Challenges make us stronger.

So, here we are on Christmas Eve day and guess what?? We are stuck at home yet again due to overnight snowfall. Now, back in WI, a little overnight 4 inches of snow would hardly warrant a second glance. BUT, here on The Island, it is a major event, yet again. It started last night with a few big flakes fluttering out of the sky but when we got up this morning - WHAM! - another dumping on top of what we arleady have. My car is still down at a neighbor's house because I can not get it up our common drive because there is no plan in place, apparently, for snow removal. Plus people have told me that it's not like that many people have plows anyways, because "this hardly ever happens"! If I had a dollar for each time I heard that, or the reference to the last Big One, of 1996, I would be much closer to my retirement fund goal.

Now, in addition to the snow, which is now the heavy wet stuff due to the temps being at or just above freezing, the power went out this morning at around 8am. I called BC Hydro and their estimate for it being restored was 8pm tonight. We decided to fire up the generator and hook it up to the house, which has a special set-up to take the house off-grid and plug into a generator to run certain circuits in the main living area. Hmmm, guess what? The plug at the end of the cord that goes into the house does NOT match the receptacle on our generator!! Figures! Thankfully the generator has 4 regular grounded outlets so we were able to run heavy duty extension cords into the house and up to the kitchen, to power the fridge and a small space heater. Oh, and the hot pot for Dixon's tea. (my coffee was brewed into the carafe at 5:15 am, well before the power outage). We managed to get the fridge going and brew some tea when, at about 10:40am, the power suddenly was back on. Of course you may have figured that out already, due to me posting on here. LOL!

So, the car remains at the bottom of the hill, safely off the road. Power is back on. The generator/plug situation will be addressed, when we can get out of here. Now it is warm enough that it is raining! I am not back to work now until Tuesday, as we were given Monday as an additional holiday and they are keeping that. Hopefully it will keep raining and melt the snow on the drive so we can get the car up the hill. (damn summer tires!)

At least we are home, safe, warm and fed. We are looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home with a few gifts to open. The snow even prevented us from getting each other something - nothing like waiting until the last minute! But of course we have gifts for the dog and cat! LOL!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, for those of you who celebrate that. For those of you where Christmas is not a part of your culture, I wish you a Happy Holdiay, which I will have to read up on. Give thanks for what/whom you DO have in your life, not what you think is missing.