Oh, Bother

Two storms converged one from the West and the remnants of Tropical Storm Phillipe coming up the East coast. Just in case, I did a bit of storm prep. Filled up the water buckets so we could flush the toilet. Completely forgot about filling up pitchers for drinking water, though there were a few small bottles of water in the pantry.

The rain began Sunday afternoon and came down in buckets by late afternoon and the evening. The howling wind whistling around the eaves woke me up around 2 AM. Himself was up and it took my sleepy brain a few minutes to process, we were without electricity. I heard him banging around the garage getting the generator going and retrieving the battery back-up for his CPAP machine.

I reported the power outage to the electric company. Himself came upstairs. Bad news. He couldn't get the generator or the back-up running for the sump pump. The basement was flooded. Pooh would say, "Oh, bother." But that's not the expression I used

Nothing to be done but to go back to bed. Maybe in the morning, the electricity would be back on. No such luck. At least the rain had stopped but no morning tea. Oh, bother. Himself decided he would try to make it to the college. They had electricity.

Checking the town site on Facebook, 11 trees were down and some roads around town were impassable. The electric company had no estimate on when electricity would be restored. Oh, bother. Others reported flooded basements. At least we weren't alone. Schadenfreude.

At 12:45 PM, the electricity came back on. Happy Dance! First thing, flush the toilet. Second thing, make a cup of tea. Life is good. Of course, the shop vac wouldn't work so clean-up could begin. Oh, bother. Himself will bring a shop vac with him on his way home.