Power-less in Princeton

Yesterday I worked in the morning, and despite a driving rain that didn't seem to let up all that much we saw a number of people.  After everyone went home, I finished charts and it was just me and the couple who were in the office to strip and wax the floors.

After a stop at Target, I got on the road for home.

Quaker Road was closed due to flooding.  No big deal, any sort of heavy rainstorm seems to close that road.

Province Line Road to Route 583.  583 was closed due to a downed tree or powerline.

Back to Province Line to Route 206.  206 was closed at some random residential street, so back through that neighborhood and back onto 583, beyond whatever problem that closed it.  Trees and branches down everywhere.  Streets are tree surgeon's and wood chipper's wet dream.

Big back up beyond Princeton Battlefield waiting to turn onto Lover's Lane (a short worthless street) and back onto 206.  More trees down.

206 to Elm Road.  Had to dodge around a downed tree blocking my side of the road, but uneventful until I got to Mountain Road.  Downed tree, low-hanging power line. 

Elm becomes Great Road.  Total misnomer in general, but today moreso than ever.

Onto Cherry Valley, more of the same but fortunately it's moving and there are no blockages or back-ups.

Until I get to 206 and Cherry Valley, where traffic was diverted into the CVS Pharmacy/TD Bank parking lot due to downed power lines on 206 and no signal.  Which was OK, because I wanted to go straight through the intersection and onto Princeton Avenue after a quick stop at CVS.

Which was dark, oh so very dark.  So was the bank.  I should have had a clue by then, but it took getting to the driveway and pushing the garage door opener before all the synapses clicked.

Holy moly, it's a power outage.

Back before the dawn of my nursing career, I lived in Washington, DC and periodically the house would lose electricity during violent thunderstorms, but it was usually a matter of no more than a few hours and Pepco would restore power.  And if it lasted any longer, I could hop in the car and drive to my parents' house - and this was in the day before cell phones, laptops, Palms, Nintendos, Bluetooths.

This morning we woke to a house still without electricity, so we did what I used to do 15 to 20 years ago, we packed up and went to Mom's (or Oma's).  All of us.  Today was a planned trip for me - my mother's final chemo is tomorrow.  I actually like the drive down, it gives me four hours to organize my mental sock drawer.  No luck today, three of my 'socks' were in the passenger seats, and there was hardly a moment of quiet.

Micah wanted "The Princess Song" over and over and over again (Track 9 off of Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' CD, I don't even know it's real name.)  It's not a bad song if one overlooks that Ms. Swift is rewriting the Romeo and Juliette saga with a happy ending, which I can do when I see the look of pure be-bopping happiness on Micah's face.

Thea was absorbed by her new DS game, Pokemon HeartGold, which provided us with additional background noise (she doesn't like the earbuds, unfortunately).  Before hitting the road, we stopped at Target to pick it up and she actually contributed $18.50 of her own money towards it.

And since I worked this weekend, I am also on call - and there were a few calls during the drive down.  The good thing was I had my Bluetooth and I had Steve dial the numbers.

So we're at the Sleep Inn.  The kids got 90 minutes in the pool tonight after dinner at Oma's, so they were happy little dolphins.