We were lucky!

The storm blew through our area.  The rain saturated the snow.  The frozen ground held the water and then the ice started forming.  We've lots of branches down in the yarn and one sad pine tree which lost a good many thick branches.  Luckily it's over by the garden and not over our roof!  There are inches of water under the snow though, threatening to flood the chicken coop as there is no place for it to run off right now.  The ground is frozen and there is too much snow for the water to just run off.

We had power this morning for a few minutes and then, because it was still dark out, we were scrambling for the wind up LED lamp and the kerosine lamps.  I keep at least 2 of them ready to go at all times.  It does suck though that it's still so dark in the mornings.    It's warm enough outside  that the woodstove kept the house cozy, despite not having the fan on.   The menfolk weren't so lucky though.  With all the rain, the sump pump alarm came on.  Two of them hauled buckets of water and when it was empty, they took a break and 10 minutes later, the alarm would come on again.  They spent  6 + hours bailing for 15 minutes and getting a 10 minute break.  Then the time before the alarm started squealing got shorter and shorter.  At 4 minutes between bailing and the alarm, a mad dash was made to town, in hopes that a store was open, selling a handpump.  By the time DH got home, the sump hole was filling faster than my son could bail.  Of course by the time the pump was almost assembled, the electricity came back on and both my guys could take a well needed break.  The new pump is installed for next time!  Because we all know that living in rural Ontario, there will indeed be a next time. 

The downside for me was I've a makeshift bobbin winder, made from an electric drill.  Not even a battery operated one, but the kind you have to plug in.  Since I'd stopped weaving last night at about 9:15 pm, I decided to wait to refill the bobbins until this morning.  The drill is noisy and the guys were listening to the hockey game on the radio.  Bad decision as it meant I couldn't weave all morning unless I wanted to wind bobbins by hand.  I've tried that before and it's rather ineffective, not to mention really slow.

I'll go for it this evening though.  I have just under half the blanket left to weave and surely that shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.  I've not timed myself on this project, so I've no idea how long it's taking me.  That also is a silly idea.  I should have kept at least a cursory track of time, so I'd know how I was doing when it came down to the really last minute like this.