Silent Night - NOT a Christmas Post

We've just emerged from a snowy streak which involved three solid days of snowfall and blowing drifts. We worried about whether or not the school buses would make it. We worried about whether or not the kitties were too cold in the garage. We worried about getting the snowplow driver here in time to make it to our appointments. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but still, we worried.


Yesterday, the weather turned the corner. After the final flurries of the morning, we emerged from our snow encased house to enjoy the warming weather. The clouds cleared, revealing pale blue skies and thin sunshine. The wind was nonexistent, and the kids fled the house to hit the hills on their sleds.


At the end or our carefree day of beautiful weather, we were shocked when our power went out a few minutes after 9pm! There seemed to be nothing precipitating the fall of darkness upon our neighborhood. But our powerless community went quiet and dark and became invisible to the residents of the valleys.

We stayed here for the night, snuggled warm in our beds. But by sunrise, our bedrooms were hovering under the 60* mark. I'm sure it would have been worse if the wind had kicked back up, but the evening remained quiet--unnaturally quiet. In fact, I repeatedly dreamed that the power was back on... I thought I heard the furnace run, I thought I heard the dryer, I thought I heard the TV, but I didn't. It remained quiet outside my dream altered mind.

Our home was back to near-normal by noon today. I'm happy to report that the TV is back on and the laundry is running through the cycles. We seem to have fried our Internet connection, but thank goodness for The Mister's air card, which is the only way to get Internet today. We enjoyed a fun morning with Grandma and Grandpa at their house. They fed us a yummy breakfast and entertained us for the morning. It's nice to have family so close so we can crash there when needed.

It sometimes seems like we're cursed for living where we do. We sure have our fair share of excitement. But I love it here, and I'm not thinking about changing anything!

Excitement Enough

After a week long vacation, you would think that we'd had enough excitement. Apparently that is not the case. Just a few hours ago I was sitting on the floor of my garage, crying kid in lap, surrounded by at least six EMTs. While I certainly appreciate a little male attention as much as the next gal, this really isn't the way I prefer to get it.

The neighbors will all be happy to know that the flashing lights of the ambulance and fire engine were not heralding anything too life threatening. A little scary for a minute, but we're all going to live.

Zeke was playing on our Little Tykes playset in the backyard tonight. The wind had blown the playset over during the week, so it wasn't set up properly. JJ, Max, and a few of the neighbor kids were climbing on the playset while Zeke was climbing through it. The whole slide, along with all the kids, fell on Zeke and he was hit on the forehead. Within 30 seconds he had a goose egg on his head (ok, it was more like a chicken egg--but seriously, it was really big!). The EMTs came and checked him for a concussion and neck and back injuries.

Good News: Z-man is A-OK and all the kids got pins and badges from the firemen!

Seriously--with five kids there is more than enough drama just in everyday living. Can we take a break from the extra excitement for a while???