Breaking Point

Forty-nine hours, forty-seven degrees.

It happened at about ten o'clock last night, I had finally had enough of the lack of electricity. It had been out for 49 hours and the house was down to 47 degrees. I ran around the house throwing things in a bag, grabbed Jak and headed off to my dad's to spend the night. Given the circumstances this seemed like a good plan but I had forgotten one little detail. When I had gotten home around 9PM I found the remains of a bag of candy that Jak had found and helped himself to. So although there was heat at my father's, there was no sleep because I was trying to contain a 75 pound golden retriever who was on a sugar high. Although I didn't put all the pieces of the puzzle together until this morning so not only did I not sleep but I hadn't a clue why Jak was acting the way he was.

We still do not have electricity, going into the 64th hour now. But who's counting?! I took Jak for a walk this morning (to burn off some sugar) and actually did see utility workers within a 1/2 mile of our house so hopefully (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE) we will be back on line sometime today. We're tired, we're cold, we need showers, but we're hanging in there. I considered briefly, asking the utility workers how much longer it would be with tear filled eyes, but in the end decided I didn't want to take them away from their work.

I'm actually at my work using the computer and absorbing some heat. I have taken a few pictures, but the batteries in my camera were dying (and no power to charge them) so I'll post them when I can and take some more if I get a chance.

As bad as things seem, I know it could be a lot worse. I have a whole new empathy for people who are without utilities for a lot longer than 64 hours. And as much as I'd like the utility workers to go a little faster, I do appreciate that they are out there working at whatever pace. The temps are above freezing today and although the nights have been cold it hasn't been solid bitter cold days. Tomorrow it's supposed to be near 50 so there's always hope!