october snow

We are used to pretty much any type of crazy weather in New England, but were completely unprepared for a snow storm in October. We spent last Saturday getting ready for the storm, and spent the next three days without power or water. Saturday morning I took Celia with me to get our grocery shopping done, and then Chris went out to get a snow blower because we hadn't gotten one since moving. He barely got one before they sold out. Then as the storm began, the poor guy spent the afternoon in the freezing rain getting firewood ready and clearing our outdoor stuff from the yard. Never would have thought this would be necessary so early in the season. Our lights started flickering in the late afternoon so I decided to make dinner early before we lost power. Sure enough, we were just finishing dinner when the power went out. We got the generator, candles, lanterns, and everything else set up, and the next three days were spent just keeping the wood stove going so the house wouldn't get too cold and keeping the generator running so we wouldn't lose all of our food. The most difficult part of losing power is not having any running water. We'll be keeping a large stash of water in the basement for the winter, along with lots of extra batteries.

So, Saturday afternoon we had this:

For some reason this immediately made me think of the lamp post from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

And on Sunday morning, we woke to very heavy, wet snow with a lot of damage to trees. Our yard is still a mess, with many trees snapped in half with the top halves fallen from the weight of the snow on the leafy branches. Chris spent the whole day clearing snow, cutting and clearing trees with neighbors, and keeping the generator gassed up (which involved driving 2 towns over to find an open gas station, with the chainsaw in the back of the car so he could stop and help clear branches on the way- New England living at its finest). Meanwhile, we kept Pita busy. It wasn't safe to play outside because of all the heavy snow falling from trees and branches still coming down. Plus, we hadn't even gotten her any snow clothes yet.

She loved "cooking" with snow in her kitchen,

Playing with flashlights,

And making a jack-o-lantern. The best part was playing with the gooky insides of the pumpkin.

Making a jack-o-lantern with snow outside was a bit odd. We also still took Pita trick-or-treating on Monday night. We went to our old neighborhood to trick-or-treat because there was power there, and there are so many places to go that are close together. I didn't get any pictures, but she loved trick-or-treating and she was the cutest thing to watch.

Now that the power's back on we've just been getting back to our normal routine, and I'll spend this afternoon getting things put away and doing some cleaning. We also have a renewed appreciation for electricity, heat, and running water. What a luxury it is to have them.