Beginning Day 4....

Chester County, PA experienced a devastating ice storm the morning of February 5, 2014.  I woke up to the sound of rain turning to ice pelting my windows in the wee hours.  I had turned on my TV and Roku box, which has become my habit to go back to sleep.  I have my TVs and electronics connected to line conditioners that help regulate the power going to these sensitive devices to extend the life of the devices while protecting them from surges.  I began to hear the line conditioner on the bedroom TV begin to click, which means it was trying to even out fluctuating power.  Then they went out, came back on for a few moments and then poof.... gone.  This was around 6:30 AM.

Today is February 8, 2014 and I have awakened to no power for yet another day.  Marji and Danny have been my foul weather angels.  I could not get my little generator to run and they came up from Elkton, MD., arriving at my place around 10:30 PM with a larger generator, gasoline and extension cords and by the time they left after mignight, I had the ability to have some lights, run my TV center in the living room as well as my desktop computer in the living room.  I could keep my cell phone charged and fire up it's hot spot so I could get on the Internet and not be bored to tears as well as communicate with family and friends.

Now, when they were here then, Danny suggested that we connect the fridge.  I told him no as I really believed that the power would not be out too long... it never had in the past.  Well, from now on whenever Danny suggests that I do something, I will just do it.  They were up, again, last night so we could pull the fridge out, plug a heavy duty extension cord to the wall, bring the fridge cord to the front so it could be plugged into the generator.  When the power comes back on, then I can plug it into the extension cord.  This will allow me to move it back to a generator without having to move the fridge

Last night I ordered a beautiful, new generator from Amazon.  It will be delivered next Wednesday.  It has more capacity than the big one the Marji and Danny have let me borrow.  It has electric start so that I will not dislocate my shoulder trying to start it.  It should run for close to 12 hours on 6 gallons of gas, it should be quieter and it has the ability to adjust the motor speed based on the load.  I am quite sure that there will be periodic power losses for the next few months.  There is so much damage in the area that weakened trees will be falling for weeks and months to come.  I want to be ready.  I am hoping that I will be able to get my electric set up at my breaker box so I can just run a plug into a port on the porch that might even be able to run my well pump and other sections of my house.  Since I plan to stay in this house for the near future and am getting older, I want to be able to be safe and warm and enjoy the creature comforts I have become accustomed to.

In the meantime, I have my propane heater keeping the upper floor comfortable.  I am bundled up in layers of clothing and curl up under afghans and blankets while I watch DVDs.  I will be without cable TV, phone (if you need me call my cell phone, please) and internet for many days after the power is back on.  I have lines laying across my driveway and who knows how long it will take Verizon to get out after the power crews do their thing.  The good thing is that I can now open my fridge ti get at food that I can eat.  I had not opened it much to keep the cold inside.  My task today, besides keeping the generator fueled, is to bring snow in the house, melt it in a pot so I can do dishes and maybe even a little body washing while I wait for running water and the water heater to functional again!

I was astounded yesterday when I went to Physical Therapy for the first time in a week.  I knew I had a branch or two down, but I drove past places where trees were uprooted, where multiple limbs had been sheered off, bringing down wires AND poles.  There was no power at the stop lights in Parkesburg nor did the gas stations have any power.  There were large sections of trees that were still coated in ice.  Living in lovely houses in a wooded setting had to have been absolutely frightening as the residents listened to large tree limbs fall all over the yard.  I have never seen such damage.  It was seeing all of this that made me realize, I might be living this way for several more days.