RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

NOAA has issued a winter weather advisory for this afternoon and tonight.  Huh?  5" of snow, maybe more.  This qualifies as advisory-worthy?  Methinks not.  There's about 3" of  fluffy stuff at home, I'm guessing there will be more when I get home and later.  well, heck, it IS December.  Sometimes the lake freezes by Christmas but I'm not sure that will happen this year.  Who knows

What have I been doing?
***Waiting to have my power turned back on.  Last Weds. morning power went out after a dramatic wind storm (it was a "pole issue").  As we all know, I can handle power outages.  When I got home, though it was dark, so very dark.  I keep flashlights in the same place always, have a propane lantern and stove, and know where my candles are.  But who hid the matches?  I knew they couldn't be far but it took a long time to find any incendiary device.  There was success, of course, but this did not set a good course for the next few days.

The house was pretty warm at first, and the electric company said the power would be on the next morning around 11.  I stayed home Thurs. because I'm paranoid about my water situation.  The sump pump wasn't running so the cellar was filling with water, endangering my most precious possession: my pump.  I watched as the level in the cellar got higher & higher.  Was a nervous wreck.  I waited for the Magic Hour, but it never came.  No power until Friday afternoon.  By then I was a mess--power company had promised 3 different times that the power would be on at a particular time.  Of course I thought of it as betrayal that they didn't keep their word.  Well, chump, it's hardly personal.  Anyway, I was a mess Friday morning, stayed home again (eating up precious time that I have little enough of).  Yahoo!  Another day off.  To spend stoking the fire & shining a flashlight into the cellar.

**That was interrupted, though, by a big red truck pulling up to the house.  A young man got out--he was wearing a wet t-shirt and had a blanket wrapped around his waist.  He needed help, big time help.  He and a friend had been in a canoe, trying to bring in their float.  Turned out the friend didn't know how to behave in a canoe, or (even worse) how to swim.  Friend went in the water, canoe sank, Jeb shed his clothes & jumped in to help friend.  Because Gary was wearing a jacket and steel-toed boots, he was really struggling.  OK, Jeb saves his life, but then asthmatic Gary says he can't walk, not even up the hill to the truck where he could get warm.  Poor Jeb!  He came to my house because he knew me (though he had to remind me of that).  The power was out, but I have a regular phone to plug in when the power's out.  I called 911--very dramatic, my first time ever.  They wanted lots of details ("One is on the ground and the other one is where?  In your house?  Is he all right?"  Yes, I'm staring at him).  Ultimately 2 ambulances, a fire truck and 2 vehicles driven by volunteers showed up.  I was convinced Gary would be dead, but he wasn't & the ambulance drove to him & tucked him right in.  End of story?  Of course not.  Jeb asked if I had any clothes that might fit him--his were still on the float, far from shore.  I had a pair of sweatpants that were too long for me, a t-shirt, but when he asked for shoes ("even flip-flops") I could only offer Crocs.  He took them, though.  We were partners in this crisis, and he is a very nice person.  I had given him 2 down blankets to take down the hill but the ambulance got to Gary first.  Firefighters went out in a 2nd boat, resurrected the canoe and got Jeb's clothes from the float.  They did  not, however, bring the float in.  Everyone has their limits. We had to wait at my house until Jeb's father came, giving us a chance to find out things about each other.  And we each had a beer.

Whew was that ever exciting. 

I'm in someone's good graces because the power came on, the sump pump kicked right in and the water pump was not underwater.  Phew--crisis averted.  I can be polite to customer service reps. for a long time, and I know these things aren't their faults, so, though I did mention that I'd been "promised" power several times, I still was dark.  So dark.  The people were very nice and I made them laugh, always my goal.

***Saturday I went to town (Pbg.) to shop, catch up on things, etc.  I had a great time, bought nice things for nice people and animals.  All I bought for me was groceries and a bottle of vodka.  The dogs had been eating dog biscuits and cat food for 3 days, so you'd think they'd be disappointed when faced with a bowl of Large Breed chunks.  Hah!  Food is food.

***I was reminded that reading by candlelight is NOT romantic (I already knew that), and that reading gets boring no matter what you try to read, when you've been reading for hours and hours and hours.  At one point I started to rearrange my living room furniture.  That seemed a little goofy, though, so I didn't.  There was NOTHING to do.  I cooked on my camp stove, kept warm by the stove, talked to the dogs a lot, and pondered the meaning of life.

Life has its moments, and things usually turn out well.  For me, at least.