Hurricane Vermont

Two days ago we had this massive storm roll in, bringing with it what was described as 60 mph winds, and it was pretty amazing stuff, not necessarily in a good way. It felt like a hurricane, and I was expecting at least one or two the massive pines to come down, but they stood their ground. A testament to fine construction. While we didn't get any snow, it rained a lot and was kind of scary.

Of course, we lost electricity early in the AM while we were sleeping and carried over until daylight. It was to be expected, and something we've dealt with a lot in the past, so we know what to do. I.e., don't flush the toilets. The hardest part is the loss of water. With dishes piling up and the inability to use the bathroom (along with some of us needing to use it bad), we decided to hit the big city and spend the day in Hanover.

Our plan was to go the dump, have pizza in town, go to the Montshire, then to the library, then to meet mom at Boloco, our favorite eatery in town. Well, right before we had our foot out the door, the electricity went back on. Hallelujah! I ran into the bathroom and turned on the water, and you know what? Nothing.

Houston, we have a problem.

We knew better than to use the water because it depletes the pressure tank, thus rendering it idle. We learned the hard way the first year we moved here than you don't use the water in the event of a power outage. The first time we did this, MG walked us through the protocol, and it was not a simple process. There were little fine tuned considerations that were critical and if they weren't done, then the tank wouldn't prime properly.

Of course, I'd forgotten all of them. It was three years ago, after all, so I couldn't remember what to do. I was clearly doing something wrong, because it wasn't working, and we had to go. The kids were waiting in the car.

I decided that it would have to wait. I hopped in the car and we left, with the dilemma weighing heavily on my mind. How were we going to use the bathroom when we got home? How were going to shower? How were we going to make Ovaltine?

I never had a chance to research the problem on the web, and when we met mom for dinner, I told her the problem, thus ruining our collective meal. We sat and ate in somber silence, but weren't depressed enough to pass up on a trip the bookstore for cocoas and cake.

To be continued. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Fred Green for the pic.