It came in February but it was a spring snow. About two feet of heavy wet snow that weighed down branches of trees, taking out power lines, and was beyond the capability of ordinary snow plows. The power was out for four days and we were snowbound for three. Many were out for longer.We lost limbs from the oak tree near the pool, a red maple near the garden and an enormous lower limb off one of the big sugar maples. Certainly winter hasn't finished. We kept the house warm with the woodstove and the sap boiling on the gas burners, melted snow for the toilets and tried to knit and read by candlelight at night. The talk all over town was how long you were out of power and whether you had a generator. The ones who didn't have a generator or a woodstove went to motels when they got plowed out. They slept with hats on and blankets piled high on the bed. It wasn't even that cold out- just below freezing at night and high 30's during the day.
I thought a lot about how everyone at one time lived this way and many still do. If it was your reality, you would change things- get everything done during sunlight, rise with the sun and sleep when it went down. You would live in a smaller house and sleep nearer the heat source. Since it was not our reality, everything was harder and we just waited for it to be over to return to our empowered lifestyle.
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