Toto I want to go home!!

I am still here!
Yes, I bet you thought I packed up and headed back to the city.....trust me I thought about it! Many, many times over this week!
I need a bumper sticker that says I survived the storm
 No I am not talking about a little wind and some heavy rain I am talking about rain that feels like bullets and wind so bad that it ripped the trees right out of the ground, by their roots!
Where was I in this crazy weather, well get comfy, because I am going to tell you!

I woke to a crazy roar, which startled me so bad I pushed dear husband soundly out of bed, and onto the floor. He was not too impresses as he has deep seeded issues with falling out of beds…don’t ask!

Then the power flickers and my only thought was to save my massage chair, I mean really what is more important, a good rub down or the computer…OK it’s a toss up??

I run downstairs to see what was up, and find trees swaying fiercely all around us, yes sir it was a sight. My dear husband the proven workaholic he is proceeds to tell me he has better get off to work, …and leaves. No surprise there.
I was surprised however when he comes on back only minutes after he had left.
Seems a tree had fallen on both exits to our road and he could not leave, ah ha! I get a day with the honey, and was feeling pretty happy, that is until I realized I had to take the children to the bus stop through the forest…hmmm.

So I leave with my kids and new dog, and the door nearly gets ripped off its hinges as I open it. As we are running through the forest I am thinking it a very bad decision indeed as trees stared to fall around us and power lines come down as well.

I kind of feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ…except Toto is a big black dog, who is scared of noise, and.. OK..well forget it.
We scoot our wet bodies just as fast as a startled dog and two kids can scurry, up through the forest to the main road, and wait…and wait…wind whipping around us, soaking us to the bone, me looking frightfully at the trees.  Son says we should go, and I say (after 20 minutes) “OK if the bus doesn’t come by the time I count to 50 we can leave”, I count…very slowly…The bus never shows up. School was canceled, how was I to know?  The power was off, I couldn't check the internet?

We arrive safely home, and I settle into cleaning, as I pass the kitchen I witness two trees fall right out side our window, did you know trees fall really slowly, but make quite a crash as they land?
So the next days pass rather crazily because if you don’t have power you don’t have, running water, flushing toilets, light, stove, fridge, freezer, computer, and we didn’t have a phone either because all our lines to our house went down with a tree.

Dear husband escapes just as soon as the trees were cleared. (after a game of Risk with the kids)

Let me tell you I learned a lot about life in those long days, here is what I learned.

1)      I am not really a fan of camping in my own home, it seems fun if you are pretending in a tent on a camp ground, you know you can really just drive down the road and get what ever you need.

2)      I don’t like hauling water up from the river, I don’t care how cute Little House on The Prairie made it sound.. They lied!!

3)      I don’t like spending that much time with my family; they fight, bicker, and are generally miserable without worldly distractions.

4)      Collecting rain water is quite easy, and better than river water.

5)      The house looks cleaner in candle light, I also found that I look better as well !

6)      Showers are nice, they make you clean.

7)      Cooking in the fireplace takes a long time, and the results get little thanks.

8)      Finding the Coleman stove I almost got rid of when I moved was such a blessing.

9)      When kids pick up power lines that are just lying around your yard, to thank your God above that this little one just loves to wear rubber boots!

10)  And finally cabin fever is a very real infliction, not to be messed with.

So in hind sight I will always fill my bathtub at the first sound of a storm, and enjoy the trees that are left standing, until the next storm that is.

Toto I want to go home…..