Blizzard 2013: Snow, Sinking Boats and Cookies

Sure enough, Tom and Nancy saved the day.

Turns out it was a good thing we stayed down on the boat during our first blizzard instead of running for the shelter of a friend’s house. Before the snow began to accumulate, life in the marina, we were warm and having a good time.

Then darkness fell and the wind began to blow.

The power went out about midnight, changing everything.

We had cabin lights but our only heat was from our alcohol stove and oven – so I baked cookies. Because, as the safety folks say, you never want to use your oven for heating your domicile. But you always want cookies. Besides, it was my fault we didn’t borrow Jesse’s propane garage heater. I didn’t think we’d need it – I WAS WRONG.

We went out and walked the docks to see what was happening, the outer ones were bucking around pretty good. Tom shoveled snow off the decks and out of the cockpit three times. Then, surprisingly, we slept through the worst of it. Turning the bow into the wind made a lot of difference in Sunshine’s motion. But also, having no light to read and not wanting to use up battery watching a movie, we just crashed.

Scenes from a post blizzard morning

I took a walk through the neighborhood, enjoying the deep white silence.

These two were digging a path to their car. Note to self: when blizzard threatens, make sure to park close to street.

And here’s a guy who has priorities. Even when it snows two feet and the Governor bans driving, and the power goes out and everything’s closed down, you gotta sag.

The Saving the Day Part

The afternoon was full of heroics. Our personal heros were Jesse and Stacey, who have all-wheel drive, and brought us the heater I’d poo pooed so that we could be warmer during our second night without heat.

Meanwhile, Tom was out taking pictures and ran across a sinking boat. When the power went out and the heater quit working, the float switch froze and the bilge pump didn’t come on. Tom helped the owner bail for hours.

I got on the phone and called Jerry, owner of another boat we were keeping an eye on, to see if he had a generator or gas powered pump aboard. He didn’t, but he had ideas. We both called around until hero Jerry found a guy at his yacht club who had pumps. Just about dark, Mike showed up with his pump and saved the day.

Then, as I was cooking dinner, thinking I would be feeding at least three frozen men, the lights came back on! So the really big heros at the power company came through just in time to give us back our electric heat and lights.

Blizzards are exhausting, we fell into bed and slept for ten hours.