As I recall, it was the winter of 1996, blizzard after blizzard gripped the Northeast. Being from New England and having moved to Massachusetts from Chicago about 25 years earlier, I can honestly say that I have gotten used to the frigid temperatures that winters always bring. But it was on that day in February that I sensed that something was not going to be normal about this particular Northwest Easter. I was up late last night watching and listening to the latest weather reports and they predicted a normal nor’easter. That is if anything is normal about a nor’easter, but that’s what they told people.
With that information, I began to gather as much firewood as possible, thinking that a typical northeast storm would bring blackouts and a lot of snow. I guess in the back of my mind I thought maybe this one could be a little more interesting. With that thought I managed to make one last run to my neighborhood store to stock up on some of the basic supplies to help me out in case this storm lasted a little longer. With provisions of meat, vegetables and, of course, beer and wine, I returned when the first snowflakes began to fall. If the power went out and the temperature outside was 18 degrees, I could use my makeshift outside cabinet as a temporary freezer to keep my perishables from spoiling.
Around 6 o’clock the snow was really starting to fall. However, strong winds were blowing the snow horizontally and drifts of snow were accumulating along the sides of the house. At 9 o’clock that night, the first floor windows were covered by the increasing amount of snow. By now the lights were flickering and that meant with this heavy snowfall and now gale force winds the power would soon be gone. In the back of my mind I thought of that backup generator I saw at Home Depot a month ago but the cost just to get the permit was more than the unit itself and since I was on a fixed income I just had to make do with the fireplace in the living room and wood stove in the kitchen. There was only one problem, when the power goes out, the toilet doesn’t work because the septic system is connected to the electrical panel. This is because the location of the house is too far from the main sewer lines of the city. I remember as a child our summer house before it was connected to the city sewer lines, the latrine was only a few feet away and at night it was an experience to say the least to go to the bath. Not only did we use that house in the summer, but as kids on cold winter nights when my family decided to run away, the bunkhouse we slept in during the summers now served as a winter oasis when my family decided to run away. With a heater, it provided warmth and some comfort on those winter nights. It was at that time of year that, instead of slogging through the cold of the night to the latrine, the good old chamber pot served us well. This is how people over 200 years ago went to the bathroom in the middle of the night. There is an old custom associated with urinals, but that’s another story.
With that frame of mind I knew what to do. Now, sure I’ve made all the necessary preparations for this Easter’s long siege of the Northwest, I put some wood chips in my wood stove and more logs in the fireplace in case when the power goes out, the house keeps a somewhat cozy atmosphere. temperature. Keeping the bricks around the fireplace warm by keeping the fire going is the key to radiant heat. The same can be said for the wood stove in the kitchen. I am often confused by new houses being built today. Many don’t have chimneys, and if they do, the chimney is in a wall to the side of the house, so the heat from the chimney is mostly going outside rather than radiant heat going inside. In my house, the fireplace is in the center of the house, so the radiant heat there is distributed evenly throughout the house. Centuries ago, houses always had fireplaces in the center of the hearth and often had them in every room of the house. Back then that was their only source of heat and cooking. Nowadays, I often use the wood stove to keep a cup of coffee burning and I use the fireplace that has nooks for bread to keep food warm when the power is out, which in New England happens when there’s a Northwest Easter . Plus, a fireplace automatically adds thousands of dollars to a home’s value. Something an inground pool or hot tub can’t do.
At 10 o’clock the power went out. With the candles lit and the fire burning, I was content to wait out the storm until morning. Fortunately, I have my computer charged, so I checked the latest weather forecast. Now, they were saying that another low pressure system is on a collision course with this northeast bringing with it the potential for that perfect storm scenario. Placing my sleeping bag on the living room rug in front of the fireplace, I was about to settle in for a winter nap when I hear cries for help outside. I jumped to look out the window, but the window was covered, so I ran upstairs to the hall window and saw what looked like headlights breaking through the snow. A woman was standing on top of her buried car asking for help. I kept thinking what had possessed this woman to drive in this weather only to get trapped in the snow covering her car.
Now you’d think more people would answer but my house was the only one that seemed to be occupied, because of me. The other houses where my neighbors are staying have packed up and gone to a safe place to wait out this storm. Thinking quickly, I grabbed my parka and snowshoes and tied a rope to the bottom of the upstairs hallway window. I managed to slide down my roof and using the rope as a lifeline I walked about 100 feet to where she was standing on top of her car. The wind was howling because the snow made it so hard to see, but just as I was about to greet her, the wind knocked her off balance right into my arms. Lost of balance, I knew we had to go back into the house and climb to the second floor window because the first floor was already inaccessible before we were all trapped outside.
After about ten minutes using hand over hand pulling the rope like a lifeline, we managed to reach the side of my house. The snow was already 5 feet deep. While looking at the upstairs window where my rope was tied, I managed to climb up and open the window so I could adjust my feet to reach down and grab her arm as she put her foot against the wall, she managed to climb up my rope. with my help and down and lo and behold she slid out the window landing exhausted on the floor. I quickly closed the blinds and the window just as a gust of hurricane-force winds hit the house. Now safe inside her, she introduces herself as Alice and says that she was on her way to meet her husband, who had just arrived in Boston after completing a six-month tour of duty as a merchant seaman. She left her house thinking that she could beat the storm and make it to the harbor before the storm came.
With the blackout, the only way to communicate was through my computer, on which I had installed a Wi-Fi dongle to turn my entire house into a hotspot in the event of a power outage. Now comfortable in front of the fire in my living room, Alice emailed her husband that she was fine and that she was staying with an acquaintance until it was safe to travel again. When I started cooking popcorn on the fireplace, Alice got a reply from her husband that she managed to get a room at the Long Wharf Marriott until the storm passed. For two days we exchanged stories and managed to be quite comfortable. Power was restored sometime the next morning. By the third morning after the storm hit, I managed to dig out her car, and by 10 o’clock, Alice was on her way to meet her husband. I can honestly say that this February’s Northeast Easter will be one for the record books and will always be remembered for saving a damsel in distress.