The power went out around 7:20am on Saturday here in Rockville after there was already close to two feet of snow on the ground.
Two neighbors and I shoveled out all the walks for the six houses in our row of townhomes. This provided Sookie a nice labyrinth to run through but also access between each neighbors home.
We took advantage of that by visiting the one neighbor who had a Coleman cooking stove. He invited us over for coffee and a small party formed at his place. Following another round of shoveling and dog walking, everyone reconvened at our place since we were all set up to host a party.
No one who came by seemed too concerned about the lack of heat or impending darkness, but none of these neighbors have small children. One couple, a few homes over do have a newborn in the house and for them this was a totally different day.
That neighbor was the first one out shoveling. He spent the day not only shoveling out the walk and the SUV but also the road too in hopes to get out of the neighborhood. They were either ill-prepared or adamantly opposed (or probably both) to having the new baby having to spend the night in the dark cold house. There was no sign of power returning before nightfall.
At one point we came together as a community, all working together with shovels and manpower to push out his SUV when he drifted into a snow bank only a few feet from the tire tracks that he could drive on to get out to the main road to get to somewhere with heat and power.
That really put things in perspective for me.
- We need to add camping equipment to our baby registry so we can still have hot water even during a blackout and
- That a fun adventure and a scary predicament are only separated by the condition of the people depending on you.
Fortunately for the Robleto family, baby is still the womb, Selena is healthy and Sookie loves the snow. So we were fine. After everyone left our little open house, Selena and I played the board games Agricola and Killer Bunnies by candlelight. Finally, about 15 hours later, when we were getting ready for bed, the power came back on.
Here are some photos from the Snowpacalypse:
Two feet of snow on the back porch
Neighbors (and Mr. A) weathering the storm at our place
Selena playing Killer Bunnies by candlelight
Glad you guys made it through okay and still managed to have a relatively fun day.
My friends with the 8 month old and a golden retriever in N. Potomac ended up going to the Residence Inn at Rio, which allows pets, for heat and power overnight. You’re right, though, it’s totally a different experience with small children.
Congrats on still having a ‘party’ and getting together with neighbors. We had one neighbor over for games and have pulled together to get food to our public works crew who have been working their rumps off to clear the snow. They have had no access to food since Saturday AM. Its amazing what a community can do when a crisis pulls it together.
It sounds like you still had a nice gathering, and also have moved yourself into a very good community there. It’s awesome that you all were able and willing to pull together like that. I think we will have to try to be more openly friendly in our next neighborhood, wherever that may be, but it may be too late for this one
… Or, perhaps your neighbors just aren’t freaks like some of ours!
So glad you two made it through safely, I was definitely worried. It sounds like you have a great neighborhood which is awesome. We saw some similar banding together and heroics in our town.
Scott and I agree that not only will the camping equipment come in handy for the next storm, it will also be a vital part of your zombie apocalypse supplies.