Winter Wimp’s Whine

               ( My house in the dead of winter... emphasis on dead!)
 

3/2/10

Well folks, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to raise this subject this year. If winter had just shown a tad of mercy I might have made it through to Spring without feeling the need to indulge in a major rant on the season of my discontent, to paraphrase the Bard of Avon.

But oh no, winter had to flex its icy biceps with a freak storm that started six nights ago with a power outage at around 9pm. The weather folks called it a “Snowacaine” because the storm boasted 90 mile an hour winds too. So I resignedly went to bed hoping for the best, meaning power restored by morning.

Well, I awoke to no power. That wouldn’t have been so bad maybe, but add the insane rain that turned my basement into a wading pool. (I have a pump that usually spares me this problem, but there is one catch… it requires electricity.) Oh, and did I forget to mention the two huge pine trees that crashed into my house in the night? Looks like the house won that fight, but I won’t know for sure until I pay some handyman to remove the tree parts on my roof and the huge fallen trees in my yard.

Let’s add the expense of four nights in a hotel room. (I don’t do well when there is no running water, so I abandon ship pdq if the electric company says it will be "days" before power is restored.) Once I retire in 5 years or so I do plan to move somewhere away from winter, but for now I am stuck. I already have cabin fever by November. I hate winter with a fearsome loathing that deepens with each passing year. How I ended up in the Northeast and why I am still here will be a subject for some future blogs perhaps.

When my husband was alive we often talked about getting a generator but never did. I wouldn’t know how to run one anyway, and it isn’t really something I want to deal with at this point in my life. So my youngest daughter and I are holed up at the hotel and she tries to cheer me up. “Mom,” she proclaims, “now that I have a full time job I am going to save my money and buy us a generator.”

I tell her that is a fine and generous thought. I also tell her that if she does get a generator for the house it will be totally and utterly her responsibility because this old dog most emphatically does not want to learn the new trick… “generator”! She protests and says I will have to learn about it too because, “What will you do if I am not home and the power goes out?”

I reply? “If that happens darling, I will do what I know how to do…call a hotel!!”

In winter Mother Nature divides us into two groups here in NH, winter warriors and winter wimps.I know where I belong in that scheme.

So here is what I think. While I am all for the pursuit of knowledge, it is also important to know your limitations and stick to what you know. Oh… and winter sucks!!!