It's two o'clock in the morning on February 16, 2021. I'm in Texas. I'm in one of the worst winter storms that Texas has ever seen. I just got electricity back after being in the dark for more than 8 hours. Let's just say I'm not a happy camper.

I grew up in Illinois. We had snowstorms and bad weather. Occasionally we would lose power, but it was usually due to a powerline that got taken out by a frozen tree branch. Not because of rolling blackouts.

We started hearing about the bad storm coming late last week. We were already experiencing colder than usual weather. I made a point of getting some groceries, but I didn't really go crazy. I just know that even though I can drive in winter weather, most people can't here in Texas. Besides that, the roads turn into skating rinks because Texas is not equipped to maintain the roads in this cold weather. Thursday brought us huge pile-ups across the state as people tried to get to work on these treacherous roads.

Friday and Saturday were cold, but the roads were more or less clear when the sun warmed things up. I hunkered down since I already had my groceries and thought I was prepared. I actually got quite a bit of work done. I was very productive because there were few outside distractions.

Sunday was nice. My Valentine's Day plans were messed up due to the bad road conditions, but the day was still tolerable. We had quite a bit of snow overnight, but it kept coming down. We were being warned to conserve energy. The grids were being overloaded. I did what I could, but I did stay comfortable and spent some quality time with Netflix since my Valentine's date had to be canceled.

Then Sunday night/Monday morning, the "rolling blackouts" began. It wasn't too bad. I was asleep. I knew the power went off a few times, but it came back on. The house cooled off a bit, but it was able to warm back up when the power came back. I work from home, so thankfully I had electricity to carry out my classes.

Monday

Then, Monday about five in the afternoon the lights went out. I knew it was going to get cold and it was too dark to try to read. I hunkered in my bed with my dog. I had thought maybe it would last an hour or so, but it got colder and colder. I raided my closet for as many layers as I could find. The power was out for eight hours!

The power came on for an hour or so. (In case you are wondering, this is when I started writing this story). I boiled some water since, to top it all off, we are on a boil water order. It's really hard to boil the water when you have an electric stove and no electricity! I filled up the bathtub with water because they are saying we may have issues with the water too since the pump systems don't have electricity. At least I'll be able to flush my toilet as long as the drains don't freeze. In other words, it's just a big mess down here!

Tuesday

It's now Tuesday night. I had power off and on throughout the day. Usually about five hours out, and maybe half an hour on. This is not the rolling blackouts they described.

This evening, I was blessed and had power for almost three hours! You would be amazed at what you can do in three hours when you have been without electricity for so long. First, I caught up with my work emails since I have to conserve my phone battery in case of an emergency. I took a shower. The hot water felt amazing! I would have loved to take a bath, but I didn't want to drain my supply of water, and I worried that the power would go out again. I had a candle on as a backup. I cooked an actual meal for myself, and I made plenty extra so I can pop it in the microwave tomorrow assuming I get spurts of electricity.

But, all that being said, it's starting to snow again! We are expected to get several more inches by this time tomorrow. As long as the power stays on or at least comes on every once in a while like it's supposed to, I'll be fine. I'm running short on bottled water, but I still have soda and the water I boiled earlier.

What is the Big Deal?

First, this winter storm is way beyond the norm for Texas. We rarely get these low temperatures for this long of a period of time. We also don't get these amounts of snow. Simply put, we are not equipped for this. Our homes are built to stay cool in our hot summers. I have BIG windows, and the insulation is thinner than what we had up north. Our pipes are not protected, since this is not something that happens often. Our cities do not have snow plows. We don't have salt trucks, and as we are seeing this week our water systems don't have backup generators big enough to deal with extended power outages.

Let's talk about ERCOT. I had never heard of this before this week and I have been living in Texas for over 15 years. Apparently, ERCOT is in charge of the Texas power grid. There are two main power grids in the United States, but Texas decided to have its own. I will admit, this storm system is not one in the scope of "normal" Texas weather. Texas is a BIG state. Usually, weather issues only affect parts of Texas, not the entire state. This is a storm of disastrous proportions. Nevertheless, our lives are in the hands of ONCOR at the moment.

