I usually use my other blog (Take Another Step – Life With DC) for posts that use my Facebook/Twitter page posts, but I decided to use them here since most of it has already been written and truth be told, it is easier.

On Tuesday, August 4th we were hit with tropical storm Isaias.

After teasing us for a couple of hours with the power going out and coming back and going out again… it went for good.

Originally the power company estimated that we would have the power back by 6:00 PM that day.

6:00 PM came and went and the estimation was upgraded (or downgraded) to 3:00 AM.

“I’m waiting. I’m waiting for the power back on. I’m waiting. I’m waiting. I’m waiting for the storm is passed. I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m waiting”
Repeat 786 times.

I really do not have to go into detail about how “well” DC was taking all of this, but I figured if I could just get him to go to sleep, there would be power in the morning – and everything would be fine.

DC is sleeping. Glad I had some battery left on my tablet. Hoping there’s power by morning.
#LALaw Reunion (Stars In The House – LA Law Reunion)

NOT!

Day 2:

4:51 AM – Still No Power:

I’m still awake …
it’s bad enough not sleeping on a regular night when I can at least have the TV on, but this is excruciating.
(Fortunately, Dale is sleeping) 

DC sleeping did not last very long. Since the pandemic began, DC has been sleeping later and later everyday, but this did not carry over on this day. He was up at 5:30 AM, just as I was finally falling asleep.

Did I mention the heatwave? No?

We were also in the midst of a heatwave.

Doug, convinced that the power would be back the next day brought up going to a hotel because by lunchtime not only did we not have power (or water because we have a well – but we did have some water for some reason and I have not been able to determine why. So let’s adjust that to we had water for the moment, but had no idea how long it would last), no phone, no internet but we also lost cell service. What would I do if something happened and I couldn’t call the police, fire or an ambulance?

Also 95% of the town and surrounding area was out, so there was really no place to go to get anything, close by.

DC was not all that thrilled about going to a hotel. Normally he loves nothing better, but just the thought of the power being off at home made everything different for him.

Now, the last thing I wanted to do was to go to a hotel. I mean besides a few trips to a restaurant with outdoor seating and walking on the trails, we have not been anywhere throughout this pandemic. Doug hasn’t been inside of our house since this started. But… Heatwave, No Power, No Water, No Phone or Cell Service – it was a no brain-er.

Still no power at home, but he got himself some chocolate cake with Oreos and he’s smiling – (cake AFTER wings and fries, of course)

We tried to treat it as a “Driving Around Vacation”. We found a room in Mystic, one of his favorite places.

We bailed. Probably for nothing. Hoping to come home to power tomorrow, but I’m hearing it may be much longer. He’s happy for now.

DC, in his spot. Doug had to move half the room around as the desk didn’t have a chair?!?!
I wiped down and sprayed everything before I let DC and Doug in. I got a little carried away with the Lysol and am now choking to death (windows did not open as wide as I assumed they would).
I’m sure everyone on this floor is reporting the “infected” person in room 200.
I’m sure they will be throwing me out shortly.
#CoughingAndSneezingAreFrownedUpon.

 

When we left home earlier we were assuming that we’d have power back tomorrow. Now some estimate it at 5 days to a week! Hope we can find places to go for that long! Hotels are filling up fast!

 

Day 2: 

Because Doug had a dental appointment, we had to move to a hotel in Niantic, a little bit closer to home  (really not all that much closer).

But we spent the day in Mystic Village before moving on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As happy as he was to be “on vacation”, he was far from “all in”. He could not relax knowing there was no power at home. That was all he thought (and talked) about.

Nice day yesterday – still no power at home. Finding things to do but DC is still obsessing about the power outage at home. He doesn’t necessarily want to go home, but wants to know there is power there.

On to the next hotel:

I learned my lesson from the first hotel and opened the window – WIDE before spraying everything. When I say “everything”, I mean everything. Pillows, blankets, sheets, bedspreads, chairs, shower, the air and anything else that could not be wiped down.

