Stuck!

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It is Wednesday morning and we are stuck at the farmhouse. Around midnight last night the power went out and as of right now it is still out. Of course by the time you read this we will be back online, but I wanted to write it down now to capture the moment.

Without power not only is there no electricity, but there is no running water and no heat. The water all comes from the well and is pumped by electric motor to the farmhouse, so no toilets or showers. The main heat at the house is provided by hot water running through radiator units in the rooms so if there is no water we do not have any heat. There are 3 fireplaces at the house, however only one can be lit because of something to do with the others being tied to the house heating and without power they can't light them. Still quite don't understand that one.

It has finally stopped snowing but there is about 6" of snow still on the ground. Without chains on the car there isn't a way to get our little car down the hill on the 2.5 mile dirt road.

Yesterday the weather report stated that we would have worse snow today than we did yesterday. Of course we can't get an updated report today because no internet, however so far the skies are clear and the existing snow is slowly melting away.

Bruno and Grazia are working to get the power restored to the house. Despite the numerous phone calls that they have made it seems that the utility crew didn't come in till 9:00 AM so are now just getting started on fixing things. We certainly have a new appreciation for PG&E back at home.

And to top it all off Michelle and I are both getting COLDS!!! ARGH! Yesterday (before the snow got bad) we went out looking for some Cold-Ease. The one "Supermercato" that we found didn't have any sort of medicine at all. And the Farmacia wasn't at all what we expected. Where do people around here get Advil, cough syrup, or asprin?

There is another couple staying here at the farmhouse along with us. Since they only speak Italian we don't know much about them, but from looking out our bedroom window it appears that they just made an attempt to get down the hill back to civilization. The farm tractor is now out and is towing their car out of the snow bank they just slid into. It was a good try but looks like their attempt has failed.

So for now we just sit and wait...

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Photos

Polizia
Police at the front gate of the farmhouse checking in to be sure we are OK.