MutteringfoolDotCom: Ernesto

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by Suzy Smith since 2000.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Ernesto

Last Friday we were hit by Ernesto. I'm not sure what it was classified as when it hit here but, it really doesn't matter. What matters was the 4 days without electricity. Yeah, we lost power Friday morning and didn't get it back until Monday.

Now, the first day, wasn't bad. It was windy (duh) so it was cool enough with the windows open. We were rushing around, as we had no water put up, since we weren't expecting the storm to hit until later in the day. And, we're on a well.

Which means, no electricity, no water. Okay, we made it through that. Friday night was nice, we sat around playing Uno (Harry Potter's version which has a couple of odd cards) and hoping for it to come back on.

Saturday, we still had a slight breeze, we got water (thank god for local government buildings) we cooked outside, and then got fried chicken from the nearest town for dinner. We read by oil lamps and candles. We survived.

Sunday, no breeze, at all. Hot, humid. We had been promised power the night before, and nothing. Two of us got a break as Kyrstin's seventh birthday party was being held at my parents. We got home and cooked dinner, outside, on the campstove.

On the ride home though, we got our hopes up. There were lights, lots of them, all down the highway that leads past the road we live on. We turned onto our road (which is a mile long, narrow road, very few houses, that dead ends at the river.)

Nothing. No lights and the sounds of generators from the houses that have them.

Dinner cooked, then we laid about, warm from the lack of breeze and humidity, not very happy at the lack of power.

I called the power company. They thought we had electricity. Well, it had flashed for a minute but, went right back out. They had to send the work order back out. There were only a few pockets of this county without power and we were one of them.

I could've cried when she told me 11PM Monday estimate on the work being finished. Two days in a row we were told 10PM, and nothing.

Monday dawned early and hot. This little concrete house holds heat in too well. We all were just defeated. Hot, tired, fed up with no power, worried about money (we lost food and had to spend a lot on things like batteries, water, ice, food to eat throughout.) Since finances are always scary tight, this really didn't help.

We got through the day, reading, laying about, getting ready to grill outside, when we saw power trucks on the road. So, we waited.

And behold we had power. Glorious electricity. We cooked inside, we ate by electric lights.

It was a rough weekend, it's going to be a long, awful month. But, we made it through, we're prepared if another storm hits. And, we're much better off than my hometown. Colonial Beach was just ravaged again, and they were just getting back on their feet from Hurricane Isabel.

I didn't go to see the damage while we were at Kyrstin's party as the last time I did that I ended up with a broken wrist. I saw pictures in the local paper, that was enough.

We just wait now to get past hurricane season, hopefully, with no more big storms. And contemplate moving away from the coast, if only for a minute.

posted by Suzy @ 5:59 PM

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