Then, again I wiped down everything.

After that was complete, we made sure that no one would enter the room for any reason while we were staying there.

Still ‘vacation-ey’ but DC was still not all in. I believe he thinks that if he is not home, the power will not come back or he wants to be there to witness it come back. He just wants to know it’s there.

We were coming up on the weekend, meaning Doug had to work on Saturday and Sunday, so we had to switch hotels once again so we would be closer to home and I would not be stuck out in Niantic with no car and nothing to do within walking distance.

Switching Hotels: There have been plenty of vacations where we did not stay in the same hotel for the entire vacation. Last year we took a week and a half long “driving around vacation” and moved around a lot – more than we ever have. We were having a very rough time with DC and finally realized that moving around to too many different hotels did not go over that well with him. So this was a concern, but something that had to be done.

Not only were we moving to a different hotel, but this hotel was only about 7 minutes from our house, so no more beach scenes or eating out by the water in an interesting place.

This would just be boring.

On Sunday afternoon, DC and I drove home to empty the refrigerator and freezer to have it all ready for garbage day on Monday. A neighbor approached us with new information on the power outage:

We have just been informed that the only reason we still don’t have power now is that Eversource and Frontier are arguing about who owns the pole!
Seriously?!?!?
We could probably have had power yesterday or even Friday evening!

After the neighbors got together and called our town councilors, power company finally showed up, cut down the tree, but left again.

Narrator: After being without power and moving from hotel to hotel for 5 days, the power went out in the hotel. The “boy” having coped better than expected until then… was DONE – loudly.

It was only out for about 20 minutes but it was enough to send him into a tailspin, as you might imagine.

By Monday, we had been staying in one hotel or another for 5 days.

DC and I were in the car last night. I was telling him that I was proud of him. First: the pandemic and now 5 days without power during a pandemic (not that it hasn’t been “trying”- trust me, it has been). He’s handled it better than I would have expected.
We were talking about how everyone is crabby because of the power (us included) and that it is okay to be crabby sometimes.
DC (adding his two cents)”Waiting, waiting, waiting for the powers to come back. He waited and waited and Then He Went Nuts”
**
I have never heard him say anything like that before and I tried not to, but yes – I laughed.

My neighbor texted me Tuesday morning. The power was back!

Doug stayed with DC in the room while I went grocery shopping and home to put away any remaining evidence of the power outage. This was the first time I have gone anywhere by myself, other than that 10 minute ride to the convenience store back in May, since March 19th.

And on the sixth day… we have power!
No internet, phone or cable – but we have power.
Now DC does not want to come home

Now that the power was back, DC no longer was in any hurry to come home. He called me to tell me this. Doug kept him for the day and they “did lunch” and dinner.

DC arrived home around 7pm.

Home! DC is nervous. He follows me into every room. I’m sure he’d feel better if we had WiFi – everything isn’t back to normal enough for him yet.
When he gets like this, he tries to keep his mind off things by being overly excited about whatever he thinks he needs to be excited about:
“I am DC, and this is my story…
Our ‘powers’ are back. We are watching DVD’s. We stayed in the
‘O-tel’. We are home”
**
‘This is my story’ 😃 You know this guy watches far too many movies.

On Tuesday night (actually Wednesday morning) the power went out again! Of course we were both awake because nobody sleeps around here any more. It only lasted a few minutes, but HE WAS DONE!

Just how preoccupied was DC with the power? Bookstores are always on DC’s agenda whenever we go away. He normally does not stop asking until he gets to go to a bookstore. Because we are in Mystic and Niantic quite often, DC knows where the bookstores are.

He never asked once! Not Once!

We waited another 3 days for phone, cable and internet (see: Quarantine Diaries Part 15)

It will be a long time before he gets over this one.

A long, long time.

****

Update to Quarantine Diaries Part 14: Pandemic Buying :

A generator and rechargeable light bulbs have been added to the boxes sitting in my living room. Now I will have to figure out how to use it … and where to put it.

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Quarantine Diaries – all