Kryptonice

Every superhero has a weakness. Superman has his kryptonite. Batman has his unprofessionally explored lingering emotional trauma from losing his parents to a young Joker. Rogue has her teenage hormone-driven need for a boyfriend that won't die from her twisted Midas touch. And Jodi and I have our ice.

Ice has left us powerless now for a week as of tonight. The good news is that ice also has a weakness. Our solar system's yellow sun. Which, ironically, is the source of Superman's super powers. See how everything comes full circle? Like rock, paper, scissors!

Anyway, the power is still not on, but we do have a generator which is better that a lot of people out there who are still trying to make it without power at all. We've been there and we don't want to go back. We did, however, come up with a pretty good invention during our three day stint of sub-standard living at sub-freezing temperatures. We call it the "Head-Tent". We took the fact that when someone sleeps in a tent their breath warms up the tent a little. And since every little bit counts when the temperature gets down to single digits, we invented this sheet/broom handle/string/hook-screw combination to retain the heat from our collective exhaled carbon dioxide. I know it may sound silly, but it worked. This head-tent is most likely the reason why we are not both sick right now. The last time I went camping I was sick for well over a week with flu symptoms just for having breathed in cold night-air all night. But, the air in the head-tent, while containing a slightly less ratio of oxygen to other natural gases than normal, stayed comfortably warm.

We also decided to make the most of the cold weather and enjoy some hot chocolate. We braved the ice and fired up the backyard BBQ pit to boil the water and milk. A little added cocoa was the last ingredient needed to put us in a hot chocolate bliss that temporarily removed our minds from the cold conditions in which our bodies were trapped. It was good.

Overall, we have felt very blessed and taken care of throughout this whole ordeal. Despite some pretty big challenges (like Jodi being merely two weeks away from her due date, the first generator throwing a rod, a tree landing on my truck, having to work, having no hot water, the electric lines being ripped out of the house we intend to buy, etc.) we managed to get all of our basic needs provided for. This picture of the fire turned out great and makes a very cozy desktop background. And, the last picture I added just because we found it humorous. This is the house we are trying to buy. We loved the sign with the "Please Take One" death-by-tree-branch trap.

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