There are a number of ironies, or cosmic giggles, or call-them-what-you-mays to this story. The biggest and best being that just yesterday afternoon, the basement crew finished their work on our super-high tech system to keep our basement dry. It includes a "triple-safe" sump pump complete with battery back-up. Of course, I'd scoffed at this when the salesman suggested it. Really? How often would we flood during a power outage? Who knew that it would only be a few short hours after the set-up was powered up for two such events to coincide. Okay, I admit it, I thought it would never happen - I was wrong, wrong, wrong and I'm glad for the triple-safe sump pump and promise to never even again think that it's over-the-top. When I woke up last night to realize that we didn't have power, I had to laugh to think that (because of the battery) the sump pump was the one electrical item actually at work in the house.
But, that's really not a good cosmic giggle. That came this morning when (now that the basement is dry), Hank informed me that the roof was leaking.
Other ironies: I'd just cleaned out the pantry and have been using up the canned goods in it, thinking it's time to start fresh. So, very few cans in what's normally a pantry too packed to find anything in. I had a brief thought yesterday, "What will we eat if the lights go out?" And blissfully figured we'd eat the frozen entrees I have. Hmm, frozen entrees eaten frozen, when one is freezing. Strike that. I've also kept gallons of water for an emergency for years. Guess where they were this week? On the front step. Guess what they are? Unusable in the frozen state they're in. I'd also spent a lot of time the past week putting my address book and recipes on the computer. The same computer that's home, where there's no power to run it. Lately I adopted the theory that it's great to live in the northeast where the worst of our weather is a winter storm where we hunker down and enjoy a day or two at home until the roads are cleared. No hurricanes, tornadoes, or tsunamis to worry about. Very true, but as the temperature dropped (and the hours without coffee wore on), it was hard to feel cozy at home.
Which isn't to say it was horrible there this morning. Shay and I shared his earbuds and listened to a podcast of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and laughed our heads off. Then Harry, Shay and I played Monopoly, where Harry set the course of the game by giving Shay and me so many discounts and tips and generally throwing his money around in gleeful philanthropy, that even Shay didn't have the heart to go for the jugular, and we decided the game was a three-way win. Kit "undecorated" her room by deciding to get rid of what she no longer needs or wants. Hank did...hmm, remarkably well without coffee.
And, who cares about any of this? We're safe and warm. We made it here through a landscape as stunning as I'd ever driven through. Our town and the towns west of us as we drove to Albany looked so beautiful with all the trees encased in glittery, crystalline ice. Until we'd get to a place where one had come down, blocking and scarring the road. This happened numerous times and we had to change course more than once.
The power will come back to my house at some point. Until then - dispatches from Albany.
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