Friday, September 19, 2008

I don’t like IKE

Ok so I’m going on the sixth day without power at home. I’m getting frustrated but there is NOTHING I can do about it and there isn’t anyone to blame.

I know the AEP crews are working day and night. I am very thankful for their hard work. Most of all, I’m thankful for the mild weather. The days are warm and the nights are cool.

It just so happens, prior to the storm weekend, I was out of town several weekends in a row. So how does that pertain? Well, I hadn’t cleaned the house or done laundry for over a month. That means no underwear and tumbleweeds of animal hair.

Sunday, I was right in the midst of cleaning and doing laundry when Ike started knocking. He wanted my attention so badly; he threw a tree on my house and took my electricity ransom. OK, I get it—you are a powerful storm. I’ll give you the respect you are looking for and walk around the neighborhood checking out the damage.

So that’s how my house was left—with a tree on it, laundry in the washing machine, and cleaning supplies all over the house. I didn’t think this was that big a deal, a couple days and I could resume.

Monday was an adventure – Work had power, so I had to get there like all is normal. It gave me an opportunity to check out the news, and see how widespread the damage was. It really WAS widespread.

Fiancé didn’t have power at work but they made him come in to FILE papers – are you kidding me? On the way home, get ice and find batteries for flashlights. At home, get out the propane lantern, grill out any food that will spoil, play scrabble by candlelight.

Tuesday was about ingenuity – I exercise near work, so luckily there was power. I got up early to workout; my reward was power. I got to use a hairdryer and enough light to put makeup on. At work – power up the laptop that can run about 1.5 hours of DVDs for entertainment.

On the way home—discovering what restaurants were open for food. If they were open, it was due to generators.

Fiancé tried hooking up a converter to the car for some power. When that didn’t work, he ran an extension cord across the street to the neighbor that has a generator, classy. Didn’t really work though, every time a car ran over it, it came unplugged.

Wednesday my frustration was mounting. This was the day that I checked the news at work to read AEP projected our power would be restored on Saturday. This meant no more hurrying home with hope that a light switch would work.

This was also the day I showed up to work and asked if everyone else’s power had been restored – it had. I trudged home and fished out all the clothes from the washing machine—Ike stopped it in the middle of the rinse cycle. It looked like cotton soup.

By Thursday, Fiancé and I had been at each other’s throats. He would tell you it was all me; but I’m too mad at him to take responsibility. Luckily on Thursday I had dinner with the girls. Are you reading between the lines here that EVERYPLACE in the city has power except me. Well it was good to get out and not be sitting in the dark. I came home and argued some more with the Fiancé—the adventure is over.

It’s Friday, and I’m tired of this. I need clean clothes. I’d like to cook. I need to clean out the rotten refrigerator. The dishwasher is starting to smell. The clothes from he strained cotton soup are getting moldy.

I have an overwhelming pessimistic feeling that power will come on Saturday. Which means my weekend will be obligated to cleaning the reminents of Hurricane Ike INSIDE my house.

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