Powerless At the Fortress of Ineptitude

I was awakened by silence. 

It was quarter after 5:00 AM on Sunday when my eyes opened to darkness. The digital clock by my bed was dark. The night light from our bedroom's adjoining bathroom was also out. The low whirl of the ceiling fan was stilled. The HVAC outside was quiet so the heat was off.  

The power was out. 

My wife Andrea lying next to me has breaking news: "David, the power's out." 

So glad she was there to clear that up. 

Then our daughter Randie enters to tell us the news: "Hey, the power's gone out."  

Oh, good. Another source of confirmation in case I was on the fence as to why the Fortress of Ineptitude was suddenly so quiet and still. 

The power outage was not completely unexpected. The night before, a winter weather system began moving into our area with sleet and freezing rain. 

"Our power could go out," Andrea warned.

I should point that Andrea is not some mystic Cassandra with prophetic powers. Quite frankly, she makes the same prediction any time any significant weather system moves our way. 

A strong summer thunder storm is heading towards us? "Our power could go out," Andrea will say.  

A snow storm is on the way? "Our power could go out," Andrea will say.  

A hurricane grazing the ocean shoreline 300 miles away? "Our power could go out," Andrea will say.  

The area around the Fortress of Ineptitude is actually not that prone to power outages. We do get them on occasion and they tend to not last too long. But any time anything happens that could possibly interfere with us having power, Andrea will predict, "Our power could go out."  

Here success rate at this dire prediction is pretty low. This time, she was right and she will not forget it.

"Our power could go out," Andrea will say.  

"You're being paranoid," I will reply. 

"What about that time the ice storm came through and our power went out?" she will retort. 

Anyway, Randie crawled into bed with us. It's a tighter fit than when she did that when she was a toddler so now we have three grown ass people in a bed for two. Still, despite the heat being off, we were quite warm and comfortable as we drifted back off to sleep.  

Later around noon, the adventure of living in a house with out electricity was losing it's luster.  I ventured outside to find the front steps, sidewalk and driveway were clear of ice. There was ice a plenty clinging to the tree branches of our front yard but was slowly melting and breaking off in little bits and pieces. A quick excursion in the car provide evidence that the roads were passable. 

It was time to get the hell out of the house. 

We packed some bags. The plan was to grab some lunch somewhere then venture over to Andrea's dad's house to spend time until power was restored at the Fortress. 

Randie and I slapped our stuff together in a matter of minutes. Andrea took an hour to pack nothing more than an overnight bag that she may or may not need.  

We made our way to a local restaurant for lunch. Around 2:00 PM, in the middle of lunch, we got a text message from the power company that power in our area had been restored.  

So it was back to the Fortress of Ineptitude, alive with lights and humming noises and warmth. Sweet, comforting warmth.