New years

I won't have any pictures for a bit. We need to figure out what is wrong with our desktop.

New years eve is NOT our holiday. Seriously.

I woke up a little after 6am on the 31st. I noticed that we didn't have power. Oh how lovely. I fed carlee and went back to bed. I mentioned it to Andrew Nd how I thought the light in the yard was on, but it could have been really bright moon. I didn't actually look out the window. So Andrew got up and tried to fix the problem. He got the lights on, clocks working on the stove and microwave (when the clock on the stove started working it said 1 or a little after. So the power had been out for a few hours by the time I got up at 6.)....anything that didn't take a lot of power worked. Though I didn't realize that the dryer wouldn't work, otherwise I wouldn't have done that load of laundry.

Since Andrew was trying to get the power back on he didn't pack his lunch. He came home and tried to nuke his lunch. When that didn't go well, he called the power company. They sent someone out, they showed up about 1.45pm. I was just getting a fire started since we didn't have heat and it looked like it could be awhile.

MVP (mission valley power) guy said that we had a burned out meter base. So behind the meter, there are 4 jaws (they look like clamps) and the upper left one didn't look good. It had melted the part of the meter that hooked on to it. So that's why we only had partcial power. He had to shut off the power until we could get an electrician out to look at it. He tried calling several, I tried calling some, but no one answered. So I waited a couple of hours and started calling whoever was in Ronan and then move to polson...finally got someone to actually answer my call! He was busy, but could come look at it. Then a bit later Andrew calls to let me know that marshal will come look at it on his way
home....no power tonight. Darn it!

I suggested going to Missoula, getting a hotel. The kids could swim, we can charge our phones and have heat. But Andrew decided that we would stay at home. If we are going to be on the roads, going sooner rather than later is best. And he wanted to be here when marshal showed up and who knew a
when that was going to be. We got the kids in bed, dressed warmly and a few extra blankets. Once they were asleep we opened their door so that they would have access to the heat from the fire.

Andrew found some extension cords and ran then from the shop, which had power, to the house. We plugged in the fridge, a fan and I charged my phone. Andrew charged his in the morning. The fan we put in front of the fire to help blow out the hot air. Carlee was dressed normally, swaddled and put to bed. I added a blanket for her to sleep on plus one tucked over her. We went to bed and hoped the kids would sleep through the night.

When carlee got up at 4 something to eat, I put more wood on the fire. It was almost dead. Then when the kids got up, we put some more on it. We kept it going and with the fan, we could keep the living room about 68 degrees.

So this new years we spent it without power. Last year we spent it in the hospital with Quincey. The trend isn't comforting, but maybe next year will be different?