Electricity is my friend

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, we've been powerless for the past 3.5 days. And when I say powerless, I mean literally and figuratively. Despite the fact that I called the local municipal offices and gave them a piece of my mind, they allowed a massive tree on a power line to keep a road closed near our house from Sunday until today. We drove by at least 4 times a day and never saw a soul working on the tree. Stacia and I called each other every time we drove by to say "still no one working on the tree." I did see a local news crew filming the tree, but they weren't doing anything to move it.

Anyway, enough about that tree and the worthless electric company that serves all of New England that left me 3 voice recordings every day thanking me for my patience. I was able to make these oatmeal pancakes right before the power went out. (I used old fashioned oatmeal and it worked just fine.) I also sprinkled chocolate chips throughout, and then threw sliced peaches, cinnamon and brown sugar onto the griddle while it was still hot and topped the pancakes with that peachy goodness. It was a heavenly way to begin our electricity-less 3 days.

We spent a lot of time reading by candlelight, eating out for every meal and charging our phones in the car. Thomas left the windows open while Hurricane Irene swirled around inside our apartment all day Sunday. On Monday I hauled all of mine and Stacia's frozen goods to a friend's house and took a shower there. I spent half of last night on the couch because it was so hot in our bed and The Husband was clearing his throat, in his sleep, all night long. I was reaching the end of my rope by the time the power finally came on this afternoon. I will forever have a new respect for the pioneers, and Adam and Eve, and all of the people who lived in the time between.

 Thomas was quietly reading while Irene swirled my curtains all around him. And don't mind the black panty hose on his leg, that's just a special sleeve to keep the fluid in his knee from swirling around like the curtains.

Thomas created many fire hazards with our candles. In this photo, he had a candle sitting on the arm of the couch. Smart.

The line at TGIFriday's in the only town around that had power on the first day. Needless to say, we didn't eat there. 

"We are at the mercy of National Grid" was indeed true for the past 3 days. (National Grid is that fabulous electric company I mentioned earlier.) From what I gathered from this newspaper, I wasn't the only one who thought they did a pretty terrible job. I'm just glad I can sleep with the air conditioning on tonight!