Though this was a few days ago, I figured I’d give an update.
There was a big snowstorm that blew through here Friday through Wednesday…well more than one storm, but all consecutively. We got dumped on throughout the weekend and into the beginning of the week. Though the snow is awesome, and I’ve been waiting for it since winter started, the power outages aren’t so fun. We lost power Monday evening about 6:40…right as I was getting dinner done. Twenty more minutes and dinner would have been served. Then out go the lights, the stove…everything. We still had the propane camping stove and lanturn in the house from the last time the power went out, so I got those going so I could finish dinner.
We still don’t have a stockpile of firewood (so far we’ve mostly relied on the kerosene heater to get us through the cold months), and so having used all the scraps of wood last time the power went out, we didn’t have anything. The house stayed pretty warm until later in the night…and we bundled up in sweats, blankets and sleeping bags. We all slept out in the living room again, to keep what heat we produced concentrated in one area. The lights had flickered a few times right around midnight Tuesday…but never came back on.

Tuesday dawned and still no power. The house was a lot colder than the night before, so we decided to drive into town to get some starter logs to get a fire going with. Since it was early…about 7ish, we also decided on some breakfast. The drive into town was so pretty…the sun was peeking from behind the clouds and everything sparkled white. My camera battery had died a couple nights before, so unfortunetly I couldn’t get any pictures.
When we got into town, we were surprised to find that there was no power there, either. Jay used to work at the casino in town, so he knew they would have a back-up generator going…so we ate breakfast there…and got gas there, as it was the only working gas station in town (so of course, the whole town was there). We then stopped off at WalMart, hoping they would have a generator going, but no such luck. Off to Safeway…they did have a generator going…and a few boxes of starter logs left. We picked up what we needed, and headed home…running into the next storm the further we got up the mountain…and the closer to home.
While in town, we had heard rumors flying that the power should be back on by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. No such luck. Around 4:30ish the lights did the flickering thing again…on, off, on, off…until around 5, then they finally stayed on for good. That is, until about 9 that night…then they went off again until just after 10:30.

Now the storms have pretty much subsided, though we got some snow flurries all throughout Wednesday and some lingering through Thursday, and the power has managed to stay on (knock on wood). We have about 3 feet of snow on the ground, and it’s icy-cold out. The boys and I have been out in it a few times, running around and playing with the doggies. This is what we’ve been waiting for all winter…minus the power outages, of course.