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A perfectly revolting Christmas Eve.

49 Comments

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I’m sure I’m not the only who’ll be complaining today as it seems the entire United States was slammed by what they called a bomb cyclone event yesterday.

The wind? Insane. It gusted almost 70mph at our house.

The rain? A deluge that flooded roads, businesses, and homes.

Our nightmare started yesterday at 8:00am just as I was about to step into the shower. Bam! No power. Which meant no shower, sandwiches for lunch and dinner and an epic 13 hour gin rummy tournament by flashlight. Temperatures during the day were mild with a high of 52 degrees, but by nightfall it was frigid.

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Thankfully we have a fireplace…. and while it won’t heat the whole house, it did manage to keep the living room at 58 degrees when the outside temperature dropped to 7. Of course my husband the Marine runs the operation.

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Which means throwing giant logs on the top to get it truly blazing.

This does not always end well.

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Because sometimes the logs revolt and pop back out. Giant cloud of smoke, sparks that burned the carpet? You betcha!

But as we sat in the dark enjoying the smell of smoke and scorched Berber, the fun was just beginning. Yes, just as we were about to call it a day and go to bed… shingles started lifting and literally flying off the roof. We watched them sail into the backyard, the neighbor’s driveway and the road. Good times!

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Or not as it turns out.

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Five new leaks as of this morning.

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Did I mention Lord Dudley Mountcatten is utterly terrified of the fire? Positively and absolutely. He fled to the furthest reaches of our bedroom and cried nonstop. Which meant instead of sleeping on the relative warmth of the living room couch, I had to snuggle his highness in the frigid bedroom all night and got no sleep whatsoever because to top it all off? Our neighbor’s wood stove caught fire at midnight.

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Thankfully no one was hurt.

It’s 1:00pm now and we’ve been without power for 29 hours. I haven’t slept nor showered and just discovered it’s not easy to make tea and toast in a fireplace. I have to say …. I’m more than ready to fill the house with electric current. This pioneer woman thing is getting old.

🥺

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Here are a few pics I grabbed from friends.

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Our little downtown park.

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Not sure if you can tell, but the water is right under the bridge.

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Yikes!

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You’re looking at a pier and a parking lot. Or rather, you should be.

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We may be cold, dirty and hungry… but I’m still glad we don’t live there.

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49 thoughts on “A perfectly revolting Christmas Eve.”

  1. Holy hell! Sorry that your power is kaputz right now. Ugh I can’t imagine how your even trying to keep a positive attitude right now. We haven’t lost power and I’m grateful for that, but it has gotten down to 15 degrees here and that’s definitely not normal for my neck of the woods at this time of year. I usually complain about how hot it is at Thanksgiving and Christmas because we are at around 67 to 70 degrees at this time. I’m so glad your neighbors are okay in spite of their fire. Hoping y’all get your power back soon so his Lordship is back in the lap of luxury, lol.

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  5. Oh gawd!! I’m so sorry… but relieved the fire wasn’t at your house! I hope everyone was okay.

    Sorry to sound stupid but why can’t you shower without electricity?

    Sending you DRYNESS and warmth!!!

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  7. Wow, that looks cold! My husband, like your marine is in charge of our fireplace and yes, we have one in Florida. Comments all the time at Walmart from natives when they see us buying wood, “You have a fireplace!!!” Yes. Hope power is back on soon.

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      1. We don’t use ours often in Florida but there are a few envious stares when we buy wood. In the Catskills, we had a wood stove and a small shed. My brothers were busy but ironically they chose to live in warmer climates, also.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. A few years ago, I think I suggested getting a whole house generator. If so, I apologize for being an “I told you so.” Yes, they’re costly (as I recall, we paid over $5,000 for ours almost 15 years ago), but several times we’ve saved ourselves the hassle & expense of what you’re going through, including a 3 day winter power outage.

    So far, the “bomb cyclone’ hasn’t caused a power outage here, but with below-zero temps and fierce winds, the generator still gives us peace of mind “just in case.”

    Lord willing and the wood holds out, I’m sure you’ll make it through the misery. Hang in there, stay warm (or at least as warm as possible) and, despite it all, Merry Christmas!

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  9. Being cold on Christmas = the pits.

    Especially when you factor in missing roof shingles, new leaks, and a freaked out cat. Maybe you’ll have a Christmas miracle and get you power back sooner rather than later.

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  11. I could play gin rummy for thirteen hours but I would have to have tea. We lost the power for about twelve hours yesterday, as the temperatures continued to fall. Our heat pump wasn’t up to the task of making warm air at one degree. We had a serious fire all the way up until bedtime, so that part of the house was in the low sixties, and about the same where I live. When I awoke at 6:45, it was 41 degrees in my bedroom and low fifties in the rest of the house. If you’re not camping, your morning walk to the bathroom shouldn’t be like taking the brisk morning air. After that, no way was I going to sleep, so I rebuilt the fire, which involved getting a bag of wood from the shed at 1 degree with a stiff breeze. It’s 14 degrees right now, 11:15 pm, balmy by comparison.
    Here’s my cat story: Since it’s so cold we have to let our faucets drip to protect the pipes. This fascinates some cats, cats like Otto. He’s been going from faucet to faucet ever since this cold snap hit. He’s got water all over his head and he leaves little wet footprints all over the countertop. I feel lucky. Hell, I AM lucky. These trials and hardships will make me a better man.
    I’m really sorry for your troubles and I hope you get the power back on before your phone craps out. Merry Christmas and all the love.

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    1. The husband, in true Marine Corps hero fashion, stayed up all night and kept our fire burning. Thankfully power was restored last night so there will be heat (it’s 8 degrees right now) and Christmas turkey. After I try to bleach the stains off the ceiling that is…
      Hope you and yours have a wonderful day!
      🎄

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  20. Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry you guys had to go through that and like you said, it could have been worse. But still–it sucks on all levels. Poor Dudley; they don’t know what’s there to help them or hurt them sometimes.

    In GA we had the wind and cold but not as much rain. Our power was out for 24 hours…luckily I was tucked away in lovely warm Florida, but our Georgia Christmas guests didn’t fare so well; it was 40 degrees inside the house and 7* outside.

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      1. No. But it only ripped 7 shingles off and thankfully there hasn’t been any more rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be near 50 degrees so hubby will go up and replace them then.

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