This morning at 1:15 AM our power came on. I woke up, lay in bed and thanked God (it had been three full days), then got up to re-arrange my fridge (we’d packed all into the freezer with ice bags and I would now have to re-rescue the food from the other end of the temperature spectrum) and start some laundry. Last night my daughter had kept me up with a croupy cough. With the candlelight and lack, completely, of anything to do when the darkness fell I was starting to feel like we were living a throwback existence.
It took me a while to get to sleep after our lives suddenly were put back to normal in a snap. Life had become very different. We’d started marking off our days in terms of experience (the first day was “Novelty Day”, then we were on “Ice Day” and heading into, “OK, Now I’m Really Cold Day”… Thursday was slated for “Shit-Water Day” and frankly I’m glad we missed out on that).
My parents arrived over about 8:30 for heat and breakfast as their power, like so many others’, has not returned. Their well-insulated house had finally achieved the outdoor temperature. My father is especially sensitive to cold as a side effect from his platinum-based chemo. To his credit, he hasn’t complained once. This morning I cooked honey biscuits and broccoli quiche. In fact we’ve been eating well enough, because there’s not much else to do except think about what to cook and how to cook it. Last night I succeeded in a homemade pizza on top of my gas insert.
Hoquiam’s west side is fully up and running. Minus many fences, pieces of roof, trees, and skipped school and work days. Ralph’s work servers are still down and I know many around the county are still suffering cold and wet and some major property damage.