Monday, February 23, 2009

2nd Power Outage...January 2009



I am very late in posting this but felt compelled to do so because we have fond memories of this latest power outage. We lost power due to ice and snow the end of January. It was on a Wednesday morning around 8:00 a.m. School had been called off due to the road conditions and lack of power at most of the schools. We were so ecstatic because our power was still on.







All five of us were making omelets, bacon, and toast when we saw the first flicker on our lights. A brief moment of panic went over all five of our faces. We remembered Hurricane Ike's wrath...7 whole days without power! Fortunately the omelets were almost done and the coffee was finished brewing when we lost complete power. Good grief! Well at least our tummies were full.
During breakfast we contemplated...well we knew we were not going to lose all of our food in the freezer & frig this time around. After breakfast we dug holes in the snow and buried our freezer food. We put our frig food in the garage in coolers. This saved us hundreds of dollars...okay the freezing temperatures are good for something.


Next on the agenda was deciding where to go....it was 20 degrees outside not a balmy 75 degrees so staying in our home was not an option. Lexington, Ky was out (Michael's parent's house) because they had gotten snow/ice too and some Lexingtonians were out of power too. We briefly thought about high tailing it to Tampa to catch the Steelers game in the Super Bowl. But we realized this was pushing it a bit much and settled on the most economical approach...head to St. Louis (my parent's house). My parents are ready for World War 3 to break out. They have generators, two stocked freezers, canned food, dutch oven, camping supplies galore, ammo (yes & their own guns...many guns). I would not be surprised if they've dug a bomb shelter in their back yard and have covered it up with grass...hmmm.


Off to St. Louis we go on Wednesday afternoon. St. Louis got a lot of snow but no ice but the roads were still slick in many places. What should have been a 4.5 hours trip became a 6 hour trip. But that was okay...normally I would have been a tad grouchy from the delay but since I knew what was in the ville I overcame.


So why was this trip more fun than the trips before...well Michael and I were not working because most everything had shut down in Louisville. So we were able to visit more with my parents and play with the kiddos alot.

Our most memorable event was when Katie, Lily, Ben, my mom, and myself went sledding at Faust Park. We had so much fun!! You have to check out the video where I was filming and got knocked to the ground by out of control sledders (Katie & Lily). It is hilarious.



We also got to visit with our friends, The Raiche's, who used to live on our culdesac but relocated to St. Louis. Our kids adore & miss their kids...our kiddos actually spent the night because they were having so much fun.

Also one afternoon Michael & I got one hour massages at Massage Envy while my parents watched the kids. I could get used to this :).

We were so thankful that my parents do not live that far and that they were so welcoming at the last minute. Thank you Mom & Dad!