Wind Power & Snowmageddon

Last week we had the wind storm of the century in the Rochester, NY area. More than 100,000 people lost power, some for days, with the sustained 50mph winds and gusts of 80mph. Trees and phone/electrical lines came down by the hundreds across the region.Schools were closed, businesses shut, cars and houses damaged by the storm and trees falling.

Here's a question - telephone poles, are they really necessary anymore? How many people have a land line? Telephone poles and assorted wires are good for squirrel highways, bird perches, visual pollution and stopping cars suddenly that veer off the road. Electrical and other utility lines should be underground, this isn't an unusual practice. When a series of poles go down take them away, dig a trench and bury the lines. The process of burying the lines can be done gradually, sort of like TrumpWall, except lines underground will save lives (no cars will smash into the poles), trees will be saved and I will have one less thing to rant about.

We were lucky, our power was only out for about 6 hours. But how do you exercise if there is no electricity or other utilities, especially in the winter when the temperature drops below freezing? If you get all sweaty you can only shower with cold water. Doable, but not enjoyable. It's a bit dangerous outside, especially with 50 mph winds. The treadmill obviously doesn't work. I was able to climb on my bike on the trainer and ride in the dark in the basement with the sound of voices in my head for entertainment. That lasted for an hour. I could also lift weights, in the dark. At least it was something.

A few days later the snow began and didn't stop for two days. We ended up with twenty-four or more inches. Insane for a March storm. The village snowplows tried to keep up, they really did a good job under the circumstances. Our snowblower died two years ago, so Jan and I shovel, which is a good strength workout. We have a nice neighbor who came over yesterday with his snowblower, which helped immensely with the 15 inches that had fallen in the previous 10 hours. We never lost power, hurray! Exercise consisted of biking, treadmill running and weights, so not too bad. We just couldn't go swim. Actually we didn't leave our yard.

Any other exercise ideas in times of no power/storms? Any good or bad experiences with the storms?