The Aftermath

Pretty dramatic title, huh?  :)  Actually, for us, the storm was just fun.  Praise the Lord for a break.  However, I wish so many others didn't have such a rough time from it.  It is kind of interesting that we came out so unscathed, since not too far in one direction (Baltimore) they had more than 11 inches of rain, and not too far in another direction (extreme western MD) they had 24 inches of snow.  We had no snow (girls are very disappointed about that) and about 5 inches of rain.  Quite a bit of wind during the night (sounded to me like a blizzard) but no big damage.  We did lose power last night, and that lasted until 3:15 this afternoon, but that just made it more of an adventure.  Only had branches down in our yard and MANY leaves.  Chad walked around the neighborhood and saw 3 or 4 trees down, including the one that was on our power line.

So, no school for 2 days, but we're on for tomorrow.  Can't believe we've already used up 2 of our 5 snow days and it's not even November yet.  In fact, those 2 weren't even for snow.

Since the power was off for most of the night, a couple of the kids got us up-- can't see to go to the bathroom, etc.  Then, in the morning, Micah and Jenna walked around the house and counted things that didn't work.  I think they got up to 50ish before they quit.  Probably was a good way for him to find out what he couldn't use today!  This was one of the first times Micah remembers a power outtage. 

Among the "can't use" items are our toilets and sinks, since our well pump won't run without power.  Thankfully, this time, we had buckets of water ready.  Ever since Puerto Rico, I've known how to flush a toilet with a bucket of water, but no one else can figure it out yet.  So I was busy flushing toilets for everyone. 

We hadn't had to use heat much this fall yet; and we hadn't started the woodstove at all.  Today was the day, tho.  It was pretty chilly out, so the house temp kept going down.  By lunchtime, we were starting to get pretty uncomfortable, so Chad got it going.  Sure made it nice to do the puzzle down by the woodstove!  Of course, it's a little rough doing a puzzle by candlelight and kinda dim daylight.  Good thing the girls chose a brightly colored puzzle.

We played games and the girls drew and played quite a bit of piano.  Then, after the power came on, we enjoyed a hot supper (before the power came back on, we were considering heading up to Hagerstown for supper, but that would have been a little rough since none of us have had showers), watched an American Girl movie, and I made more funnel cakes.  Maybe this storm will always be connected to funnel cakes in our minds. 

Almanac says we're in for a doozy of a winter.  We all kinda hope so, since we feel like we got gypped last year.  One year ago tomorrow was when we had the only snow of the winter.  Well, actually, it wasn't even winter yet.  About 6 inches on Halloween, and then no more all winter.