Dependent on the Grid

Yesterday morning I awoke to a gorgeous snowfall -- it was one of those Currier & Ives paintings kind of one. My camera was at Carrie's house so unfortunately you'll just have to believe me. Gregg was eager to try out his new snowblower so he bundled up and himself aligned with the other snowblowing men. The snow was so deep that his cute John Deere had a real hard time chugging through it. Within minutes of him leaving the garage the electricity went out. I crawled back into bed and thought I'd tackle some of my homework that could be handwritten; I was just a little concerned that I hadn't finished my paper that's due on this evening but felt that the power would come back in time.

Gregg finished the snow blowing took a shower and decided to take a nap thinking that the power would be back on soon. I tried to think of everything I could do 'unplugged' . . . addressed my Christmas cards (no letter yet), folded my FOPPI newsletters (no labels yet), and wrapped the Christmas gifts. That filled a couple of hours and still no electricity. Now I was starting to get concerned. I knew I should have backed my report to my flash drive!!!

Gregg always says to have a backup plan . . . I could haul my desktop over to Carrie's (which is 10 minutes away WITH power) and at least get it on my flash drive so I could use the laptop's two hours of power. So I disconnected everything bundled up and got ready to go and as we were pulling out of the driveway the porch light went on. Hooray!! We have power!!

I gathered all the missing connections and plugged them in but the keyboard's end wouldn't stay in place. Geez, I must have twisted it when I disconnected it. I tried every which way to get that thing to stay put and connect with no luck. After a frustrated half an hour Gregg decided that we should go out and get another one so I could get my report done.

We bundled back up again and grabbed the faulty keyboard and when we pulled out of the driveway we saw a flash and all the lights on our block went out! We decided to continue our quest for a keyboard once we were sure that Don would be OK (he insisted that he didn't want to go to anyone else's house, that he'd be fine). Evidentally my three-year-old keyboard is obsolete but they had these wonderful wireless ones on sale which came with a wireless mouse (bonus)! Got that all taken care of an hurried home hoping the electricity was back on.

No power. We grabbed all the blankets in and snuggled in . . . at 6:00 pm!! I tried to pretend I was camping and tried reading by the flashlight but it just didn't cut it. I feel asleep too.

I awoke to hearing the furnace kick in -- hooray!! I connected my new wireless devices and am feeling much more connected. Just gotta get that paper done!!

Yes, I did back it up to my flash drive!