Power Restored to Pheasant Hill Neighborhood

Cheers and screams of joy were likely heard in the neighborhood of Pheasant Hill at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"After 84 hours ... the power is BACK ON in Pheasant Hill!!!!!!!!!!!!," screamed Meredith Wolff on the Framingham Patch facebook page.

Wolff, who lost power during the height of Tropical Storm Irene on Sunday, was one of many in that neighborhood who stayed up-to-date storm clean-up and power restoration efforts via

Wolff wasn't alone. The town estimated on Sunday about 75% of the town was without power. But as days went by and lights were turned on in many neighborhood, Pheasant Hill remained dark.

Jeffrey Zaref posted on Framingham Patch Facebook "Lanewood Ave. in Pheasant Hill is on! 9:30 on the dot."

Mary Ray, who lives on Ledgewood Road in that neighborhood, said four hours before power was restored, "We are making it. ... I just had a baby 2 weeks ago, so it hasn't been easy."

Caroline Power-Dolan posted "Funny how it would happen 20 seconds after I posted to a friend all the things I didn't miss: cooking, laundry, checking work e-mails . . . Should I have done that on Monday?"

Despite the frustration of being without power for so long, most of the neighborhood's residents found ways to cope during the multi-day outage.

"The biggest challange has been feeding the family. I have two young kids (ages 5 & 2) and without a refrigerator or a stove (it is electric), it has been rough. You can only survive on crackers and bread products for so long," said Zaino, who was able to update Framingham Patch of his power situation on Facebook and was able to stay connected to the world that had power while he was at work. "Thankfully, we were able to rescue most of the food by driving it to my in-laws' house in Taunton on Monday and my wife brought a few things back from there yesterday, that we're keeping on ice, but it is far from ideal."

Zaino wasn't the only one who charged cell phones, laptops, etc at work, while their home lie in darkness.

So did Caroline Power. She said she charged her gadgets while at work.

Besides staying connected to the restoration efforts, food was her other issue.

"My biggest concern was about preserving all the food in my freezers. Yesterday, my husband rounded up a few buddies, lifted our chest freezer (and its contents) onto the back of a truck, drove it to a friend's house a plugged it in!," she told Framingham Patch on Wednesday afternoon. "Once the food was taken care of, I started to relax and enjoy the more pleasant aspects of the situation. We have been eating out most evenings (tough life, I know!), and at night we light candles and tealights, turn on battery-operated candles, and thanks to a simple but brilliant suggestion I saw on Facebook, we bring in our outdoor solar lights (the fake rock kind) from the yard and dot them around the house. I am enjoying not cooking, not doing laundry, not checking work emails in the evening, and going to bed a bit earlier than usual. I have also done more reading than I usually make time for. All in all, it's not so bad!"

For others, it wasn't the food but finding non-tech ways to entertain.

"Keeping the kids occupied at home is a challenge, but hasn't been too bad as they have plenty they can do that doesn't require electricity and are young enough that they are heading to bed as the sun goes down anyway," Zaino said. "If there is any upside it is that my wife and I are very well rested!  I can only read with a flashlight for so long without it straining my eyes so it's been off to bed around 9 p.m. each night this week!"

 Editor's Note: While Pheasant Hilll had power restored at 8:30 p.m. on Wedneday, Aug. 31 Town Manager Julian Suso, estimated that 20-25% of Framingham, was still without power. And, Nstar was reporting less than 2,000 customers or 6.5% of the town was without power.