What a Week!

 Well, two weeks really.  There has been such crazy winter weather in our neck of the woods...and across the country, I guess.  Of course it always seems a bigger deal when it is disrupting our plans.  As I mentioned in a prior post, we were thankful that the day we picked up Johnny in Washington DC the weather was passable.  And once again on Saturday of last week we decided to make a day trip, this time to Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and it was a very lovely day.  I'll show you some photos from that journey in a bit.  Finally yesterday we took Johnny once again to the airport to spend some time in the Atlanta area and we had gorgeous weather for the drive.  This I was especially grateful for since I was the driver.

In between Saturday and yesterday, though were two huge storms.  One that dumped about 9 inches of snow...and another that brought ice.  Beautiful as it was, it was also very destructive.  Warren and I stood outside watching and listening as tree after tree broke.  They cracked like gunfire and then the ice and limbs would crash to the ground.  Hearing it from all sides was both awe inspiring and fear inducing at the same time.  We looked at each other, eyes wide, as we felt so helpless.  It is unbelievable that people weren't injured as all of this took place.  But, the damage does seem limited to homes, cars and other property.

We went without power for two days...but were thrilled when it came back days before it was predicted to do so.  They had said it could take until Saturday evening.  We survived quite well.  Being the types to be a bit independent anyway we had picked up a generator some time ago and it has served us well during power outages over the past couple of years.  It is big enough to allow us to run water (not hot), the television (if nothing else is running), and even the Keurig yesterday morning....which allowed some to have oatmeal by heating water.  That was a stretch but we pulled it off.  It is not big enough to run our heat.  But we do have a propane fireplace downstairs that we count on in times such as these.  Well, we always have until this time.  You see, our propane had run out.  And I hadn't thought a lot about it since we are on automatic delivery.  Apparently we've used it faster than normal this winter with all of the cold temps.  So, we were without our backup source of heat.  As Mom, Warren, Chelsea, Johnny and I sat at Cracker Barrel eating dinner the first night of the blackout we discussed this.  I felt kind of overwhelmed.  How would we deal with temps in the teens in a house with no heat.  And we were hosting a guest from another country.  That didn't seem quite right.  But what was there to do? In the course of that conversation I mentioned that it would be amazing if they had actually delivered propane while we had been at the mall staying warm that afternoon.  We all agreed that it was unlikely that this had happened on such an ugly day where the roads were icy and many were blocked by trees and debris.   And so I picked up the phone and called the propane company.  The answering service said they would have someone get back to me.  It wasn't too much longer until the phone rang and an agitated/excited voice on the other end reflected the kind of day this man must have had.  He let me know that the driver had indeed delivered propane to our home at 4 pm that afternoon.  Remember, I had not called....it was just the timing as God would have it.  We rejoiced in God's goodness of providing heat for us.  I doubt we got the upper level of the house much past 60 overnight, since it was so cold outside, but that was just fine.  We covered up and slept.  With another day out and about coming up with taking Johnny to Baltimore for his flight we weren't sitting around here worrying about our plight.  But upon returning home we found that the power had returned...just!  In fact I applauded the PPL trucks as they drove past our house.  I really wanted to thank them personally, but it didn't work out.  My heart goes out to these men, women and their families as they are out there in brutal conditions restoring our electricity and our normalcy.

And now, turning back to Baltimore's Inner Harbor...here are some photos I took.  We had such a great time.  I love this area and even though we usually spend just a few hours there it is enough and feels like a mini vacation each time.

Two very cute and lovely people!

 

 At the aquarium.

It was so busy when we first went in....

so we went, had a late lunch and returned later.

Ahhh...much better.

This was taken as the sun began to set...

after we watched the dolphin training session.

Perfect!

 Red Ibis.

I had only heard of them at Isaac's...

a sandwich chain that names their sandwiches after birds.

Now, I've seen them in person.

Pretty!

And now, life resumes it's normal pace for a few days 

and then Johnny is scheduled to return and we will go sight seeing and play a lot again.

I'm lovin' it!!

Hear that, Johnny?

Don't love Atlanta more than you love Lancaster County!

We are looking forward to more fun times.