That was no fun

The storm that rolled over Marinette County last week brushed by my central Wisconsin home, too.  Snow, sleet and rain pelted our bedroom window, and I watched the tree trunks doing a mad hula dance.  But what we experienced was nothing compared to what slammed Marinette County and others to the east.

I knew both my mom and sister lost power on Tuesday.  I was preparing for an overnight trip to Milwaukee, and assumed it would be a matter of hours before their power was restored.  But Wednesday brought no good news, and on Thursday, right after I returned home, Mike loaded two portable generators in the truck and I headed over.

I started encountering utility crews and toppled trees and poles when I got to Oconto County; and telephone updates from family weren’t encouraging.  On the rural road where my relatives live, I saw a huge limb bowing down the power line.  It had now been two full days since the storm, and it didn’t look like any relief would be coming soon. 

Ah, all the things we take for granted.  You can manage without lights, but if your only source of heat is a furnace that requires power, that becomes the critical issue at this time of year.  Luckily it wasn’t so cold that freezing water pipes were an issue, but my mom and sister couldn’t run their water pumps.  No lights; no water; no heat.

Seeing my mom in her favourite chair, bundled up with gloves on and smothered in blankets was sad.  She is tough, but it was miserable.  There was opportunity to stay elsewhere, and she did one night, but she’s most comfortable at home sweet home and that is where she chose to stay.  Almost as bad was her land line phone outage.  She’s got a wide network of friends and family who stay in touch with her, and chatting with them would have been a great comfort.  (She’s not a cell phone fan.)

It was clear this was a huge outage, and a small rural road isn’t a priority.  I counted 28 utility trucks in the parking lot behind Stephenson Island in Marinette Thursday night; I sent a picture to my family so they’d know help was on the way.  The next morning, one of my nephews sent a photo of the same parking lot, with dozens of crew members milling around getting assignments.  “Looks like someone kicked an ant hill!” he quipped.

But as challenging as this situation was, it was easy to find the good.  A friend brought homemade pea soup that could be warmed on mom’s gas stove.  Good neighbors came with 5-gallon pails of water for toilet flushing and jugs of drinking water, too.  My sister’s sweet pit bull, “Gabby,” was happy to curl up next to grandma to help keep her warm.  A nephew came as soon as I arrived and connected our portable generator so that mom’s furnace would run, and soon the house was comfortable.  It was amazing how all of us cheered up as soon as the furnace fan kicked in.  My nephew taught me how to refuel the generator, and I made a video of his excellent instructions so my sister and I could refer to it.  What a blessing smart phones are at a time like this.

While we waited and hoped, I started the sad process of emptying out the refrigerator and freezer compartment.  It would be risky to eat many of the items, and the smart thing to do was dispose of anything there was a question about.

Friday my brother from Madison arrived with an additional generator and got the water pump and some lights connected, making the home stretch much more tolerable.  My sister was able to take a hot shower before she went to work, another joyful development.

Finally, Saturday morning at 7 a.m. the house came back to life.  All of us were exhausted by that point.  It was a very challenging, 90-hour stretch for Mom and those of us who care about her.

I deeply appreciate the utility crews, working long hours in dangerous conditions, many of them from as far away as Ohio and Indiana.  As far as I know, all the work was completed safely, and from the scope and scale of the outage it is obvious the utility system damage was immense.  Thank goodness for friends and neighbors who checked in with us; offering whatever they had to share.  Thank goodness for our family, especially sister Amy, who worked together to make the best of the situation.  I felt gratitude that stores were open, and we could obtain things we needed to get by.

While none of this was fun, the takeaways I have are that most of us are blessed.  This was an uncomfortable temporary inconvenience for us; this is not how our daily lives are, unlike millions in other countries.  It was also a good reminder of my mantra for what will be a brutal election year:  most people are good people.

I welcome commentary, alternative viewpoints or ideas at this e-mail address:  JanieTMartin@gmail.com 

Janie Thibodeau Martin