In The Dark

We have no power. It’s been out since Monday morning, around eight. Kids dad lost his on Sunday afternoon and it came back on early Monday morning. He went to work on Monday, only to lose power there around noon, so he came to pick up the kids to take them out to his house where they could at very least stay warm. They have been out there since.

Our next door neighbors are on a different transformer than us, and they were only out of power for about 24 hours, from Monday afternoon to Tuesday lunchtime. They have been so kind as to ‘loan’ us an extension from their front lawn lamp. My oh-so-handy husband figured out that it doesn't take much electricity to power our gas heat, so we have a warm house, a couple of lamps and tv. I wouldn't want the kids around all of the cords stretched out around the house and since school has been cancelled for the rest of the week, they are just going to hang out with their Dad until Sunday (it's his weekend, anyway).

We just got internet back, literally five minutes ago. We've been checking email by sitting in a parking lot of a business where Steve maintains the network. Fortunately, with the extension from next door, we can keep cell phones and laptops charged. Been catching up on some reading I've been wanting to get to. Considering re-thinking that Christmas camping trip we've had planned. This may be the only taste of winter camping we'll need for a long while.

There are some beautiful pictures all over the web. This ice storm has made national news (we're in Oklahoma, in case some don't know). Check out one of our local news sites to see some pictures. Seeing the ice was a weird combination of scary and beautiful. And the noises... oh, the sounds of large branches cracking, followed by the crackle of the ice hitting the ground just before the crash and boom of the limb hitting where it may... sometimes on the ground, sometimes on cars or roofs of houses. I hardly slept Sunday night... it sounded like a war zone... in a really weird, creepy kind of way. You'd just lay in bed, listening to the sounds and with each crack, you just close your eyes and hope that branch isn't the one just above your bedroom.

We're fortunate. We're warm and luckily, we've had no property damage at all. We've got each other and fortunately, we're not sick of each other, yet. I think that's where I feel the luckiest... I'm truly married to someone I actually enjoy the company of. Nothing like hibernating in the cold and dark for hours on end to confirm that.

We've got a snow 'storm' headed this way, due to be here tomorrow evening. They aren't sure just yet how much we'll get, which is par for the course where we live. Seems we're always on that 'line' where it could go either way. So, here we sit... waiting for the lights to come back on. They are saying that everyone will have power by the middle of next week, hopefully, the majority by the weekend.

So, we're alive... kids are safe and warm... and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful man to be 'stuck' here with.

I'm happy.