We finally got our power back on Friday night about 6 pm! I have tons of emails to read too and noticed that alot of friends were worried when I hadn't blogged. Sorry, but I had no control over that.
I'm feeling a lot better. I still have these 'pain surges'....there are two spots and they aren't bad at all...I get them when I'm doing a little too much...like yesterday when the power went back on. I immediately went and cleaned three bathrooms! They were horrible! I thought I smelled but those toilets were really gross!
Since Monday I am now able to 'sleep in a lying down position'...finally! I still keep a small pillow at my side which helps. I'm now sleeping on my side - but am more comfortable on my back. I'm also sleeping for longer periods of time! Only got up twice the past two nights!
I am much more comfortable just wearing a dress....and I didn't realize how many pj shirts I had. I wore them all week! The undergarments are a bit uncomfortable. This will be interesting once I begin cutting hair....I definitely need undergarments on!
So, you can stop reading now if you'd like...because I'm just going to vent....about our power going out with Irene.....
Last Saturday - the 27th of August....great day - anticipation of Irene was good. It didn't look as if she was going to be a threat to us out here on the western part of NJ. Charlie and Paul went food shopping and I did what I've done...the laundry and some other 'light' stuff. The wind was picking up and it began raining later in the day. I was actually planning on going to the A&P with Paul but when the rain began - I figured I'd stay home. I did give them my list....not to complain...they still forgot some of the things on there even though Paul said I didn't write them down...he maybe right - thinking that I was going I may not have added 'chocolate and cookies' to my list.
Sunday - must have been about 5 am....everything went totally black! I remember going to the bathroom about 4 and seeing the time on the clock....It was raining hard outside and still pretty windy. Thinking that the power would only be out a short time was really no big deal. Although that's the problem up here in the country. All my friends that share this with me understand completely...you guys that have running water even when the power goes out have absolutely no idea how uncomfortable this feeling is!
I feel badly complaining about this 'minor' situation when I finally got to watch TV and saw the devastation that some others have had with Irene. I should really count my blessings. Our situation was just 'uncomfortable'. The worst thing is when power goes out - you never know how long it will be!
Without water you have no idea how uncomfortable this is....you can't wash your hands or body, can't flush the toilets, or even take a shower. You have to remember how many bottles of water you have - even the dogs need water! You have no electric to keep your refrigerator and freezes cold and can't do laundry. You are living the life of a camper!!! All the comforts of home but no luxuries!
We do/did have a generator that ran for 1 hour at a time. A pull generator...something that I was never able to start....that pull cord was so long! We ran our refrigerator and freezer on it as well as two lights and a portable DVD player. That's it! We still had our land line and thank goodness we have two 'old fashioned' telephones - cordless don't work without electric! Food...Paul and Charlie used the outside grill - no microwave....The guys were out a lot of times and picked up pizza or some other food.
Our neighbor works at Tractor Supply in Blairstown and is always asking if we need anything there. They have problems with getting water in their basement so they really need a generator to keep the sump pump running to keep the water out. Joni (our neighbor) had put aside another - large - generator for herself thinking that her original might die on her because it was running so long! Well, our tiny generator began to show problems of running too long...Thank God for Joni....the one she had put aside - we bought! Now we have this great generator that - once hooked up to our circuit breakers will run our whole house - including the well!!! Of course with this outage - no electricians were available. This will be done!!! We will eventually get an electrician here and wire this generator to our house so all we have to do is flip a switch and we'll be comfortable!!!! It even runs for 8 hours at a time. Once we hooked this up we then had a total of 4 lamps and finally got one of our TVs running - this was on Thursday.
Now you can laugh...one of my soaps is going off the air and these are the last few episodes...I was upset that I was missing them...I know, I'm terrible! I finally got to watch them on Thursday and I know I missed alot....they were bringing back actors that left the show and the shows were fun to see with these actors that gave gone.
I also read books. I read a total of 4 books! I began reading them one day and finished the next! They were good reading too! I can't remember the last time I actually sat and read a book - one book!
Charlie is a volunteer fireman and was busy on Sunday and Monday. They were pumping out basements in Green Township and Frelinghuysen too. Charlie was so busy! With working at Lowe's then with the fire department - thank goodness he has all this energy!!! Paul was a help too. We'd have to bring in water from the 'top' of our swimming pool - we never opened it so we were only able to get the water off the cover - to fill the back of the toilets with water in order to flush them. This was one thing I was not able to do. Doctors order - no heavy lifting - and those buckets were heavy!!! Paul was totally frustrated as he did this while Charlie was out helping others. Paul went to his girlfriends house - which they had power and stayed there a day or maybe two. He went to the city one day - and upset when he wasn't able to go - having the NJ transit trains still down....but he was lucky enough to be able to shower! He even went to his gym to work out and shower too! Again, our neighbor has their pool open and both Charlie and Paul took a refreshing dip a few times....no way I was going there! Even though my stitches are closed - I didn't want to take any chances...I'd rather smell!
To make a long story shorter....I cleaned myself up with water from a water bottle and paper towels...not the greatest feeling. Two days in - I was so frustrated only being able to use Purell to clean my hands...I started using the water bottle to wash my hands...a little soap and the entire bottle of water to rinse worked rather well.
Now, to get an electrician here to hook up our generator is the next step to being comfortable with our next power outage. I asked Charlie that we really should do this ASAP - this is only the beginning of hurricane season up here.
Again, I have to count our blessings that the only problem we had was no electric. I pray that all the people that have no homes to go back to or homes that are flooded and will grow green mold will eventually find some comfort.
Our situation was minor compared to the rest of our state.
I ended up doing four laundry washes last night and the last one is still in the clothes dryer. The dishwasher was on when I went to bed. I have a few chores to do. I'm also going to try to take the sheets off my bed. With Charlie working - he may have to help put them back on. Yesterday I used the vacuum and when I was done...I felt a little more pain in my belly area...I think I did too much - with the cleaning of the bathrooms and the vacuuming...so I sat and finished my 'last' book. I was still doing the laundry - but that was nothing...I had already sorted it.
That's the story and I'm sure the rest of my friends can tell you pretty much the same story about living in the country without the things we take for granted.
Thank you God for keeping us safe.
