There have been a lot of storms in PA lately. Usually, I’m the first guy to help others that run into trouble or even cover extra shifts at work for those in a bad spot but it looks like it my turn this last week to be there. I started my 45 minute ride home, after finishing a 12 hour overnight shift alone on Tuesday February 2nd. The weather was terrible & even in my old 4x4 Chevy Suburban it took me 3.5 hours with all the stuck drivers & street closures to get house. I was pretty upset knowing I could have worked from home & never risked driving in the first place if my IT department could have fix a simple connectivity issue the day before. After finally finishing all the shoveling, & being awake for a well over 30 hours I was asked to pick up my mother in-law because a tree fell on the side of her home knocking out her power. The trip to get her was easy compared to dealing with her at my home. I never had a problem offering my bed or anything else I have to a guest. I can even bend some house rules but when demands for certain platters are made & expected to be served in my newly carpeted living room, on my new couch while they watch my television I find it to be a hard pill to swallow. I figured it best to keep the peace with the wife. I know the time of month to pick my battles so I spent my night in my snake lounge/man cave. I just added a newer rack that I ordered & needed to test & finished building a new PC I could play with in there so I didn’t mind spending a little extra time in there. If I actually knew how long I would actually be in there I wouldn’t have been so eager.
After handling everything that needed handling & finally falling asleep late that night I was awaken at around 5:00am & told the storm knocked the power out & watched the temp drop quick. I decided to throw my Mr. Buddy portable propane heater on & figured power would be back shortly but after a few hours knew there was a bigger problem & I might be in trouble. The generator was at my uncle’s home over an hour away & pretty much unreachable with all the closed streets, not that it mattered because no one in our area had power including the gas stations. I ventured out that afternoon to find an open Lowe’s home improvement store which of course was sold out of anything useful except an additional gas can & 6 extra pounds of propane to add to the additional 12 I already had. The hook up to 20 gallon propane tank was available but without any filled tanks. I made it back home just in time to hear our guest complaining about my son’s voice & seeing the look on my wife’s face letting me know I was about to get the opportunity most guys wish for. Unfortunately my mother in-laws seen it also & decided to stop mooching & return to her home that had power restored hours earlier.
My private clean snake lounge/man cave became headquarters for my wife, son, dog, cat & 3 snakes over night. After seeing the temps drop in my largest enclosure a few brief times into the 70's, I decided to move the hide with my large female boa that could be gravid in the higher up enclosure with my male which keep the temp at 82 at the coldest of times. As much as I loved waking up every 3 hours for the heater I decided the next morning it wouldn’t work much longer. I already went through 9 canisters of propane & the family wasn’t going to deal with it much longer so finally I found an open gas station & way to get the generator which I rigged a little roof for since more storms were coming. Since I have a well I had to use multiple stored gallons of water to flush the toilet but a shower wasn’t an opinion for me. My family was able to clean up & visit family who even offered to open the doors to our dog & cat but of course not the snakes. I couldn’t leave the generator/heater running without supervision & would never leave my snakes so I stayed with all the animals. It was rough being stuck in my now messy public family cave & even had to remind the beast who was boss when it came to the last slice of frozen pizza.
After handling everything that needed handling & finally falling asleep late that night I was awaken at around 5:00am & told the storm knocked the power out & watched the temp drop quick. I decided to throw my Mr. Buddy portable propane heater on & figured power would be back shortly but after a few hours knew there was a bigger problem & I might be in trouble. The generator was at my uncle’s home over an hour away & pretty much unreachable with all the closed streets, not that it mattered because no one in our area had power including the gas stations. I ventured out that afternoon to find an open Lowe’s home improvement store which of course was sold out of anything useful except an additional gas can & 6 extra pounds of propane to add to the additional 12 I already had. The hook up to 20 gallon propane tank was available but without any filled tanks. I made it back home just in time to hear our guest complaining about my son’s voice & seeing the look on my wife’s face letting me know I was about to get the opportunity most guys wish for. Unfortunately my mother in-laws seen it also & decided to stop mooching & return to her home that had power restored hours earlier.
My private clean snake lounge/man cave became headquarters for my wife, son, dog, cat & 3 snakes over night. After seeing the temps drop in my largest enclosure a few brief times into the 70's, I decided to move the hide with my large female boa that could be gravid in the higher up enclosure with my male which keep the temp at 82 at the coldest of times. As much as I loved waking up every 3 hours for the heater I decided the next morning it wouldn’t work much longer. I already went through 9 canisters of propane & the family wasn’t going to deal with it much longer so finally I found an open gas station & way to get the generator which I rigged a little roof for since more storms were coming. Since I have a well I had to use multiple stored gallons of water to flush the toilet but a shower wasn’t an opinion for me. My family was able to clean up & visit family who even offered to open the doors to our dog & cat but of course not the snakes. I couldn’t leave the generator/heater running without supervision & would never leave my snakes so I stayed with all the animals. It was rough being stuck in my now messy public family cave & even had to remind the beast who was boss when it came to the last slice of frozen pizza.
