The ice storm.

"A cold day's diversion with a train set"


Thursday was a day of freezing rain and sleet. We had been worried that we would lose the power, but when Thursday came and went and we had power, I was relieved. If we make it through Thursday night, I thought that we'd be fine. Well, I went to bed with the lights still on and woke up at 5.30 with the red glow of the alarm clock still on. I went downstairs feeling lucky. At 5.35, the lights went out... The night had brought a changeover to snow and that morning, the warmer temperatures brought more rain which combined brought down powerlines all over the state. When all was said and done, there were over 200,000 without power in Maine and countless more in New Hampshire. I didn't worry about it too very much Friday night. I figured that we'd be back on by the afternoon or night. Failing that, I thought it would come back on in the night. But after a tepid meal from McDonald's (damn electric stove...) that night sitting in front of candles, the quaint experience that my dad would have said, well, thats how the Indians used to eat their Big Macs, in front of candles, it was no longer so much fun. Without lights or heat or water, we were getting desperate. We bundled the boys up in three layers that night while the outside temps dipped into the teens and all the slush outside froze. Saturday I wasn't with too much faith and we bought a kerosene heater and got a pizza. It was pretty pleasant then and I'll always remember sitting reading the paper, doing a crossword, eating pizza and listening to "Its A Wonderful Life" on the radio (as the CBS affiliate was broadcasting it on television that night...) with the glow of the stove behind me. This morning, M was getting ready for work and about 6.30, we heard a hum that we had thought was coming from the heater but in actuality was from the electric propane heater come alive and the bathroom light came on. We both looked at one another stunned for a moment before we actually realized what it was. So, we're all doing fine and while Byron won't remember a thing about it, Walter may remember a time when we sat in the dusk in the kitchen watching our breaths and reading books by candlelight.