No power not as bad as we thought

I'm spoiled, I'll admit it. I like a hot shower, clean clothes, fresh coffee, warm food, lights, heat, television, Internet and phone service. And I don't like doing without those things.

Buy this photo

But I don't imagine I'm the only person like that. Especially lately.

With last week's ice storm, our family had to do without. But we weren't the only ones, and many were - and still are - in worse shape.

On Tuesday morning, heavy ice began snapping power lines and causing other havoc across the state. Our electricity was off by 3:30 that afternoon. Telephone, Internet and satellite television soon followed. Between my mother and father, though, all of us - and our dogs - had a warm place to sleep and food to eat.

At the office, we lost Internet service on Wednesday morning, but a few hours later we were back up and sending our completed newspaper pages over the Web to the press in Elizabethtown. The press, however, had no power or water. The newspaper was several hours late being printed, but miraculously made it to the post office just in time to go out in Thursday's mail to our readers.

We updated our Web site with news about an emergency shelter and with photos of snow and ice taken by our staff and by our readers.

At home on Wednesday, the heavy ice downed three huge pear trees that lined our driveway. We couldn't even get up the driveway. But in the afternoon, my husband and son drove back to the house and found a group of men driving away after having moved the trees out of the driveway. We have no clue who they were, so we can't even thank them.

By Thursday afternoon, Taylor County RECC workers were able to get us back online. It was so good to be back home. A short power outage just after 9 that night sent us into a panic, but it lasted only long enough for RECC workers to splice some lines.

On Saturday, we started yard cleanup, and some friends of ours showed up to help, wielding a chainsaw. We worked for hours yet could hardly tell we'd done a thing.

Then the chainsaw broke. Then the electricity went out again.

So, we gave up on the cleanup, picked up burgers for dinner and built a fire in the living room fireplace.

It wasn't until that evening when the electricity came back on for good that we realized maybe doing without wasn't quite so bad after all.

At one point, I walked into the dining room and flipped on the light.

A chorus immediately followed.

"Hey, shut off that light, would ya?"