Thursday, April 12, 2007

Never Underestimate the power...

As evidenced by my photographic evidence yesterday, the weather outside has been frightful here in 2 hours from Hell. Yesterday we were treated to snow, rain and sleet with more snow for dessert. It WAS lovely, let me tell you. It was absolutely lovely.

It was a heavy, wet, gray winter day in the springtime. It broke my heart (not really) to make the Queen walk home from school because the Khan was asleep. That was the official reason. The truth: my ass hadn't been outside all day and I planned on keeping it that way.

TQ:"Mom, can you please come get me? It is terrible out here! It is snowing sideways and it is really crappy!"

Me: "Oh Honey! I am so sorry! His majesty is resting and I am not waking him up for you or anyone else!" (Thankfully, she could not see the smile on my face despite the fact that the frustration and sadness in her voice was almost making me give in. Almost.)

And so The Queen walked home in the lovely late winter / early spring snow. She was cold and cranky and, being the nice mommy that I am, I had a cup of tea ready for her when she arrived. Shortly after, she received a lovely hug from his majesty, The Khan, and all was well.

However, that was about to change (cue the duh duh duh duhs!)

At precisely 4:24 p.m. I was wasting time online when suddenly my laptop went to battery power. The TV went off and soon the unthinkable happened. No internet. "Curses!" I exclaimed. Then I figured our power would soon be restored. After all, we live in a decent sized city - part of a million person metro area. We are not in the boonies or the stone ages people. We should have power. Always.

Our initial response was collectively one of dismay and annoyance. But surely this would be temporary. WE LIVE IN THE CITY. This has to be temporary. My neighbor calls me to see if I know anything and we're both ignorant. A little later she tells me that the subdivision to the north of us has not lost power. I think this is a good sign that it will be temporary.

5:00: I light the fireplace upstairs using my normal technique of firestarters, shitloads of paper and a couple pieces of wood. Thanking God the whole time that I managed to have a working lighter. It's getting chilly but not overly so.

5:30: "I'm so hungry!" So we dine on sandwiches and chips instead of the tasty leftover chili I'd been planning. Ugh. One time I have a plan for dinner and it is foiled by what I would only describe as Karma. This is my punishment for making The Queen walk home.

6:00: It occurs to me that I should try to find some candles and flashlights. Net result: One maglite, half a dozen candles and these:

6:30: "Mom!" wails The Khan. "Why can't we just watch TV?"
"Because there is no power honey."
"Why?" Yes, a little late, but the word of the month for his majesty is "Why". Everything in the world is now "Why!" And he really hates "I don't know."

7:00: Well, lack of noise and contact with the outside world is really bothering me. Sarge has called a couple of times to check on us. Yes, he's not home. He's in Grayling until SUNDAY. So he's missing this fun. This call, he tells me that there's a radio "somewhere in a box in the storage room." Needless to say this is not helpful. Better, Sarge is annoyed when I tell him so. No radio, no lights and a pissy hubby. This is heaven, right?

I locate a few radios - exactly three. All three require 8 size "C" batteries. I scour the house and find...

Seven size "C" batteries. Wonderful. Amazingly the Cat and Witch flashlights use "C" batteries as well so I scrounge one from the cat and we have a working radio.

Do we have news? No. We have Christian Radio and Country. I want to know what the hell is going on here! We have been without power for three hours IN THE CITY! Surely this is newsworthy. Evidently not as newsworthy as Griffins Hockey or Pistons Basketball.

7:30: Whining intensifies. "Mom!" demands the Senator. "What is GOING ON HERE! When will our lights come back."

The Khan begins to randomly try turning lights on to see if even one of them will work.

8:15: The boys are told to put their pajamas on - some sweats please - and crawl into Mommy's bed for a slumber party! Hooray! This is exciting, right? RIGHT? Notsomuch.

"Moooommmmm! Why can't we just WATCH TV?" wails his majesty.

"Oh your highness, for the love of GOD! I wish you could watch TV too!"

8:30: Teeth brushed and all that, the guys go to bed. In my bed. And then they start whining again. "Mom? Are you coming?"

Well, I should insert here that I did rather enjoy reading my book last night. I bought one of those uber-nerdy booklights awhile back and it was putting out great light for my enjoyment of "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman. The highlight of the night was finishing it. "I will be there soon, my darling. Just go to sleep."

9:15: Book finished, I head to bed. Before I go to sleep, I call one last time. The power company tells me that the power should be back by 11 p.m. Hooray!

Her majesty comes in. "Mom, did you notice that the people behind us have power?"

"What? Son of a bitch." Evidently our block has been cursed by the Goddess of Electricity. There is power above us and power below us but here there is no power. How can that be? This proves to me it is Karma and I am screwed.


Power. Never underestimate the power of Power. Ours came back at 10:21. Six hours after it went off.

3 comments:

Janiece said...

OMG--you crack me! I needed that luagh. Sounds like home with our Russian princess and Kaz prince--who currently thinks he is God and everything should go his way--NOT!!! At least you stayed reasonably warm. Off to deal with the chittlins who think the sun rises and sets on them. Yes, one of those days here too.

Tal said...

Thank goodness for the fireplace! Glad that power was restored.

Unknown said...

LOL - and aren't you glad that Jourdan doesn't read your blog?

This was fun. And, since we lost power after that earthquake last year, I know how it is without electricity for so long. I had a SERIOUS jones for the internet by the time it came back up.