A LONG ROUGH WEEK (long thread)

There have been a lot of storms in PA lately. Usually, I’m the first guy to help others that run into trouble or even cover extra shifts at work for those in a bad spot but it looks like it my turn this last week to be there. I started my 45 minute ride home, after finishing a 12 hour overnight shift alone on Tuesday February 2nd. The weather was terrible & even in my old 4x4 Chevy Suburban it took me 3.5 hours with all the stuck drivers & street closures to get house. I was pretty upset knowing I could have worked from home & never risked driving in the first place if my IT department could have fix a simple connectivity issue the day before. After finally finishing all the shoveling, & being awake for a well over 30 hours I was asked to pick up my mother in-law because a tree fell on the side of her home knocking out her power. The trip to get her was easy compared to dealing with her at my home. I never had a problem offering my bed or anything else I have to a guest. I can even bend some house rules but when demands for certain platters are made & expected to be served in my newly carpeted living room, on my new couch while they watch my television I find it to be a hard pill to swallow. I figured it best to keep the peace with the wife. I know the time of month to pick my battles so I spent my night in my snake lounge/man cave. I just added a newer rack that I ordered & needed to test & finished building a new PC I could play with in there so I didn’t mind spending a little extra time in there. If I actually knew how long I would actually be in there I wouldn’t have been so eager.





After handling everything that needed handling & finally falling asleep late that night I was awaken at around 5:00am & told the storm knocked the power out & watched the temp drop quick. I decided to throw my Mr. Buddy portable propane heater on & figured power would be back shortly but after a few hours knew there was a bigger problem & I might be in trouble. The generator was at my uncle’s home over an hour away & pretty much unreachable with all the closed streets, not that it mattered because no one in our area had power including the gas stations. I ventured out that afternoon to find an open Lowe’s home improvement store which of course was sold out of anything useful except an additional gas can & 6 extra pounds of propane to add to the additional 12 I already had. The hook up to 20 gallon propane tank was available but without any filled tanks. I made it back home just in time to hear our guest complaining about my son’s voice & seeing the look on my wife’s face letting me know I was about to get the opportunity most guys wish for. Unfortunately my mother in-laws seen it also & decided to stop mooching & return to her home that had power restored hours earlier.




My private clean snake lounge/man cave became headquarters for my wife, son, dog, cat & 3 snakes over night. After seeing the temps drop in my largest enclosure a few brief times into the 70's, I decided to move the hide with my large female boa that could be gravid in the higher up enclosure with my male which keep the temp at 82 at the coldest of times. As much as I loved waking up every 3 hours for the heater I decided the next morning it wouldn’t work much longer. I already went through 9 canisters of propane & the family wasn’t going to deal with it much longer so finally I found an open gas station & way to get the generator which I rigged a little roof for since more storms were coming. Since I have a well I had to use multiple stored gallons of water to flush the toilet but a shower wasn’t an opinion for me. My family was able to clean up & visit family who even offered to open the doors to our dog & cat but of course not the snakes. I couldn’t leave the generator/heater running without supervision & would never leave my snakes so I stayed with all the animals. It was rough being stuck in my now messy public family cave & even had to remind the beast who was boss when it came to the last slice of frozen pizza.

After almost 5 days the power restored. My wife & I were thrilled, the cat could care less, & my son & dog (usually in the crate) were kind of upset because they actually enjoyed everyone together getting cozy every night. Besides the usual things & worry that come with having no power there were some other things that got under my skin. I didn’t appreciate the news advertising on my block that no one had power & that most families abandon there for the time being. It seemed like an open invitation to any criminal to get an easy score or in my case cause walk into a bad situation where I would be forced to protect my family. Watching the police patrol brought even less comfort knowing they clearly saw me at night creeping my home in dark clothing & being either to scared or lazy to follow me around back or even yell to me.





All said & done I was pretty prepared & there were some good moments too. I enjoyed watching my son act out the all the kids movies we watched on the computer monitor & reminding the family who was king of Monopoly & they got a good laugh at me jumping out of my car, over the fence, & chasing a vicious animal around my yard in the shadows of night only to find out it was the same puppy I thought I was protecting.





Everyone seems to have survived including the all critters in just as good shape prior to the outage. I’ll have to wait & see if my possible gravid female actually does have some little one’s baking & if she does if the situation was to stressful but as of now I’m feeling confident with how things worked out & just have to keep my fingers crossed. I guess I’m happy with the outcome but hopefully don’t have to deal with it again. When I left for work tonight there was a fresh 3-5 inch coat of snow on the ground, hopefully that’s not a sign of more to come.

Welcome back to the land of the powered! After making the mistake of loaning a generator to my in-laws a few years back, and never getting it back, I purchased a better one that will stay put. It's enough to keep the food cold/frozen, the wood stove blower operating so the house doesn't freeze up, and supplemental heat for the herp room.

A few years back my neighborhood was without power for four days in July after a bad t-storm. While the vast majority of my neighbors fled to hotels outside the affected area, there were enough of us left to ensure that folks who shouldn't be in the area - many of whom were looking to score a free genny after dark - decided that leaving hastily was a good idea.

Chris,

You handled all the adversity (Weather, MIL, and the dog wanting the last slice of pizza) with remarkable wisdom and technical know how. Great pictures.
You have a beautiful family and critters too.

Glad you survived. This winter has been bad. I drive 25 miles one wat to work through the boonies. It can be fun sometimes to say the least. If the ice doesn't get me the deer will! Hope by April this will be done.

Sounds/looks like you made the best of a bad deal! Glad they all made it through unscathed! Boa should be fine, a few cooler than normal days shouldn't cause harm, especially now she's all warmed back up. fingers crossed for you!

Originally Posted by JColt

Hope by April this will be done.

I'll do my best! oh wait...

Glad to hear you came through it without murder being done, although obviously there were a few close calls.

Wouldn't be without my back up generator, I've had to rely on it for 2 weeks in the past - but our crises are usually cyclones and don't require heat sources, that's a really big challenge.

You seem to have had your priorities in the right order though:
1. Snakes
2. Dog and family
3. Mother in law.....

I'm sorry to hear about your tough week and hope that the weather (and certain in-laws) will start treating you guys better. It sounds like you handled it all really well and made the best of it though, your son and pup were so cute thoughout!
I don't think that small drop in temps harmed your boas any, my fingers are crossed for her giving you lots of healthy babies later on!

1.) Goodness your son is getting so big! He's freaking adorable (even if he does resemble his dad! Lol, you know I'm joking)

2.) I'm glad you guys stayed safe, and relatively warm. And that no trees fell into your house or car and you're not in the klink for mother in law manslaughter.

3.) I've got my fingers crossed that's she got lots of little buns in the oven! I've had gravid females get through power outages and floods, so it's possible!!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, wishful thinking, & sharing your experiences. We are supposed to get another 6-10 inches of snow tonight. On top of having everything else ready, I filled my tube up with water so if I lose power again I'll have a few of gallons to flush until make a gas run. Just another thing I learn from this past experience. The most important though would have to be always just replace the cream cheese even if it seems okay, the cost of losing that bet isn't worth the gamble.

Originally Posted by Magic

1.) Goodness your son is getting so big! He's freaking adorable (even if he does resemble his dad! Lol, you know I'm joking)

Don't remind me, I'm sick of buy new shoes every month. Seriously, how does a premature baby end up being a 6 year old that stands over 4.5' tall & weighs over 70 pounds?