Power Outage

December 9, 1996

Do you remember the old saying, “Where were you when the lights went out?” (In the dark!) A lot of us were in that situation this weekend when the nor’easter swept through.

I first discovered I was in the dark when I reach for the light for a trip to the bathroom. Thinking to phone in the outage I reached up for my flashlight and pulled the phone over onto the bed, sweeping a glass of water onto the floor with the cord. The line was busy. I heard that Central Maine Power was amazed to find so many people awake at all hours of the night and phoning in outages. Three calls later I found the phone dead. Outside heavy snow was thumping down. The flashlight showed the pines like skinny inverted Vs, groaning under the heavy load of snow with limbs draped over phone lines. It wasn’t very cold and a light misty rain seemed to be coming down. I crawled back into bed.

I awoke with a cold and built a fire, being glad I filled the wood box the night before.

When it was light enough to see outside I went from window to window amazed as usual to find what a night of snow had accomplished. Birch twigs against the sky were like lace. The trees had an angry look as though they didn’t like their burdens and were about to burst their bonds and go free.

I followed my trail of Kleenex back to the stove and decided to eat things that didn’t require the refrigerator door to open. Apples, nuts, graham crackers, [Peanut butter was high on the list] tea, cereal.

I had learned a thing or two from the outage of two or three weeks ago and purchased batteries for my radio so I listened to channel 6 for news of the storm even though it was not as good as seeing cars rolling over and off the road and the storm spotters huddled in their wintry weather gear.

I took a nap. My little dog was stretched full length before the fire and she made it seem like a good idea.

Lunch time. It’s hard to be creative with things outside the refrigerator.

The news mentioned outages all over the state except here. Dirty dishes are mounting in the sink.

Finally the phone rings and we cam compare experiences. I give myself a treat by having a long conversation with my daughter in Rumford who is also without power and has more snow than we do. My daughter next door is jealous that I found fluff to go with my peanut butter.

I tried to read and did for a while but the days are so short and the dark settles in so early I gave it up. I have plenty of candles and one oil lamp but my eyes are not good enough to read by them.

I discover that just the sound on channel 6 doesn’t tell the whole story.

I got to bed and listen to hear the hum of the refrigerator but it doesn’t happen.

Sunday morning with light rain. I roads are slushy and few venture out. The question ~ when will the lights go on? I walk around impotent vacuum cleaners and gather up Kleenex and clear away ashes from the front of the stove.

I take a nap. My very thoughts bore me. Toward evening my daughter next door things I’m getting depressed and asks me over for T.V. They crank up the generator and hitch it to the TV and there is the telly! There was nothing on for a while, a meaningless football game but in our deprived situation it looked good. Then came some news but the best morale booster was when we decided to break into a Christmas present meant for Mark and treat ourselves. We watched TV and ate chocolate covered nuts and it was almost as good as going to a movie.

I came home and built up the fire and as my dog and I enjoyed the warmth – “It was a miracle!” The lights came on and the refrigerator hummed. I did the dishes.