Monday, January 07, 2008

The storm knocked our power out at 8am last Friday morning. It wasn't restored until 9:07pm last night. Let this hold as the longest weekend ever. Fortunately, everyone across the street from us had power because they're all on a different set of power lines, so I'd like to thank Cris, Sid and family for letting me and Merlin hang out there beyond what would be a normal welcome. Sleeping at home wasn't too bad because of the down comforter and Michael's army blankets... unless you had to go to the bathroom (which I did because I've had a stomach bug for a week), in which case you have to bundle up and make it fast. The thermostat only goes down to 50 degrees as it assumes no normal human would set it even that low, let alone any lower. But I suspect it got down to the 40's because I could see my breath sparking off the beam of my headlamp as I read by the fire on Saturday night. At least the water heater is gas so I could take a shower (only to dry off as quickly as possible, lest icicles form on your nose) and at least the chest freezer in the garage kept everything frozen so we didn't lose too much food. Poor Clyde the canary was a little out of sorts, and a lot annoyed because I kept covering him up when it got dark and, in his opinion, he can put himself to bed, thank you very much. It was for your own good, little Clyde, and I heard you singing this morning so I'm glad you're back to your normal self.

Michael went to Petaluma early Saturday morning with John to do some handwork for some guy. The guy had power but both Michael and John's parents did not and they were their options for sleeping in Marin. Smartly, they chose John's as they have a generator for a little light. But they had to sleep in the cold, as well.

It was a crazy storm that stomped through on Friday morning and I know SMUD and PG&E are still working nonstop to get everyone powered again. I'm sure the SMUD guy who was balanced on the pole last night knew how grateful I was when, after he fixed the switch that had flipped, I yelled, "Thank you! I love you!," and ran back down the street to a soon-to-be-warm house.