Snow started on Friday, February 12th (2021) and it was a welcome break. My boys and I went sledding down our steep drive:
But when the power went out later that night and the internet went down, the gravity of the winter storm hit home. Freezing rain and ice wrecked the transmission lines and we were fortunate to wake up Saturday with power. But that was short-lived.
We lost power again mid-day Saturday and had no certainty as to when it would be restored.
We discovered that a blown fuse prevented our natural gas insert from operating in emergency mode and I had only a decorative amount of firewood – just a few hours of atmosphere and heat before everyone trundled to bed by 9 PM to stay warm. The house got down to the 50s.
No power, no heat, no internet. The lack of internet was the hardest loss to suffer. The fragility of the grid was a great reminder that a resilient power plan requires multiple fuel sources. We have a natural gas stove and water heater, so we never lost the ability to cook or have hot water – and now with the gas fireplace insert working on its battery back-up we should have some reliable heat.
Protective Arts 