I don’t know what they’re gong to call what happened this week, but “It snowed,” isn’t going to be enough.

We woke up Monday morning to a significant amount of snow on the ground. An unusual amount of snow. And no power inside the house. I bundled up in a lightweight black knit shirt, a heavyweight black dress, a black sweater and another, heavier black sweater, and black leggings. And my shoes. And my pashmina wrapped around my head and covering my nose.

I was determined to finish Hamilton. It was due that day, and I didn’t have any more renewals. When the sun hit the front of the house, I opened the blinds, and I was quite cozy, sitting on my bed, reading away. The sun set, and we still didn’t have any power. But I did finish Hamilton!

We’re fortunate that, when my parents built this house, they chose gas as an energy source. The stove’s burners have an electronic ignition, which of course didn’t work. But we were able to turn on the burners and light the gas to make a flame. We could heat water for tea. I could scramble an egg in a skillet. David could heat up soup. The oven, while also gas powered, could not be lit. So, no baking. But most importantly, the hot water heater was working. We could wash out hands, wash a few dishes and silverware. It was more than I thought we could have expected. And the heating system didn’t work, so we were pretty chilly.

We have a lamp in the bedroom, and I suggested to David that he turn on the lamp, so we would know when the power came back on. Even if it had come on in the middle of the night, I’d have been glad to know that the power was back. It didn’t.

David pulled more blankets and quilts out of the cedar chest and spread them on the bed. I slept pretty well, except for a couple of trips to the bathroom. I was as quick as I could be, but it was pretty miserable, and took a while to warm back up.

Tuesday was exactly the same. I had finished Hamilton and read another Hamilton book (a lovely, lavishly illustrated book that has heavy pages, illustrations on every page, and four, three-page foldouts, with maps and drawings). We did leave the house in the afternoon, to go return the books. There’s a book drop at the back of the library. It’s automatic. You press a green button and a door opens. You can put the book in, and a conveyor belt pulls your book into the library, automatically scanning the book. When the power is on. Which it wasn’t.

We drove around to the front of the library where there’s a regular slot with a door, and you can just shove the books in. We did that, then we noticed that the Target parking lot had lots of cars, and the lights were on. And we said,”Target has power?” Apparently, they did, and we went to Target. We spent an hour or so doing a little shopping, but mostly walking around and being warm.

We went home, and I bundled up in bed under layers and layers of blankets. The lamp never came on.

Wednesday morning, I wanted a nice, hot bath. Taking a shower in the smaller bathroom seemed daunting. We did have hot water and that would be great. Until I had to step out of the shower into the bathroom itself, where the temperature was maybe 20 degrees. I thought a bath would be a better choice.The hot, hot water would help raise the temperature in the room. So when I got out of the tub, the room wold be nice and warm.

I enjoyed the tub for quite a while, often replenishing the cooling water with additional hot, hot water. But when I did get out, the room was still just as frigid as when I’d gotten in. Brrrrr. I put on nice, fresh, clean, warm clothes, and we drove carefully, over to David’s office, to check on things there. It was fine there. It has heat, lights, and power.

All our pillows and blankets to take for our over night stays.

I charged up my phone. I called my sister. I called Jeremy, who said, “Don’t stay in the house with no power at all! Spend the night in Dad’s office!” And that sounded like a plan.

We went back home, checked the lamp to see if the power had come back on, and gathered up pillows and blankets and quilts, and the blow up mattress that Peter sleeps on when he comes. We did make another trip home, later, just to be sure that the power hadn’t suddenly come on. It hadn’t. David slept on a sofa in the library, in his sleeping bag. I slept on the blow up mattress, which deflated as the night wore on. Still, I had the best night’s sleep I’d had in a few days.

Thursday, we both woke up feeling better than we had in days.

David got lots of work done. I read some of Aaron Burr’s letters in a two volume set that David had purchased for the library a few years earlier. I found a letter that said: “Hamilton is desperately searching for someone to run against A.B.” (i.e. Aaron Burr)

Mid-day, David left to check on the house. I stayed and read. When he returned, a couple of hours later, he said, “Let’s go home.” The heater was running! The house was warm! The power was back!

“Was the lamp on?” I asked. It was.

We had packed up the pillows and blankets, just in case. We put them in the car and hurried back home. The roads were much less slippery and much less covered with ice and snow. It looked like spring. Well, sort of.

Matthew 25:40 (The Message Translation)

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

I have some important work to do in the next day or two. We easily withstood the difficulties of the past few days. I know there are scores of folks who did not. I don’t know those men, women, and families. But I know people who do know them. And I will ask for suggestions about how I can make their lives a little easier in the next few days.