Their mom, not so much. Actually, I do like hot weather and don’t mind temps in the 90’s – but not when those 90’s are inside my house.
We were affected by the massive power outage that hit the Mid Atlantic after a severe storm known as a “derecho,” a term I don’t ever want to see in a weather report again, came through here this past Friday night. But why don’t I let the girls tell you what happened.
Allegra: Friday night, we were all snuggled up in bed with Mom, and I had just started to drift off to sleep when out of nowhere, this rush of wind hit the side of the house. It felt like the whole house was shaking!
Ruby: Wha? What’s happening? I was sleeping!
Allegra: I jumped off the bed and ran to my safe place.
Ruby: Mom? Why are you getting up? We just went to bed!
Allegra: Even in my safe place in the downstairs bathroom, I could hear the wind. The room doesn’t have any windows, but the door was open, and I could see flashes of lightning through the window across the family room. A few minutes later, Mom came downstairs and gave me Storm Soother and Stress Stopper. I even saw her take a few drops herself!
Ruby: Mom doesn’t like storms. You and Mom are such scaredy cats! I sat by the window and watched the wind and lightning -wee!
Mom sat down on the sofa and turned on the tv. Ooh, we’re going to watch tv together? This late at night? Yay!
Oh. I guess we’re not watching tv. Why’d it get so dark all of a sudden?
I could feel that Mom was really scared. She was looking at this tiny glowing screen in her hand, going back downstairs to check on Allegra, then coming back upstairs to look out the window at all the wind and lightning, then back at her tiny screen.
All of a sudden, I heard a big crash! A big limb came off the tree across the street. Thankfully, it fell on the lawn, and not on our neighbor’s house. The wind just kept blowing and blowing.
Allegra: Mom came to check on me periodically and to give me more Storm Soother and Stress Stopper. I could tell she was really afraid, even though she tried to tell me that it was okay.
Ruby: Finally, everything stopped. Mom walked around the house with a light in her hands. Oooh, a new game! I followed the light beam and pounced on it. This was fun!
Allegra: After a while, I ventured back upstairs. Mom was on the phone, I heard her say “we don’t have power, either.” I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded like it was a bad thing. Finally, we all went back to bed.
When we woke up in the morning, it was really quiet. Mom got up as soon as it was light out, and fed us our breakfast. But instead of making herself coffee, and going to her computer, she just sat there and stared at her tiny screen. She was hitting it with her thumbnails a lot, too. I don’t know what that was about.
Ruby: It got really warm in the house. That was kind of strange, but I didn’t mind. I like it hot!
Allegra: I didn’t mind it, either, but Mom didn’t seem very happy. I also didn’t like that she closed the blinds completely. I don’t like not being able to look out the windows.
Ruby: I don’t, either. Mom explained that it was to keep the sun out. Why would anybody do that? We love the sun! Mom loves the sun, too, and often sits in it, so it made no sense to me that all of a sudden, the sun wasn’t welcome at our house.
Allegra: Mom disappeared a lot, too. She said she was going to a friend’s house with “AC” and “WiFi.” I don’t know what those things are, but they seemed important to Mom.
Ruby: She asked us whether we wanted to come with her, but Allegra and I both said no. We love our house, and we didn’t want to go anywhere else!
Allegra: When we went to bed Saturday night, I could tell that Mom was really unhappy. She didn’t even cover herself with the blanket, the way she usually does when she goes to sleep. So to comfort her, Ruby and I decided we were going to snuggle up really close to her!
Ingrid: That’s just what I needed in a bedroom where the temperature had reached close to 90 degrees: two feline heaters! But I didn’t have the heart to displace them. What’s a little discomfort and a sleepless night, when you have your cats curled up against you.
Our power finally came back late Sunday afternoon. The girls were unimpressed, but I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Many in the DC area aren’t as lucky as we were, and are still without power after a week of relentless 90+ degree heat and humidity.
