Ice Storm 2014

**Update: SO happy to report that our power came back Wednesday night while we were sleeping – bless those electrical workers who’ve been working 24/7 for the last 5 days! Enjoying all the benefits of electricity in a new way now!**

Pretty snow started falling last Thursday at our house, which turned into ugly freezing rain on Friday and by Saturday morning every branch was coated in ice.

Looking at these pictures I took Saturday morning, I remember thinking how beautiful everything looked all icy…until all the tree branches started snapping and the power went out.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that we’re now on our fourth day without power, one of only 5 houses affected by a branch that brought our power line down. So most of our neighbors have electricity.

And so the electrical crews will take care of all the larger outages before getting to us, sadly. And while I feel like crying, I’m trying to focus on the positive realizing many people have it much worse than our little power outage.

The power will come on again, thankfully, but people dealing with indefinite problems like loss of work or health will not see their lives restored to the same place.

So today, I hope you’ll bear with me as I list just a few of the things I’m thankful for in a time and place where I could easily spend all my days moping and complaining.

When the power is out, I’m thankful for:

• A wood stove insert. I hated the looks of it when we first bought the house – oh, how the tides have turned! Not only does it provide heat (with free wood that we stock up on in the summer), the glass front provides light in the dark evenings and the 10 inches that stick out from the fireplace? That has become our stove top, heating water and milk for coffee, grilling cheese sandwiches and making the best quesadillas ever.
• Cast iron skillet. Used on top of the wood stove, this pan is nourishing us with the sandwiches, quesadillas, and eggs. In fact, it conducts heat so fast you have to be careful not to burn things. Seriously, like in only 30 seconds!
• Family and friends. Showers, a place to charge our equipment and work, and offers of food. So wonderful, brings tears to my eyes.
• 5-gallon plastic buckets. We’ve had these catching melting snow and now rain and have been able to use them to flush our toilets (we’re on a well with an electric pump). Yes, I just wrote that – it’s the little things when there’s no power.
• Insulated ice chests. On day two, we transferred everything over to a cooler and added some snow – the snow hasn’t even melted that cooler is so insulated!
• Candles, batteries, and lanterns. Duh.
• iPhone & iPad. Data on the phone allows me to check email and keep in touch with the world and reading on my iPad doesn’t require light, which is getting more and more important as the candles get used up.

But mostly? I am thankful for ELECTRICITY and that we live in a country that has it (mostly) consistently, because I know there are many places in the world that don’t.

Right now I’m pretty much in love with it (ha!) and know I will appreciate it that much more when it comes back!

What are you thankful for?