Winter Wonderland

I’m at my sister, Priscilla’s, for Christmas. I arrived late on Monday afternoon after a relatively uneventful, but eight-hour-long trip. That evening by the time we went to bed there was more than six inches of snow on the ground (there had been a light dusting when I arrived). It continued to snow most of the night and when we got up in the morning, behold, there was no electricity. Not the first time for my sister, so she was prepared with containers of water from the well already made available and Dan turned the furnace up to high (it’s gas, but requires an electric pump to push the water through the pipes); and of course, we lit the logs in the fire place.
Pris and Dan were scheduled to go to Kyiv for a couple of days of Christmas shopping—don’t forget that Christmas here is on January 7th—and I had agreed to watch over the kids for 36 hours while they were gone. I was expecting an adventure, fun with my nephew and nieces, but as it was, I got more than I had bargained for! Pris and Dan were a bit delayed in leaving, but eventually made it out with chains on the tires. The kids went out to play and a friend came over to help me watch the kids. Mid-morning she got a call saying that the electric was most likely going to be off for four days! Priscilla had already started us melting snow for general use water (the well water being saved for drinking and cooking). Thankfully, the stove is gas, so while the oven didn’t work (it’s electric), the stove top did.
It was a fun adventure to set out on. Living life with no running water (or even a well we could draw from since their well is too deep to use a bucket with), keeping warm by the fire and using candles to light our way into the basement. But, thankfully, that adventure came to an end only a few hours later, when just after lunch the electricity popped back on. Most, if not all of the town had been out and when our electric came back on, not everyone else’s did. Several friends here were left without electric for another 24 or more hours! On the other hand, today, we could tell that they were working on it as the electricity kept popping on and off in the morning and early afternoon. Then, mid-afternoon, it went off again and didn’t pop back on. But when we went into the kitchen we noticed that the stove clock was on, a sign that it had electric. We tested out the oven to see if the whole stove was working or if it was just some fluke. It was interesting. When we turned on the oven, all the lights in the house turned on, and when we turned it off, they turned off. After testing it a couple of times we decided to leave it off, and promptly check the rest of the house for the smell of smoke and electrical fire.
I’m writing this on the last of my laptop battery as I wait for Pris and Dan to come home. Hopefully Dan will be able to fix it, although I doubt he will be able to do so tonight—since it is already 10pm and pitch black.
One of the other things about not having electricity—no internet and not too much computer use. In general, I feel fine with that.
If I was at home I would find it harder, but having four other people to give my attention to and play games with and fix meals for rather cuts down on the time I have to spend on the computer anyway. But every once in a while I do feel a little cut off from the world. I wonder what is happening on facebook and if I have any emails and if my friends think I have just dropped off the face of the earth! :)
In a way, I do feel like I have dropped off the face of the earth. This is so different from my normal life, that it almost feels like a fairy tale. It would be more difficult if I had to live like this every day, but somehow curled up with my laptop on the couch in front of the crackling fire with candles casting their light on my part of the room—well, it is very relaxing and alternate reality-like. And I’m enjoying it.

PS. Dan got the electricity on last night when he came home, and only a few sparks came out of the box. I went to bed slightly worried about the house burning down during the night, but woke up this morning still kicking, so...