Hi Ingrid, I am glad you and your “Furr-babies” were alright. You lucked out and got you power back on in two days. I live in Southern Maryland, and our power, phones, cable & WATER (we are on well water-no power, no way to run the pump) for an entire week.
I stayed w/ my kitties Pumpkin and HyJinx. It was hot, even w/ all the windows open. I ran out twice for a quick few mins while my dear friend and neighbor across the street watched my house and kitties for me. I had plenty of batteries for a camping fan I purchased years ago.
To keep the kitties cool, I wet down towels in the cooler and rubbed them down many times during that week. And of course, shared my battery powered fan and radio. We all made it through a horrible, hot week. But, I couldn’t dream of leaving the cats behind. If they were going to be hot, so was their Mommy.
My Girls are very happy the power and AC are back on. Now they can snuggle in bed w/ Mommy again. Gotta love our cats. Keep cool. Give your cats a kiss from me and my girls. XOXOXO =^.!.^= Gail
I can’t imagine being without power for a week, Gail! I’m glad you and your girls managed to get through it. Note to self: purchase battery powered fan…
I work in insurance so I totally know what you and everyone was going through. It’s been a rough week. Glad you got the power up.
I bet you’re busy whenever there is a bad storm like this, Diana!
Their true personalities shine in a time of struggle. Love Ruby’s attitude! And those humans are just too particular. But I’ll say you probably trimmed that branch at just the right time! Glad you got your power back. And storms at night frighten me too!
I think you’re right about that branch, Bernadette!
Ruby you are so brave and funny! You don’t mind big storms, you don’t mind heat, well Allegra didn’t seem to mind the heat either.
So glad that you all have power now (and mostly AC!!!)
I remember the “blackout” a few years back that affected a few states (which turned out to be all my former state’s fault…Ohio!!) I was in tears…between my kidney condition and about 3 days of no power I couldn’t take it. I slept on the floor by our balcony door every night!
We take power/AC for granted until we lose it. Hope those without power have it restored soon!
I can relate to you being in tears during your prolongued power outage, Caren. We sure do take power for granted.
So if you could have picked, A/C or WiFi, which would you have chosen 🙂
I’m glad you have your power back.. it really is amazing how dependent we have become on it.
LOL, Connie! I think I would have chosen WiFi – I felt like I was cut off from everything with not even having internet access. At least I had my BlackBerry.
So glad you got your power back… Wonderful. That was a long one.
pawhugs, Max
It seemed very long, Max, that’s for sure.
Oh Ingrid – yuck! Sorry you had to go through that. My Aunt lives in Fairfax Station and just got hers back on Tuesday! I am glad you all are OK.
I’m glad your aunt got her power back, even if it took four days for her!
Glad the girls did all right in the power outage and didn’t get too hot. It is not any fun at all when the power goes away. We just don’t realize how much we depend on the power. Glad all of you are all right now. Take care.
Thanks, Marg. We sure do depend on power for everything.
Glad you and the girls are okay and that you got your power back fast! The derecho had calmed down a bit by the time it hit us, but it still made the house shake in a terrifying way and knocked the power out. What a crazy storm!
I hadn’t thought about taking Stress Stopper or Storm Soother myself – I’ll have to remember that next time! (Though I hope there won’t BE a next time!)
Amy, even though they’re formulated for animals, they seem to work well for humans, too.
It’s good that you had each other! Glad you got your power back 🙂
I’m glad that Ruby and Allegra coped so well, Ingrid … you poor things. I have been watching the weather reports about the US and wondering where you all lived and how you are all coping. Your dialogue from the cats is funny … I think it’s a good job they can’t really talk out loud (I know they all “talk” in their own way … but actual words would be hysterical!) Gracie manages to get her point across with lots of “bbbrrrpps” and “cccchhhhhrrrrrppps”! Hope everybody is soon back to full power. Sending prayers and positive thoughts from Oz!
Thanks for the prayers and positive thoughts, Margaret. I can’t imagine not having power for almost a week and I’m so grateful we got ours back when we did.