It’s a sparkling, sunny, forty-five degree day and hard to believe that just a week ago we were digging out from thirty-four inches of wet snow after a late winter storm. As it accumulated, it snapped trees and power lines. By Tuesday morning, we were without electricity, along with over 72,000 others in Vermont.
Our Tesla batteries in the basement kicked in, providing backup power to the house. Our lives were uninterrupted until, thirty-six hours later, the batteries ran out. It was the first time the power had been on long enough to deplete the batteries’ stored power. And honestly, it was our own fault.
The batteries ran out late Wednesday. When the sun set, the outage felt like an adventure we hadn’t been on for a long time. We fed the wood stove, filled the kerosene lantern, and read, both deep into thick novels.
We were snug. With the motors of all the machines in the house off, complete silence descended. Without the internet or phone, we weren’t distracted. Without the usual constellation of LED indicators illuminating the rooms, we were truly in the dark.
Now, just a week later, the sun has condensed what snow hasn’t melted entirely. The power is back, the batteries recharged, and the internet reconnected. I’ve started my leek and onion seeds indoors. The earth turns. Spring approaches. The storm is now another story we tell about living in place.
Hi Deborah, This past week has put me thinking of the past and the storms that we had at that time, my Mother us to tell of when she first came down to this part of the state and some times there would be at least one if not two storms like last week a winter ,
But it was not new to here as she came here from the capital region of Vermont and so
she was of that mode of well it will come each year , would put things a way to work on each year
like make a quilt or cover as some of the older Lady’s call them. I can think of times we would walk down off the hill so she could work on them at the church, and all the way back to get Daddy’s Supper when He came home after work.
Hello Deborah,
You certainly have some dramatic weather there! I start moaning if we have an inch or two of snow!
It’s felt like a long, cold, miserable winter here in Essex and I am so happy that the clocks are going forward tonight so that the evenings will be noticeably lighter. The daffodils and primroses in the garden are a joy and my climbing rose is showing plenty of new growth. Sadly I lost a lovely winter-flowering clematis to a cold snap before Christmas but at least the climbing rose will have more space now.
Our part of the country is very dry in the summer months and will only get more so, and so I am going to try planting my long border with drought-resistant plants like lavenders, sea hollies, nepeta and grasses. The climbing rose should continue to be fine as it puts down deep roots.
Here’s to Spring!
Best regards
Judith
More snow expected today. I’m planting seeds indoors . . .