Surviving power outage
Yes, we can laugh and joke about it now. We can talk in past tense. Heck, we can even write a silly blog post about it because guess what? We survived power outage with a 9 month old baby in freezing temps! So here’s what happened.
On Saturday evening, we got hit by our first snow storm this season – yup in October! We were on our way to a friend’s house for Diwali celebrations and that’s when it started… The car started sliping and sliding because nobody was prepared for the intensity of the storm. We turned around, only to find no power at our house. No worries, it’ll come back. It always does. And it did — in one hour. Not bad. We went to bed. Woke up next morning to a chilly house. Yup – you guessed it. No power. In the meantime, all night long we kept hearing thuds of trees falling. The branch which fell on our roof was the most scary.
On Sunday morning as Gagan stepped out he noticed a big branch of pine tree blocking our driveway. No power so no snow blower either. While Gagan started shoveling the driveway, I shovelled the deck (6+ inches of snow!) to dig out the gas grill to heat up some water. “This is not so bad” I said and started prepping for a gourmet breakfast. I can be a little crazy sometimes.
Outside, it was like a war zone. We have over 6 trees damaged and our yard is covered with them. Thankfully no roof damage.
As we drove around, looking for firelogs, we saw a live wire sizzling in the street! That’s what caused our power outage. Thankfuly we still had running hot water (gas powered) so we were able to take showers. Sunday night, Dia and I went to sleep at Emily’s while Gagan tried to keep the falling temps in control with a fire going.
10 pm I find out that there are problems on the site and immediately started debugging. By late that night we had things under control but what a night!
Monday morning looked better instantly with Emily and Stephen’s overnight French toast and the power back up in the office.
Gagan, Dia and I set up home at the office where we were able to work and keep Dia warm. Meanwhile, we had trick or treaters at the office!
Monday night Gagan joined Dia and I for a sleepover at Emily’s again (thank you!).
Tuesday was a long day at the office trying to catch up on work while Nicole (Dia’s nanny) came to help out with Dia. Tuesday night the power finally came back and I went home and cooked a simple meal of rice and lentils. I had learned my lesson, no gourmet today. And as we gathered in the living room enjoying our hot dinner, we realised how lucky we were to have our power back so soon and we are thankful for the nstar crew who worked night and day to restore power. Our thoughts go out to the 200,000 homes still without power as of today 😦
Lessons learned
1. The gas grill can be used for heating up water for coffee/tea but you don’t need to go overboard with a gourmet breakfast! Scrambled or even boiled eggs would have been just fine.
2. Use disposables for eating in.
3. An old-fashioned candle still provides the most light – Yup bright enough for knitting!
4. Bring a tired baby to a sleepover so you can actually have some alone time with your friend 🙂 Dia claimed all rights to Emily and was playing with her until midnight!
On a more serious tone, we are so grateful for loving friends and family members who offered to help out during this crisis and we’re so grateful to have power back on last night.
It’s nice to be able to sleep in your own home with heat. Not to mention, to be able to cook a nice meal for your family.
Dia of course loved this because she got our undivided attention the whole time 🙂 It’s nice to be taken care of 🙂
Happy Halloween and Happy WINTER!
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