The Year Halloween Was Cancelled

By now we are all aware of the extent of the damage and the thousands of people without power.  When all was said and done, we were without power for a week and without cable/internet/phone for another week.  Of course everyone has their own story to tell and here's a brief version of ours...

Monday, October 31st

On Monday morning we found out that power was restored at my work and at Ed's work.  So both of us went into work.  It was amazing the number of people at work but with heat, internet access, and running water I think folks took advantage of that.  I know I did.  I brought food in for breakfast and lunch for a few days and kept it in their refrigerators.  With power at Ed's work and a small frig/freezer, he was able to bring a good portion (but not all) of our freezer food and store it there.  We were also able to charge cell phones, refill water containers, get a cup of hot coffee, etc.

Ed also called an electrician he knew in Amherst and he was able to come out Monday morning and redo our meter box and wiring.  It was quite disconcerting to see we were now totally disconnected from the power lines, but in the end, it was the right decision.  Ed also went to the Spirit Haus to get ice and a cooler for the refrigerator food (thank you Marvin).

My sister Marion in Greenfield had power restored on Monday and my sister Theresa and her two kids (who live in Palmer) headed up there for the night.

Branches cleared off our wires but also showing the branches down in our yard and our neighbors.

Tuesday, November 1st

At about 3:15 am, power was restored to my sister Cathy's house in Hadley.  The previous night Ed and I discussed options for showering--going to the high school which was setup as an emergency shelter or washing up in the sink at his work.  But once we heard my sister had power, we both headed over there to get a hot shower and then head to work.

We were now getting into a routine.  We thankfully have a gas insert in our fireplace so we were able to heat the living room (although without the blower the rest of the house was still cool).  We used the gas grill to heat water and cook dinner. And after dinner we watched a DVD on my laptop (since I could recharge the laptop the next day at work).  Thankfully we had filled several containers with water before we lost power so we had drinking water and water to heat on the grill, etc.  We also had buckets for "flushing" the toilets and were able to refill those during the day with the melting snow.  I am also SO thankful for my smart phone which enabled me to text my sisters to get information but also be connected with the outside world.  I have to say radio stations were not a very good source of information, but Facebook certainly was and I think a good number of us relied on our smartphones to get and share information.  I know I did!


Wednesday, November 2nd

Wednesday afternoon my mother's power was restored and so we packed up a bag and headed over there.  My mother was so excited to have power that she cooked a roast for dinner that night which was waiting for us upon our arrival!  We then stayed with my mother until our power was restored on Sunday morning.  We got into quite a routine and I wish we had more time together.  It was actually fun and thankfully by the time we left, we all were sorry that our time together was coming to an end.  I guess that's better than the alternative!

Our shed is underneath there...so thankful that the garage and house were not damaged.

Saturday, November 5th

I have to say, we were lucky in that the weather all week was fairly good.  The days and evenings were cool enough to enable storing food outside, but warm and sunny enough to get work done outside.  On Saturday, Ed (with some friends) worked in the yard to cleanup brush, etc.  I worked in the house and cleaned out the remainder of the frig and also put away the Halloween decorations.  A crew from National Grid came by and reattached the wires to the house (since we were ready and waiting!!).  What nice guys and I thanked them profusely for all their hard work.  I don't care what others say, but I appreciate those who worked for National Grid and Charter to get things back up and running.  It was a tremendous mess and there was no magic button or technology that was going to make it happen any faster.  It was human beings on the ground, working hard many hours a day and I appreciate all their hard work.

Ed clearing the trees off the shed....and the crushed shed.

Back yard with the brush cleared and trees cut up.

Sunday, November 6th

Power is restored at our house! What an exciting day!! I can't remember everything we did that day, but I did use hot, soapy water from the faucet (!) to wash out the refrigerator and freezers before we restocked them.  We emptied out coolers and did laundry and vacuumed.   Cable/internet/phone was estimated to be restored by Thursday, Nov 10th.  So while at my mother's (and using her internet!) I added the hotspot option to my phone.  That way we had "some" level of internet connection while at home (which was invaluable!).

When all was said and done--we all survived.  We learned to "rough" it but more importantly we learned to appreciate all those things we take for granted every single day--electricity, heat, running water and family and friends and even strangers who reached out to help each other!