Bleak December

It was a cold, windy, and icy morning this past Friday. About 5:00 AM, I received a call from my friend and teammate, Martha, letting me know that school was going to be delayed for 2 hours. Shortly thereafter, we received an automated message relaying the same detail. The delay in school was good news as our cars were ice-covered, and the driveway was no better. Additionally, this was to be our last day of school before our holiday break. The day before any holiday can be quite hectic for teachers and students alike. A two-hour delay meant that school would begin at about 9:30 AM. However, the weather conditions convinced the powers-that-be to cancel school altogether for that Friday, December 19, 2008.

After Daddy D, a physics and chemistry teacher for the same school system in which I teach seventh grade science, and I received a couple of phone messages about the school cancellation, my husband noted that we had lost a few branches to ice in the backyard. A few minutes later, I heard a loud crash and the lights went out in our bedroom. However, the computer that I was using was still functioning, and other lights throughout the house were still on. Investigating the source of the loud noise, I found this broken branch outside our bedroom window. As my husband looked outside, he found that this tree limb broke off and hit our roof apparently pulling down the electrical wire and the cable wire coming to our house. Luckily, the part of the power still coming to the house was to the refrigerator and to the furnace so we had both food and heat.

Of course, we called the power company immediately. The customer service person asked Daddy D several questions and said that repairmen would come to our house as soon as possible. It turns out the as soon as possible was Sunday afternoon. Furthermore, NIPSCO, the power company, was not responsible for the repairs so we needed to call an electrician. We called a conscientious and efficient electrician named Dean, who was here within an hour and quickly made the repairs in sub-zero temperatures. Dean and his men restored the mast leading to the meter, and the NIPSCO men turned on our power

Although this event was inconvenient and this cost us a few dollars, my husband and I feel fortunate that we had heat, a functioning refrigerator, and that were able to use our stove, washer, and dryer during these few days. I guess that December may not be so bleak afterall.