Winter Storm Woes

Last Thursday a wind storm blew through western Washington and devastated multiple counties. Our area was one of the hardest hit. The day after the storm, trees, telephone poles, and power lines looked like they had been through a giant pretzel making machine. A week later, we still don't have power, and aren't expected to until the middle of next week.

We, personally, had little damage. Some limbs came down and wrecked one of the paddock fences, but we were able to repair the damage quickly. Animals fine, humans fine, cars fine, house and barns fine. Overal, we felt pretty darn blessed. Being without power has been rather, inconvenient, though. We need electricity for everything... lights, stove, heat, and water. Not just hot water. All water. We live on a well, and the pump is electric.

Jay and I have adapted easily. He goes to work as normal, showering at his gym on the way, and I go to a nearby town and work from Starbucks. God bless WiFi. Yesterday I went to a friend's house and got a shower (finally) and did a couple of loads of laundry. Clean body! Clean hair! Clean underwear! Let me tell you, I was feeling pretty content last night. I go home in the middle of the afternoon each day to feed the animals, and then it's back to Starbucks until Jay is ready to meet for dinner somewhere. We've spent a fortune on restaurant food this week. Peanut butter sandwiches and potato chips are looking pretty good, but eating them in my cold, dark house isn't.

Still, anything Jay and I have gone through is merely an inconvenience in a situation that could have been a lot, lot worse. The biggest hardship in this situation has been the impact on the animals. The horses weathered the storm well, and they have plenty of hay, but without a well, we have no easy way to water them. I prepared by filling every large container I could find with water. That lasted several days, but it wasn't going to last a week. Our neighbor across the street has a big generator, and I thought I could just run a hose across the road, but it turn out that wells aren't "plugged in," per se, and instead are wired directly into your electrical system. Since his generator is the plug in type, he had no well either... and we had no water.

Very bad words came out of my mouth when I found that out. I lost my pleasing personality there for a while, and I expect any sailor who heard me would have blushed. Not ladylike at ALL.

We found a neighbor who had water, and twice we've gone down, loaded up containers, and driven very slowly back to the house, water sloshing all the way. Today I bought four more sixteen-gallon containers and filed them as well, because that neighbor is leaving for Texas on Friday, and that water supply will be gone. My sweet husband called around and found a source of sealed five gallon containers that we can fill in town and transport back to our house. It will take a lot of trips, but hopefully we won't have to do it too many times.

The dogs have plenty of food and water, but they're terribly lonely. I work from home, and they are unaccustomed to being alone all the time. We came home a couple of days ago, and Aslan had brought the glass candle holders outside and left them on the lawn. Then he raided the laundry and spread clothes on the lawn. He damaged nothing, even the fragile glass. It was just something to entertain him. When I come home in the evening, I sit in my car and read until bed time, and both dogs choose to get in the car with me.

Pax's training has ground to a complete halt. His last class (already a makeup, due to an earlier winter storm) was canceled, and I've done absolutely nothing with him since we lost power. I thought initially that I would pass the time by training him, but that was before I found out how much more comfortable it is at Starbucks. Too bad they're not dog-friendly inside.

All in all, we're doing fine, but I'll be glad to get the power restored. I'm still holding out hope that it's back on by Christmas, but the power company is saying it will probably be another full week. Annoying, but we'll survive.