Sunday, October 30, 2011

16 hours


so the past few days has been "interesting" to say the least.  We got warning of snow on Friday, and I didn't believe it - OK I didn't want to believe it.  My husband left the house before the sun came up so he didn't see the snow until he was out of the house so he couldn't 'warn' me that it had snowed (I like a soft entry into that kind of news).  I woke up to see this
I'll sadly admit the first thoughts in my brain when I saw this were not nice ones.  I should be thankful that I have a warm home to sleep in, a soft bed full of kitties and a kitchen full of food (among other things) and as soon as the evil thoughts were thought, I reminded myself to not focus on them. 

Then the weather man then told us of a storm a coming.  A big storm.  SnowTober according to twitter.  A snowstorm to remind me that what we got on Friday was nothing!! All the forecasts said thick heavy wet snow.  The kind that is great for snowballs but stinks for power lines and trees not yet in hibernation and full of leaves that have yet to fall.  I knew we would loose power.  My husband and I had a discussion about generators.  We have one but the last time we tried to use it there were problems.  He thought it wouldn't be a big deal to fix it (bad gas he said) and so we left the generator we saw at the salvage store we like to shop at and went home (with our brand new bigger salvage freezer)  It had started snowing by the time we left the store.  We got home and decided to go to the movies.  I wanted to see Puss in Boots, but wasn't sure I wanted to see it in prime time (was thinking about going to a late show) but since the snow was already flying I figured people would keep their kids home (most did, many did not)

Cute flick.  A little predictable.  I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed the many references to real cats more then the actual story though.

Got home, went to bed, at around 11pm we lost power.  I did what I could to mitigate it, by turning the heat up (it is programed to cool down at night) but despite that at 2am I was COVERED in cats.  All seven made it into the bed and were cuddling for warmth.  I doubt it was any colder then it normally is in the house at about that time, but I think the storm and the snow made them all in a snuggly mood.  I just wish they weren't all in the mood to snuggle with my nose!!!  I would end up with whiskers up my nose, and I would push that kitty away and ended up with different whiskers up my nose.  Finally I decreeded that it was 2AM and this was silly and pushed them all away, and they settled down until about 6AM which was breakfast time.  DH got up and fed them and I got a few more hours of sleep and less obnoxious snuggling.  When I got up, I saw this

At around 10 we finally decided that the power wasn't coming back on and I was getting hungry.  There wasn't anything in the house I could eat that didn't require power so I gave DH one of two choices, get up and get the generator going or take me out shopping.  He chose shopping (it was a close call) We went to WallyWorld and I got a yogurt (I am still amazed there are no full fat flavored individual yogurts for sale in my community) and a few other things we didn't know we needed till we saw them.  I decided to pick up a few flashlights too.  Even though we have plenty, we can never put our hands on one.  I figured a few more would help that.

We then went to Staples.  I needed to turn in some ink cartridges for work, and I had a 15% off coupon, so I wanted to look around.  I have been wanting a DSLR camera for quite some time.  I do not know enough about them to have made a decision on what to get other then I thought it would be cool to have an EOS because I own a VW EOS car.  When I walked through their camera section, they had an EOS rebel on sale for $400.  It was $150 off, so I thought what the heck.  I asked after it and was told it was the floor model only.  I didn't much like that idea because I do know if you get dirt inside the camera it needs repair work, so I said no, but after thinking a few more minutes I thought what the heck, I could return it if need be.  Well turns out someone had stolen the lens for it, so I could either get a floor model camera with out a lens for an even better deal (but then have to buy a lens and then return both if the camera didn't work) or buy the Nikon that was comprable for $250.  I went with the Nikon.  When he went to ring it up, it was even less at $200!!  yahooie. 

So now I'm the proud owner of my first DSLR..

Got home, still no power, no generator.. driveway still covered with snow.  DH went to snowblow the driveway, and before he was done we had power back.  16 hours with out power.  We are seriously considering upgrading the generator at this point.  We can fix the smaller one we have now that is a few years old, but it will probably cost us more then we would like to spend to have a smaller generator that is a few years old.  We can replace it, upgrade, or look into a permanently wired generator.  which is overkill for how few times we lose power, but so close to not having power for as long as we did, right now we are both willing to throw that kind of money at never having to deal with that again.

Now, on to a few things that amused me since getting my power back.  I saw this photo on my camera and felt it seemed appropriate for Halloween.  I just love how Fleurp is turned so dramatically, but looks like she is not in the reflection.  Looks to me like she is looking at her evil twin.



and I saw Sparkle made a video that amused me.  I wish Sparkle's videographer could come up here and make a video of The Crew..


4 comments:

  1. "Snow" is a four-letter word. A nasty, nasty word, IMO. I have my fingers crossed that we won't be hip deep in it this year. At least if the ground is bare, though freezing, I can still walk easily. But once the ice and snow come, forget it. I do have ice-pik thingies for the soles of my boots, though. Three different pairs/styles.

    Go for the generator. You might need it only once a winter, but 16 hours with no power in say, January, isn't something you want to endure.

    BTW, I can't even move on my bed when the boys snuggle up at night. It takes some interesting wiggling to get myself out and to the bathroom. LOL. Can't imagine 7 cats on my bed at one time, with me in it!

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  2. Welcome to my world of sleeping with seven cats! That is usually the most I get (or will fit) at any one time.
    I detest snow and cold in general; and when I get tired of the 110+ degree heat in August I recall slush in my shoe...yuck! And then I don't complain any more. But this snow is unbelievable!

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  3. That is a cool photo of Fleurp! I'm also glad you liked my video!! It was actually made up of footage from a bunch of different video shoots over the past 18 months or so - as my human (who was once an assistant film editor) says, "It's all in the editing!"

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  4. Congrats on your DSLR, you are going to have so much fun. I didn't know where to start when looking for one a few years ago either; then I remembered that the IBKC photos were taken with a Nikon D40 and looked at those. That's what I ended up getting. Great deal and a wonderful printer for free, including a full set of free ink cartridges.

    The irony is, now about 50% of my blog photos are grainy things from my iPhone because I can't always get to my "real" camera when a good shot opportunity pops up.

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