The night the power went out

Again....

I had an errand to run after work. There was the warning of thunderstorms all day, but for the moment, the sun was still out. As I got closer to my destination, the dark clouds were looming. I just knew that when I had to get out of the car was when the skies would open up.

Well the storm hit sooner. I was soon in a driving rain, I could not see two inches in front of me. I searched for someplace to pull over that was not near a tree (I'm a bit paranoid about trees since Sandy). I waited out the storm in a parking lot pretty much terrified as lightening bolt after lightening bolt streaked across the sky.

The storm passed. I completed my errand and headed home.

My first clue was the traffic lights were out in Randolph.

Pulling into my lake community I started thinking, "it looks pretty dark here, crap, the power is out...again."

This was the culprit.

A tree had fallen across Algonquin Ave. taking the power lines with it. So here I sit in the dark...again. The hum of generators buzzing throughout the neighborhood.

I have lived in my house for twenty six years and the first twenty we lost power maybe five times. Now it seems to be a regular occurrence.

I am a little more prepared these days. I have a number of lanterns going. If it were cold out, I have my brand new wood-burning stove for heat. I will lose the food in the refrigerator if we are without power for an extended period. Unlike the rest of the neighborhood, I don't have a generator. I may need to rethink that.

So what do you do when the power goes out?

Well thanks to technology I can still talk on the phone, text and stay connected on Facebook.

I played Candy Crush.

I took my wet laundry out of the washer and hung it up to dry.

I figured out my plan for the morning if the power is still out (I will be bringing my hair dryer to work!).

I wrote this blog post for you all to enjoy.

Now I am going to set the alarm on my iPhone, read a little and hopefully get a good nights sleep.

Oh and say a prayer that the power comes back on soon.

Labor Day

The unofficial "end of summer". At least that is what I have been hearing all weekend on the radio. Why is it that June, July and August fly by? I don't recall the bone-chilling months of January, February and March speeding along.

Summer has had different connotations at different time periods in my life.

When I was young and school age, it meant 3 months of no school. I would be able to go out and play with my friends from dawn to dusk. No homework. Spend days up at Terrace Lake.

College age meant I had 3 short months to work, 3 long months of living at home and 3 long months before I could get back to school.

When I was married and worked part-time it meant I had those lazy, hazy days to spend with my daughter.

Getting divorced meant 3 long months until school started up and figuring out where my daughter was going to spend her summer days because I now had to work full-time.

My daughter's college years meant my working 2 jobs and not even realizing there was a summer.

Now I have come full circle. I am finally at the point where I can enjoy summer and all it has to offer. The hot, humid days, taking a trip to the beach, walking 8:30 at night because the days are so long, mowing the lawn...

And I did all that and more. Still the summer has flown by and there was so much more I wanted to do. But today is just the unofficial "end of summer". We all have until September 22 to fit in a few more summer activities. Look around and you may just find me at the beach a few more times.