Boxing Day - an Update on our adventures by Lee

Good evening everyone - Happy Boxing Day!

First, our Lady says we should thank everyone for their well wishes when we were in the dark. We would also like to thank our friends who offered hot meals and showers that we didn't take them up on, but we might next time.

Our adventures started on Friday the 21st, the first day of winter. It was our first real snow (we got about 50 cm in 2 days, that is about 20 inches). On Friday we lost our power from 8-10 am, and then from 10-4 it kept going on and off. Then the real adventure began at 4 pm when the power went off and we didn't have it again for 70 hours.

The fireplace that saved us!

Our people set up camp in front of the fireplace. They dragged the guest mattress out and all the blankets in the house. This is where we lived for 3 days. And by live, with the exception of taking us out a couple times a day, eating and using the bathroom, our people basically stayed in bed. They read, played games, sang and gave us lots and lots of love!

Our man was able to go to the local corner store and get some food to eat (someone had to stay home at all times to keep the fire going, and since Lady's hair looked like a bird had made a nest in it, she volunteered). Our Lady learned that being gluten free and not being about to cook or being prepared to not cook is a bit of a challenge, but the reality was she wasn't that hungry.

Things we learned during our 70 hours in the dark:
-always have bottled water in the house (our Lady had planned on picking some up next time she went shopping but the storm beat her to it).
-Baggy finds us dogs a lot less offensive when he needs us for warmth
-the 6 of us do fit in a double bed (my Lady says I should say that I hog the bed and curl up right in the middle of the bed and take the most space - my nickname for the camp out was the Lee-lee centre of the bed)
-The cats like to sleep under the covers
-When our power came back, our living space was 11 degrees C (51 F) and our people's bedroom which they had closed off was 4 C (39 C)

The disadvantage of this big fireplace
it opens above so hot air leaves living
space!

-4 days without a shower and stoking a fire every 2 hours means the bathtub will be filled with ash when the lady is done.
-don't wish for a rustic country Christmas, cause you might get it! [Our people say next year they are going somewhere warm for Christmas, but that may be all talk!]

Our Lady said the hardest part was lack of running water. She has a greater appreciation for running water. She also said that she doesn't think that we could have stayed much longer (it was like -16 C or 3 F outside) and although the idea of packing us all up was daunting she was prepared to do it (the house kept getting colder).

Our Man was out finishing last minute Christmas shopping when the power came back on, our Lady started running around the house and yelling! We didn't understand what was so exciting but we ran too!

Later that evening when our Man went to get Uncle Chris and Emma for Christmas (cause we could host it), when I took Lady outside, I pulled her and she rolled her ankle and now has a sprained ankle. She says Christmas 2012 is one to remember.

So that was the highlights of our pre-Christmas adventure.

We want to spend a special thanks to all the Hydro workers who worked around the clock (and still are cause there are  like 4000 houses without power) to try and bring our power back. There were apparently 900 places the lines were damaged and cause of the snow they couldn't get trucks in and had to snowshoe and snow mobile in places.

We are bracing for another storm tomorrow. Fingers crossed we don't end up in the dark again. [Apparently it is fairly common out here in the country, our people were going to buy a new bed for Christmas, after Christmas, but they think a generator may be in store for us.]