Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | by nathan

Our Own Little Apocalypse

This is a photo of the main street in my neighborhood after this weekend’s ice storm. It’s very sad to see, because one of the most beautiful and endearing things about our neighborhood is the trees, which form a kind of canopy over the main road, setting the area apart visually from a lot of the suburban neighborhoods which have cleared out all their old-growth trees and topsoil in favor of building new homes.

The past 48 hours have been a bit like living in the 19th century for us. Brian and I were both given Monday off work because of dangerous road conditions, and, wanting to try to be productive, I thought for awhile about all the things I’d been wanting to accomplish around the house. I decided that I would thoroughly clean and reorganize the kitchen, and set about my task, listening to an audiobook while I worked. I finished just about the time the power blinked off.

Heat’s never a problem for us in the winter (and thank you to all the people who offered us a place to stay!). We have a kerosene heater, the kind you can get at any home-improvement store like Home Depot or Lowe’s, and which warms our house more efficiently even than our CH&A:

Our house is old and drafty, so ventilation doesn’t prove to be a problem, though running one of these things inside for a really long time is probably not the best idea ever. Still, it did the trick; if anything, it did it too well, as I was a bit toasty last night.

Our entire neighborhood was out of power at that point, and so we accepted our friends the Flynns’ invitation to come over to their house for chili, beer, and a movie. We brought Sam with us, because he gets on well with their dog, and hung out with them until after 10. When we got home I ran a hot bath - we still had hot water - and read for awhile by candlelight.

Brian had to work yesterday, but my office had no heat or power, and so I stayed home again, entertaining the dog, who was growing restless and anxious. He could tell something was going on, but not what that something was, and it was clearly making him a little crazy. I sat down at my desk and did some writing, including several pages of notes for the novel, a journal entry and two letters, then addressed Christmas cards. It felt good to be productive, but soon I had cabin fever as bad as Sam, and I was missing the 21st century, so I loaded us up in the car and headed for the Flynns’ house once more.

We talked, and ate more chili, drank beer, and watched episodes of Weeds on Laurie’s computer. We laughed at the dogs’ antics and talked about our recent personal dramas and triumphs. Brian came over after work and we all hung out until he and I were both almost too tired to drive home.

I’m back at work today. We still have no power, and the neighborhood still looks like a war zone, and I’m struggling to remember exactly what it is I do for work, because after four days off - this is my FOURTH abbreviated week in a row, now - I’m a little fuzzy on the details. Something with writing? Is it a newspaper I work for? No, that’s not right. Don’t tell me; I’ll get there.

All this is funny because less than a week ago Brian and I had a discussion about how we spend too much time with The Technology, about how we don’t, say, have enough dinners at our dining room table, or just sit and talk with our friends enough, and this loss of power has forced us to do exactly that. Though I gotta say, I’m really hoping the lights come back on sometime today. It’s one thing to have no power when all you have to do is stay home and play with the dog. It’s quite another to have to go to a lit, internetted, heated office all day, only to come home to the Amish life.