Power On!

I have power and, best of all HEAT again! Last night just after I blew out the candles and lay down, under 1,003 quilts, to sleep, wearing a sweater, one of TAB’s old fleece hoodies, two pair of socks, fleece-lined sweats and a winter hat, my bedside lamp blinked on. My first thought was ‘the hell? Did a candle just flicker back on? NO, it was an electric LIGHT and this meant that heat, warmth wouldn’t be far behind.

I woke, all toasty warm, at midnight, stripped off all my winter garb plus 1/2 the blankets and re-entered SleepyByeville. Coco, my little heat source, reverted to pre-MOTHERFUCKER-it’s-cold-in-here behavior, and slept on my hip for only a part of the night, spending the bulk of it in her usual window aerie.

We had just three days of no power/no heat and only two of Island With No Escapeness. Honestly, no big. Right? Had I known the scope and limited duration of this little weather event in advance, I would’ve either prepped better (picking up fleece leggings, a no-need-for-electricity french coffee press, some truly mindless and cheesetastic mystery novels, MORE cat fud and camping lanterns) OR packed up the kitten and gone to a hotel. Prolly the latter.

There will be a next time, especially with Republican willful pigheaded, subservience to planet raper industries.

A) We gotta vote these Earth assassin enablers OUT 

B) Earth repair has GOT to start SOON. WE have to change! It’s too late for a complete turn around but maybe we can, at minimum, mitigate some of these insane storms.

I now know, for next time, a shelter is set up at the elementary school.

I can get one of those cool camp lanterns like Jen lent me.

I can invest in a generator and maybe even a wood stove, before the next winter heat plotz.

The official responders came in a LOT quicker than they did to Puerto Rico. This was surprising given that Massachusetts is solidly blue – ant-Trump. And yet, we have a lame-o, corporate shill Republican governor (hint, he appointed an NRA bastard to be Commissioner of the Department of Fish & Game. Charlie Baker may be unlike the worst of his insane party but, make no mistake, he’s no environmentalist).

I was honestly afraid that we were in for weeks of bleak, no power/no heat days and nights. That fear really did a number on my general joie de vivre and sense of adventure. Granted, I DID go out on Day 2 – I braved the deeply rutted, mud-soupy dike path along with my heartier fellow Neckas. But my overall mood was one of bleakly tense, sad GOTTA-get-through-this endurance. I need to find a better way to get through these crazy times. I need to plunge in/embrace the experience of it all. I need to be able chill my bean way the fuck down. Being all tense and nervous is not a coping mechanism and does NOT make the time speed by.

Yesterday, on Day 4 of The Future is NOW, Sea Street had been cleared of flood waters and I was able to drive off the Neck. I did – first Starbucks for COFFEE and recharging my phone, then my boss’s for work (she didn’t lose power) and, later, to Froggies for lunch and warming up. I came home and got all my tax prep done and cleaned house. Amazing how much I can get done without the Internet and TV to distract me.

N.b.: wearing a warm woolen cap whilst inside my frozen abode helped. Also – two pair of socks are way better than one.

AND this morning, here in still recovering Valhalla – it’s snowing! If we didn't have heat, that'd just be a bridge too damn far. I know Mother Nature's pissed (and I don't blame her one bit) but, but, but....!!!

There are people who've yet to regain power. Duxbury's not due for lights and heat before Wednesday! I know someone whose roof blew off her house (incredibly, already repaired). There's a lot of folks with flooded basements (not us though).

We were lucky.