The Milk of Human kindness

So, it's been a wild and wacky couple of days. We had a huge snowstorm (40-50 cm in some places) and lost power for 2.5 days. Not long at all, really, and we were very lucky to have woods stoves to keep warm and to cook on.

This type of thing seems to bring out the best and the WORST in people! Our neighbours were fantastic! Providing us will water fromt their dug well to flush our toilet and wash our dishes. WE, in turn, provided them with camp fuel and hot bannock. Our other neighbours and their two small children came to stay with us as they had only electric heat. The kids had a BLAST together! :) No TV and no tape player meant that they had to get back to basic's to amuse themselves. Much fun was had clearing out my pot cupboards, rearranging the fridge magnets and making artwork ON my coffee table (thankfully w/ washable crayons). There was much snow to cavort around in whilst Dennis shoveled, so, all was right in babyland :). Stores that are normally closed on Sunday opened up and were taking cash for provisions. If you didnt' have cash, most just asked that you make a list of what you'd taken and come back later to pay. Seriously! They didn't ask for names or addresses, just that you come back on your honour.

On the flip side, an angry woman who was w/o power, saw fit to barg in on a legislative meeting that was being televised (in a search for the Premier) to vent her spleen. WHINER! Yeah, it sucked, and yeah, it probably shouldn't have happened, but suck it up and do what needs doing! When everything is taken care of and everyone has power and is warm and fed and in their own homes again, then you can find the proper scapegoats and chew them out. Now is the time to band together and spend your time regrouping. Those poor linesmen out there in subzero temperatures, in the middle of nowhere, around the clock have my complete respect and gratitude! I wouldn't wanna be up a pole in the pitch black playing with millions of volts of electricity! My hat's off to them!

I, on the other hand, spent most of my waking hours in the kitchen! Cooking, washing dishes, melting snow to aid in our water supply. There's lots more work to do when one has no power! It's was actually kinda nice tho. I enjoyed cooking over my wood stove. Everything had to be made from scratch, of course, and took much longer to prepare and cook, but I didn't have to go into work and I didn't get bored. I kinda felt a little like 'Ma Ingles' except that there were no cows to milk or chickens to feed.

Ya, it was fun, but I'm very happy to be back in the land of internet access and hot showers.