So many times before I have heard bad weather is coming in from Oklahoma. It would turn out to be spit. I believed we were going to get some winter weather, so I was thinking spit and a half. I dutifully went to the grocery store, as did the 11,000 citizens of Mountain Home, AR.
Robin is staying with us temporarily until she moves into her apartment February 12. Ruedi is on a bus assignment down in Florida for a few weeks.
As the weather approached, I felt confident that Robin and I would stay comfortable in our Swiss Hideaway. Our driveway is steep and narrow and tends to become quite icy, so we parked Daisy Mae, our suburban, up on top of the driveway.
The ice storm arrived. Limbs broke off in abundance from the weight of the ice. We could hear the snapping of the trees. I had just finished cooking lunch when our power went out. Here's my mistake. The neighbors knew to fill their tubs with water in case there was an outage. I didn't. Everyone here has well water with electrical pumps. Although I had bought drinking water for Robin and me, it did not occur to me that there would be no water in the toilets, no water in the faucets, no water in the showers, no water.
That night Robin and I stayed nice and warm under many blankets in our respective beds. When we awoke in the morning. we could see our breaths, as we talked. The night before Robin and I enjoyed playing cards by candle light. Admittedly, it was not as much fun the next day. No way to cook the food I had bought, our food source was peanut butter and bread. My family all knows I am for adventure. I said to Robin let's go to our refugee camp: my sister's comfortable, warm, home with great tasting Memphis water and restaurants.
Walking up the driveway wasn't too bad; the snow was on top on the ice allowed us to walk up. Daisy Mae was a different matter. She had about one half inch of solid ice on her. It took neighbors with knives to cut through the ice on the door handles and another 45 minutes to melt enough ice to see out. The road was a toboggan run, sheer ice. I put Daisy Mae into gear. Earlier, neighbors of ours, attempting to escape, had driven up a rather steep hill only to slide back down into a ditch.
I told Robin to hang on; with accelerator pressed down, we gave it the old heave, hove.
Daisy Mae isn't Knight Rider, but she charged up the hill gallantly; we were up and over.
It took nine days for the power to be restored. Meanwhile, at the Refugee Camp, Diana and Robin and I struggled which movies we were going to see, which restaurant we were to pick for that evening. And the toilets worked, and the showers worked. What a great adventure...!
