The way I see it is like this… if I hadn’t been checking the morning blog posts yesterday, I wouldn’t have read Norma and wouldn’t know that areas of VT were without power and phone service. I would have figured that my neighbor that I had been emailing for a weather check had been out of town ( well, he actually was.. but had gotten home Thursday morning) and that all was well and that the phone lines were their usual funky selves. BUT, that is NOT what happened. I read Norma’s post. I figured if she got 10" then I’d have a whole lot more. After calling everyone I could think of in an ever widening circle form my house, I finally got our mechanic on the line. 30" of wet HEAVY snow, he said.. his power and phone just back on in town, nothing outside of town until say… maybe this weekend. Worse he’s ever seen. Woods are a mess. Phone poles snapped like tooth picks. And I’m thinking, I’ve just spent the last 4 months filling my freezers, no power, better get to the generators as fast as we can. Next call I got through was to the family that plows us out, all 1/4 mile of it. Sorry she tells me. We couldn’t plow you, worse we’ve ever seen, you got at least 10 trees down across the road that we could see. Yep, I’m flipping. You get where this is going. My back is out, I’m no good for this job. Poor C had to head north. Damage report is still coming in. He counted at least 40 trees across the drive. He’s cutting and clearing, alone. The phone is still out. Last night the power returned, just in time for the thaw. I am so relieved. Before we put the electricity in, we never knew when it was out, no worries, no freezers, no color TV. This is the price we pay. We are dependent. I don’t have a great solution. I’ve tried the alternatives. They work, up to a point. But we are spoiled and we do NOT have good alternatives. Solar can only go so far in the Northeast. We simply do not have enough sun to run all the things we depend on. Freezers run on kerosene work, but one has to be very diligent, and then there is the kerosene. I’ve used propane refrigeration, for many years. My electric fridge is way better, and I don’t have to keep checking my carbon monoxide detectors that were hung around it. You see where this is headed. We are addicted to our power consumption. How much worse it must be for those people in the south, weeks and months without. The damage report.. we lost trees, many of our apple trees are uprooted, we’ll wait to see how the berry canes make out, they’re still under snow. We were lucky, and once again.. I love the power of blogland.
Comments
14 responses to “blog power”
Wow. I’m glad to hear you’re ok. Yikes!
So glad to know you are OK! I immediately thought of you when I heard about the snow. Not a flake down here in coastal CT, not that I’m complaining. Please keep us updated!
Wow. Now I feel like a wimp for complaining! But I’m glad I provided a public service. ;-D
Poor C. I hope he’s holding up. What a shame about all of it! And all that work you did with the freezing all summer! Argh.
Hope everything gets cleared out soon. It amazes me that people got hit that severely with an early storm and there was NO news online (that I saw) about it. Good luck with the cleanup.
Mother Nature has been devastating this year. She gets Person of the Year in my book. Glad everything worked out for you so far.
Oh my! That’s unbelievable for October! I just wish I could send my nephew up for you–he adores shoveling snow and would be happy to clear that entire 1/4 mile for you (grin). (Seriously–he shovels paths around the house, mazes through the yard, anything, just because he loves snow that much. He’d move to northern New England in a heartbeat if he could convince his Mom.)
Oh dear…….I hope you didn’t lose all of your frozen goods!
Poor C! Shoveling all that heavy snow is no.fun.at.all. Hoping things get back together for you quickly …..
Oh Judy – at least you’re all safe. I’m sorry to hear of the damage to your land. I hope you can assess before the next storm comes.
Good luck this winter! Seems to have come way too fast….
M says to me – a bad northeaster in New England must not have happened – nothing on the news
Me – are you kidding? And I quote Norma.
M – huh. I need to forget the news and read the blogs
I can’t wait til he’s home from work and I can tell him about your snow. Sheesh. News. What a joke.
Glad the power came out. Sorry about the trees. Spring will reveal many surprises, I am sure.
Yikes. Sorry to hear about all the downed trees and loss of power. It’s true, we are so incredibly addicted to electricity, and the alternatives aren’t as good as juice fresh from the grid. And K-1 and propane appliances are only good as long as there is fuel to go around. I know alot of people who live off the grid, and they make it work (except November is usually pretty tough. Except this year it’s October too) but it’s certainly not easy…I guess you learn how to do it.
I still don’t entirely understand where you live…do you stay in VT year-round?
I’m glad you didn’t try with your back doing what it’s doing.
Sounds like anything that you could institute is expensive…propane tank hooked up to generator with automatic switching, powering only the necessary circuits…$$$. Part time propane would decrease the amount of CO risk time-wise.
Oh goodness! I think I’m glad I missed that particular storm!!
30″ of wet snow! Ohmigosh, and I was going to complain about driving in snowy showers Saturday night on my way to a Halloween costume party…Awful news, I hope things smooth out.