Ann Arbor ice storm 2007
UPDATE: As I write this, a small army is working to cut the limbs that fell in our neighbor’s backyard and restore power by tonight! (The friendly workers even agreed to let the wood drop onto our side of the fence so I could cut it up into firewood.) So tonight’s screening of Dead Man is on!
Huge thanks to our new hardcore roommate Christina and Girl Next Door for sticking it out with me for 4 days of 40-degree temperatures inside our house. All our other neighbors were smart - though unadventurous - and left.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that 40 degrees doesn’t sound all that cold. We’ve all spent a night or two camping in that kind of weather. But when it’s inside your house, all day long, and the high outside is in the 20s, and there’s no light for most of the time, it can be very taxing.
And in the middle of all this, what arrives in the mail? An energy bill from DTE. Sorry if I don’t exactly hurry to pay that one.
So anyway, we’ll be truly celebrating tonight. Come join us.
ORIGINAL POST:
When freezing rain hits just before a deep freeze, everyone has a good few days to pull out our phones - I mean our cameras - and take pictures of things like this:
But something like 36,000 powerless DTE customers also have a good few days to freeze our asses off. Mid-day temperature reading inside the Bluish Barn today: 40 degrees.
40 degrees! We can see our breath quite well.
DTE says - but doesn’t promise - that power will be restored by Thursday afternoon. If it’s not, Thursday’s 9pm screening of Dead Man might have to be cancelled.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
When I pestered DTE and got the live person today, I did mention we have an EVENT on Thursday night, we NEED power! (without whining about our cold noses/personal suffering/displaced freezer food/potential pipe burst.)
She said the crew is scheduled to come tomorrow. No promise.
The screening will go on! If power is still out, we can run an extension cord across the street/backyard since the ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD has power except OUR 5-house block. Plus, we’d love to bask in your body heat for a few hours.
January 16th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Did the woman on the phone ask what KIND of event was of the utmost urgency?
Did she have visions of tuxes little red fresses and martini glasses? Perhaps she thought event meant a monster truck ralley, IN YOUR BACKYARD. Or even backyard wrestling for that matter.
I do so wonder what call center operators dream of.
January 16th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
we’re actually all wearing red fresses right now as we bask in the glow of the kerosene!
bring us some soup!
January 21st, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I am really glad DTE got their act together and Dead Man got screened. My read was a sort of feature-length music video with the same Neil Young riff cementing the structure. There were visual and narrative quotes from all different Westerns and Moviedom in general, and gorgeous shots of Johnny Depp looking, well: gorgeous. Thank you, Bluish Barn, that was just what I needed.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
barners:
you guys are amazing neighbors. thanks for keeping me warm.