 1:15 this afternoon.
We woke up to a cold, dark house: no lights, no heat, and no water (remember, we live in the country). Neither of us had slept much and were not in very good moods. We couldn't call Wally (next door) ...or anybody...because our phone was out so after driving down to Wally's house and not seeing his car, we decided to go to town and see if we could find a pay phone so we could report the power outage and get some coffee. But first, Jeff decided to check out the next house down the road since he had noticed flashing lights and large truck traffic during the night. We couldn't even get close because the road was blocked, and a National Grid truck was parked beside a fallen tree that was resting on the electrical wires that ran along the road. Well, we found out where the problem was!
Jeff turned the car around and we went to town, couldn't find a payphone but got coffee and went home. A few minutes later Wally was knocking at the door. He had his cellphone with him, but his SUV was in the garage, and he couldn't get the door open...and he was cold! Jeff got a fire going in the woodstove in the TV room while we exchanged details with Wally on what we had learned about the outage. The guys busily anticipated how long the outage would/could last and Jeff offered Wally the couch next to the woodstove if it continued overnight. (Wally accepted!)
After everyone had warmed up, Jeff and Wally went back to the next-neighbors-up-the-road and found the road open! The National Grid workmen were busy installing a new pole and said the lines would be working in 3-4 hours. Then they went to Wally's to work on the garage door. They got it open, the SUV out and the door closed again, and Wally headed to his favorite place for a late breakfast and Jeff came home.
Jeff went back to tending the fire in the woodstove and the house was finally starting to warm up when he noticed smoke coming out of the ash drawer on the bottom of the stove. Since neither of us thought it was a good idea to open the drawer just then, he didn't add anymore wood to the fire and kept raking the ashes and coals apart. Slowly the fire died down, but he still hasn't opened the ash drawer. We've come up with a couple of things that could be happening (the fan on the back of the stove caught fire because it wasn't working due to the outage, the paint in the drawer could have flaked off and caught fire, a mouse might have made a nest in the drawer and the nest is burning, mice could have gotten into the drawer and died, and we just witnessed their cremation) but Jeff wants to wait until the fire in the box is totally out and the stove cools down before opening the ash drawer. I think we both imagined him opening the smoking ash drawer and having it burst into flames!!!
The house smells awful right now, but it is warm, and we do have lights and water. The first thing I did when I heard the microwave chirp and the furnace come on was ask if Jeff wanted some coffee. He hadn't heard (or paid attention to) either 'on' signal and was surprised! Ah, living in the country! Never a dull moment!!
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