Warmth

There have only been a few times while living here that the power has gone out for very long when it’s really cold out. The last 24 hours was one of those times. After the power went out yesterday the temperature dropped and the wind remained strong, gradually sapping the house of heat. The darkness and lack of water we’re prepared for, but the fireplace is simply not a reliable heating backup, and the house was hovering around 45 degrees (about 7 degrees Celsius) for most of the day. Most of the island (much of the county really, and thousands of people across the state) was without power, and the reports were that getting it restored would be “a multi-day event.” Just when it looked like we were facing another cold night, and the landlord was coming over with a portable generator to run a couple of electric heaters to keep the pipes from freezing, power returned. We are lucky, many people in the area are still in the cold and dark.

The extra is of a library in the area that was open as a warming center. We spent a little time there in the afternoon charging up our phones and it was really nice. It’s just down the road, and I pass it every day, but I had never been inside before. Our town library is not only closer, but genuinely wonderful, so up to now there had never been much reason to visit. They had an extensive collection of old Hardy Boys books and I experienced a short bout of gleeful nostalgia. So that was something nice to come out of the experience, and I will certainly visit again sometime. No reason not to get a third library card I guess!

Also, just by “coincidence,” there was a break in the clouds just as the power came back on. Of course I took of photo of that, too. Now its dark, the wind is still banging things around on the porch, and my wife and son have gone off to her work place to check on the animals there and figure out some way to get them through the night.