Treasures from Snowmageddon 2021

By now this is old news, but I've been saving up a story since the second week of February, when Texas endured an arctic blast that knocked out power to about 4.5 million homes for several days. Although my brother Rick had no electricity for about three days, and my parents had no water for even longer, at our house we were blessed to have both electricity and water the whole time. 

Due to my thyroid condition, I have abnormally low body temperature and a severe intolerance to cold, so I was doubly grateful to have heat. Even so, I shivered for days because I'd lowered the thermostat to 68 degrees at the request of local utilities in order to conserve power and prevent further blackouts. It's amazing what a difference just 3 degrees can make to your comfort. 

Since nothing dramatic happened at our house, my memories of this historic catastrophe will be very different from that of many of my Texas neighbors. Mostly, it is a list of blessings--treasures brought to us by "Snowmageddon." 

Family Time

Allyson's dad had gone out of town the prior weekend to Houston, and he was stuck down there for five more days in an Air B&B with neither water nor electricity. Due to the first major snowfall Houston had seen since the 80s, the interstate was impassable. 

For me, that meant extra time with Allyson, especially since the schools were also closed, and they didn't even have online classes due to major Internet outages. Since the roads were dangerous and nothing was open anyway, we had nowhere to go and nothing to do except hang out together.

Allyson did enjoy playing in the snow for the first couple of days with some friends who live a couple of blocks away. I was worried she'd get frostbite in frigid air--as low as -2 degrees Fahrenheit! But she was just fine, returning rosy-cheeked and breathless with stories.

She tried to entice me out for some sledding on our kitchen trashcan lid, but I stayed in the house and drank hot tea. Had I gone outside, even wearing my thickest gloves, my fingers would have turned white, and then blue, and they would have hurt me for hours. 

Allyson didn't give the cats a choice. She figured this might be the only time they would ever see snow, and she didn't want them to miss out on this fascinating new experience. 

They were not impressed. The moment she set them down in the snow, they darted back through the open door. 

CiCi

Arwen

Kitty Prints

Dog Days

On our second day of being snow-bound, Allyson started to worry about her dog Archer, an Alaskan Husky that lives with her at her dad's house. (When our neighbor gave her to Allyson a few years back, I said there was no way were we adding that giant, rambunctious puppy to our menagerie. Bill is definitely the dog person in Allyson's family.) 

When Allyson first asked if we could pick up Archer from the boarding place, I said, "No, we don't have room for a big dog in this house, and the cats won't like it." 

"But my dad could be gone for days. Archer needs to be with me. And I want to make sure he gets to play in the snow. He's never seen snow. He's a Husky. He needs to experience snow."

"I'm sure he's going outside at the boarder's," I argued. "He's probably playing in the snow right now."

"Yes, but I want to see him in the snow," she pleaded. 

Within a few hours, I'd reluctantly consented to keeping the dog here, no matter what the cats might think of the plan. But when we got in the car, we found that the engine wouldn't turn over. Even in the garage, it must have been in the teens, and turning the key only elicited a faint clicking sound. I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm afraid we're not going anywhere," I informed Allyson.

"But, can't we-?" 

"There's nothing we can do," I said, and returned to my bedroom to get back to work.

I should have known Allyson wouldn't give up so easily. Within 15 minutes, she asked, "What if Morgan's dad picked him up? Could we keep him then?"

I heaved a sigh. "I suppose." 

Meanwhile, I'd talked with a neighbor about my car, and she and her husband brought over an electric battery charger that they'd borrowed from another neighbor who used to live way up north. It was very old, and we weren't sure it would work, but we plugged it in and let it charge for a few hours. 

Archer arrived within the hour, and witnessing Allyson's joyful reunion with him outweighed my nervousness about having a dog in the house again. I was surprised at how quickly he won me over. He's a big, clumsy oaf who steps on your feet and trips you up, but he's also very sweet and well-behaved. 

Unlike Allyson's other dog Olive, whom we kept for a few days a while back, Archer trusted me immediately. It made me feel good to win a dog's confidence because Olive had found me so threatening that she'd felt the need to protect Allyson from me. You know how they say that dogs are a good judge of character? For the first time in my life, a dog didn't like me, and I had to wonder what she saw in me that was so menacing.

In contrast, Archer absolutely adored me. He followed me all over the house. 

He lay on his mat by my desk in the mornings while Allyson slept and I worked. 

See CiCi hiding under my chair? 

He sat in the cats' favorite chairs in the evenings, looking adorable and utterly oblivious to their resentment. He also claimed CiCi's spot in Allyson's room at night. Even though CiCi could have kept her place on the bed, there was no way she was spending that much time in close proximity to this giant creature. 

Archer shadowed me all around the kitchen while I cooked, watching in fascination each time I opened the refrigerator. When I sat at the table, he nudged his snout under my armpit to sniff at my food, but unlike our naughty cats, he never tried to snatch even a morsel off my plate. 

To Allyson's delight, Archer thoroughly enjoyed the snow, even rubbing his face in it. He stayed in the backyard for hours, terrorizing squirrels and birds in the trees. 

He even went on short car trips with us, at Allyson's insistence. Thankfully, the battery charger worked, and it never got cold enough to sap my battery again. 

Foraging for Food

We made our first trip on Tuesday night, when we both had a mad craving for pizza. Allyson had looked online, and according to their website, her favorite pizza place was open. Even though I virtually never drive when the roads freeze, I made an exception because my neighbors had said the snow wasn't slippery at all, and I'd be fine if I went slow. Also, my mouth was just watering for that pizza. 

The roads were empty, and I drove so slowly that I only lost traction twice, and only for a moment each time. To our chagrin, the parking lot at Mod's Pizza was empty, too. Obviously, we should have called. Even the McDonald's was closed! 

"We'll just get a frozen pizza from Wal-Mart," I said, hoping they'd have one with a cauliflower crust as I am still gluten-free due to my autoimmune-protocol diet. 

We were shocked to find that Wal-Mart's entire freezer section was roped off, and the refrigerated section was completely bare except for a bit of milk and some yogurts. Apparently the frozen food had spoiled due to power outages, and there had been a run on everything else. For the second time in a year, I had a surreal sensation as I surveyed the empty shelves. It was most unsettling. 

Back at home, I made baked potatoes and topped them with tasty homemade pizza sauce, but all we had was cheddar cheese, and I had to agree with Allyson that it was not a nice combination. 

The next day I called around to find an open grocery story store. Sprout's Farmer's Market said they were open "as long as the power holds out," so I rushed over--at perhaps 10 miles per hour. I picked my way carefully over the snowy parking lot, only to be waved away by a customer who'd been turned away at the door. The power had just gone back out again. 

The Target a block away had power, but they had nothing perishable left, and all the shelves were virtually bare. I did find a few organic soups and some granola bars that I could eat. Looking around at the handful of masked customers, and then at the cavernous empty parking lot, I had that apocalyptic sensation that has often plagued me ever since last March. For the hundredth time, I wondered if the world would ever be normal again. 

But back at the house, snuggled up with an oversized dog and a teenager while two jealous cats looked on, all felt right with the world again. For just a moment, I thought it might be nice to have a dog all the time. 

Then again, after Allyson and Archer had gone home with Bill that Saturday, I thought it felt pretty nice to return to our normal routine. I rather enjoyed mopping up all the snowy prints left by boots and paws. That in itself was a treasure, because it was the first time since my Covid-19 infection that I'd felt up to mopping both the kitchen and all the wood floors. 

All in all, I believe I will remember Snowmageddon 2021 fondly for the rest of my life.