I have heard lots of reports. First, I know there is at least one nearby hospital that does not have electricity and has run their generator past capacity. They are trying to transport people to other facilities. We were told that hospitals, police, and emergency services would not be a part of the rolling blackouts. We were told the rolling blackouts would be reasonable. An hour of power off and an hour on was one version I read. Another said, 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off. Either way, that is NOT what I have experienced. Eight hours off and maybe an hour on is absolutely NOT acceptable. I also know some people that have not had electricity for more than 36 hours. Yet, some of our major cityscapes are lit up as normal. Why do empty office buildings have electricity when our elderly and small children don't? Oh, and to add insult to injury, we have been told that our rates will be going up to cover the extra used this month. Supposedly, part of the problem is that we can't "borrow" energy from any of the other grids. Yet, we can supposedly buy some from Mexico. Unfortunately, Mexico apparently doesn't have enough of a surplus to solve the problem. I have also heard that part of this is due to the wind turbines being frozen and unable to function. Wouldn't you think that is something that should have been considered?

Wednesday

It's Wednesday, we got a couple more inches of snow last night. My electricity has been on for almost 12 hours now! Hopefully, I can get back into life and not just survival mode. I still have so many questions as to why we had to endure this amount of struggle. A winter storm is bad enough, but not having a source of heat is unbearable. I sure hope that some of these issues get straightened out.

I was able to have an almost normal workday. I still can't ship my Poshmark sales as the post office is closed. I can't get out of my driveway, but I have plenty of food. There's nothing wrong with doing a little pantry cleaning. My electricity has been stable and I even was able to watch some Netflix tonight! There is still plenty of snow on the ground, but as long as my electricity holds, I'm good.

Lessons Learned

This was a difficult few days. At least I knew this wouldn't last forever. I still jump when the heater shuts off thinking the electricity has gone off. I am so thankful for the things I usually take for granted. Most importantly, my heater! My house is not well insulated so even with the heater running, you can feel the coldness outside anytime you are near an exterior wall (it's not a big house, so that's practically everywhere). The spaces without heater vents are really cold like my closets and the bathrooms. Thankfully, since I left them dripping the pipes haven't frozen, but I was really concerned about that. Also, I greatly underestimated my consumption of bottled water. I did not even think about losing water service or a boiled water order. Definitely, a lesson learned, next time I will get extra water to have on hand just in case. I may have mentioned before, it's hard to boil water when you have an electric stove and no electricity!

It's amazing what you can do in a short time. I felt like one of those chefs on the food channel racing to cook a meal. When you are laying in the cold, you prioritize your tasks when the electricity comes on: boil water, plug in the batteries that need charging, make something warm to eat. I did a lot of thinking (there's not much else to do when you are freezing). I got a lot of ideas for my projects and practically laid out the bones to a couple of articles. I made a plan for my website and some things I need to rework on my YouTube channel. Of course, not all of my thoughts were very productive. I wondered how long it takes for a person to freeze to death. Who should I send my passwords to in case something happens? How long can you safely sit in a running car without running the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning? Would my milk be better off if I put it outside than in the refrigerator with no electricity?

It has felt so good to leisurely cook breakfast and scroll social media as I eat this morning. Normal is pretty nice. I would not wish this experience on anyone, and I pray that I never have to go through this again. As one of my friend's children said, "I'm really pretty done with living through historic events!"

It's going to take a few days to even be able to think about getting out. Thankfully, Texas weather is crazy enough that if the prediction is correct, most of this should be melted in the next couple of days. Then we will have to fix all the busted pipes and reset our lives back to normal. I am sure that next time we hear there is a major winter weather event, we will be better prepared or maybe we will book a plane ticket to Florida!