"OH BOO" ICE STORMS

in the early winter of, 2001 i believe, we experienced our first ice/snow/freezing rain storms and it was shortly after we began building our cabin. we were framed in and had the housewrap on. oh sure it was cold and miserable, but when you're with people you love more than two-ply toilet paper, it's worth the experience.

nine days of being cabin bound with two small children...no washing machine...christmas approaching rapidly...the shopping's not done...nothing is done...but that's another story.

this story involves a conversation i was having at the school today with another parent as we reflected back on that time.

her husband was in california on business and it was she and her daughter at home all alone and the power went out for three days. meanwhile, he was enjoying himself in shorts somewhere on a beach or some such nonsense.

they had no idea how long they'd be without power so decided to move into the livingroom with the fireplace and play like they were camping out - even cooking in the fireplace on a grate her f-i-l had made just for that purpose. they moved all their camping equipment in there and had the time of their lives.

she said the worst part was not having a bath or shower for three days and when her husband got home she let him know! he asked her why she didn't have a bath for three days and she told him, "because i didn't know if the hot water would work with the power off."

him, "um, honey? we have a gas water heater."

...oh boo...

our bathing activities when we were snow/iced in for nine freakin' days - we melted snow and boiled it on our woodstove - believe me, a five gallon bucket of snow DOES NOT equal five gallons of water.

...oh boo...