Stormy Weather

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Sunday night, as you might have heard, we had a pretty severe storm in this part of the country. (One of several places.) As the storm rolled in, Deeky, Iain, and I stood on our front porch, watching the clouds roll in, faster than any of us had ever seen clouds move. The light grew ominous, and, in one giant blast, the skies opened and a gush of rain came down so furiously that we were drenched on our covered porch.

The electricity flickered on and off a few times, and then it went out permanently. In the end, nearly 7,000 residents in our town lost power for at least 12 hours. Flash floods closed roads; the emergency room was so full that people were being directed to another hospital; and trees were toppled all over the place. A huge branch from our neighbor's tree ended up in our yard, taking down power lines with it and coming to rest atop one of our trees.

image of a huge downed branch in our yard, lying against one of our trees, tangled with downed wires

Because the electrical wires are all tangled up in it, and because it's huge as fuck, we have to wait for the city to deal with it. Which may be awhile. So it's still there.

Fortunately, we got power back early the next day, but we spent my birthday evening by candlelight.

image of candles lit in a dark Shakes Manor

Which was fine, since I'd celebrated my birthday the night before in spectacular fashion. In the near-darkness, we regaled each other with stories of losing our virginity, embarrassing moments, dealbreakers, and other storm-appropriate topics to make each other laugh.

image of my face lit my candlelit in an otherwise dark room
Scaramouche, Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandango?

And we ate soup in the dark, care of Chef Iain and a still-working gas stovetop. (Photo shared with Deeky's permission.)

image of Deeky eating soup by candlelight in an otherwise dark room
A romantic dinner by candlelight.

All in all, we were pretty lucky. No flooding, no major damage, and the power came back more quickly than was first expected.

And excellent company to weather the storm.

I mean, if you've got to be stuck in your house in the dark while a storm rages outside, on your birthday or any other day, I highly recommend doing it in the company of Iain McEwan and Deeky W. Gashlycrumb.

How'd everyone else fare?
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