The Ice Storm

I guess no one in NH was really prepared for such a storm. We lost power on Thursday, the 11th. After eight days without electricity, we were restored around midnight last night, Friday the 19th. Going around and talking to everyone who has lost power in New Hampshire, Dave and I came to realize that in this situation, we are at a real advantage. Having no power at the shack is not largely different from normal shack life. We had already figured out our water, cooking, and heating problems months ago. So, here the shack is: warm and toasty, we can cook on the propane stove easily, and we were stocked with water for drinking and washing as well. The only big difference was that we needed candles to see at night.

It really did not make that much difference from the way we've now been living for months now! I must say that it was even MORE charming in here cooking, eating, and reading by candle light.

The biggest downside was that Dave could not stay here. He had a lot of work to do and could not accomplish any programming without electricity or the internet. So, he was in Vermont working at the office for the majority of our blackout. He did come home yesterday in time to enjoy one of our rustic nights in the shack.

I spent the week decorating the shack for Christmas and reading Gone With the Wind. Now that the power is back on, I can post to the blog and see what is going on with the rest of the world, but I already miss the rustic peace and quiet of a world without the hum of electricity.

For the amount of time that we were without power, there really wasn't that much damage around here from the ice storm. I took some obligatory photos of the most impressive damage. The biggest limb that fell down around us hit our mailbox. Don't worry, the mailbox was just fine.

Waking up on Friday morning, the sound of cracking branches got me out of bed to see what was going on. I stood outside listening to branches breaking and falling throughout the woods. I could stand in one place and just watch branches come crashing down. Lucky, the Shack and all the camps around us were just fine.

Being unable to go to work that morning, I traipsed over to my parent's house to see if they had made it home from their "film-makers shindig" the night before. Of course they were fine. We wandered out into the freezing rain to get a good look at the destruction around the lake.

The driveways were a mess of bowed over birch trees. It seems that Mom and Dad got caught in one here.

We continued on down the road and wondered if perhaps it was the end of civilization and we were the only ones left.

Then a few cars went by and we were disappointed that the adventure was not quite as drastic as we had imagined.

What we did find was that the power was out everywhere, and from what we could tell, it would be some time before it came back on. What fun. There really is nothing quite so exciting as a test of our mettle like this. How would we fare in such circumstances for such a long time?! Quite well, in fact. With Dave out of town for the duration of the adventure, Mom and Dad and I took turns hosting candle-lit dinners at our houses. We sat on the couch and stared out at the lake at the few lights we could see from other people's candles (or generators.) We discussed life and pondered great mysteries. We debated the pros and cons of different flashlight models. We enjoyed our situation immensely.

Rebbecca, my sister-in-law, and my nieces came over to my parents for a night because without electricity their house was cold. We drank wine and stared out across the lake some more.

But, now that the power is back on, we have yet another fortuitous reprieve from the outside world because we are in the middle of a blizzard. For those of you who don't live in New England, I tell you, you are missing out on a luscious and rustic lifestyle that just can't happen anywhere else. These are the few times when the outside world is not always pressing in and forcing you to commute, make money, and be on time.

Today, we are celebrating the Winter Solstice with the family and will be going on a horse-drawn sleigh ride this afternoon in the snow. Happy Solstice - the light is coming back.

We're still here!

I said the end - I lied. I spent all this time transferring the blog over to this darn site, so I feel obligated to post something contemporary to prove to you that I will really continue to write about our life here.

I may find a picture or two to stick into my little narrative here, but today, what I really want to address is our purpose here on the lake.

So, I have noted lately (and this may be purely my imagination, but I think I am not completely bonkers) that some people seem to think that we might be living in this tiny (16 x 28 ft) shack because we have somehow become destitute and cannot manage any other lifestyle. Perhaps no one thinks that and I am just addled. Never-the-less, I want to try and tell you the "why" about the Shack.

Dave and I decided that we would do this mostly because we wanted to see if we could. The plans for this adventure were much different than the result. When we were visiting my parents on the lake in May this year and we were sort of tossing around alternative living ideas. My father said, "Well, there is a camp across the lake that needs renovations and the owner will let you live there in exchange for fixing it up."

We kind of laughed. "Ha ha ha, sure, why not. Let's check it out."

So, we went for a walk around the lake to get a look at this camp. We traipsed down the dirt driveway and saw it sitting there: small, slumpy, and forlorn. We went inside (by reaching in through the broken window to unlock the door.) It smelled like a hamster cage. There were acorns and squirrel poop everywhere, and there were obviously many holes in the roof. Dave and I looked at each other, we looked around this little smelly place and we said,
"Let's do it."

Originally, our plan was to spend the estimated repair time (three weeks) living at my parent's, and then we would enjoy the summer basking in the sun on the dock and enjoying the financial freedom of not paying rent for a few months. Once it got cold, we would find our next home/adventure.

But, it turned it to take a little more than three weeks. The deeper we got into this project, the more committed we were. The summer passed and our wedding was approaching and we were still working day in and day out on this place. It was obvious that we would not be in before we got married.

Our plans were now changing as we realized that in order to make this endeavor worth it, we would really have to live here - for a few years. We'd have to insulate and make the place tight enough for a New England winter. All this would take even more time. We started planning how to get our water once the lake froze.

The result is that we are now living a type of "homesteading" life that we had not planned for initially, but we are finding to be a very intriguing challenge. We are really getting a chance to see what elements of modern life we miss. We are also discovering what we don't miss. Running water has soared to the top of the "missed" list. But, we've hardly noticed that we don't have a toilet. The outhouse is simply charming, and we enjoy getting to write or draw whatever we want on the walls.

The wildlife is always interesting and we get to live close to my folks, but the space is small, and sometimes Dave and I are at each other's throats. We are working on staying cheerful though, because we have a long winter ahead of us.

But the whole point is the challenge of it. How will we manage to navigate all these difficult hurdles? How much will it change out perspective about life? We are already certain that we will not take the modern conveniences of hot running water for granted ever again! (If we are at your house and we turn on your faucet, note the look of awe on our faces.)

We may come up with new schemes and solutions for these obstacles as well as unseen ones that we will undoubtedly encounter through the winter. You better keep checking to see if we both emerge from the spring thaw intact and ready for another summer at the shack...