It actually rained the other night; finally.
We were sitting on the seat, in the bedroom, watching different things on our computers, when I looked over at Ivan, and asked him if he smelled rain. (I love the smell of rain. Have I ever mentioned that?)
Sure enough, it was raining; and hard, by the sound of it. The drops sounded quite large; not small, delicate, normal sized rain drops. These sounded like they were the size of olives. I know how that looks, reading “the size of olives”, but, that is what crossed my mind, listening to them. It was not the light, soft sound of rain; it was rain. They were not rain drops, they were rain plops.
It only lasted fifteen minutes, however, the after affects, at least in this building, lasted quite a bit longer. The power went out three times, the last time being about eleven thirty, returning a few minutes after midnight.
When it was out, we had no lights, obviously, no fans, but, I also had no working CPAP machine! I was close to having a minor panic attack, (though I cannot remember ever actually having one). It felt as if I was suffocating. I opened the bedroom window, quite a ways, to let in the fresh, cold night air. We could hear the sounds of men, downstairs; it sounded as if they were trying to “fix” something.
When the power returned, for the second time, that is, it was not at full strength. We have never experienced “partial power” restoration before. This was something new, and interesting. Not fun, however.
The two fans we use, in the bedroom, were set on medium speed, but, both sounded, and, felt like they were on low. The lights, in the spare bedroom, when turned on, blinked on, and off, like emergency lights, though not synchronized; not a continuous glow. Only three of the four ceiling lights, in our bedroom, came on. And, not all of the outlets worked; not even in our surge protector, (which is where I had the CPAP machine plugged in). What the heck?
When I could not get my CPAP to work, we tried plugging it in to several different outlets in the room; nothing happened. I thought I had, somehow, wrecked it, or maybe a power surge had fried it. What was I going to do? (I have to use the machine when I sleep, because, as the results of a sleep study I had, years ago showed, I stopped breathing, multiple times every hour. Not conducive to good health, or, longevity.) Ivan had me plug it in to an extension cord that he uses to recharge his computer, and that worked. I could finally go to sleep.
Nope.
The power went out again, the third time, for thirty minutes. This time, however, when it came back on, it was at full force, again. The fans went back to their medium setting, with the full force of the medium speed; the lights all worked, and my CPAP machine was up, and, running. NOW we could go to sleep. Finally.
Then, the alarm started.
It was outside, somewhere downstairs, in the garage area. We thought it was, possibly, a car alarm, but, by the sound of it, and the volume level, it had to have been the emergency siren. And, it when on, and on, and on, and on. I got up, shut the windows, Ivan went to the bathroom, and we went back to bed. The alarm lasted ten minutes. Now we could go to sleep.
By then, however, it was after one o’clock in the morning; the bewitching hour for me. So, no, I did not go to sleep. I was restless, tossing, and turning; my legs became jumpy, so …
I got up, took two Ibuprofen, went out to the kitchen to reset the clocks, on the oven, and the coffee maker; walked through the apartment; stretched my back; applied lotion to my feet, then put on short socks; played thirty minutes of Wordscapes, at the table, in the living room, (did not want to disturb the sleeping el señor); got back up, and, walked through the apartment, again; walked around looking at all of the plants; went to the bathroom; then, walked a few more times around the apartment, waiting for the Ibuprofen to start working. By now, it was two thirty, so, I went back to bed. Ugh!
Somewhere, after three, I finally fell to sleep.
I woke up, punctual, as ever, at seven thirty(ish), got up, started the coffee maker, as it was set for eight o’clock; finished my morning ablutions; fed everything that required feeding, and sat down to write this post.
Having had my first cup of coffee, I will finish this up, so I can get it posted. Please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.
I am going to go take a nap.