It was pretty!

The winter storm this past week was many things but I did enjoy the clean white snow blanket that covered my little home.

Sunday morning around 3am I was awakened to the sound of the printer resetting as the power went on and off several times.  It never occurred to me that we'd be without power for 4 days but the thought did enter my mind that I should open the door to my detached garage in case the power was out for a while...I didn't though.  So, for 4 days I had no power, luckily I had water and a gas cooktop, and a car trapped in the garage with no way to independently go anywhere.  It could have been so much worse if pipes had frozen or burst to flood this 1950's duplex but interior temps of 37º was as bad as it got here sans a frozen shower drain.

My friend Rob Brinkley picked me up Wednesday evening and took me to his high-rise that never lost power and I slept on a lounge chair - but at this point I would have slept standing up as long as there was heat present.  Hunger games mentality spread at local grocery stores with little to no perishables available so we ate PB&J's and meat trays with crackers.  His building has a coffee bar in the lobby so we were both wired for sound with an endless supply of caffeine.  

My experience was far less severe than the things I saw in the apartment complex behind me with cascading water coming off of balconies and images on the news of the like where construction had no inkling what hit it with unprecedented below freezing temps INSIDE.  I hope we never have to experience this again.  I hope this awakens the masses that you need to have provisions for worst case scenarios even if they're only used once.  That one time is reason enough to be prepared.