Dry Run

I am at the office for the first time since Thursday when a pretty nasty ice storm hit Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Upstate New York. Entire towns have been blacked out. Hundreds of roads are impassable due to downed trees. My friend and neighbor, Ron, had to drive 40 miles to find a gas station with power. I gave him what little gas I had, and he just made it on fumes...

A tree limb took out the power line to our house about 4:30 a.m on Friday. We are the last house on the line. Downline they have power, but we are at the end of the waiting list now because National Grid will not dedicate a team for just one house yet.

The water rush took out half of our driveway, and our basement wall sprung a leak about an inch in diameter through which "un chorrazo de agua" filled our basement with quite a bit of cold groundwater. Fortunately, I got to it before the flooding overwhelmed the woodstove. After the initial panicking in the dark, we got it under control with the kids happily bailing water in their rainboots, and the floor was pretty much dry within an hour. I plugged the hole with hydraulic cement once it dried up. That was a family bonding experience.... no pun intended.

On Sabbath, Ron's wife,Terry, said this was a dry run for the Time of Trouble. I think she has a point. I guess I really didn't realize how dependent we all are on machines and systems controlled by other people and organizations...

We are surviving well, though in spite of some inconveniences. We are warm, dry and together. We praise the Lord and humbly request our power back! In the meantime, we thank God for our woodstove, generator, and well. These supply our basic needs. The last couple of nights have been neat because everything is off except for candles and our shortwave radio. In short, we haven't abandoned the old homestead!

The whole experience has been rather interesting, particularly meeting our neighbors, sharing, and helping each other out. It also reminds me of an article I read and posted on my blog recently. I suppose the bottom line is that we were not as prepared as we could/should have been, and yet we are better off than most. So, we praise the Lord! Even though our lives are in God's hands, we are really thinking how to prepare in every phase of life for something more severe to come in the future. (Check out this blog for more on that.)

I remember a conversation with a friend about a year ago. She told me in disgust that I was thinking and living like we were in the Time of Trouble. I thought perhaps I was too being too pessimistic. The night before last, she showed up (also with no power at home) saying that this situation is a preparation for the Time of Trouble... So..., let's dust off the old Great Controversies, everybody!

This storm is one for the record books, too. Locals have never seen anything like this. Trees down everywhere and nobody has power up in the woods... Route 2 East looked like an ice tree tunnel.

See a Slideshow

By the way, Atlantic Union College has been sheltering the local community. We have local area residents staying in the dorms and eating in the cafe. It's a wonderful way to get reintroduced to the community and excellent PR, if I say so myself!

Country Folks Can Survive! - Hank Williams, Jr.