April snowstorm leaves thousands of Northeast Wisconsin residents in the dark and cold

The weather forecast wasn’t the best. Warnings of a strong winter storm covering northeast Wisconsin were issued. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t be too bad.

I was FaceTiming with my friend Joyce on my computer when my WiFi failed Tuesday evening. I called her using my cell phone to tell her I was okay. It was time for bed, so I switched off my lights and headed upstairs.

At six the following morning, something woke me. I expected to find a cat sitting on top of me, telling me it was time for breakfast, but my cats were still sleeping. The sound that woke me was the lack of sound. My nightlight was out, as was my radio alarm clock. It took me a minute to realize my electricity was out.

Most times when the power had gone out, all I had to do was wait a minute and it would come back on. I waited under my covers. Nothing changed.

Outside snow flew sideways as a wicked east wind whipped it around my home. I thought it would be a good time to stay in bed. My cats had other ideas.

As the day began, my cats awoke. They didn’t care about the storm. They wanted breakfast. Grumbling, I got out of bed and dressed in warm clothing.

Stella, my dog, waited downstairs. She was ready for breakfast, too.

I wanted a hot cup of tea. Of course, that tea wasn’t going to happen. Without electricity, the well couldn’t run, so no running water. Luckily, I had jugs of drinking water set aside for such an emergency.

As usual, I fed my pets first. They didn’t need anything special. I popped open cans and dished out dry food. They were all satisfied. But what about me?

There was a Pop-Tart in the cabinet. That turned into my breakfast. Of course, I ate it cold.

I began to wonder what was happening to the area. In my junk drawer, I found a pocket radio. It needed batteries, but I had two fresh AA batteries and got it going. For local news, I went to WHBY. There I found out that thousands of people were without power. Even with the high winds and blowing snow, power crews were out trying to repair what caused the outage.

I used my cell phone to message my family about the power outage. I wanted them to know that I was fine.

My day was spent bundled up in a comfy chair, reading. My cats would come by to sit with me, lending some of their body heat.

The power was supposed to be restored by 2 pm. That didn’t happen. The next possibility was 10:30 pm. That didn’t happen either.

I had a camp light I used to get around in the dark. When I walked through the house, I cast crazy shadows. My cats leaped at the shadows and entertained me.

It didn’t seem like a good idea to change before going to bed. Instead, I crawled in between the sheets as I was, though I did take my shoes off.

My children worried about me, but I kept telling them I was fine.

On Thursday, Rebecca surprised me. She took me to her home to have lunch and to warm up. She didn’t believe that I was fine.

Hours later, I got news from a neighbor that power had been restored. I could go home.

The temperature in my house had fallen to 50 degrees, but finally, everything was working again. The furnace hummed and I had running water. Toilets could be flushed. Yea!

When the storm settled, I found pine and cedar branches down around my yard, but none hit my house. If the deciduous trees had leaves, there would have been more damage, so we were lucky.

I appreciate having electricity today after surviving 30 hours without power. And I appreciate all who worried about me.

Susan Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; sunnybook@aol.com; susanmanzke@gmail.com; www.susanmanzke.net/blog.