I was off to a good start this year, posting once a month … and then twice a month. I had so many big plans for that last weekend in March.
On Wednesday the refrigerator died. Time was spent emptying it and relocating cold items to a friend’s nearby and unused refrigerator and freezer. Items needed frequently went into a cooler on the deck. So far, so good.
Friday the ice storm arrived. And it stayed into Saturday. We still had power, but …
Saturday evening the power died.
I will say with absolute certainty that English Breakfast Tea is NOT an adequate substitute for my morning coffee. It was sufficient to ward off a caffeine withdrawal headache, but that was about it. With power off, we were reduced to wearing miner’s headlights (thank you Costco) for lighting. Thankfully we have a gas stove which could be lit manually and a wood stove for heat. I had been reading Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine for several weeks. The power outage allowed me to finish the read.
(The Shock Doctrine is a soul-crushing examination of capitalism, and the role played by the Chicago School of Economics. I was aware of some of the deeds done in the name of “helping” other countries achieve “democracy.” I am still shocked at how much damage was able to be done to South America as well as other countries. I was supportive of the World Monetary Fund. No more.)
Monday morning saw us headed into town for a hot breakfast and coffee. Sweet Maple did not disappoint, and the coffee was delicious. Our devices were dropped at the store for charging purposes. A trip to Canadian Tire for a gas can, followed by a trip to a gas station, retrieval of the recharged devices and we came home.
The rest of Monday was spent in a futile attempt to get a borrowed generator hooked into the electrical panel, turned on and generating power. Two out of three wasn’t bad, but left a lot to be desired. When the power came back on at 8:00pm, I instantly ground coffee for Tuesday morning. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do have priorities!
The neighbour offered his refrigerator to us as a replacement for ours. Great! We got it moved over and filled. It fit pretty well into the available space so that was good. (Note that when doing kitchen renovations planning for the future refrigerator is a decent plan!) The neighbour had another unused refrigerator down in Ajax, and he was arranging to bring it up to the cottage. However, that plan had an issue — see the note above about kitchen renovations. He had built the new kitchen to fit the refrigerator he had at the time. So we then switched refrigerators, again necessitating emptying and reloading, and carried on.
Once the power came on, it did stay. Carnage to the trees up and down the street gave testimony to the damage from the ice storm. There are still piles of debris along the sides of the road. Looking up into the tree canopy, you can see where the branches broke off. This is an older community with a well-established tree population. Many of the trees are 80 years old, and older. I am thinking that as a community we maybe should be thinking of thinning some older trees away and replacing them with young saplings. Not my call to make, but it would certainly seem sensible.
In the meantime, there has been knitting a-plenty. And frogging. Turns out that a sweater worked in the round should have a gauge swatch worked in the round. Fortunately I only had to go back to the armholes on my Ranunculus.
Am I going to show off my knitting here? I am not. Why? Because everything I have finished is either in the bucket for blocking, or stretched out drying on towels. Not their most attractive sides, you see. Stop back and you will see them in their blocked glory!
Today is Election Day in Canada. Keeping my fingers crossed for a good outcome.
Cheers!
