February of 2010 was a mensis horrendus, as Queen Elizabeth might say.  February is always a mensis horrendus but this one seemed more horrendous than usual. A friend died – see the next post – and my wife adopted an elephant named Makena, the two events being completely unrelated. Fortunately, Makena lives in Kenya because if she were on this continent she would be permanently ensconced in our basement; my wife would have it no other way.

Makena

Also during this cursed month we were slammed with two blizzards within three days of one another. The first deposited almost three feet of snow on the ground (adding to the December snow – see previous post- which was still around) and the second added a vicious wind along with another six inches of the white stuff. For hours, we could hear large branches falling off the trees. Three weeks later, a plow was still snuffling up and down our street. There was no place to put the snow so finally they brought in big trucks and took it someplace else, probably to dump on people’s houses who owed the County money.

When our power went out as it did for about 100,000 other households in the Washington area we found a.) a flashlight with dead batteries b.) a single candle stub left over from a dinner party c.) No matches or lighter to light the candle with (another reason I should have continued to smoke) d.) No way to light gas stove burners because they have electric ignition e.) No way to light the gas oven for heat as it only ignites via an electric ‘glow bar”. We couldn’t go to a neighbor for help; the snow was too deep even for crawling. I tried to remember TV survival shows I watched when half-asleep but most were about eating beetles when you were lost in the jungle. There weren’t any about surviving in a suburb.  So there was only one recourse: to kiss our dogs goodbye and stick our heads in the oven.  Fortunately at that point the electricity returned.

Amazon reported being swamped with orders for emergency kits. I jumped into the swamp. I am now ready for a power outage lasting up to twenty years, in other words long after my own personal energy source will most likely disappear.

To illustrate diametrically opposite attitudes towards snow:

The cup half full: ( my wife, Virginia)

The cup definitely empty ( me)