Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful

So a week or two ago the Midwest was blasted with ice and snow. My mother (lord help me) lives in an area that got mostly ice with a little snow. She called me on Sunday afternoon and said she was bored. Her power had gone out sometime Saturday evening. She was cold, hungry, bored and lonely. The plan was to barricade herself in her bedroom until the power came back on. For breakfast she had dry cereal (she has this everyday so no big deal), but no eggs or bacon or toast. For lunch she dined on Peanut Butter and Crackers. Dinner was some sort of thawed lunch meat. Yum. Yum.

I told her to get out and go somewhere. The power wasn't expected to be fixed for days as most of the town was without power. My sister lives in the same town and I suggested she go there. Long story short she lost power that night. So now my mom and sister are without power. A friend of my mother's, S. offered to go get my mom and let her stay at her house. S had no power either, but had a wood stove and frequently cooked on it. She also had lanterns and other stuff to make no power a little more cozy. Mom didn't want to go. She didn't want to be stuck out there. I told her to go. Better off stuck somewhere you can eat warm food, sit next to a fire and have a friend to chat with. She still didn't want to go.

I suggested a hotel, but she is so cheap she would never pay the money. At this point I felt like I was talking to a child. Finally I reminded her that this is the type of weather people die in when they try to "wait it out". I did not want my mother to be the one to die because she was too cheap and stubborn to go somewhere or accept help.

Finally, she and my sister went to stay with S. She ended up giving them a truck load of wood and they hid out at my sisters house sitting near the fireplace. At least they were able to make some food over the fire too. Am I the only one that would have just gone to the local Holiday Inn to live in comfort? They were without power for nine (9) days. They were going to 'wait it out' for nine days. I almost lost my mom and sister to stupidity.

P.S. Z is for Zamboni. Everyone needs one of these.