serena
Throwback to November 2014.
Three years ago, the day after Halloween, a huge snow dump cut off our power (this was the beginning of the infamous Snowvember). We were still living in the back room at that point, which was in the poorly built addition that was heated only by one oil-filled electric radiator. Said radiator cut off once the power went out, along with the electric stove and our lights.
And, oh, by the way, Tig developed a migraine.
We sat huddled in our one room off the kitchen, getting colder by the minute (because, no insulation), unable to cook or heat any water. After a few hours, we cried uncle and called up our neighbor’s Mark and Sasha. We were able to go over and have a hot meal, and a warm place to sleep. It seemed the powers that be were telling us in no uncertain terms that we were not cut out for Maine living. After all, we were “from away.”
Fast forward to October 30th of this year. High winds and storms slammed us this time instead of snow. The power cut out in the morning and wouldn’t come back for another 12 hours.
This time, we threw in another log in our wood stove. The 9-inch thick insulated walls in the main part of the house kept us a toasty 68-70 degrees. Our new (scratch and dent) propane stove turned out breakfast, lunch and dinner. Tig hooked up our small boat generator to the refrigerator to keep the food from spoiling. I had by chance bought some beeswax candles the day before, so we had lighting. Best of all, we had put in an insulated door between our newly built kitchen and the old one (see our remuddling overview post). Now all the heat stays in the main footprint of the house, instead of leaking out the back ell.
We had a pleasant evening by candlelight. Tig even broke out the laptop and played a movie since we were done so early. By the time they finished watching Charlotte’s Web, the power came back on and we rejoiced. We had made it through one small power outage, a small but worthy goal in my mind.
Yes, we’re still from away. Yes, we still have a lot more to do in order to be prepared. But we’re one step further than before.