LIFE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY - Chapter 1

It all started Monday afternoon with sleet and freezing rain. We had close to 3 inches of rain and it was icing the trees all around us. As we went to bed Monday night, we knew that there would be a chance of our electricity going off but little did we know that we would still be without electricity at the end of the week but make no mistake - WE STILL DO NOT HAVE ELECTRICITY - and all our neighbors do. Two of our neighbors have kindly shared an extension cord so that we can use one lamp, the fan on our insert in the fireplace, one small TV, one computer, and Dad's lift chair. A few things help our attitude I must admit. Now we have the snow coming down(already 3 inches) so we are not expecting to have our electricity by the weekend. Continue to pray for us as we care for our parents during these days as well.

We had stocked up with oil lamps and oil at the time of Y2K and just recently wondered if we should get rid of all the excess oil. Sooo glad we didn't because we have used a lot of it this week. Right now Rog is busy filling all the lamps for the evening and through the night. We have closed the door to where the folks stay in our house because we cannot keep it warm(48 degrees today). When their restroom is used, it reminds all of us of the old "outhouse".

Monday at midnight is when our power went off but everyone finished the night out in their own beds(Mom & Dad, 4 grandchildren and us). We are so thankful for our fireplace because without it, we would have been in a world of trouble. Tuesday we began cooking with our camping stove in the garage and tried to keep the refrigerator closed as much as possible as well as the many doors we have to our house. The grandkids did better than I thought at keeping them closed. That night we had all the same people plus Liz spending the night with us. We have enjoyed reading by flashlights and just sitting around and gabbing and so far we are able to keep our living room around 71 degrees. On Wednesday we cleaned out our refrigerator and put what little we could save in the garage and cold boxes. By
Thursday, we had hauled all the broken branches out of our yard and then had to unload our freezers and take them to other people so that we would not lose everything. The camping stove has now moved into our kitchen and we are doing dishes by hand. I'm also thankful that we still have water and hot water because we have a gas hot water heater. Some of our people in our church come from rural areas and do not have water.

Rog is cleaning out our eaves trough from the leaves and ice that have clogged them up.

Below are pictures of all the trees and ice on them - just yesterday most of it melted off of them.

This is our new refrigerator - not nearly big enough!

On Wednesday as the sun came out, the tree below looked like it was made of glass as it glistened in the sun. It is in our neighbors front yard(Taylors).

Mom is reading in the dark with only a flashlight - sometimes she would lay it on her shoulder so she could work her puzzles.

Sitting by the fireplace enjoying being together

Just yesterday our neighbor east of us offered us an extension cord coming from their house and we were able to have one lamp and the fan on our insert to our fireplace. What a blessing.

Some had already been picked up but our front lawn was a mess with branches.

The lawn is clean again and is now covered with snow.

Rog loaded all the broken branches onto the pickup and took them to the dump.

Rog is getting ready to clear the snow but it is still coming down heavy.

The snow is coming down and while I am writing this we have already gotten 3 inches.