The Coldest Night

Last Friday, January 16, the thermometer dipped and dropped to 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

As we readied for bed, the lights blinked.

"That can't be good," my husband said. He glanced out the window.

"The hayfield's on fire!" he cried. He grabbed his britches while I went to the window.

A long line of fire covered the field in front of my in-law's house. I saw car headlights. "I think someone must have hit a light pole," my husband said as he raced for his pick up truck.

"Call Mom and Dad and make sure they're alright."

My in-laws are both 75 years old; my father-in-law is on oxygen. I made the call and my father-in-law answered; he was so agitated and excited that we had little coherent conversation. He did tell me their power was out and he couldn't find a flashlight. Ultimately he hung up on me.

Then our power went out. I hunted up my cell phone and called my husband to tell him he needed to go check on his parents. I couldn't get the car through because by this time the road was blocked with my husband's pick up and a few other vehicles.

There had not been a wreck; instead a power line had snapped. The electricity set the field afire.

I watched out the window as fire trucks arrived; not long after there was no blaze.

My husband powered up a generator for his folks so that his father's oxygen machine could run.

We heat with electricity but do have a fireplace. We don't burn it very much because the smoke from it upsets my allergies. We debated on whether or not to start a fire but decided to wait and see if the power was still out come morning.

We snuggled in for a cold night's sleep. Around 2 a.m., the doorbell rang, the phones went off and a light came on.

The power was back, although it blinked a lot and did not remain on solidly for the next 12 hours

The phones were another story. They were out and nothing I did on my end made them return. The phone company called Saturday night around 6:30 p.m. to say they had a dial tone at their end now and if I didn't have service, there was something wrong in my house.

When I tried to plug in a phone, it rang and rang, with no dial tone, just a buzz.

I had unplugged the computer and all the phones. I finally remembered that the box for the DirecTV plugs into a phone jack so you can order up pay-per-view movies.

I unplugged that, and lo, I had telephone service. However, I still did not have an Internet connection.

I called the phone company to tell them I had a dial tone, and at that time they said it would be Monday before my Internet came back.

And that is why I haven't been posting on my blog!