By mid afternoon, all electrical devices in the house were completely dead and the house was silent. We put all the food in the refrigerator outside on the porch, because it was much colder there. When we let the dogs out in the back yard to poop, a large branch fell from one of the Oak trees and almost hit Dash. We were very lucky that the falling tree branch missed him by three feet. The limb was heavy enough that it might have killed him. The dogs only go out on a leash now, so we know exactly where they are at all times.
There wasn't much to do after dark. We didn't even know what was going on. The TV was out, and we couldn't even find much information on a battery radio. There is so much satellite programming now on radio that very few stations even provide their own local news any more. We piled all the dog blankets on the bed and turned in for the night right after a dinner of very cold ham and cheese sandwiches from our outdoor fridge. By morning, it was dangerously cold in the house. It was 20 degrees outside and probably around 34 degrees inside.
Since Janet's downtown office still has power, we packed the dogs and the electronic gear into the car and and headed for someplace where we could all warm up again. We really should have stayed at a hotel last night, but I never dreamed that it would take over two days to get the power restored in sub-freezing weather. Usually I hear the chain saws from the repair crews clearing away fallen trees within hours of an outage. This time, there has been no activity whatsoever.
One of my neighbors went to Northern Tool in his 4-wheel drive truck yesterday and bought a $1000 generator to power a small TV and his wife's hairdryer. Another neighbor got out all his camping sleeping bags and the family slept in sleeping bags. Since we didn't have either sleeping bags or a generator, we were very cold last night.
All is well now though. Both of our cars started this morning and Janet's office is toasty warm. Dot and Dash are sleeping on blankets under Janet's desk. We counted three downed power lines on the way to Janet's office. I have yet to see a repair truck in our neighborhood and all bets are off for full power restoration. You know things are bad when the city canceled tomorrow's Dallas Marathon. Runners seem to love adverse conditions and the marathon is a big deal to the city. I don't think it has ever been canceled before.
Hopefully power will be restored this weekend. When things get back to normal, I'll need to find someone to clear away the fallen trees on the roof and in our yard. I have a feeling that Dallas tree trimmers are already booked solid through next March.
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